“My mission is to reduce government regulations and to empower people to have the opportunities they see for themselves; and to empower more young people to go into food and farming overall, to improve the quality of our food production and to produce food more for our local communities.”
~ Roy Ramey, candidate for West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner
By Pete Kennedy
The work to establish the parallel food system needed to obtain optimal health will primarily take place at the state level. It is important to have state legislators to pass laws facilitating the production and distribution of nutrient-dense food; it is also critical to have the government officials who interpret and enforce those laws on the same page. A key state government position in promoting quality food is the Commissioner of Agriculture. In West Virginia, there is currently a race for this office that could have national implications for the local food movement.
Regenerative farmer and military veteran Roy Ramey is running for West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture and is seeking the Republican Party nomination; the primary is May 14. Ramey, whose campaign slogan is “Food Freedom is Freedom,” is running against current Commissioner Kent Leonhardt as well as another candidate, both of whom have raised over $100,000 for their respective campaigns. Ramey hasn’t taken in nearly as much money as the other candidates so far but still has a fighting chance to win; in 2020, he received 38% of the vote in the primary while spending just $3500, mostly out of his own pocket. He has run a tireless, low-budget, grassroots campaign in the 2024 race, going from sunup to sundown to communities across the state to attend meet-and-greets at farms, retail stores, pubs, and churches—staying with friends when he is on the road.
Ramey’s campaign platform is as pro-local-food as you can get. He supports unregulated farm-to-consumer direct food commerce (including raw milk), believing there are too many regulations at both the state and federal levels getting in the way of small-farm prosperity. He will change the law limiting administrative help from the state to farmers; his goal is to have a regulatory environment where farming can be local, regenerative, and profitable. He will be a public official who obeys and defends the Constitution, putting individual rights ahead of corporate interests.
Ramey as Ag Commissioner will work with the state legislature as well as Congress to change laws “which stifle innovation and free choice in healthy food options.” As Commissioner, Ramey can introduce legislation through allies in the state House; standing as an expert in the eyes of the legislature, bills that the Ag Commissioner initiates typically have a strong chance of passing.
Ramey will have the power to favorably impact small farms in other ways, such as issuing regulations, making policy, publishing guidance documents, and otherwise interpreting the law. If a federal law such as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is having a burdensome effect on West Virginia food producers, Ramey could refuse to enforce its requirements, leaving it up to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to do so. His power to interpret state law favorably for little Ag could be a key factor in rebuilding the state’s farm economy.
Currently, less than 10% of the food West Virginia residents consume is produced in the state. An important part of Ramey’s campaign platform is his pledge to place an emphasis on marketing West Virginia producers’ products and increasing production facilities in the state, especially slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. He supports what, in effect, is an intrastate COOL (country of origin labeling) law for meat products, where the animal must be born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the state in order for the meat to be labeled a product of West Virginia.
The state has lost 1,200 farms in just the past six years; Ramey’s primary goal is to turn that trend around. Aside from increasing the number of farms through the creation of as favorable a regulatory climate as possible, Ramey’s platform includes expanding the amount of land dedicated to agriculture by converting abandoned coal mines scattered throughout the state to farmland and increasing access to areas for forest farming (e.g., maple syrup and ginseng) in West Virginia.
Another power the West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner has is to educate the public about agriculture. Ramey plans to teach state residents about the benefits of regenerative agriculture by changing the farming practices on state-owned demonstration farms to a regenerative model and eliminating the use of herbicides and pesticides. He would hold educational workshops and work with youth organizations (such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America).
Ramey himself operates a diversified farm, producing pork, poultry, eggs, rabbit meat, maple syrup, mushrooms, and medicinal herbs as well as offering on-farm agro-education. To him, regenerative agriculture builds soil that provides a good foundation for plants and animals, leading to the creation of flavor and nutrient density in the food the farm produces. He was in the military for 33 years before starting up his farm—serving in the National Guard, active duty army, and army reserves. He is also an educator having taught military science at Marshall University; currently, he heads the Virginia Homeschool Association.
The race for West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner has national implications. Ramey looks on his candidacy as establishing a beachhead for regenerative agriculture in state government. His election could set a precedent and make it easier for candidates in other states who favor chemical-free farming, unregulated local food commerce, and small farm prosperity to get elected or appointed to a similar office. Ramey says his election can be a wildfire moving liberty across small states, and then onto midsize and large states.
Industrial agriculture doesn’t have as big a presence in West Virginia as it does in much of the rest of the country; Ramey’s election would galvanize the food freedom movement. With hyperinflation in food prices, the continuing decline in quality and transparency of food in the conventional system, and accelerating efforts to control the food supply, everyone has a stake in the West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner race.
Those interested in Roy Ramey’s campaign can learn more here or make a donation here.
Campaign Information:
Donate to Ramey for West Virginia
Checks or money orders made payable to “Roy Ramey for WV” can be mailed to:
Roy Ramey for WV
2704 Nine Mile Road
Lesage, WV 25537
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