Agriculture, including its farm and off-farm sectors, is Virginia's largest single industry. This industry employs a work force of more than 450,000 persons and contributes a substantial part of Virginia's gross state product.

A strong and efficient agricultural and forestal industry has been and continues to be a key to Virginia's growth success and high standard of living. Virginia's industry of agriculture is both diverse and dynamic. Diversity comes from the different types of farms, different soil types, the wide variety of agricultural crops produced in Virginia, weather, and a farm labor force with varied age, education and managerial abilities. Dynamics are evidenced by changes in the types of farms, number of higher income farms, income distribution of farmers, and percentage of acres planted to acres of total cropland. The diversity and dynamics of production are compounded by many developments in marketing food and fiber.

The farms in Virginia are expected to have a gross farm income of $1.65 billion in 1979. Beyond the farm gate the industry of agriculture accounts for about 50 percent of the Commonwealth's manufacturing work force; about 12 percent of the Commonwealth's wholesale and retail work force, or about 20 percent of all non-farm jobs in the Commonwealth.

The importance of agriculture to the overall economy of the Commonwealth, the dependence of the population on agriculture for the basic food and fiber requirements, and the need to maintain a high level of vitality in the industry of agriculture make it a matter of public interest to seek out opportunities for improvements in the structure and profitability of the industry of agriculture and to make recommendations for public policy decisions that will achieve these opportunities. With this in mind, the Virginia Agricultural Opportunities Commission was established on July l, 1978. The duties of the Commission are to advise the Governor and the General Assembly on the state of the Virginia industry of agriculture; to identify new and expanded production and marketing opportunities for Virginia farm products; and to recommend courses of action that will promote the development of the opportunities identified.

This report is developed to provide an up-to-date view of Virginia agriculture, its people, its strength, its problems, its opportunities, and to provide concrete recommendations for effectively dealing with them.