Eastern Panhandle Talk: Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia Kent Leonhardt (8.29.2024)

our guest in this uh segment of the program is Kent leonhart he is the agricultural commissioner running for re-election too I might add in the state of West Virginia Kent good morning thank you so much for being with us good morning Rob Mike it's great to be with you guys you were in Berkeley County yesterday is that correct Kent yes yes I was yes I was let's talk about that familiarized me because I was not even aware of this whole Apple situation there was something about this I remember a year or two ago and then I hadn't heard anything about it since what's going on yeah give us the back story yeah well well last year uh just before Harvest Time the uh processors of West Virginia grown apples uh those that go into juice and applesauce and other uh products not the ones that go on the actual grocery store shelf that look all nice and and beautiful uh we're told we're not going to take all your apples we're only going to take a small percentage and we had we were left facing a potential of letting all these apples drop on the ground uh the potential of our orchardist you know just being fed up with the industry and plowing trees under and we were getting reports that there the processers were getting concentrate from other countries and mixing it uh and producing the apple juice and all because it was easier or less expensive than mashing up our apples and using them and going the full process and uh so we started looking into potential Solutions other markets and uh talking with our US senators and I got to tell you mansion and capitols office have been great to work with on all this uh they've really been advocates for the uh growers in the Eastern Panhandle they've been talking uh with the USDA for so but last year and uh senator in particular was able to secure some funding for us uh through the USDA a marketing service and that funding was designated to go to help feed the food insecure throughout our nation so the money went appropriately but he came to West Virginia and the to the Department of Agriculture and we allocated the funding and bought apples and made sure got into the food banks around the world and the way we did this was uh at a National Association of State Departments of Agriculture meeting I met a gentleman that is running a group called farmlink and farmlink takes donated foods and and makes distributions uh does it inter uh nationally all over and they're very involved in feeding the insecure and the feeding America food banks I said we need to talk and we're just getting into this you know Department of Agriculture was ready to do whatever we needed to to do to buy the apples get them distributed but this became a great partnership and they had some funding uh through donations being a nonprofit organization and they helped us with the distribution so we ended up moving 600,000 uh bushels of apples out of West Virginia and stayed in Appalachia primarily uh to feed the food insecure so what a great success um the Department of Agriculture I'm very proud to say we were very judicious we had some money left over um and I'll get into that in a few moments but the fact what we accomplished became well known throughout the USDA and there's been a lot of advocacy to help the food insecure and use its model uh throughout throughout the nation so fast forward to the you know the Apple Growers were happy we saved our industry in West Virginia the Apple Growers were happy they got paid a fair price and people got fed I just might add that the apple is considered the gold standard for food insecurity why because it's fresh it's nutritious and it keeps it's shelf it's more shelf stable than a peach or a plum or a pale so that's that's very important when you're uh dealing with food and trying to make sure those that are hungry get fed so anyway so we're we come into another bumper crop this year of uh apples not just here in West Virginia they and you know we thought we were going to be hurt by the drought uh but we ended up uh the Apple uh producers ended up being okay some were hurt some were not but overall we did pretty well we're going to be pretty close to what we had last year the West Coast on the other hand they had a huge bumper crop uh and USDA is allocating funding to buy fresh apples for uh feeding uh the insecure again just like they always do the money's not a lot this year and it's going to be divided up the model that West Virginia developed last year is going to be kind of divided up among many more States you know Pennsylvania's going to get a piece Maryland Virginia everybody's going to get a little bit of a piece so so we come up to this year uh we thinking we're in pretty good shape and then again we get notification that oh we're not going to buy as many apples as we thought we were going to buy and West Virginia's back in the same boat so uh so can this is a is this a problem caused by the bumper crop or is this a problem caused by the um the the the buyers of the apples not buying as many because they're getting them from overseas uh it's both we had a we had a great crop of apples but we're also and I don't have all the figures so don't quote me on this but we're also finding an awful lot of concentrate coming from other country countries and that is part of the issue uh there might be a consumption issue too you know applesauce isn't being eaten as much um May I suggested yesterday maybe we need to flavor the applesauce more to give people more variety so they want eat it uh but part I think it's a three thing it's it's the consumption level it's the bumper crop and it's the uh import and the manufacturers are trying to make a living and if you go to the grocery store please look at the back of that you're going to buy apple juice look at the back and see where those apples are coming from by the brand that's using mostly us Apples please Kent was there was there a connection with the French involved in this apple situation yes I was told by one of the producers that they were told that uh they were going to buy more concentrate and the French puree for um applesauce uh and what other uh products that they're going to make out of it so yeah France was involved in some of this and you know a lot of these nations are subsidized in their agricultural Commodities so they can do this and make it uh sell it to the US cheap you know my my status stands is is you know food security is National Security we should be making sure that the policies have uh are using us grown products first we can't afford to let our agricultural industry suffer for the benefit of another nation and then if something happens and we can't get any of those Imports then what are we going to do here in the United States so we've got to make sure our agriculture industry is secure and I also want to also talk I mean I'm I'm joining a group that is just starting to get together and we're going to be looking into Imports of food products that don't mean meet the same safety standards that us producers have to meet you know there's uh you know some of the just recently in the last six months there's been two recalls of apple juice for an increased level of heavy metals um that probably wouldn't happen with us producers it can happen but not necessarily to the extent that that we're seeing so my goal is to work with other states and other agriculture Commissioners and bring to light and make sure that we end up uh having a National Standard and uh and that we hold importers accountable to the same standards that we hold our own producers did a French company buy the um processing facility is that did I hear that correctly I don't know about that for sure I can't I can't speak to that and do you know if there's a con we have a lot of we have a lot of foreign ownership of uh food processing in the United States you know I mean let's face so I mean you know JBS the largest meat processor is Brazilian owned uh there's uh Chinese connections to Smithfield there's uh there's all sorts of um you know I've understand that there's some processing owned by the by Saudi Arabian uh entities so you know so if it's profitable for these these other investment in the United States so if there's if it's profitable for these other nations to invest in our processing facilities why are Americans not investing in or American companies not investing in that K uh that's a good question I'm I'm not the uh a economist right uh I'm I'm just working hard to make sure that our citizens eat from a a safe and healthy food supply well Kent I'm doing my part I eat an apple a day most days I do too actually and uh you know I did an interview with you folks uh yesterday on the drought situation with your station and I ended up I told him I was going to eat an apple on my way up to the meeting and I did and then I've got I did get some peaches uh up there yesterday and brought them home uh to help the economy with the with our orchardist but I mean I love our peaches and I love our apples uh I ate another Apple out of one of the Orchards there yesterday it was absolutely delicious speaking of the drought situation we have uh Colin has that map our producer he's putting on the screen uh as we speak here discuss the drought situation in West Virginia uh throughout the summer and currently is it still severe drought for many parts of our state Kent it is still severe uh I don't know the result of last night's rains in the northern uh part of the State uh I haven't gotten those reports yet uh but even with immediate rain you know it helps some and we we're we're thankful for it but we can't say that we're just because you get one rain or like you did in Eastern Panhandle where Parts got six to seven inches of rain and that really helped like the Apple crop I mean the timing was was great to help us and and but that doesn't mean we're out of a drought situation that doesn't mean our streams aren't low that doesn't mean our water tables aren't a little bit lower that doesn't mean you know some of the wildlife has some issues uh that there's a whole lot of things that go on to this and it's going to take a series of steady rains you know when you get a big heavy rain right away on a very dry soil a lot of it runs off that's good for the streams and rivers but it doesn't get to the moisture and get to the depth of the roots that we need so we're not out of the drought situation yet the rain is welcome uh the forecast says we're got a good chance to get some more uh the Department of Agriculture is working very closely with USDA agencies the West Virginia conservation agency if you go to our website you can get you can go directly to a link uh for resources for the drought and we're still trying to do uh more and more and try to ex find the resources to expand help this is an unprecedented drought at least in my lifetime 1930 was probably the last one that was anywhere close to this uh and again it's been very spotty some areas got hit harder than others initially the Eastern Panhandle was the worst now Central West Virginia over towards wood Mason and uh Jackson County are in the worst shape yeah I was looking at that when we had the map up a moment ago Colin's going to move that over again so that our viewers on TV 10 and Facebook live stream can see that as well and that's a pretty big area of dark red in the middle of the state that we're looking at right there and then right and that dark red used to be over youring area before a few weeks ago have have we because of that have we seen a downturn in Crop Production yes we have seen a downturn in Crop Production we've seen a down term in vegetables and uh you know some of those farmers in crop have crop insurance that doesn't make up for the profit they would have had with a good crop but it does help make up the cost of putting the crop in the ground so essentially a farmer with crop insurance loses the crop gets reimbursed he goes without an income from that crop this year that year do you pick up he doesn't have as big a loss but he goes without an income and you know how many of us can go without an income for a year only my Hornby from Bas what I can tell from owning this place uh but uh do you pick up the phone Kent and call Western States and talk to the IR ad Commissioners and say hey what what are some methods of dealing with a historic drought we don't we don't get those all the time in West Virginia but in the west they have become much more accustomed to it well I haven't called those individ I see those individuals on a regular basis uh through National meetings and all uh we work with our extension service obviously uh they're the ones that are to go out and educ at the farmer on things of that nature we do the education too obviously everybody's everybody's into this this together we're we've got some great Partnerships we've formed over the last uh seven and a half years or almost eight years now with the uh universities uh the college uh the uh the USDA programs natural resource conservation service they get a lot of the information out there and I've talked to other Farmers about strategies when a drought hits and and then we're trying to as we develop these because this is all new to us too uh we're trying to develop strategies in our conservation programs that can help you know the next time each time something happens you you learn something from it and you try to make sure it's better so if it happens again the damage isn't as great but fortunately with the like the conservation agency we had drought uh a programs already in place and we were able to execute it um and then we had a lot of people step up fire departments have stepped up uh the governor set up that grant program to reimburse government agencies uh for expenses during the drought and that included the fire departments that uh ended up hauling water and had an expense to help the farmers out uh so those type of things have all helped and we're going to continue to try the right now my biggest concern is the uh winter feed supply for our livestock uh because the grass hasn't grown and then come uh next spring when we do start getting moisture that if we've lost any pastures totally uh you know the grass is totally dead I mean a lot of time grass goes dormant in a drought then it comes back uh you don't have the have the grass to feed the animals that year but uh next year they they come back but there's going to be some areas of the state that where the grass totally dies and I want to make sure that we have some way to help with reeding cuz I don't want those uh good grass ma pastures to come back into a lot of weeds and then that then hinders the farmer the next year as he tries to uh uh grow his livestock it slows the growth we you know we just need to do everything we can to for the healthy soil you know because a lot of weedy soils also causes a lot of erosion and you know you're in Eastern Panhandle you're in the Chesapeake Bay Area we've done a great job in the Chesapeake Bay uh meeting the 2025 goals and we're the first date to meet them and we're ahead of everybody else and I want to make sure that we stay that way and we don't want to go take a step back what is and I was about to ask about livestock Farms because we think drought we think fruits vegetables but livestock is a big issue too and you just addressed that what's the Farm Service Agency Kent and uh why would people want to register with that well the USDA Farm Service agent is it like I just said it's part of the US Department of Agriculture they have the emergency programs majority of the emergency programs that are being executed to help farmers pay for their loss um it doesn't cover 100% but it covers some of it the other so it's important that the farmers register with the Farm Service Agency get familiar with the programs and get get involved uh with with them the programs are going to help them relieve some of the pain that they're suffering and at the same time you when you tell that data and you do your registration and tell the FSA what's going on that goes into the national uh weather observe observation folks and that data then helps determine whether you're in a D3 or D4 D4 being the worst drought there is which is where part those Three Counties I mentioned earlier are and that data and the higher the the drought level kicks in more programs uh for funding and and for assistance so it's very important that our Farmers register with the FSA tell them what's going on get start signing up and the FSA is doing a great job they're trying to go out and examing everything and get this right and I ask everybody just to be a little bit patient not not only with them but everybody in the agricultural support business a little bit of patience like I said this is a drought of a lifetime uh it's new to a lot of us uh we're learning as we go along and a little bit of patience would go a long way and we'll get done and I've got faith in the West Virginia farmer we're going to come back from this you know we were growing agriculture until this drought hit it's going to set us back a little bit you know let's let's be real about it but the plans and the programs that we have in place for a normal year are going to help us uh bounce back I've got faith in our in our industry are there any crops which have survived the drought better than others uh that's a good question it's it's been more of a regional issue on you know how much water we've gotten and and the management practices of the individual farmer um you know I've gone by places down in greenb County where the corn is above my head uh and then I go to by places uh where the corn is short all in the same county a lot of it's the timing of the of the planting uh and when the moisture hit that the moisture we did get hit just like it did at Apples it hit it hit at the right time one grower told me yesterday hit that you know that hurricane rain we got hit at just the right time and their apples look good can't we appropriated some money in this last session for your new a lab can you talk a little bit about that and where you are in the process is that uh is that started well we still have to have further discussion on that um you know I'm I'm fully supportive of West Virginia State University um I want them to succeed I'm excited when people want to do agriculture uh at our higher institutions and teach more folks about agriculture um we're still in the planning stages uh on how that's all going to work out and what exactly does for those that don't know what does an AG lab actually do for you for your department well we do a lot of consumer protection um part of our Labs test the soft stered ice cream that you enjoy at uh various fast food restaurants to make sure it's safe we test your pet food uh the pet food companies pay a fee to the state of West Virginia and then when pet food is sold uh we get a get a a little fee and then we go out and we sample these pet foods to make sure that what's on the label is actually on the label so the label is correct so like if you go to your veterinarian your veterinarian says make sure this animal has at least 14% protein in its diet when you read that label that you get that 14% so it's a consumer protection uh a lot of consumer protection uh we test and I have uh pulled uh various Products off the shelf for not being label compliant uh we have actually uh had Farmers you know we'll test lime and fertilizer and if the fertilizer isn't what the farmer thought he was getting that company will then end up reimbursing the farmer uh for the uh shortage in in the ingredients uh within the fertilizer so there's a lot of consumer protection uh it's it's paid for by fees from the industry uh not necessarily taxpayer dollars uh we have our own Meat Inspection program uh which I would rather have a West Virginia inspecting things than a a bureaucrat I've got Cooperative agreements with the USDA and FDA on a lot of things so that we have West Virginia uh working with our our producers uh and we want to bring them into and a lot of the regulations are federal but we want them to we want to educate and bring them into compliance before we do any penalizing and it's a lot easier if I'm doing it with West Virginia than having somebody from Washington come out Kent I want to thank you very much for your time this morning and let you know that I will volunteer to be your soft serve ice cream taste tester if there's an issue there one way or the other just give me a call I got you covered unless it's bad I'll keep that in mind unless it's bad yeah uh good to talk with you again today Ken thanks so much oh thank you so much for having me on and uh you know just pray for more rain and steady rain indeed sir have a great day thank you so much