RD81 - Annual Report on the Virginia Farmers Market System 2008 Report and 2009 Plan


Executive Summary:
The Virginia Farmers Market System includes four shipping point farmers markets, each operating under a contract between the Commonwealth of Virginia and private sector and/or county government organizations:

• The Southwest Virginia Farmers Market, Hillsville, is operated by the County of Carroll.

• The Eastern Shore of Virginia Farmers Market, Melfa, is operated by the Eastern Shore Marketing Cooperative, Inc.

• The Northern Neck of Virginia Farmers Market, Oak Grove, is operated by the Northern Neck Vegetable Growers Association.

• The Southeast Virginia Farmers Market, Courtland, is operated by Farmers Market, L.L.C.

For the 2008 harvest year, volume (units sold) was up 13.3 percent while the value of produce handled was up 30.7 percent when compared to 2007. Statistically the breakdown is as follows:

• Ninety-five producers marketed product and/or used market services at the four markets (combined), compared to 103 producers in 2007.

• Gross value of products marketed was $29.7 million representing 2.7 million product units, compared to $22.7 million in 2007 representing 2.38 million product units.

• The markets served 5,443 acres in 2008, compared to 5,715 acres in 2007.

• The system served 42 brokers and 226 major retail stores and institutional buyers, compared to 47 brokers and 312 retail stores and institutional buyers in 2007.

Several factors affecting production and marketing volumes were cited by the market operators in 2008. Positive factors included:

• Virginia producers are showing a willingness to diversify their vegetable production, both in terms of product mix, varieties, and volume, thereby better serving customer demand while also spreading production risk.

• Weather conditions were more favorable than in 2007. While there were several periods during the growing season when rainfall was in short supply and yields and size of the crops were negatively impacted, the severity of the drought was not as bad as in 2007. Also, there was not a late spring freeze affecting the southwest region as was the case in 2007.

• Production meetings and grower educational sessions were held in regions served by all markets during winter months to educate growers on market demand, production recommendations and techniques.

• The Southwest Virginia Farmers Market continues its transition from a market that was primarily serving wholesalers catering to individual stores/fruit stands, restaurants, and other wholesalers to one that is packing and shipping to chain stores and to companies that supply them.

• Representatives of the Northern Neck of Virginia Farmers Market attended the annual Produce Marketing Association Conference and Trade Show held in Orlando, Florida in October 2009 and promoted the region’s vegetables while assisting in staffing the VDACS Virginia Grown exhibit.

• The Eastern Shore of Virginia Farmers Market continued as an agricultural service center. The cooperative operator manages the farmers market as well as the Pacific Tomato Growers housing site and the Southeastern Potato Committee, which manages the USDA Marketing Order that allows potato producers to export product to Canada. The market also provides scale services for the vegetable and grain trucks leaving the Shore and dry storage, whenever possible, for vegetable producers.

• With planning underway for the construction of a seafood market, the operator of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Farmers Market has worked with various government agencies to determine the needs of the seafood industry on the Eastern Shore.

• The Eastern Shore of Virginia Farmers Market is attempting to meet the needs of both the small grower, whose numbers and acreage are declining, and the larger corporate grower, whose acreage is increasing, by leasing space to a large tomato operation and also to a year round broker who buys locally from smaller scale growers.

Negative factors cited by market operators in 2008 included:

• Increased fuel and input costs continued to have a negative impact on production and profitability in all areas.

• Wholesale product buyers continued to decline in number, as a result of consolidations and closures.

• The condition of the economy in some of the market regions is worse than the national economy.

• Due to a lack of local labor, vegetable growers in most regions are dependent on migrant labor. The availability and high cost of migrant labor and migrant housing requirements continue to be issues of concern.

• The traditional row crop culture and higher prices offered in the spring for crops such as corn and soybeans made it difficult to attract new growers or get additional acreage grown for the Southeast market.

• The real estate market on the Eastern Shore is resulting in higher prices of land, making it virtually impossible to acquire farmland for purely agricultural use. The higher prices for land have also driven up the rental rates of acreage for farming to record levels. These factors, along with a production shift by many growers from vegetables to an increased acreage of corn, soybeans, wheat, and to a lesser extent cotton, have resulted in declining vegetable acreage being planted on the Shore.