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ditures and fees paid to the cooperative would probably exceed costs being incurred by the farmers now.
Dave Robeshaw, a marketing expert from the Virginia Department of Agriculture, described the benefits of the “Virginia’s Finest” program, and supported the cooperative idea from the standpoint of concentrating production levels to meet market demands. In response to questions, Robeshaw stated that the Agriculture Department had no statistics showing a comparison of income to farmers who operate within a cooperative versus those who do not.
Mac McCall, Muskrat Haven Farm, Amissville, said in a follow up interview that he was not interested in the cooperative plan at all. “The whole idea looked like it was unprepared and didn’t have much future.” Instead, McCall, like many county growers, operates on a “neighbor-helping-neighbor” basis, and sees no reason to invest in additional, more expensive facilities that might even be empty a large part of the year.
Broad Run farmer Sabry Alsharkawi thought that “bringing up the issue of a farmers’ cooperative was a good idea,” but that now was
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