By Lori Kersey

West Virginia Watch

https://westvirginiawatch.com

A new program at Shepherd University aims to help beginning farmers in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. The school’s Agricultural Small Business Incubator program is now accepting applicants for the 2026 growing season. 

The program will offer farming mentorship and up to a quarter acre of land to grow on, plus access to cold storage, greenhouse space, a tractor and other specialty equipment the farmers may be interested in trying out, said Molly Sutter, program coordinator. The program will also help farmers with business and marketing, infrastructure and irrigation. 

“We’re just trying to help out farmers,” Sutter said. “Everywhere, but especially in Jefferson County, there’s so much farmland that’s being developed mostly for housing and also planned data centers. We really want to support small farmers who want to farm.”

Program leaders say the ideal candidates are those with some experience farming and a business idea who don’t have land to grow on. 

“The idea is that they would maybe spend some time in this space, leasing land at a really inexpensive rate from us until they have their footing, and then they might want to go and get land of their own once they’re established and have some funds,” Sutter said. “Because the upfront cost of farming can be a lot with equipment and everything.”

According to the state Department of Agriculture, West Virginia has nearly 23,000 farms that cover 3.5 million acres. More than 90% of the state’s farms are family-owned and operated.

Brooke Comer, an assistant professor of environmental science and the program lead for the incubator, said there’s room for farm expansion in the state’s Eastern Panhandle, but there are barriers to getting started.

“The people that are interested in farming and kind of filling some of the void where there is additional need, oftentimes, if you’re not coming in as a generational farm and inheriting land, that is a major barrier to entry,” she said. “So the point of an incubator farm, more than anything, is to reduce those barriers to entry into farming.”

Beth Southern, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, said the agency is not aware of other farm incubators operating in the state, though there are other programs that support beginning farmers. 

“Programs like the farm incubator at Shepherd are exactly what we need to help grow the next generation of farmers in West Virginia,” state Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt said through an email from Southern. “Getting hands-on experience and guidance early on makes a big difference. It gives new producers the confidence and know-how to build successful operations. Agriculture is changing, and programs like this help young people bring new ideas to the table while keeping our farming traditions alive.”

Comer said the program doesn’t have a specific time limit in mind for how long farmers can work with the incubator, but it’s typically up to five years. 

“At that point you’ve grown your business to such a degree that you have your clientele base, you know that business plan and all the finances and could essentially graduate off the farm and either purchase or rent your own land that’s going to support that farm business,” Comer said. “That’s going to be easier to do now that you have all of that experience and that base of your marketing.”

The farm incubator takes up about 10 fenced acres of Shepherd’s Tabler Farm, which is about 160 acres. They’re also putting in an additional 40 acres for the possibility of rotating grazing animals, Comer said. 

The program is funded with a grant from the federal Small Business Administration. 

Comer said there will be educational opportunities at the farm, and farmers can also learn from each other.

“There’s so much benefit, I think, to growing side by side with other farmers that maybe are growing different things, so they have different techniques,” Comer said. “That way you’re expanding your knowledge and this grassroots kind of way.”

The farm incubator has enough space for 18 participants. Four people have applied for the program for next year so far. 

The application for the farm incubator program can be found at the school’s website. For more information, email Comer at bcomer@shepherd.edu or Sutter at msutter@shepherd.edu.