Bill Text: VA HR329 | 2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending Yoders' Farm.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-03-06 - Bill text as passed House (HR329ER) [HR329 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HR329-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, Yoders' Farm, a family-owned farm in Rustburg, has provided delicious tomatoes and other fresh produce to local residents and visitors while building a strong sense of community in the region for over 70 years; and
WHEREAS, Yoders' Farm was established in 1952 and operated primarily as a dairy farm until 1994, when Ernest and Lovina Yoder turned dairy production over to their son, Delvin, and started growing hydroponic tomatoes; and
WHEREAS, Yoders' Farm initially sold most of its tomato crop on the wholesale market, but as word spread about the farm's juicy, homegrown tomatoes, retail sales began to expand rapidly; Delvin Yoder and his wife, Barbara, subsequently built a larger greenhouse and added a salesroom to accommodate on-farm customers; and
WHEREAS, in 2011, Yoders' Farm ceased its dairy operations to focus on tomato production and expanding its customer base; the farm maintains a herd of beef cattle, along with soybeans, corn, and other crops; and
WHEREAS, Barbara Yoder manages the Yoders' Farm store, which offers the farm's signature tomatoes and other produce, along with jams, jellies, pickles, honey, and other country products, and Barbara and Delvin's sons, Lowell and Eldon, have also joined the family business; and
WHEREAS, Lowell Yoder and his wife, Juanita, are responsible for the farm's strawberry crop and help host pick-your-own strawberry events in the summer, while Eldon Yoder handles communications and designs and cuts the farm's 12-acre corn maze, which is a defining feature of the farm's annual fall festivities; and
WHEREAS, the Yoder family have been outstanding stewards of the Commonwealth's natural resources and have played a vital role in the region's agricultural economy; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Yoders' Farm hereby be commended for more than 70 years of contributions to agriculture in Campbell County; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Delvin Yoder and the Yoder family as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for the long history of Yoders' Farm and the family's legacy of service to the community.
