Judging by the sight of tens of thousands of people sauntering through the V.I. Agriculture and Food Fair in Estate Lower Love over the three-day holiday weekend, the smell of mouth-watering local food and a soundtrack supplied by local bands, the 30th installment of the annual event was by all accounts a success.
On Monday, the third and final day of the fair, Agriculture Commissioner Henry Schuster estimated that some 50,000 people passed through the gates of the fairgrounds to check out everything from livestock -– 1,500-pound Senepol cattle to fuzzy yellow chicks –to locally grown plants, fresh food and drink, and to just catch up with old friends.
Along with those venerable attractions came another Virgin Islands standby – politics. On Saturday, the opening day of the fair, Kirk Ajamu Benoit was selected as the Farmer of the Year. Upon collecting his $5,000 check and other assorted goodies from Gov. Charles Turnbull, Benoit blasted the government for not putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to agriculture.
The 41-year-old, originally from Trinidad, has farmed the uniquely flat lands of St. Croix for some 18 years. But in order for farming on the Big Island to be truly successful, he said, "the agriculture budget must be improved" from its current $3 million to $5 million.
"Farmers have limited resources," Benoit said. "Talk gets us nowhere. Action speaks louder than words."
And unlike water and funding, there wasn’t a shortage of words on Saturday. Guest speaker Sen. Adelbert Bryan, who often notes his farming abilities, criticized the selection of Benoit as Farmer of the Year, saying essentially that the award was a gift.
Turnbull, though, nipped that notion in the bud. "It was disrespectful of (Bryan) to . . . attack the Farmer of the Year," Turnbull said. "He’s no phony. He’s a real farmer."
Along with many improvements to the fairgrounds this year, the facility has been named in honor of Rudy Shulterbrandt, founder of the fair in 1971. Shulterbrandt served as Agriculture commissioner from 1969 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1983.
