Though the bulk of activities associated with the West Virginia Poultry Festival take place in Hardy County, the West Virginia Poultry Association holds informational dinners in both its home base and Pendleton counties, both known as major producing areas.
Ward Malcolm, current president of the WVPA, welcomed all who attended the dinner. It was hosted by the Oak Flat Ruritan. Some of the farmers in attendance come from families whose agricultural traditions date back to George Washington’s teenage years. The land itself has produced providently since then, making it only natural that a dinner celebrating the poultry industry, and warning of threats to it, would take place there.
The large crowd that gathered on that Tuesday evening included Dale Walker, former WVPA president, Dayne Davis from Pendleton Community Bank, Steve Conrad from the Pendleton County Farm Bureau, and many others active in the field.
Malcolm reserved special thanks for Pendleton Community bank, sharing “they make these dinners possible.” The Oak Flat Ruritan, with help from the West Virginia Poultry Queen and Teen Queen, produced the dinners.
Madeline Johnson earned Poultry Queen in a recent pageant while Aubrey Simmons wore the sash of Teen Queen. Both traveled to Dean’s Gap farm in Fort Seybert to man a smoker that produced the incredibly tasty turkey breast served that evening. Malcolm explained that they will soon represent the area at the West Virginia State Fair and receive more similar opportunities down the road.
Matt Monroe from the West Virginia University Extension Service gave an invocation, praying “thank You for this industry.”
After the invocation, one table at a time rose to line up for a buffet style dinner including the smoked turkey, scalloped potatoes, salad, green beans and ham, gravy, a dinner roll, blackberry cobbler, and vanilla ice cream.
Dr. Joe Moritz, as dinner concluded, rose to introduce Thomas Link, an intelligence officer with the United States Department of Homeland Security. Link moved from intelligence roles with the Department of Defense to the Department of Homeland Security in 2008. One of his most important roles places him at the West Virginia Fusion Center as a liaison.
He opened by sharing a story about discussing security clearances with West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey.
Link then provided, essentially, an intelligence briefing to those in attendance about some of the most prevalent established and emerging threats to American agriculture.
He stressed that, though the intelligence was not classified, that those in attendance would not share specifics of issues discussed.
Some events discussed reflected similar concerns as a recent news item not mentioned by Link. Federal law enforcement, for example, recently arrested two travelers from Red China who claimed to be going to the University of Michigan to study a fungus that could threaten multiple major US crops. They had the fungus on their person, but had no permission to violate US border protection laws to bring it in. Authorities also doubted their story and they remain under investigation.
Other concerns shared could be addressed by legislation backed by United States Congressman Riley Moore. He has repeatedly backed bills that would prevent purchases of farmland by Red China.
Cybersecurity and threats of taking over or disrupting certain networks and systems were also discussed.
Link covered much more ground in his talk. He encouraged all those present to make themselves partners with the efforts of DHS to protect American farmland by reporting unusual activity, should it seem to fit the issues discussed in the presentation.
After the presentation, Johnson and Simmons returned to the front of the room to help pass out innumerable door prizes. As all collected their prizes, Malcolm dismissed and thanked attendees. They sauntered into the still warm and humid July twilight, still talking about the issues discussed until driving home.
