Top Virginia agricultural commodities mostly fare better in 2008

Among the success stories in Virginia agriculture in 2008 was wine grapes, which became one of the state's top 20 agricultural commodities, according to new data.

Of those 20 top-earning commodities, 12 produced higher cash receipts in 2008 than in 2007, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reported yesterday.

"Despite a global recession and the pressures that growers faced with high input costs, we had a good year in 2008," Todd P. Haymore, the agency's commissioner, said in a statement.

Grapes brought cash receipts of $10.5 million for Virginia producers in 2008, up from $8 million in 2007. Other agricultural products that fared better in 2008 included winter wheat, tobacco, corn for grain, hogs, apples and hay. Winter wheat posted the most significant gain, with cash receipts that more than doubled to $135 million in 2008 from $65 million in 2007.

Virginia wheat growers benefited from higher yields in 2008, while poor growing conditions in other major wheat-producing countries helped boost prices.

"This gave our wheat producers a chance to contract wheat at strong prices that not only covered their cost of production but provided them with much-needed profit margins," said Molly Pugh, executive director of the Virginia Grain Producers Association.

Other products such as cattle and tomatoes, however, fared worse in 2008 than the previous year. Cash receipts from tomatoes fell to $51 million in 2008 from $55 million in 2007, as acres planted dropped by 700 to 4,800. State agriculture officials attributed the decline partly to a salmonella scare that hurt demand for tomatoes. Cash receipts from cattle and calves dropped by $20 million to $396 million, though cattle remained the state's second-largest agricultural commodity.

The state's top five agricultural commodities -- broiler chickens, cattle, milk, turkeys and nursery products -- all maintained their rankings in 2008. The top commodity, broiler chickens, brought in cash receipts of $563 million in 2008, up from $559 million in 2007.

The increase in cash receipts from grapes was enough for the burgeoning industry to displace snap beans as Virginia's 20th-largest agricultural commodity.

In Virginia, producers had about 2,870 acres planted in grapes in 2008, including 2,500 bearing acres. Acreage has grown steadily since 1998, when the state had 1,608 acres planted in vineyards, including 1,297 that were bearing fruit.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .