
If you disagree with my stand on this issue, please, please complete an Opinion Poll and Survey form soon and get your family, friends and associates to do the same. I want to assure you folks that your opinions and input, feelings and fears are just as important to me and Project Mountain Pride. I’m concerned about the aerial spraying that is polluting our crops, sickening our livestock and pets and polluting our air and water far and wide of the target.īut…after saying this…I’m aware that there are lots of folks that may not agree with my viewpoint and concerns about aerial/helicopter spraying. I’m concerned about giant out-of-state corps snapping up our land and leases lickity split as I write this, doling out more bucks than local folks can afford and turning our county into an insignificant little colony in their vast domain. In the five years that I’ve been growing market produce here, I’ve seen scores of farmers shut down and sell out, mostly to big out-of-state corporations.Īnd this trend is accelerating, as we farmers grow older and our children move away, not interested in a career, sweat and manure with heavy financial burdens as a reward. And I know how little financial return there can be for all that hard work.Īs a tiny farmer now in Laurel Fork, I worry about the fate of small farms here in Carroll County. I raised my three children on family farms I know first-hand how much work it is to tend to critters and grow a crop. Since then, I have been raising livestock, making hay, gardening, and planting orchards for 67 years. The farm has been in our family since the 1760s and is still operated by my cousins.īack in the 50s, when I was a tiny sprout, my parents grew produce for market, raised laying hens and Black Angus cattle. I was born on a family farm in Appalachia, not far from here in West Virginia. Pollster Katie Gwinn, a tiny farm owner in Laurel Fork, launched the effort in part out of concern about the fate of small farms here in Carroll County after seeing scores of farmers in the last five years shut down and sell out, mostly to big out-of-state corporations. Project Mountain Pride is seeking input, be it for or against aerial spraying in Carroll.

A helicopter awaits its spray applicator tanks being filled.
