Jerry Moles

Roanoke, VA

I spent decades as a college professor and consultant helping rural communities cultivate productive, income-generating and environmentally friendly agricultural businesses. I worked mostly on the West Coast and in Sri Lanka. But when my mother fell ill in 1999, I found myself back in my native Virginia to oversee her care.

Settling in there, I sought to continue my professional work in the watershed of my birth. Focusing on southwest Virginia’s largely agricultural Grayson County, where competition from corporate farming has threatened to overcome family farms, fragment the Appalachian landscape and destroy a rural way of life. I established Grayson LandCare in 2005, bringing the concept of “landcare” to the area.

Landcare is the practice of creating community-based groups of volunteers to work on conservation and food projects while protecting landscape and watersheds including indigenous native species. Our work is aimed at a “triple bottom line” – higher income, improved community services and a vibrant and healthy environment.

These efforts are now expanding with a new organization to facilitate multi-county participation. Farmers are cooperating producing grass-fed beef for high-end markets and producing sheep for medical genetic research. We’re being joined by surrounding states (North Carolina and West Virginia) in increasing productivity and quality to engage in high-value markets.  The advantage is that we have adequate rain and live within 500 miles of more than half of the people of the U.S.

My encore work shows that experience is key. I’ve been involved in rural development since before graduate school and, by working with communities, businesses, investors, state and federal agencies, universities and local governments, I bring an understanding of the “larger picture” and am able to find ways for diverse interests to collaborate, resulting in beneficial results for all involved.

(Jerry Moles was honored as an Encore.org Purpose Prize Fellow in 2012.)