Endorsements, Opinion

Endorsement: Walt Helmick for agriculture commissioner

A Gazette editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Both candidates for West Virginia agriculture commissioner are knowledgeable public servants, but we like the direction incumbent Walt Helmick has taken the department, so we endorse him for re-election.

Helmick, a Democrat, was elected four years ago, and has grown into the job since. He sees specific opportunities for agricultural products grown in West Virginia to reach markets near and far.

For comparison, Helmick says, West Virginia consumes about $7.3 billion worth of food but grows only $1 billion. There is plenty of opportunity for West Virginia to close some of its own trade gap there, developing skills, products and workforce along the way.

 Under his leadership, the department has opened “aggregation centers” packaging plants that enable West Virginia farmers to get their products to market, nurturing these small growers and helping them to build a customer base.

Consumers have learned in recent decades to favor more wholesome nutritious food, from in-season fruits and vegetable to grass-fed beef and products free of hormones and antibiotics. These trends can favor small growers.

There are all kinds of potential products and markets — herbs, berries, hemp, marijuana, not to mention products manufactured from those ingredients. Helmick believes West Virginia potatoes have great potential to take over some demand now filled by Western states, and he has been studying North Carolina piglets being shipped to the Midwest to be raised and fattened and then sent to market.

These all seem like opportunities for West Virginians and good reasons to give Walt Helmick another term as agriculture commissioner.

See more from the Charleston Gazette-Mail. 

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

And get our latest content in your inbox

Invalid email address