Cumberland farmers Donald and Jean Bishop were honored recently by the Cumberland County Farm Bureau for their work for the organization and in the community’s agricultural sector.

Bill Osl, the organization’s vice president who also serves as state board director, presented the lifetime membership award to Lena Chapman, who accepted the honors on behalf of her grandparents.

In addition to the award, Donald was made a lifetime member of the organization’s board of directors.

“I would like to honor a longtime friend of and special contributor to Farm Bureau tonight, Mr. Donald Bishop,and of course, the woman behind every great man, his wife Jean,” Osl said.

He said the two had been struggling with health issues over the past several weeks

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“He has been probably an inspiration to me and my family as much as he has been to this county,” Chapman, a Farm Bureau Agent, said, “and this community and this company. I really don’t know what to say except when I grow up, I want to be just like him and just like my grandma.”

According to Osl, the Bishops have been farming in Cumberland for over 40 years and have been members of the Cumberland Farm Bureau during that same time.

“There’s a long list of the type of products that they’ve raised on their farm: flowers, fruits [and] vegetables. Many of us have been to their farm to purchase some of their produce and maybe even had the opportunity to see Jean [working] in the greenhouse. …”

Osl said they’ve had a poultry operation for most of these years that they’ve farmed.

“I think they went overboard,” Donald said in response to the award. “I enjoyed what I did. It was not like work to me … It was very exciting,” he said.

He said he felt honored by the awards, adding that he was proud of his association with the community through his work in agriculture.

Jean said she didn’t expect to receive the award. She said she was humbled and proud of the honors bestowed upon her.

“They’ve conducted field trials with Virginia Tech and Virginia State University and were the first Virginia farmers to ship strawberries out of the state of Virginia,” Osl said.

He said at one time, the Bishops had 74 acres of planted vegetables on their farm. “And they supplied all the Safeway food stores in northern Virginia with all the produce.”

According to Osl, Donald started the Southside Growers Association in 1978, “which pooled vegetables from numerous growers and marketed them to grocery stores.”

Donald has served has been a Cumberland Farm Bureau Board Members for 33 years, and previously served as its president.

“We call him Mr. Cumberland Farm Bureau,” Osl said, “as he’s affectionately known to many of us because he’s dedicated literally thousands of volunteer hours to Farm Bureau and the county and the state and at the national levels and has helped each of these organizations better serve its members.”

Osl credited Bishop for leading the charge for land use assessment and taxation in Cumberland.

“Pray for Donald and Jean, his wife of 62 years, for better health. …,” Osl requested.