Last month, Farm Aid and a film crew visited five farms across Virginia to meet with farmers and hear their stories.We wrote about that experience and shared photos from that trip in this post, but now we can share the videos below produced and directed by Susan Steiner.
These Virginia farmers share their stories about their pride growing food for their communities, challenges they face from the expansion of data centers, the balance of working off-farm while raising animals and much more.
Most of us understand that farming is hard work, but the extent to which it is not just a job, but a way of life and how farmers balance their work with other responsibilities–from family and friends to off-farm jobs and making time to care of their own selves–it can only truly be understood by walking in that farmer’s boots. — Jennifer Fahy, Farm Aid Co-Executive Director
These stories aired at Farm Aid 2026 during our press event, where artists and the farmers featured in these videos came together on stage to share their stories and their visions for agriculture.
Creekmore’s Place
When it came time for retirement, Virginia Beach teacher Sharon Creekmore Mosley didn’t slow down. She and her husband Dion became farmers, carrying on the legacy begun by Sharon’s parents in 1964 to feed Virginia Beach with local food. Honored last year with the farmer of the year award from the Virginia State University Small Farm Outreach Program, Sharon and Dion are rooted in their Virginia Beach community and looking ahead to the next generation who will keep the family legacy alive.
Cartwright Family Farms
Derek and Brittany Eason raise hogs for local markets on land passed down through Derek’s family. They produce high-quality meat that has dense nutritional value and prioritizes the health of the pigs, their land and the people their hard work feeds. As young farmers, raising a family and working off-farm (like most farmers do), their challenges are frequent and many. Prioritizing their own health and that of their family is a key to their success.
Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture
Renee Foster, a retired Navy veteran, is the founder of Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture, an urban farm with a mission to address food insecurity in Newport News and provide a place to grow community. In addition to engaging the people in its neighborhood, Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture provides a respite for enlisted military members and veterans looking to find peace and purpose.
Sunnyside Farms
As Tina French puts it, she married into agriculture, becoming part of a multigenerational century farm in Cumberland, Virginia. Sunnyside Farms has changed through the generations, and Tina says it was during the COVID pandemic that they came to truly understand their value to the community. They focused on their bread and butter: growing fresh produce sold directly to their customers at local fresh air markets and cultivating relationships and trust along the way.
Carter Farms
Michael Carter Jr. is the fifth generation to steward his family land in Unionville, Virginia, with his young sons in line to join him as the sixth generation. But a proposed transmission line tied to the region’s growing data center industry threatens the future of his farm, and farms across the region from West Virginia to Maryland. Michael is working to make sure his family’s land, history and agricultural legacy aren’t lost forever.
