Photos by JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Barry Robinson teaches his final workshop Tuesday at the Montgomery County Government Center in Christiansburg.

Barry Robinson laughs with students of his apple tree grafting workshop at the Montgomery County Government Center in Christiansburg.

| Tonia Moxley

tonia.moxley@roanoke.com, 381-1675

He's known as the man with the smiling, red-bearded face wearing the fruit-themed necktie at the EastMont Tomato Festival.

And as the guy who often works past 5 p.m. on weekdays, and even on Saturdays if one of his many clients needs him.

But today marks the end of Barry Robinson's tenure as a Montgomery County agricultural extension agent, a position he has held since 2004.

In that time, Robinson has built a reputation as a horticulturist passionate about helping everyone get the most out of their patch of ground, whether from a farm that provides a livelihood or a backyard flower garden that produces pleasure.

His leaving has not only shocked and saddened the growers he has worked with for years, but in a time of shrinking state funding, it has added to a sense of uncertainty about the future of agricultural support services across Virginia.

Both Robinson and Alan Grant, dean of the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, confirmed that Robinson's leaving was involuntary and unrelated to recent budget cuts. But neither would comment on the details of the separation.

"This was a decision made quite some time ago," Grant said last week. "And I've supported the decision."

The state-funded extension program provides expert advice to farmers, livestock producers, home gardeners and other industry stakeholders. It is administered through Tech's agriculture college and is overseen by the dean.

Robinson said he will miss working with the growers, whose questions challenged him to increase his own knowledge of horticulture.

"It's discouraging to be 50 years old and looking for a job," he said. "But I'm hoping to make it into something positive."

The Roanoke County native said he hopes to find work helping spread the message of sustainable agriculture, his main interest, in Southwest Virginia. That would allow him to remain close to his parents and children, who live nearby.

News of Robinson's departure has stunned and angered many among the community of market gardeners and small farmers who vend at the Blacksburg Farmers Market.

When Phil Mosser of Shadowchase Farm found out, "I said, 'What? Barry, of all people?'"

Mosser and his wife, Mikie, run a grass-fed cattle and pig operation not far from Newport and have used Robinson's advice on berry and other crops they grow for their own table.

"He knows more than my agent," Mosser said.

"I know there are jobs that are unnecessary, but his is not one of them," said Ron Holdren, proprietor of Green Market, a Newport flower nursery and vegetable farm.

When a tomato blight devastated crops across the country last summer, Robinson provided updates to local farmers by e-mail and phone beginning in March, Holdren said.

"He was there from Day One," Holdren said. "I don't know the agent in Giles. He never calls."

Supporters say Robinson also excelled at tourism-related outreach, working to boost economic development initiatives such as Shawsville's annual tomato festival.

He not only has served as the good-natured tasting contest judge for three years, festival organizer Meredith Novak said. Robinson worked on the planning committee and helped find produce to supply to the festival.

"Barry has been a huge asset," Novak wrote in an e-mail.

Robinson's interest in horticulture began with 4-H, which he said he joined when he was about 10 years old.

The benefits of extension were also clear during his childhood, when an agent helped Robinson's family nurture a part-time truck farm that supplemented their income.

After working in agricultural research at Virginia Tech and as a landscape contractor, Robinson, in his 30s, went back to school to finish his horticulture studies. He was hired in the county's extension office in 2004, first as coordinator of the master gardener program and later as a full-time agent, a job he said he has loved.

Still, over the past three years as state budget cuts have severely pruned the extension program, it's been more and more difficult to serve his constituents, Robinson said.

And, with a down economy and shrinking state funding, the personal attention in which Robinson specialized likely will be harder to provide.

At the end of 2008, the service employed 244 agents working in 106 offices across the state. By the end of 2009, extension was down to 222 agents. Today the program employs 188, leaving some counties without a dedicated agent, Grant said.

"My concern is for the taxpayers who have paid for the service and aren't getting it," Robinson said. "I hope they get some help soon."

Robinson's departure will add to that gap.

In the short term, Grant said agents from Floyd and Giles counties will provide services to Montgomery residents.

One of those agents has two decades of experience, Grant said.

In the long term, he said, the Montgomery County position will go onto a list of extension vacancies to be filled as the budget allows.