WASHINGTON: During his first State of the Commonwealth address, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a goal to make Virginia the East Coast capital for exports of agriculture and forestry. At the ninth annual Governor’s Conference on Agricultural Trade, which McAuliffe will co-host, he will discuss his administration’s efforts toward this goal when he delivers his keynote address at noon March 6. The two-day conference, hosted by the Port of Virginia, Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, is March 6 and 7 at the Richmond Marriott Hotel.
Port of Virginia CEO John Reinhart will be one of the speakers. According to a news release, Virginia has moved from fifth to second place since 2010 when Virginia’s agricultural and forestry export growth initiative was launched. In 2015, the state totaled almost $3.2 billion in agriculture and forestry exports. Additional speakers include: Jose Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa, Mexican Secretary of agriculture, livestock, rural development, fisheries and food; Juan Carlos Pinzon, Colombian Ambassador to the U.S.; and Basil Gooden, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry.
