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Last week, Julia Hillegass was announced as Suffolk’s new Agricultural Specialist working with the Economic Development Department. She said she hopes to focus more on agricultural education and increasing food accessibility. 

Hillegass said this is a “very exciting opportunity” and she’s “thrilled that Suffolk made the commitment to more aggressively promote agriculture.”

According to a press release from the city of Suffolk, Hillegass will continue building relationships with the city’s agriculture, forestry, and horticultural businesses while publicizing agrotourism and local farms. She will head agricultural marketing efforts, rural preservation initiatives, and work on partnerships between tourism and film industries to support Suffolk’s agricultural economy.

Hillegass said since she’s been in her position, she’s heard there’s a need for greater emphasis on agriculture education. She wants to implement more hands-on agricultural experience in schools, similar to what she’s familiar with in Smithfield — an Agriculture Land Lab where students grow produce and raise livestock for it to be used in the culinary program. 

“You’re getting the true farm-to-table experience right there in school,” Hillegass said. “That’s a hands-on experience that we don’t have here currently in Suffolk.”

She mentioned the possibility of implementing a program like this at the College and Career Academy at Pruden if they can get more agriculture teachers.   

Hillegass will also coordinate farm-to-table programs, which she said is one of her favorite topics.

“We have a lot of exciting restaurants here in Suffolk, and several of them I know have a good farm-to-table policy,” she said. “We’d like to expand that as well and make those offerings more available throughout the city.”

Hillegass also wants to focus on food accessibility and farmer’s markets. She wants to create a solution that allows people better access to high-quality, fresh produce. One idea she’s exploring is putting public markets in places with limited access to grocery stores. 

In regards to a permanent year-round farmer’s market, Hillegass said she “would certainly be open to that,” but it can also be controversial because investing in a year-long farmer’s market would be a capital expense for the city. 

“I think tourism is doing a great job with the farmers markets that we have right there at the Pavillion, and it may be an opportunity for us to help other locations with pop-up farmers markets,” she said.

Prior to working for Suffolk, Hillegass worked for the Virginia Dare Soil and Water Conservation District and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Most recently, she worked for Virginia Beach, coordinating their Agricultural Reserve Program, which she said was a “big milestone” in her career. She’s hopeful to develop a similar program in Suffolk.

Hillegass also studied rhetoric and communications at the University of Virginia, which she said aides in her agricultural career. 

“It helps to tell the great story [agriculture] has, from the economic driver perspective, as well as the other benefits of agriculture: open space preservation, improved water quality, just general good stewardship of our land,” she said. “I think that’s an important story for us to share.”