In 2016, Virginia Market News Service celebrated its 100th anniversary serving Virginia agriculture.  Virginia Market News Service is widely known for reporting livestock and grain prices.  Reporting prices from ten weekly cattle auctions and grain prices from eight areas of the state is extremely important to producers and buyers.  Reports are available in Market News publications, local newspapers, radio broadcasts and by calling the Market News Hotline at 800.552.5521.

Virginia Market News Service is also very active reporting on the wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops grown in Virginia – everything from full trailer loads of green beans, potatoes and tomatoes on the Eastern Shore to produce sold by the pound at local farmers’ markets.  Given the volatile nature of pricing in the produce industry, accurate and timely price reporting is vital in helping producers make well-informed decisions and maximize profits. 

While investigating the history of Virginia Market News, we found the following in a brochure that was prepared for the Department’s 100th anniversary:  “Virginia was the fifth state in the nation to establish a division of Markets, and that was in 1916 when a market news reporting station was established in Winchester, mailing out daily market quotations on apples to growers.”  Although we don’t have copies of the first Virginia Market News Service report in 1916, we do have some samples of reports going back to the earliest years of Market News:

Samples of Historical Virginia Market News Service Reports

• 1917 Daily Market News Bulletin
• 1935 Daily Potato Report
• 1954 Daily Market News Bulletin
• 1961 Daily Market News Bulletin
• 1969 Marketing Virginia Potatoes
• 1975-1976 Market News Annual Report
• 1983 Newspaper Article & Market Report
• 1996 Commodity Newsletter
• 1999 Retail Farmers' Markets
• 2001 Fruit & Vegetable Bulletin
• 2003 Potato & Vegetable Review
• 2006 Cattle & Crops

Virginia Market News Service is a one-stop shop for accurate and timely agricultural reports from around the Commonwealth. No matter the crop or animal, there is a report to help make decisions. We’re proud to continue offering these services to the producers and consumers of Virginia, and hope to continue to expand over the next 100 years.

Contact
Virginia Market News Service
804.786.3947
Voice Reports: 800.552.5521
market.news@vdacs.virginia.gov

Click here to subscribe to Virginia Market News reports and publications.