By Neil Clark

COURTLAND

As typically happens the Tuesday before the Fair, many young (and a few ‘more seasoned’) folk who brought their plants and produce this year have definitely exemplified their knowledge and skill in producing something wonderful from the soil, water, and sunshine that the Good Lord has provided. There always seem to be folk in the area with green-thumbs no matter what the conditions. Variety selection, proper planting and tending to control for pests and pathogens as well as plant vigor, all play in to being able to harvest produce that is marketable.

Brother and sister team of David and Emily Cuthbertson captured the sweepstakes in youth field crops and youth horticulture, respectively. This came as a result of their many resplendent examples of tomatoes, gourds, cotton, squash, corn, sunflowers, melons, hay, peanuts, etc. They were very proud of their work and have impressive knowledge of horticulture for young people their age according to the judge. The judge comes from outside of the area to prevent biased results. The Cuthbertsons go one step further to share their knowledge of agriculture by producing informational posters. In this way, fairgoers who aren’t as familiar with agriculture can gain appreciation for what takes place out in the fields.

There were many other youngsters who brought items. Not everyone grows so many different crops. But still they can take extreme pride in producing one exquisite specimen. Such is the case with our local miracle, Miss Riley Porter. Riley brought in a splendid sunflower that was matched only by the bright smile that is always on Riley’s face.

As many of you know, Riley received a heart transplant and is now doing well enough to grow a HUGE sunflower to brighten everyone’s day. That flower is one representation of the hope that has brought many in this community together. So I encourage everyone to go plant something, water it, watch it, care for it, and bring it on out to the Fair in 2020.

Here are the results:

Youth Field Crops

Corn 
David Cuthbertson – blue

Corn Stalks
 David Cuthbertson – blue

Grass Hay
 David Cuthbertson – blue

Peanuts
 Sawyer Everett – blue; David Cuthbertson – red

Soybean
s Sawyer Everett – blue; David Cuthbertson – red

Cotton
Sawyer Everett – blue; David Cuthbertson – red

Sunflower David Cuthbertson – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – red; Jenna Cuthbertson – white; Brantley Gray – white;

Wheat
 David Cuthbertson – blue

Display
 David Cuthbertson – blue

Youth Horticulture:

Sunflower 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Luke Giles – blue (Exhibitor’s Choice); Brantley Gray – blue (Exhibitor’s Choice); Jenna Nurney – blue; Riley Porter – blue; Genevieve Busch – red; Luke Giles – red; Austin Busch – white; Jenna Cuthbertson – white

Blueberries 
Cody Thomas – red, Ansley Thomas – white

Cantaloupe
 Emily Cuthbertson – red; Jenna Cuthbertson – red;

Cucumber
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Grapes
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue;

Pears
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Ansley Thomas – blue; Austin Busch – red; Cody Thomas – white,

Eggplant 
Luke Giles – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red; Emily Cuthbertson – white
Hot Peppers
Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Peppers
 Jenna Cuthbertson – blue; David Cuthbertson – white

Sweet Peppers 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red; David Cuthbertson – white

Okra 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Luke Giles – red

Jalapeños
 Victoria Ross – red

Persimmons
 Jenna Cuthbertson – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – red

Potatoes
 Jocelyn Busch – blue

Southern Peas
 Luke Giles – blue

Browneyed Peas – 
(unshelled) Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red; (shelled) Emily Cuthbertson – white;

Butternut Squash
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red;

Yellow Squash 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red; David Cuthbertson – white

White Squash
 Jenna Cuthbertson – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – red

Zucchini Squash
 Jenna Cuthbertson – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – red

Cherry Tomatoes
 Jenna Cuthbertson – red; David Cuthbertson – white

Grape Tomatoes
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue; Jenna Cuthbertson – red

Tomatoes
 Genevieve Busch – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Watermelon
 Jenna Nurney – blue; Emily Cuthbertson – red; Jenna Cuthbertson – white

Oddity 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Display 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Ornamental Corn 
Austin Busch – blue

Gourds
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue

Gourd Display 
Emily Cuthbertson – red

Snake Gourds
 Jocelyn Busch – blue

Ornamental Gourds
 Genevieve Busch – blue

Vegetable Basket 
Emily Cuthbertson – blue;

Vegetable Sculpture
 Emily Cuthbertson – blue;

Cut Arrangement 
Victoria Ross – blue; Victoria Ross – white; Jocelyn Busch – white

Cut Flowers
 Emily Cuthbertson – red

Hanging Basket
 Brantley Gray – blue

Adult Field Crops

Corn Ears – non-irrigated 
Foxhill Farms – blue; Chris Drake – red; Plank Road Farm – red; Cedar Lane Farm – white

Irrigated Corn Ears 
Foxhill Farms – blue; Plank Road Farm – red; Cedar Lane Farm – white

Corn Stalks – non-irrigated
 Cedar Lane Farm – red; Chris Drake – white

Irrigated Corn Stalks
 Cedar Lane Farm – blue; Foxhill Farms – red; Davis and Sons – white

Cotton
 Plank Road Farm – blue; Foxhill Farms – red; Jason Francis – white

Grass Hay Rose Valley Farm – blue

Mixed Grass Hay
 Rose Valley Farm – blue

Milo 
Rose Valley Farm – white

Oats 
Rose Valley Farm – blue

Irrigated Peanuts
 Foxhill Farms – blue; Cedar Lane Farm – red

Peanuts 
Foxhill Farms – blue; Plank Road Farm – red; Jason Francis – white

Irrigated Peanuts 
Foxhill Farms – blue; Cedar Lane Farm – red

Soybeans
 Cedar Lane Farm – blue

Triticale 
(Exhibitor’s Choice) Rose Valley Farm – white

Wheat
 Davis and Sons – red; Foxhill Farms – white; Rose Valley Farm – white; Chris Drake – blue

Adult Horticulture

Container Grown Flowering Plant
 Betty Beale – blue

Potted Foliage Plant
 Louise Mears – blue

White Pumpkin
 Allen Applewhite – red

Sunflower
 Jason Francis – blue

Tomatoes
 Louise Mears – blue

Cut Flowers
 Allen Applewhite – red

We would like to extend our gratitude to Manry-Rawls Insurance Company for their support of the horticulture contest by sponsoring the building and prizes for these young exhibitors.

From fourth grade science we learn that plants are primary producers. From a biological point of view, humans cannot exist without plants.

Of course, agriculture is the number one industry in Virginia, and is for sure an extremely important component in our local economy bringing millions of dollars in revenue to our area each year from sunshine and rain …. and a lot of farmers’ hard work and faith that a crop will come.

There may be many reading this who don’t realize that nationally, our corn crop will be down drastically this year. A large swath of the productive area of our nations corn belt was not planted, or planted very late due to extremely wet conditions. Other areas that learned of this in time to shift their planting, added to the fact that modern genetics can still push reasonable yields despite less favorable conditions, may help this from becoming a disaster on a national scale. However, for the individual farmers in those areas, this is devastating.

It is a good thing that we have another generation of young people stepping forth with knowledge to produce the food, fuel and fiber that provide for the sustenance of 7.7 billion people.

NEIL CLARK is a Southampton County Extension agent. Contact him at 653-2572 or southeast@vt.edu.