2008 PRESS RELEASES
February 29, 2008
CELEBRATE THE SUCCESS OF VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE
Contact: Elaine J. Lidholm, 804.786.7686
March 16 – 22, 2008 is Virginia Agriculture Week. If you're not reminded daily of the success of Virginia agriculture by the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the medicines you take, the flowers you plant, the wood products you use, the wine you drink, then take a moment right now to recognize the importance of this dynamic industry.
First, celebrate the beauty and bounties of Virginia's farmland. Did you know the average farm size in Virginia is 181 acres? An acre of the family farm is worth an average of $5,700. There are 46,800 farms in Virginia covering 8.5 million acres or 34 percent of Virginia's total land. Each Virginia farm creates about five additional off-farm private enterprise jobs in the state. The state's agriculture industry generates approximately 12.3 percent of all sales in the state and contributes about $19.5 billion annually to the gross state product.
Second, celebrate the driving force behind Virginia's agriculture industry - the farmer. The typical Virginia farmer is about 57 years old. About 28 percent of Virginia farm operators are female. Four percent are minority farmers. In the United States, one farmer provides food for 128 people (94 in the U.S. and 34 abroad). According to the American Farm Bureau, today it takes about 40 days for most Americans to earn enough income to pay for their food supply for an entire year. So, let's celebrate our farmers for planting, growing, tending, and harvesting the food and fiber that goes into almost everything we eat, wear and use.
Third, celebrate the diversity of Virginia agriculture. What do Virginia farmers produce? How about broilers, cantaloupes, cattle and calves, corn, grain and silage, cotton, eggs, fish, flowers, fruits, goats, hay, hogs, honey, horses, llamas, milk, mushrooms, nursery products, peanuts, potatoes, sheep and wool, small grains, soybeans, tobacco, trout, turkeys, vegetables, watermelons - and much, much more. Many of these products are further processed into items used in construction, transportation, manufacturing, personal care, health care, sports and printing such as animal feed, fertilizer, car care products, lubricants, soaps, detergents, adhesives, glue, ethanol, nail polish, lip balm, shaving cream, toothpaste, vaccines, medicines, newsprint, paints and varnishes. Diversity is definitely high on the list of Virginia farmers who are not only producing larger quantities of food and fiber these days, but are producing higher quality products and a bigger variety while continuing to search out specialty markets, determining exactly what consumers want, and then fulfilling the needs.
Virginia agriculture is a global player, too. About 71 percent of Virginia's agricultural exports are directed to the Asia/Pacific and Western Europe markets with the remaining going to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Canada, South America, Africa, the Caribbean and Mexico. In 2006, cash receipts from exports were estimated at $588.2 million. Virginia's top ten exports are wheat and wheat products, poultry and poultry products, live animals and meat, unmanufactured tobacco, soybeans and products, feed grains and products, cotton and linters, feeds and fodder, vegetables and dairy products.
And last, as the backbone of the state's economy for more than four centuries and as an industry that has become one of the most productive in the world, agriculture continues to be an integral part of our lives. Take time during Virginia Agriculture Week to celebrate each success agriculture has to offer us all.