This Week's Guest: Donald Virts, CEA Farms
CEA, Who we are & What we do
Loudoun’s farming roots go deep—there’s a reason this county was called “The Breadbasket of the Revolution”—and no one is more in touch with those roots than the Virts family, who have lived and farmed here since 1797.
Owner Donald Virts comes from 12 generations of Virginia farmers. He keeps those traditions close to his heart even as he changes the game of Loudoun agriculture through forward-looking innovation. With development and high land prices presenting new challenges to Loudoun agriculture, these 12th-generation farmers are spearheading innovations to preserve a time-honored tradition.
This is CEA Farms. And it’s what Loudoun farming will look like from here on out.
We meet this week at 1757 Golf Club for lunch from 12:00pm - 1:15pm. Lunch is $20. Please let us know if you'd like to attend (we do need an accurate head count for lunch) and learn more about Rotary and the Ashburn club!
“Having been a traditional row crop farmer my whole life, and seeing firsthand the reliance on numerous chemicals used to grow crops in modern agriculture, I began to question the wisdom of putting so many chemicals in our bodies. That along with all of the economic challenges of farming in a county that’s experienced such growth, I knew I had to look at farming in a whole new way.”
That’s why Donald has been a pioneer in Loudoun agriculture, using cutting-edge technology to get more food from less land—and staying virtually chemical free in the process.
Donald’s commitment to sustainable farming extends to renewable energy, which will be incorporated into CEA Farms in the near future.