Loudoun Now
Loudoun’s Rural Leaders Launch New Ag School
How best to protect the area’s thousands of acres of farmland from development has been a decades-long debate in Loudoun County, often battled out in board rooms and late-night committee meetings.
Now, the men and women who lead some of the county’s most successful rural businesses say that part of the solution is found in raising up the next generation of farmers.
This week, they announced the New Ag School, a tuition-free certificate program that will provide mentorship to farm employees, as well as hands-on training in everything from horticulture to hospitality to prepare them to grow Loudoun County’s rural economy.
“We are teaching people that you don’t have to stare at a computer all day to make a living,” said Doug Fabbioli, New Ag School board member and owner of Fabbioli Cellars. “We are teaching farming.”
