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How do you help Cumberland’s agricultural economy continue to grow? What should the county focus on? That’s what the agricultural economic development plan hopes to answer. And the county got some help in funding that project through a $20,000 grant from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. During a meeting of the county’s Economic Development Authority on Tuesday, Sept. 17, Cumberland Administrator Derek Stamey provided more details about what the plan would look like. 

“The consultant that would be selected would look at logistics, transportation, processing and identifying gaps of service, evaluating those opportunities for new businesses,” Stamey told the EDA. 

Basically, what makes sense in Cumberland? Beyond farms, what about production? Marketing? What other areas of agriculture make sense to recruit to specific areas of the county? Or possibly there are some already here. What’s the best way to help them grow and develop? 

Fixing the food desert

Part of this also involves diving into the local food economy. Cumberland County is identified as a food desert, meaning that residents have limited access to healthy food options. That’s accurate, as a foodbanks.org map shows 13%-17 of residents labeled as “food insecure.” Now, to be clear, food insecurity doesn’t mean no options exist. It does however mean there are obstacles in the way. After all, it’s hard to plan on a weekly grocery run if you have no vehicle and no one to give you a ride. At that point, you just take what you can get. It’s also harder to eat healthy when there’s no grocery store in the county. 

Residents in the center of the county have the farthest to travel, in order to get food. Most travel to Powhatan, Buckingham, Goochland, or Farmville to get groceries or they pick them up on their way home from work. Over the last couple of years, the arrival of a Dollar General Market and Pine View Bulk Foods have helped some, but there are still challenges. If you live in the Cartersville or Columbia area, for example, you wouldn’t often make the trip to Pine View, as it’s close to Farmville. 

So how do you address that? The plan calls for an evaluation of existing growers and producers in the county. What does each one produce? Are they producing the same thing? How close are they to their given market and how could value be added to each operation? 

Another part of this involves identifying grocery stores and what each one would need, in order to consider coming to Cumberland.
Companies have questions before they agree to move into an area. They look at the population size, population ages and available locations for a store. Then they determine if it makes financial sense to move in. So what would a grocery store need in order to move in and can the county help with that in any way? 

Looking beyond Cumberland 

Beyond that, this plan will also take a look at precedents and case studies both across the Commonwealth and nationally. What have other counties done to address their needs? How have they worked through the problems? 

The county staff will collect all of this data from the consulting group. Then they’ll hold workshops, asking residents what they want to see developed. County officials will also come up with some plan goals, benchmarks along the way that Cumberland officials can point to as improvements. 

As for when this would be finished? The answer is within a year’s time. 

“I think 8 months to a year is a reasonable time frame (to finish),” Stamey said. 

The plan will be paid for through both the $20,000 tobacco grant and an earlier $20,000 county grant. No local tax dollars will be spent on this.