By Stephen Smoot
Early last Friday morning, while many area teenagers likely remained in bed, Moorefield High School Future Farmers of America members , local 4H, and other youth agriculture enthusiasts were up bright and early.
Their mission? To produce a hearty and delicious breakfast for members of the West Virginia Poultry Association, fueling them up to get attendees ready for the morning’s West Virginia Poultry Association’s Annual Meeting.
As they worked outside to grill bacon and sausage, while preparing eggs, biscuits, and sausage gravy in the high school cafeteria kitchen, those coming for the meeting slowly filed in starting at about 7:45.
Awaiting the breakfast planned for eight o’ clock, they gathered in small groups to talk shop, socialize, or catch up. All together, by the time of the commencement of the meeting, the room held many centuries of accumulated knowledge, wisdom, and experience in all things poultry.
Dave Workman, Hardy County Commissioner and former West Virginia University Extension Agent, then asked “if you would gather ‘round.” he then delivered the pre meal prayer, saying “thank You for the rain. Thank You for these many blessings.”
After breakfast, the meeting commenced. WVPA President Wade Malcolm first introduced Ron Miller from the Potomac Highlands Conservation District. He shared that he had recently met with the chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and “put in a plug for the Conservation District and what we do with the flood control dams.”
Next spoke Joe Hatton who represented the West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture, Kent Leonhardt. Hatton first commented on the condition of roads and highways in the Potomac Highlands, commenting that “you all have the best roads in the state.” He went on to comment that far-flung and remote agricultural operations need proper roads.
Hatton then spoke of the difficulties faced by farming in recent years and said “Agriculture has once again pulled through and led by example.” He complimented the region for being able to maintain volunteer fire departments and related organizations when other parts of the state struggled.
In his talk, he mentioned assistance programs with the United States Department of Agriculture. Hatton also praised the leadership shown by the West Virginia counties of the Chesapeake Bay region. The Mountain State for at least a decade has met or exceeded United States Environmental Protection Agency mandates for stream pollution reduction in the Chesapeake Bay region, unlike any other state that participates.
While West Virginia met these guidelines, the Chesapeake Bay’s “health” has improved drastically, as have local conditions for fishing and swimming.
“You all are leading the way,” he said, then added that techniques and programs that found success in eastern West Virginia are being studied in the Ohio River basin in West Virginia to “model what we’ve done in the Chesapeake Bay.”
Hatton explained the importance of West Virginia’s success, stating that it helps to “put the brakes on ‘you need to do this now’” type regulations because “we’ve done our part in West Virginia.”
Dwayne O’Dell, who leads Government Affairs for the West Virginia Farm Bureau, gave his update of federal and state initiatives.
Alexandria Smith, Hardy County West Virginia University Extension Agent, gave updates on the educational programming, Youth Day and WVPA scholarships. She shared that they held” two good education dinners that were very well-attended.” About 70 attended both dinners in Oak Flat and in Moorefield. Each dinner had the same program.
Smith deemed Youth Day “also a great day” with approximately 50 coming from Hardy, Pendleton, Tucker, and Doddridge counties to the statewide judging competition. Among others, Smith stated that she appreciated the use of Moorefield High School this year as the venue, saying the floor plan offered a “smooth flow.”
Additionally the youth barbeque contest attracted 24 who chose to prepare either chicken or turkey breast with their own unique flavors. Smith thanked the Hardy County Board of Education for “letting us use their facilities.”
Jason Dalryple provided the environmental committee report, in which he praised the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. He concurred with O’Dell’s statement during the Farm Bureau Government Affairs update that West Virginia has “met the goals of Chesapeake Bay and we don’t have any great pressing goals on us.”
When the Chesapeake Bay Region formed during the Clinton Administration, many blamed the reduction of blue crab and other species on pollutants coming from the poultry producing areas in West Virginia. Over the past 10 years, those populations have rebounded at the same time as West Virginia Eastern Panhandle stream pollution has dropped considerably. The state now meets or exceeds every federal mandate, out performing all other states in the region environmentally.
He added that it’s “good working with the local DEP agent” with “all issues resolved so far.”
For the Golf Tournament Committee report, Daryl See said 2025 represented “one of the best I’ve ever seen. We had a very good tournament this year.” As per usual, most preferred to compete in the morning. He shared that they set $3,000 as a target for fundraising, but stated “we’ll be better than $4,000.”
“We appreciated those who were helping with organization and cooking chicken,” said See, who added “the Queens were there being photogenic with as many peeps as they could.”
Madison Gregory provided the report on the Poultry Pageant, sharing that “we had more participants than most local pageants” and also “more than last year.” Gregory explained that the queens this year would receive something special “to set ourselves apart” as a pageant.”
She then held up a beautifully made dark blue jacket embroidered with “West Virginia Poultry Queen” on the back. Gregory explained that many times when pageant winners would go forth and attend events, they often had to do so in less than ideal weather conditions while still remaining impeccably dressed. The jackets would ward off cold, snow, and rain, but also announce their presence when draped over the back of a chair during a function.
Gregory proposed that the Queens sell 50-50 tickets at the President’s Dinner to help defray the costs of representing the pageant at various events across the state.
Workman spoke toward the end of the meeting, stressing the need to find a way to “define the new business model” emerging in the area poultry industry. He referred to new large commercial poultry growing complexes, such as the one recently constructed in Old Fields.
He then requested that “Mr. President, I’d like to ask the poultry Queens some of their observations on the week.”
Poultry Queen madeline Johnson related that “there has been a lot added to the festival since I was teen Queen.” She added that “all Queens want to be immensely involved” and “I’ve had an incredible time being able to immerse myself.”
Malcolm then reminded all of the importance of supporting and volunteering at the Chicken Shack during Tri-County Fair week, calling it “one of our biggest fundraisers.”
Malcolm assured all that “we don’t skimp on food. You get through that line, you get a lot of food.”
