by Caroline Campbell
Kirk Vanlandingham is a Northumberland County wheat, soybean and corn producer from a family that has been farming for generations.
“This was my grandfather’s farm,” said Vanlandingham. “My grandfather farmed his whole life here, after his parents farmed their whole lives before him.”
Vanlandingham, however, did not always work on the farm full time; after he graduated from high school he was employed as a small grains technician at the Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center. After three years of work and the encouragement of his professor, Vanlandingham enrolled in Virginia Tech where he graduated with a degree in agriculture business and technology. He then entered the workforce for several years with a company in Maryland, but eventually decided to return to Virginia.
Vanlandingham said his farm is still as much of a family business as it was decades ago….
