11-16-2004 |
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The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) will recognize National Farm-City Week with Farm-City Day at Capitol Market. The event will take place Friday, November 19, from 11 a.m. -1 p.m. and will feature a public tasting of West Virginia Grown products and complimentary apples, and informational material on the interdependence between farm and city in our society. The tasting, sponsored by Perdue Grocery, will be held and the West Virginia apples handed out next to the Purple Onion, located inside the Capitol Market. Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass, along with Deputy Commissioners Janet L. Fisher and Steve Hannah, will also attend to give a short presentation around noon . Commissioner Douglass will be available for interviews. "During this week leading up to Thanksgiving, it is particularly important that we appreciate the importance of our food supply, the quality and abundance of which makes so many other things possible in this nation," said Commissioner Douglass. "It's also important we remember that the food we eat begins on a farm, but that many others are involved in making sure it safely reaches our grocery stores and dinner tables." National Farm-City Week was established by Kiwanis International and other organizations in 1955 as a way to highlight the partnerships that bring our food "from farm to fork." People across the country will celebrate National Farm-City Week and the 25 million Americans that labor daily to produce, process, transport and sell the food we eat every day. Nationally, agriculture contributes $1.3 trillion to the gross domestic product. In West Virginia , 20,800 farms - the large majority of which are family owned and operated - generate $450 million worth of agricultural products each year. The vast majority of those dollars are recirculated within our state for farm and living expenses. In 2003, West Virginia farmers produced 87 million pounds of apples, 118 million pounds of beef and 358 million pounds of chicken. For more information about Farm-City Week - or for agriculture in West Virginia generally - contact the West Virginia Department of Agriculture at 304-558-3708.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org. |
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