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Where the Seeds of Change for Farmers Took Root
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Oregon knocked Virginia off that perch, Carpenter recalled. In the mid-1970s, the U.S. Agriculture Department's experimental complex in Beltsville developed an orchard grass seed called Potomac.
They should have called it Columbia. "They sent it out to Oregon, and farmers found they could grow it at a heavy profit compared to other grasses. By 1980, it crowded Virginia orchard grass off the market," Carpenter said. "I don't know of a single person saving [Virginia] orchard grass seed today. We have four or five varieties out of Oregon now."
More competition in the seed-cleaning business came from drug companies such as Bayer, DuPont and Monsanto. They produced genetically engineered seed that could withstand weed killers and insects, then patented it to be used only once. They had their own growers. The benefits of using genetically altered seed outweighed the costs, which were often double that charged by local seed-cleaning operations.
In the early 1990s, Carpenter's accountant told him it was time to sell the business. He did so in 1998, after more than 60 years of work. He continued to manage it until 2007.
For more reading, see Eugene Scheel's column "How Purcellville Grew Into Orchard Grass Capital," in the May 16, 2004, Loudoun Extra.
Eugene Scheel is a historian and mapmaker who lives in Waterford.
