[ambient music] CECIL SHELL: Years ago from the 60s and into the 90s and so forth, you had lots of farmers.

Every farm in this area had tobacco, but they were small acreage.

Five acres or so is basically what you had.

And you might have 10.

And the average family, that was just about all they could take care of.

But today there's few farms, and like 100 or 200 acres, but you don't have many of them.

You don't have, but about, I'd say, around five farmers.

You don't have the small acreage farmers anymore, as far as tobacco.

They're basically gone.

I like the farming.

I sort of want to keep it into farming if I can.

Maybe the children are on down the road if farming is not profitable.

They might say, well, we want to have a solar farm.

And I guess it all boils down to I need some money, and what can I do to make a profit?

I guess we'll just have to see how it pans out down the road.

[music playing] Kenbridge is small it used to have a lot of tobacco warehouses and not many factories in there.

So the thing is it's not growing a lot.

They're mostly country.

When I was growing up, all of the work that was done on the farm, we had mules and horses.

I think my dad was probably the first that was into farming.

My granddad, he worked I think at a place where they had mules and horses, and whatnot.

And I think he took care of them.

When I was about five or six years old, I can remember following my mom and sisters to where they were tying tobacco.

The photo was taken at our home farm.

My dad and granddad, Thomas Shell and Waverly Shell, and they're standing in the front of one of the old barns where you cured your tobacco.

And actually, they are holding a stick of tobacco and a bundle of tobacco that has been cured.

Sort of taking my hat off to the older generation.

Being the president of the Community Center for almost 30 years.

It's a joy in meeting people.

I mostly know quite a few people in the county, all the neighbors around.

And my wife might say that I probably talk a little bit too much, but I guess it's just in me.

If I see somebody, I'm going to try to smile.

And I just enjoy people.

So we need to be thinking about the total acreage that we would be looking at for the canning over a number of years, and then we need to be thinking about the size of the projects that could come in, because a large project won't come in and take all of the acreage.

In serving on with USDA and served on that State Board in Richmond for - I served under President Bush and Obama and back now again serving on it.

And you learn a lot and you meet a lot of people.

And on the tobacco commission, that was a great experience, you see where funds are going.

They've gone throughout the state.

And you help a lot of communities.

Years ago, the tobacco industry was really booming in Kenbridge.

And I would say in the '60s, and the Imperial Processing and the tobacco factory, they actually brought in the tobacco that was harvested.

And they processed it.

A lot of people from different areas came to work in Lunenburg County.

My wife's grandmother and a lot of the people worked in those factories.

And I mean, it was-- because most of the people in this area were on the farm and they raised tobacco.

And then when the industries came, and the other industries that sort of faded out and then the tobacco, factories moved on.

[music playing] - Thank you.

- All right.

TAYLOR NEWTON KING: Cecil is one of my planning commissioners and he's a huge asset.

He's a wealth of knowledge.

He takes the time to review these applications, because he doesn't want to see the negative impacts that they could have on the county, not just now, but for generations to come.

And he's aware of how a lot of the land was used for agriculture.

And he still uses his for agriculture.

CECIL SHELL: I'm hoping that it'll work out for everybody.

And hoping that they won't cause any type of erosion or, you know, anything to the soil.

And even with the soil, hopefully, it'll help out and bring in income to the county.

[music playing] TAYLOR NEWTON KING: And so that will be a revenue generator for the county, and then also it will change how the actual real estate is taxed, because it won't be just agriculture at that point.

They will also have the fencing that will be taxed, and any other machinery, and tools or equipment that the solar facility uses.

[music playing] CECIL SHELL: The profit margin, basically, years ago, people did it themselves.

When you had a family and they raised that crop, they got to actually make ends meet with the few outside jobs that they would have.

Whereas today, the profit in the back is not real great.

The few that are left, that are tobacco farming, there might be five or six that are around in the area.

And 5 acres was average.

And if somebody had 10 acres years ago, they had a lot of tobacco.

Now, 100 acres is not a real large farmer.

A lot of them have 200, 250 acres, and some might have more.

But if 10 or 15 acres of tobacco now is not going to be enough profit in there for you to make a good living.

And equipment is sky high.

The combines of the day, and you start at $250, $300, $400,000.

And if you don't have enough acres, you can't afford to buy the equipment.

Yeah I think I started coming here when I was like 13 and I've been here ever since.

My mom.

The next one over is my dad, Sterling.

My parents and ancestors and so forth, they really had to work hard to get the property.

And hopefully we can generate enough funds and income that, you know, my children can stay on the property and-- and enjoy it, and still make a living.

[music playing] If you don't enjoy farming, it's a miserable life because you're not going to want to get up and you're not going to want to get out there in the dirt.

[music playing] Oh man, I tell you, you'd have a hard time running me off.

[music playing] I guess, each generation might want change.

In some instances, it might be for survival, you know.

Where can I get the most money for my land?

And I guess there are going to be lots of times that some people are going to go into solar because they can get a profit from it, but I guess, personally, I just enjoy working the land.

And not saying that I wouldn't go solar, but right now I'm still farming.

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