Agriculture is big business for West Virginia. In fact, according to 2015 figures provided by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, it was an $806,775,000 industry that year.
Still, Gov. Jim Justice calls agriculture a “sleeping giant” in West Virginia. It hasn’t come close to reaching its potential, he said.
“The biggest problem with a lot of agriculture products in this country is marketability,” said Justice. “In West Virginia we have very fertile soils, whether it be on the hillsides or valleys.”
“We are within 600 miles of two-thirds of the U.S. population,” he said. “It’s unbelievable, the market potential we have. We have got to find niche crops that can be grown here and marketed to the population that is a rock’s throw from us. We need to create a network to get our products to that marketplace, create distribution centers.”
West Virginia may not be able to identify one niche crop or product because of the differences across the state. But it could have several, Bumgardner said.“There are places you can grow peaches better and other areas you can grow grapes better,” he said.
source: theet.com
