Variety is the Spice
of Life
With help from programs
offered by NRCS, Dan
Foglesong is able to produce
a number of commodities on
his Mason County farm.
Tabby Bennett
row crops, and grows various types of vegetables
and strawberries in his four high tunnels for the
Farm to School program. The Farm to School
program allows schools to purchase food from
local farmers to use in their cafeterias.
Currently, Dan has four high tunnels, and he
is approved to build two more through EQIP
(Environmental Quality Incentives Program) with
the assistance and expertise of NRCS. His high
tunnels extend his growing season by allowing him
to start planting earlier, and give him the ability
grow more crops than he would if he had to wait
for good weather to do all of his planting outside.
Dan also takes advantage of EQIP by using
grassland, animal waste and cover crop techniques
he learned through the program.
We have all heard that farming is not an easy
job, and in today’s economy, the importance of
a strong, functioning farm is even greater than
before. Buying or renting land is not as easy
financially as it once was, and the prices of all
of the tools and resources needed to grow and
produce food is continually rising. Some farmers,
however, have found creative ways to accomplish
their personal goals for their farms while providing
quality commodities to their communities.
Dan Foglesong is a farmer in Gallipolis Ferry,
West Virginia who has utilized various NRCS
(Natural Resources Conservation Service)
conservation practices to help him improve his
diverse and industrious farm. Foglesong owns 1155
acres and rents 542 acres, for a total of 1697 acres
of farmland.
Dan produces a wide variety of commodities.
He raises beef cattle, cow and calf pairs, finish
calves, sows and chickens. His daughter,
Danielle, an Animal Science and Nutrition major
at WVU, shows calves in local, regional and state
competitions when she is home from college.
Foglesong also plants corn, beans and wheat as
West Virginia Farm Bureau News 11