Sterling-based JK Moving Services founder Chuck Kuhn is the largest single landowner in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Some of that land is used as data center development, most of which is land his family has purchased and put into conservatorship. But 150 acres is a farm run almost entirely by volunteers that produces food for food-insecure causes in the D.C. region.
The JK Community Farm, in Purcellville, marks its fifth anniversary with a milestone of donating one million pounds of food produced on the farm to local food assistance partners.
“A million pounds of produce would be a football field, filled end-zone to end-zone, with a layer of a variety of produce,” said Samantha Kuhn, executive director of JK Community Farm.
In its first year, the farm grew 50,000 pounds of food. Last year, it donated 248,000 pounds of crops and protein. In addition to produce, the farm raises animals, including cattle, elk and venison.
The farm distributes food through Loudoun Hunger Relief, Food for Others, Arlington Food Assistance Center and D.C. Central Kitchen among others, but it took a couple of years to figure out what its food assistance partners and the families they serve wanted.
“Our first year we grew what we liked, and then we quickly realized that the people we serve aren’t all like us. Swiss chard. People really do not enjoy Swiss chard,” Samantha said. “We also had a lot of families that were unable to eat pork due to religious beliefs, so we reduced our pork donations and increased beef and eggs.”
The farm now produces 56 varieties of produce. It regularly surveys the people and partners it serves, and the No. 1 requested item is peppers. Last season, the farm planted more than 20,000 pepper plants.
The farm has only three full-time employees. The rest are all volunteers, and there are a lot of volunteers, growing from about 200 in the first year to 5,300 volunteers during last year’s planting, growing and harvesting seasons.
Many of those volunteers are city folk.
“The fresh air is definitely amazing for people,” Samantha said. “You get a great workout while you’re there. The view is incredible and it is fun. You get to come out with your friends, your family or your coworkers.”
Chuck Kuhn’s JK Moving Services is a major donor. The farm’s other big donors include Truist Bank, Charlson Bredehoft Cohen & Brown, Joseph E. Roberts Charitable Trust, Joyce Van Lines and Virginia Easement Exchange.
The farm is open to the public, and operates tours and educational programs throughout the year as well.
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