Virginia’s, nation’s largest industry to be celebrated March 14-20

Agriculture, America’s and Virginia’s largest industry, will be celebrated March 14-20, National Ag Week. March 15 has been designated National Ag Day.

The National Ag Day program encourages Americans to understand how food and fiber are produced; appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products; and value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy. In Virginia, some county Farm Bureaus will mark the occasion by donating nonperishable food items and other supplies and making monetary donations to regional food banks, local food pantries and Ronald McDonald Houses.

Virginia’s sixth annual Agriculture Literacy Project, formerly Agriculture Literacy Week, will begin during Ag Week and conclude on March 31. Many county Farm Bureau volunteers and other members of the state’s agricultural community will visit their local schools to read the 2016 Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom Book of the Year. The Cow in Patrick O’Shanahan’s Kitchen, a children’s book by Diana Prichard, encourages young readers to consider how their favorite breakfast foods arrive on their plates.

Agriculture Literacy Week expanded to two weeks due to its popularity and increased demand for volunteer readers. Last year 1,200 volunteers read to more than 50,000 children across the state.

“We’re proud to undertake all of these activities in our communities as a way to commemorate National Ag Week,” said Wayne F. Pryor, president of Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and a Goochland County beef and grain producer. “We want everyone—starting with our youth—to understand the role farmers play in providing safe and affordable food and other products. This is our life’s work, we are blessed to be able to do it and we take it seriously.”

Virginia’s top 20 agricultural commodities in terms of cash receipts are broiler chickens ($649 million); cattle and calves ($434 million); milk ($358 million); turkeys ($324 million); soybeans ($302 million); greenhouse and nursery products ($272 million); corn for grain ($212 million); hay ($123 million); winter wheat ($109 million); tobacco ($109 million); eggs ($91 million); cotton lint ($69 million); fresh tomatoes ($62 million); hogs ($55 million); apples ($54 million); peanuts ($24 million); summer potatoes ($15 million); cottonseed ($12 million); barley ($12 million); and grapes ($11 million).