Our Members

Ms. Shelley Barlow

Mrs. Shelley Butler Barlow of Suffolk, Virginia, is the President of the Board of Directors for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services (VDACS). She is co-owner of Cotton Plains Farm, Inc., a multi-generational family farming operation. A 1982 Virginia Tech graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, Shelley has worked in various segments of agriculture since graduation, including hog production, feed sales, pharmaceutical sales, veterinary medicine, and row crop and vegetable farming. She is also the Garden Coordinator for Healthy Suffolk, a local non-profit that supports community and school gardens. Barlow is a 2016 fellow of Virginia Agriculture Leaders Obtaining Results (VALOR). In addition to her VDACS board position, Barlow represents Virginia’s cotton industry on The Cotton Board, is the Suffolk USDA Farm Service Agency county committee chair, and serves on the Virginia Farm Bureau’s AgPac Board of Trustees and Cotton Advisory Board. Shelley was Virginia Farm Bureau’s 2010 Farm Woman of the Year.

Ex officio – President of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (not appointed by Governor)