Top Virginia Agriculture Facts From the 2024 Census of Agriculture
In partnership with: Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Download Virginia Census of Ag Infographic PDF
As the largest industry in Virginia, agriculture is extremely important to the state economy. According to the USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture, Virginia has 38,995 farms with a market value of agricultural products sold totaling nearly $5.5 billion. (The 2022 Census of Agriculture data was released in February 2024 and is the most recent census data available.)
The number of farms in Virginia has decreased by 10% since 2017 and by 18% since 2002. However, there are still more than 7.3 million acres of farm land in Virginia, and the state’s average farm size is 187 acres.
The market value of crops grown in Virginia, including nursery and greenhouse crops, totaled nearly $1.9 billion in 2022. The market value of livestock, poultry and their products, including beef, pork, chicken, dairy and eggs, came to more than $3.6 billion.
What Are Virginia’s Top Agricultural Products?
According to the most recent available cash receipts (the total amount of crops or livestock sold in a calendar year), Virginia’s top agricultural products include broilers (chickens raised for meat), cattle and calves, turkeys, milk and other dairy products, and soybeans, to name a few.
See More: Virginia Agriculture
Who Owns Virginia Farms?
The Census of Agriculture calculates farm ownership by the farm’s legal status for tax purposes. Like many states, Virginia farms are primarily owned and operated by families or individuals, with 33,185 family farms as of 2022, or about 85% of all farms in the state. Corporations accounted for 2,966 farms, or 7.6%, while 2,315 farms, or 5.9%, are owned by partnerships. Other farms, such as estates or trusts, prison farms, grazing associations, American Indian Reservations, etc., make up about 1.4% of farms in Virginia.
Virginia farmers are predominantly men. According to the Census of Agriculture, there were 42,561 male farmers in Virginia in 2022, making up 63% of the state’s total producers. Virginia’s 25,237 women farmers accounted for 37% of the total.
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How Old Are Virginia Farmers?
Out of 67,798 farmers in Virginia, most are over the age of 55. In fact, the average age of a Virginia farmer is 59.2 years old, up from 58.5 years in 2017.
Just over a quarter of Virginia farmers (around 25.7%) fall into the age group of 55 to 64 years, and 25.2% of farmers are ages 65 to 74. Farmers aged 75 years or older account for 15.4%, followed by farmers ranging from 45 to 54 years old (14.6%), then farmers ages 35 to 44 (11.5%). Only 5.9% of farmers are ages 25 to 34, and just 1,110 Virginia farmers are under 25, or about 1.6%.
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More Virginia Agriculture Facts
Though the state counts more than 67,000 agricultural producers, 59% of Virginia farmers have a primary occupation other than farming. Only about 27,000 respondents to the Census of Agriculture said their primary occupation was farming.
Active duty military members and veterans also account for some farmers, as Virginia has 7,679 farmers with current or past military service.
According to the census, there are 1,603 Black farmers in Virginia who farm 148,733 acres of land across 1,079 farms.
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish-origin producers farmed 129,702 acres of land in Virginia in 2022, up from 107,627 acres in 2017.
Virginia counted 20,378 new and beginning farmers in 2022.
The market value of nursery and greenhouse products in Virginia totaled nearly $399 million in 2022.
Virginia is home to 184 USDA-certified organic farms, up from 163 in 2017.
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