Va. posts strong ag exports in 2010

Va. posts strong ag exports in 2010    Virginia’s agriculture exports totaled $2.24 billion in 2010, just shy of the record $2.3 billion achieved in 2009, despite a statewide drought that impacted several key commodities, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office said.
   Exports of forest and farm products are up 2 percent so far this year compared to 2010, it added.
   Virginia ranks ninth in the nation in agricultural export value.
   Top export products were soybeans, grains (wheat, corn, barley, animal feed), pork, poultry, leaf tobacco, wood products and logs, fats and oils, cotton, seafood and aquaculture products, fresh vegetables and hides and skins.

McDonnell

   The state’s top export market is Canada. Japan is also a top buyer of Virginia’s agricultural products. It’s unclear how the triple disasters in Japan will impact future demand, but imports of foreign produce, dairy and meat could increase if farmland in some parts of the country becomes unusable due to nuclear fallout. Lumber could also be in high demand for reconstruction from the earthquake and tsunami.
   In addition to promoting exports in traditional developed and emerging markets, Virginia officials said they continue to develop business leads in unconventional markets such as Cuba and Venezuela.
   “We knew that that the challenging global economic climate, trade barriers faced by our exporters, and the severe drought and excessive heat that negatively impacted several of our key export products, would make it difficult for export growth in 2010,” Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd P. Haymore said Friday in a speech at the International Virginia Agricultural Trade Conference in Norfolk. “Despite these challenges, Virginia’s agricultural and forestry exports still almost matched the all-time high reached in 2009. In 2011, we forecast that Virginia is on course to exceed 2010 export levels and hopefully better our 2009 numbers if Mother Nature, the global economy, and geo-political events cooperate. That is the goal.”
   Agriculture and forestry are Virginia’s largest industries according to a 2008 economic impact study completed by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. The industries have an economic impact of $79 billion annually: $55 billion from agriculture and $24 billion from forestry. The industries also provide about 500,000 jobs in the Commonwealth.