Agriculture 2025: LOHR, MATTHEW J.

With a combined annual economic impact of more than $105 billion, agriculture and forestry provide more than 490,000 jobs in Virginia. Lohr’s office and its three agencies oversee these industries among other duties, including supporting rural economic development.

Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry since January 2022, Lohr previously served as a three-term state delegate, as commissioner of the Virginia Department

of Agriculture and Consumer Services and as chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. He also worked as knowledge center director for agricultural lender Farm Credit of the Virginias.

A fifth-generation farmer, Lohr and his two children own and operate Valley Pike Farm in Broadway. The Virginia Tech graduate previously taught middle school agriscience in Shenandoah County for two years. In 2024, he received the Outstanding Alumni Career Achievement Award from Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ alumni organization.

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT ME: I love adventure. I went skydiving with my two kids when they each turned 18.

INTERESTING PLACES I’VE TRAVELED: The Philippines, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France during the last four years.

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