ST. CROIX — The spotlight was placed on farmers of the year in three categories during the opening ceremony of the 52nd annual Agriculture and Food Fair Saturday at the Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture’s Rudolph Shulterbrandt Agricultural Complex in Estate Lower Love.
As the three-day celebration of food, farm animals, craft vendors and educational exhibits kicked off during Presidents’ Day weekend under the theme, “Agriculture: Our Future and so much more in 2024,” attendees slowly made their way to the fairgrounds as attendance started out low. The crowds grew in the afternoon on Saturday, reaching the peak on Sunday before winding down on Monday.
“That’s the way it always is; Sunday is always our greatest,” said Willard John, a 25-year veteran member of the Agriculture and Food Fair board who returned to help organize this year’s event after taking a couple years off.
John, who said the number of attendees is still being tallied, noted Agrifest traditionally draws a crowd of between 25,000 to 30,000 people during the three-day weekend, with about 13,000 attending on Sunday.
The sense of excitement from screaming children spinning round and round was absent this year as there were no fair rides.
“We were unable to negotiate a deal with the owner of the rides,” John said.
While the rides have always provided an extra activity, John stressed that the focus of the annual event is on agriculture and culture.
“We want the kids to focus on learning about agriculture and learning about our culture, so not having the rides in my mind is not hurting us,” he said, noting more children visited The Children’s Museum of St. Croix pop-up tent. “I’m happy about that because now the kids get to play and learn simultaneously.”
Agrifest provided a venue for farmers to sell their crops and value-added products. Although some booths inside the farmers market were empty, most were filled by farmers from St. Croix, as well as those who traveled from St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Grenada.
Bobby Peets, a member of the Virgin Islands Farmers Alliance who owns Ambee’s Farm in Estate Lower Love, said he sold a lot of his produce while speaking about the importance of participating in Agrifest.
“It means a lot to me; a lot of exposure with the different crops I’m growing,” he said, noting some customers didn’t realize cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage grow locally.
While John pointed out overall attendance might have appeared low since people come and go throughout the day and the massive grounds are so spread out, he acknowledged a decline in the number of farmers who sold produce this year.
“I think there’s been less than in the past, and that’s for a number of reasons,” he said, noting potential travel issues with visiting farmers as well as a possible decline of local farmers following last year’s drought.
In addition to the farmers market, the annual event showcased educational exhibits created by students, farm animals, arts and crafts, clothing, and food vendors. There was quelbe music and quadrille dancing, entertainment by Guardians of Culture Moko Jumbies, and a diverse lineup of live bands each day.
One of the most anticipated parts of Saturday’s opening ceremony was the announcement of the farmers of the year in three categories — crops, livestock and beekeeping. Judges select the farmers of the year using a point system while visiting major farms, considering everything from the products used to record-keeping mechanisms.
Sue Lakos, Agrifest director of Livestock Exhibits, said the opening ceremony is predictable until the farmers of the year are recognized because their names are unknown to the community.
“We keep that as secret as we can keep it until we get to this point, so it adds a little suspense,” she said during the opening ceremony.
This year’s honorees were crop farmer Charles Burton, livestock farmer Francisco Tirado, and beekeeper Stephen Charles.
Crop farmer of the year:
Burton, who teaches woodworking at St. Croix Career and Technical Education Center, spends his time out of the woodshop in the carefully cultivated fields of his farm in Estate Grove Place.
“It was always a part of my life,” he said about farming on Saturday while walking through his 5-acre plot of farmland located behind Eulalie R. Rivera PreK-8 School that he has leased from the Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture for the past 20 years.
Burton, who was raised on his father’s farm in Dominica, has a deep-rooted passion for planting, growing, and harvesting crops. He stores captured rainwater in multiple containers in addition to piping in water from a nearby pond to grow a variety of produce that he sells to grocery stores and directly to customers. He grows plantains, papaya, sweet peppers, peas, bitter melon, yams, legumes, kale, pumpkin, and passion fruit.
“Farming is a way of life,” he said.
Burton embraces sustainable farming — planting crops of the same kind at different stages to have year-round growth while interplanting other types of produce. He incorporates nitrogen-fixing plants like legumes to rejuvenate his augmented soil, which he developed to be fertile by adding nutrients, leaves and burnt ashes. He uses cardboard and dead palm fronds to make natural mulch and protect the soil from getting dried out by the sun.
“This is a farming enterprise,” he said. “Farming gives you the opportunity to diversify.”
Burton, who was previously honored as farmer of the year at Agrifest in 2019, said it felt good to receive the recognition again.
“It lets you know that you’re the top dog,” he said.
Livestock farmer of the year:
Tirado, who was born into an agricultural family in Puerto Rico, moved with his family to St. Croix as a teenager and never left. He has been taking care of his Senepol cattle, goats and sheep for the past six years on a 15-acre plot of land in Estate Castle Burke that he leases from the Department of Agriculture. He now has seven cattle, 17 goats and 89 sheep that he raises to slaughter. He also has two turkeys, a male and female, as well as a variety of fruit trees.
After planting peppers and banana trees at his residence, Tirado expanded his agricultural operation to livestock when he leased his farmland. As he stood on his farm Wednesday, Tirado whistled to call his sheep in from the pasture for feeding.
Tirado, who speaks little English, has been married to his wife, Evelyn, for 36 years. They have five children, and 13 grandchildren. Their daughter, Ruth Colon, was at the farm Wednesday to interpret to English from Spanish as her father discussed his farming operation. He also spoke about what it meant to him to be honored as livestock farmer of the year.
“It feels good to be recognized,” he said. “It continues to inspire me and lets me know I’m doing a good job.”
Beekeeper of the year:
While crop and livestock farmers have traditionally been recognized during the annual Agrifest, the beekeeper acknowledgement started last year.
“Everybody know bees are important,” Lakos said. “They’ve been kind of passed by the wayside a long time but without bees, there is no food. Think about it. Everything that grows has to be pollinated at some point. Our pollinators are very important to this world, so we started the beekeeper of the year.”
Charles, a Crucian who spent his young childhood in St. Lucia before his family relocated back to St. Croix, started keeping beehives about 10 years ago after retiring from his 22-year career with the Virgin Islands Air National Guard as a senior master sergeant. He said he was “humbled” and “grateful” to be recognized as beekeeper of the year.
“It was rather exciting to receive the award,” he said Wednesday from his property in Estate Carlton, where he has more than 250 hives in wooden boxes to help protect them from weather and animals. “It took a lot of work getting where I got to in the short period of time that I’ve actually been messing with bees.”
Charles said there are three types of bees in the territory, but noted that 99.5% of them are Africanized honeybees, also known as “killer bees.” They are a hybrid honeybee resulting from the accidental release of African honeybees into the Western Hemisphere in 1957 and their subsequent crossbreeding with European honeybees. Charles imports European bees to let novice beekeepers understand how timid they are and easy to work with compared to the Africanized bees, which are known for their rigorous defense of their colonies and tendency to swarm.
“These bees are so aggressive, if you only touch the boxes,” Charles said. “You don’t even have to open the boxes. They’re gonna come out full force.”
Charles said the bees are not trapped inside the boxes, allowing them freedom to make one of the sweetest types of honey he has ever tasted worldwide. He sells his honey locally and even exports some to other islands.
“They don’t produce the honey,” he said, clarifying they collect nectar from trees to make it. “They’re hardworking bees.”
When it comes to removing beehives from residential properties, Charles stressed the need to call on an expert to ensure safety, as well as to protect the bees. He discussed their importance to the ecosystem.
“Without bees you have no pollination,” he said. “We do have a lot of fruit trees on the island, and without the bees, we wouldn’t have any fruits, we wouldn’t have any food, so it’s a definite key thing to have them on the island so that they can pollinate.”
