More and more, Virginia farmers are feeding world

Part of the Virginia Master Naturalist training here at the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter deals with agriculture. After all agriculture is part of the Virginia landscape, we have mountains, piedmont, coastal plain...

This was an interesting article in the Virginia PilotOnline.com: "More and more, Virginia farmers are feeding world"

Bowman Dairy Farm in Franklin County VA

Feed at the Dairy

Excerpt: 
A plow etches the dark soil of the Tidewater – an age-old act that ripples around the world.

Four hundred years after tobacco sprouted at Jamestown and bailed out the foundering colony, agriculture remains the backbone of Virginia. Few industries can touch its economic impact – a $55 billion engine stoking 350,000 jobs – or its far-flung reach.

Soybeans to Morocco and China.

Wheat to Egypt and Brazil.

Corn to Ireland and Venezuela.

Cotton to Turkey and Vietnam.

Last year, nearly $2.4 billion worth of homegrown products was exported around the globe – a record for Virginia agribusiness and proof that, despite urban sprawl and warp-speed lives, farming is far from dead...read the rest of this article with photos here.

RECORD AMOUNT

Last year, nearly $2.4 billion worth of homegrown products was exported.

LOCAL FARMLAND

Norfolk and Portsmouth don’t have enough farmland to register on the national agricultural census, but these localities do. Below, acreage:

Virginia Beach: 26,671

Chesapeake: 51,124

Northampton County (Eastern Shore): 63,760

Suffolk: 71,393

Source: U.S. agricultural census, 2007

Learn more about the Virginia Master Naturalist Program here.

*Disclaimer -- no political commentary is intended by sharing this article about Virginia Farms.

Farms Dominate Landscape Here

Despite Pockets of commercial and residential development, farms remain the dominant feature in Franklin County's landscape.

Franklin County farm facing east and fall scenery

• Franklin County ranks eighth among Virginia's 95 counties in the amount of farmland, according to the most recent U.S. Census of Agriculture.
• Franklin County has 166,592 acres of farmland, according to the census.
• Bedford County ranks fifth with 212,237 acres.
• Franklin County also ranked among the top 10 counties for Virginia Farm income, according to the census.
• The average Farm in Virginia generates $61,334 worth of sales according to figures from the national Agriculture Service (NASS).
• The average size of a Virginia farm is 171 acres, according to NASS.

The BRFAL Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalist visited a local Dairy Farm as part of their basic training last Spring and saw the day to day operations. I cannot commend our local Farmers enough for all they do to produce quality dairy products for us! 

IF YOU ENJOY YOUR FOOD - THANK A FARMER!

If you are interested in the Virginia Master Naturalist program and want to learn more about it, or when the next training will be held, click here.