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That figure represents 20 percent of the total economic activity in the state. It also accounts for 20 percent, more than half a million, of the jobs in the state.
From the standpoint of preservation of open space, agriculture is a benefit also. In 1989, the 47,000 farms in the state covered 9 million acres, or 35 percent of the state’s total land area. Their average size of 191 acres gave them an average value of $247,000.
And, less overhead and Other costs, the predicted total net income from farming in the state, according to the Virginia Extension Service, is $717 million.
In this area, we have seen the number of traditional farms decrease. But their demise has been matched by new operations using innovative techniques in traditional agriculture, like Mellon Orchard’s fruit business; or new uses for established farms, like Rolf Graage’s fallow deer farm at Piedmont Farm in the F.T. Valley.
Though some have bemoaned the passing of farming, claiming that it now takes a distant back seat to real estate as the primary business in Rappahannock County, we think that agriculture still deserves its “Number One” status.
In terms of total people employed, both directly on the farms and through indirect employment through businesses like the Rappahannock Farmers’ Co-op, farming far eclipses real estate in its benefit to residents.
And, its benefits reach far beyond the farm. Part of Rappahannock’s attraction to tourists is the county’s pastoral rural setting, its rows of corn and grass rolling across hills toward the mountains. Those tourists love the rura1 beauty of our county, and while they’re here they support the other businesses which deal in the tourist trade. That, indirectly, ties agriculture to tourism as well.
Agriculture is a good deal for everyone — but least of all perhaps — for the farmer. We hope that National Agriculture Week can, in some small way, recognize the important contribution that he makes toward the welfare of our state.
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