BURLINGTON - Rep. David B. McKinley visited Flying W Farms in Burlington Tuesday, May 13, as part of a three farm tour to highlight the importance of West Virginia farms.
By Barbara High
bhigh@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
BURLINGTON - Rep. David B. McKinley visited Flying W Farms in Burlington Tuesday, May 13, as part of a three farm tour to highlight the importance of West Virginia farms.
Flying W Farms is owned and operated by Rick and Margaret Woodworth. This fifth generation farm is family-owned and consist of a herd of 200 Angus brood cows and also offers local pork, brown eggs, seasonal sweet corn, and a wide variety of vegetables and fruit.
McKinley viewed the Flying W Farm and its operations while discussing with Rick Woodworth how much agricultural means to West Virginia, and what could be done to help local farmers.
Rep. McKinley says the local farms are very important to West Virginia because we are a diversified economy. With West Virginia relying heavily on coal for jobs in the past, a more diversified economy will offer more opportunities for the children of West Virginia. It will also attract more people and business to the state.
“We need to make sure the government does not hold back our local farmers,” he said. "“They need to come out of the beltway and come back to rural America and see what they are doing to us here.”
As Rick Woodworth gave McKinley a tour, he explained the process of marking everything they produce and said it all leads to traceability.
“I never get away from liability. I am always one sick person away from being closed,” said Woodworth. He explained that even with what is required by USDA, they go above and beyond that to insure the best meat available. Woodworth said they think a lot about safety, noting that it is what he feeds his family, “It’s from our family’s table to yours," he said.
When asked what could be done to help the agricultural community, Woodworth spoke on the tremendous push against using Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) grains. These grains have been genetically altered to resist insects, so no pesticides are used. Woodworth said he would like to see more support of these grains that have not had to be treated with pesticides.
Woodworth also said that talk about putting inspection cost onto the processor was not a good idea.
“I don’t want my employee to inspect me.”
With how one could slip extra payment to ensure passing, how can you really say that they would be objective. To be paid by the ones you’re inspecting could cause considerable issues. Woodworth also described the environmental issues they faced, and other challenges small farmers had to endure.
Rep. McKinley spoke on the Clean Water Act, “Waters of the U.S.”, which many find confusing after the last Supreme Court decision in 2006. Another concern Rep. McKinley had was with the National Clean Air Standards. In 2012 (EPA) updated its national clean air standards without tightening “farm dust” standards. Rep. McKinley said with the EPA looking at reducing the soot dust again, that ultimately it might be broadened to include farm dust. “Just because you can, don’t always mean you should.”
Joan Harman, director of public relations for W.V. Farm Bureau, told Rep. McKinley that she had concerns with agricultural products that were imported from overseas, and that did not have to go through the same high standards that rural farmers in America had to abide by. Harman said she would like to see about leveling the playing field. Rep. McKinley said they were looking into that, and had planned to try to readdress legislation that had been introduced before that addressed that issue.
Rep. Mckinley toured the store facility and retail side, the processing site, and then finished with the feeding area where the cattle were actually kept. Woodworth explained that they do all tours backwards because you can’t go from feed area to processing without risking transferring bacteria.
Rep. Mckinley said he was wanting to see what Washington could do to aid local farmers, instead of hindering them. Woodworth says that he appreciated the interest shown in local farmers. “It means a lot to have people in Washington look to see how they could be more effective in supporting their local farmers.”
When Rep. McKinley asked Woodworth where he would like to see himself and his business in five years, Woodworth laughed and said, “Out of debt.” Woodworth who had previously said they do 80 percent of their work for other people said he would like to expand and be doing 80 percent of their own work.