Agriculture in Loudoun County, Virginia, is much more than vineyards. There are more than 1,200 individual farms in the county, and some of them are participating in the Loudoun Spring Farm Tour May 20 and 21.
Loudoun County ranks No. 1 in Virginia for its acres of grapes, the amount of hops grown, the amount of honey collected and sold, and the number of alpacas and llamas.
The 122,000 acres in agricultural use in Loudoun County include beer, wine, cheese, wool, hay, hogs and goats, with a total annual market value of almost $44 million.
There are some unexpected farms in Loudoun County as well.
“We have several mushroom farms. There are farms in Loudoun County that are growing citrus. You don’t normally find that this far north,” said Buddy Rizer, executive director at Loudoun County Economic Development, which is sponsoring the farm tour.
The county is also home to Highland Heritage cattle, a type of long-haired cow native to the Scottish Highlands.
Loudoun County also leads the Commonwealth for farm owners who are women, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian, and military veterans.
All of the farms participating in the tour next weekend — there are more than three dozen of them — will also have educational components for visitors, some of which are interactive.
“We have wagon ride tours, fiber spinning classes and honey bee demonstrations. Each farm has something a little bit different,” Rizer said.
There will also be animals to pet and food to eat. Farm tour goers aren’t likely to come home empty-handed.
“We see people who are coming in and buying baskets of fruit and baskets of vegetables,” Rizer said, referring to previous Loudoun County farm tours.
The tour will be held rain or shine, and most participating farms will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Full information about the farm tour, including a map of farm locations, is available online.
