Agriculture & Natural Resources
Welcome
Berkeley County is home to many small farms producing diverse commodities from fruit to honey, grain to meat, and dairy to poultry. Diverse farming operations offer diverse habitats of fields and hedgerows, orchards and woodlands for area wildlife to live, forage and rear young. Whether you are a back yard gardener, an orchardist, or a farmer, our focus is to be your local connection to up-to-date agricultural information. Scroll to bottom of page for links to external agriculture organizations and agencies in the local area.
Berkeley County by the numbers from the USDA 2017 Census of Agriculture:
Number of farms: 946Land in farms: 73,134 acres
Market Value of Products Sold: $25,909,000
State Ranking in Apple Production: 1
County Population: 122,076 (2020 Census)
Square Miles: 32
Lawn, Gardening & Pests
Get a yard that feels and looks like home. Get a bountiful harvest. Grow your own and sow something beautiful. WVU Extension has lawn, gardening and pests information you can use.
This Month in the Garden Calendar
The Magic of Mulching
Mulch is any material used to cover, protect and enhance the soil around growing plants. Having a good layer of mulch on the garden provides a multitude of benefits for growing vegetation.
Mulching reduces watering needs by preventing evaporation of water from the soil surface. It saves time by providing a weed-preventing barrier, and it can even reduce disease pressure by stopping bacteria in the soil from splashing up on lower leaves during rain or watering.
Eastern Panhandle News
Martinsburg Gardening Workshop March 22
Join the Berkeley-Jefferson WVU Extension Master Gardener Association for a morning of gardening workshops to kick off the 2024 growing season. This year, the program will include nine sessions to choose from, with topics geared towards beginner gardeners, intermediate gardeners, and advanced gardeners.
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., doors open at 8:30 a.m.