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May 6, 2025
Agriculture is a major industry in the Chesapeake Bay; consequently, increasing agricultural sustainability is a key component of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s mission. Since the Alliance’s founding in 1971 , our work with farmers and rural landowners has expanded to include projects in every watershed state with teams based in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. In each region and industry, the Alliance works to introduce relevant conservation practices that reduce pollution while making farmers’ jobs easier. All of this critical work is informed by the immense geographic, cultural, and historical diversity of the Chesapeake Watershed.
Since launching our Richmond-based agriculture team in 2021, the Alliance has expanded its efforts across the Commonwealth of Virginia, working closely with farmers and rural landowners from all corners of the state. With partners like Maola Local Dairies and the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, we help producers implement practices that improve water quality, increase forest cover, and support ecosystem and community health. But, Virginia’s immense geographic and cultural diversity presents unique challenges. From dairy farms in the Shenandoah Valley to commodity grain growers in the Tidewater, every farm has distinct conservation needs and expectations. Understanding and harnessing this diversity has proven key to building trust and delivering meaningful, lasting results on the ground.
Aerial view of a dairy farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
From its founding to today, Virginia has sustained a large and diverse agricultural economy. Based on economic impact, agriculture is Virginia’s largest private industry . The state is home to over 38,000 individual farms – which tend to be larger than those in Maryland and Pennsylvania. More than 90% of Virginia farms are family-owned, supporting nearly 450,000 workers across the agriculture and forestry industries.
Virginia’s most valuable agricultural product is broiler chickens, followed by cattle and calves. The Commonwealth is home to over 1 million head of beef and dairy cattle, one for every 8 Virginians. As of 2022, the market value of all of Virginia’s agricultural products totaled nearly 5 billion dollars, with an estimated economic output of twenty times that[ . As a result, the Alliance’s conservation work can have significant economic results, ensuring that Virginia agriculture remains an economic force.
Agriculture is also spread across Virginia rather than being concentrated in a specific region of the state. Moving from East on the Atlantic Coast westward towards the Blue Ridge Mountains, farming gradually shifts from a focus on commodity field crops – think corn, wheat, and soybeans – in the rich soils of the coastal plain and central Virginia towards animal agriculture – cattle and poultry – in the Shenandoah Valley. Varying geography has deeply impacted both the economics and culture of Virginia’s farming community.
Perhaps the most famous Virginia farm product is the Virginia Variety Peanut, held in high regard by many and considered the pre-eminent ballpark peanut. Smoked country ham is another famous Virginia product, traditionally hailing from the town of Smithfield in southern Virginia. Hanover County, north of Richmond, has some of the richest soils in the state and was historically a center of vegetable production, a tradition that continues to this day.
The Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont have their own iconic crops as well. Rural Highland County on the West Virginia border has held an annual maple syrup festival since 1959, celebrating one of the southernmost maple-producing regions. In the northern end of the Valley, Winchester is home to the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in recognition of the dozens of nearby orchards. The Piedmont has its own famous orchard crop, grapes. Loudon county alone is home to more than 50 vineyards . Taken together, these regional farming traditions reflect a deep-rooted agricultural heritage that has shaped both the economy and identity of Virginia.
Tobacco undergoing flue-curing, a hallmark of Virginia tobacco’s unique flavor. Photo credit: medium.com
For centuries before the English arrived at Jamestown, Native peoples across Virginia cultivated corn and squash, using fire to clear land and enrich the soil. But it was tobacco—smuggled into the colony shortly after its founding—that transformed Virginia’s agricultural landscape. Tobacco became the colony’s economic backbone, and remains a component of Virginia’s farm economy to this day. By 1619, the arrival of enslaved Africans made its cultivation immensely profitable, fueling the rise of a powerful planter class. These elites built vast plantations with forced labor, while investing in agricultural research to further their wealth and influence. Thomas Jefferson is emblematic of this elite farmer-planter class, devoting much of his free time to developing technology that would lower his labor costs.
By the time of the American Revolution, Virginia was a colony divided into two distinct agricultural systems. Along the rivers of the Piedmont and Tidewater, sprawling plantations dominated, geared towards the commercial production of crops such as tobacco and corn. But westward, toward the Blue Ridge, farms were relatively smaller in scale, producing livestock, corn, and wheat. By the 1850s, the Shenandoah Valley had become one of the leading wheat-producing regions, making it a highly valuable and strategic area during the Civil War due to its abundant grain harvests, livestock, and well-developed transportation networks for troops. This regional divide of agricultural systems persisted long after slavery was abolished. Even today, farms east of the Blue Ridge tend to be larger livestock and crop farms than the smaller livestock and grain farms in the mountains and Shenandoah Valley.
Following Reconstruction, Virginia’s agricultural economy diversified as vegetable and dairy production expanded to serve cities like Richmond and Washington. Around this time, land-grant institutions like Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, and Hampton University were established to support farmers and advance agricultural innovation. Throughout the 20th century, these universities helped modernize farming practices as mechanization took hold. Today, Virginia agriculture faces a new turning point. Rising costs and growing demand for sustainability are reshaping the landscape once again, prompting farm consolidation and innovation.
Alliance and Maola volunteers plant a forest buffer on a farm in Faquier County, Virginia
Today, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s work is deeply shaped by the conservation needs of our partners. For us, agricultural sustainability goes beyond simply reducing a farm’s ecological footprint—it also means ensuring that farming practices and operations can thrive for generations to come. We take both geography and farm type into account as we implement practices that benefit individual farmers while supporting the health of the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Because Virginia is so geographically and agriculturally diverse, each region presents unique conservation challenges and priorities. In the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley, for instance, our work often focuses on restoring and protecting the habitat of cold-water and higher elevation species found in the headwaters of the Bay watershed, such as brook trout and golden winged warbler—a concern that doesn’t exist in the lower-lying Tidewater regions where anadromous species such as shad, alewife and blueback herring and waterfowl such as American Black Duck take precedence. Similarly, on an agricultural landscape , a poultry grower on the Eastern Shore Region has little need for the kind of manure storage system that might be essential for a dairy operation in the Shenandoah Valley.
Navigating this diverse space can be a challenge, and identifying each producer’s needs is where partnerships are crucial. Working with Maola Local Dairies (formerly Maryland and Virginia Milk Cooperative), Virginia’s largest farmed-owned cooperative, has made farmer outreach a much easier. Maola communicates with their farmer owners to identify conservation priorities before connecting us with the farmer to work towards implementation. Since 2021 we have worked with ten Maola Virginia farmers, with more projects entering the pipeline every year. The agriculture team also has a strong relationship with the Potomac Conservancy, leveraging their connections with farmers and landowners to undertake conservation and restoration projects on a variety of properties. Through an emerging partnership with the Virginia Cattleman’s Association, we plan to expand our BMP offerings to include beef producers as well. These partnerships not only help us reach more producers, but also ensure that our conservation efforts are grounded in the real, evolving needs of Virginia’s agricultural communities.
As Virginia’s farms continue to evolve, so too must our conservation efforts. The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay is proud to work alongside our partners in Virginia to promote a sustainable future both for the land and the people that depend upon it. From streamside forest buffers in the Shenandoah Valley to improved nutrient management for Virginia’s dairy farmers, our projects are rooted in local knowledge and guided by specific farmer needs. We understand that effective conservation is never a one-size-fits-all – it is a collaborative effort that is grounded in the lived experience of generations of Virginia farmers.
In a state where agriculture is both an economic powerhouse and cultural cornerstone, supporting farm sustainability is essential in protecting Virginia’s environment, heritage, and communities. As we look towards the future, the Alliance remains committed to creating win-win partnerships that protect both the future of the Chesapeake Watershed and the communities that depend on it.
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