BARNing Regionalism
Published 4:29 pm Thursday, March 27, 2014
BUCKINGHAM — The Buckingham Agricultural Resource Network (BARN) Facility, an 80’ by 200’ building that will serve as an agricultural hub and education center for communities and producers, is set to be completed by Fall 2014.
The project, which is being spearheaded by the Buckingham Cattlemen’s Association (BCA), will be located on Route 60 west of Buckingham Courthouse near the Route 56 intersection.
According to a PowerPoint presentation led by Jennifer Ligon, Buckingham’s Virginia Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources agent, the building will include a large meeting room that can accommodate 200 people, an industrial kitchen, and cattle working facilities.
“The project’s estimated cost is $718,748.99 and $550,311 of that has been obtained through the Tobacco (Commission) grant process. They awarded us that in January of last year. The BCA and BARN committee has solicited $168,438 of in-kind donations towards the project,” Ligon detailed in a recent meeting with the Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC). “That’s from local businesses and also from national businesses.”
The site will have an industrial entrance, “which will bring it back off of the road a little ways. You can see that there’s going to be a large parking lot with the building and a future riding arena,” she explained.
A covered pavilion-type area will be located in the rear of the structure, Ligon noted.
According to Ligon, the parent group of the BARN, the Buckingham Cattlemen’s Association, is a volunteer-run organization with approximately 234 members from 20 counties—the majority of which reside in Buckingham.
“The reason why the BCA is so involved in it is because initially, this building was a brainstorm of where they could go to handle their cows. It’s not going to be a livestock market or anything like that. Currently, all the cattlemen’s association members take all their cattle to Lynchburg…” detailed Buckingham resident Sherry Ragland, who serves on the BARN committee.
“The idea was to bring something more centrally located for the farmers or the producers to bring their cattle to a location with less stress…Also for a facility to have their meetings,” Ragland continued. “This has been (their) brainchild for many, many years…”
Uses for the BARN facility will include educational programming, markets, festivals, fairs, auctions and sales, veterinary calls and appointments, BCA heifer and feeder calf sales, banquets, and other agricultural-related events, according to the presentation.
“Delegate (Matt) Fariss is very much behind it,” CRC Chairman and Buckingham District Five Supervisor Cassandra Stish commented.
Ligon explained that the facility could potentially create 25 part-time jobs and “agriculture sales anticipate an increase in profits to producers at approximately $15,000 per farm each year,” she notes in her presentation.
She listed eight different regional benefits of the BARN facility, including enhancing area business revenues through the sales of food, fuel, lodging, supplies, and services, and enabling the area to host events promoting agri-tourisim.
Ligon added that $15,000 has been approved by the Buckingham Board of Supervisors for the project, and the land, which is now being graded, has been acquired. “The building has been purchased and is being stored off site…(and) is projected to be in use Fall 2014,” her presentation cites.
“You’ll be able to see the pitch of the roof of the building from the road,” Ragland added.
Ligon added that the facility could be the site of a future farmer’s market.
“The BCA has been the driving force because of the advantages that this facility will provide them, but they also want this to be a community project, a regional project, so a collaborative effort by all will get this building up and operating and maintaining itself.”
“As long as the process has taken, there have been some increases in costs. We’ve been looking at different grant opportunities, and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has a planning grant…that we have discussed with them and the Tobacco Commission has also discussed with them. They do believe that this project would be eligible. We would like to apply for this grant on the multi-jurisdictional side of it. And in doing so, we would need regional support for that. It would be a $34,000 grant,” Ligon noted.
“We need to have at least one other locality wanting to co-apply, wanting to be, you know, say ‘We’re all in on this because we recognize this as being a regional importance,’ and I think a project like this, if we can get another one of our member localities to sign on and be all on with this, certainly it does several things…” Stish commented.
Following the presentation, members of the CRC voted unanimously to serve as the applicant for a grant from VDACS.
“People are going to be coming through Prince Edward, they’re going to be coming through Cumberland, they’ll be coming through Appomattox to get to our facility. And they’ll need housing, they’ll need lodging, they’ll need fuel…” Ragland remarked following the motion and vote.
“This is a similar project to the Old Dominion facility, which is in Pittsylvania County. It’s on a smaller scale, but that facility has had a huge impact….” Ligon noted.