Middlesex County, Virginia rewarded for numerous, fertile farms

During budget work session talks on Friday, Jan. 24, at the Middlesex County Historic Courthouse in Saluda, Middlesex supervisors seemed surprised that of $1,587,778 in grant funds given out in 2024 to implement agriculture conservation practices, Middlesex farmers were awarded $800,853. That’s the highest amount of all counties in the Tidewater Soil and Water Conservation District (TSWCD).

The TSWCD serves the counties of Middlesex, Gloucester and Mathews. “I am glad to see that our farmers are getting the bulk of the grant funds, but why is that?” asked Hartfield District Supervisor Bill Harris.

TSWCD spokesperson Meredith Rose said Middlesex County has some of the most productive and valuable farmland in the three county district and has more farmland available than either Gloucester or Mathews.

She noted that Gloucester is a growing county and has much more urban development, which has taken farmland out of production. She also said that Mathews County has more low lying land which is not always the best suited for farming.

Rose indicated that in 2024 TSWCD disbursed $1,587,778 to farmers/landowners for the implementation of conservation practices on more than 25,313 acres of cropland through the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share Program.

Harmony Village Supervisor Reggie Williams questioned whether the grant funds were being offered to all farmers in Middlesex — “large and small farmers.”

“Are the guys farming a couple hundred acres getting the same attention as those farmers working 1,000 acres?” asked Williams.

Rose noted that TSWCD educates all farmers in the region to the grant availability, “but they have to apply to be considered.”

Farmers can receive up to $300,000 annually in state cost-share reimbursement for more than 70 types of conservation projects…