WVSU Extension Agent Named President of West Virginia Agrarian Commons

8/17/2021

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Contact: Jack Bailey
(304) 766-4109
jbaile19@wvstateu.edu    
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State University (WVSU) Extension Agent Adam Hodges has been named president of the West Virginia Agrarian Commons. 

Hodges, whose work involves community and economic development initiatives in Fayette County, helped establish the organization in the spring of 2020, which stems from the national group Agrarian Trust and partners with farmland protection programs in West Virginia to preserve properties so they can be used strictly for agricultural purposes. 

“My ultimate goal as president of the Commons is to help create and grow an organization that is sustainable,” Hodges said. “We created this organization because of a community farm project in Fayette County, but it has statewide implications and the potential to do great things in other counties. I’d like to see it move to that level.”

According to Hodges, partnerships between organizations such as these are essential, because if agricultural land is left unprotected, businesses will purchase the properties for development, which could eventually lead to a lack of agricultural space in the state and country, as well as a possible food shortage in the distant future.

Learn more about the West Virginia Agrarian Commons at agrariantrust.org/agrariancommons/west-virginia/.

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