Grown Here at Home: Botetourt County farmer says local support is key to food supply

BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - According to a report from the USDA, Virginia lost about 400 farms in 2025. The price of fuel, fertilizer and feed, among other costs, has gone up significantly, and some farmers are finding it hard to keep up.

Tom Williamson is the owner of Williamson Farms in Botetourt County. He says, “When you have input prices that are higher, you have land prices that are creeping up, equipment prices that are higher than you’d ever thought possible, it starts to kind of take a toll on you and you really start to worry.”

The economic pressure farmers are feeling is immense. Some farmers are folding their operations. That’s why Williamson says supporting your local farmer is ciritical in securing our food supply.

“During COVID, we saw a lot of the industrial food system kind of fall apart and people had to all of a sudden start relying on more and more farms that are local to them,” Williamson said. “And that proves that the local farmer really is resilient, and diversified farms, are a very resilient type of agriculture.”

Williamson said investing in local farms keeps a farm operation going and directs money toward the local community.

“We want to help out the little league teams, we want to help out our neighbors, which is really important,” Williamson said.