CAFCS News

The Task Force identified major trends in West Virginia's agriculture and forestry industries in order to make comparisons with trends and activities on the University farms and forests.

Agriculture. The number of farms and land in farms both rose from 1992 to 1997. The number of farms went from 17,020 to 17,772 and land in farms rose from 3,270,000 to 3,460,000 acres. Average farm size stayed about the same at 194 acres.

The dominant trend in livestock production has been the growth in poultry and poultry products, particularly the production of broilers. Sales of poultry and poultry products increased an astounding 64 percent from 1992 to 1997. Numbers of broilers sold went from 51 million in 1992 to 79 million in 1997. Almost all broiler production occurs in Hardy, Grant, Hampshire and Pendleton Counties. While growth in the broiler industry has increased incomes for farmers in these counties and contributed to the State economy, there are growing concerns that the production and processing of such a large number of birds in a small region of the State is contributing to water pollution problems in the Potomac Watershed.

Sale of cattle and calves has remained nearly constant, dropping just slightly from $117 million in 1992 to $115 million in 1997. The slight decrease represents a fall in market prices, since animal numbers actually increased from 198,000 to 203,000. Dairy, while still an important enterprise, continued its long-term decline with sales dropping from $40 million in 1992 to $36 million in 1992, and with dairy cow numbers falling from 23,000 to 18,000. Hogs and pigs sold fell by half, from 51,000 in 1992 to 25,000 in 1997. The sheep and lamb inventory fell by a lesser amount, going from 57,000 in 1992 to 41,000 in 1997.

For crops, nursery and greenhouse crops continued their long-term growth, going from $13 million in 1992 to $19 million in 1997. Fruits and berries continued their long-term decline, dropping from $20 million in 1992 to $14 million in 1997. Hay, even though it represents 80 percent of the cropland harvested, brought in only 20 percent of the crop receipts. Most hay is fed to livestock on the farm where it is produced. Hay sales increased slightly from 1992 to 1997, going from $11.9 to $12.5 million. Tobacco sales also dipped slightly from $5.2 million in 1992 to $4.6 million in 1997.

Forestry. West Virginia's 10.7 million acres of forests are a maturing, renewable resource, producing high volumes of quality wood products and social benefits. The 1995 forest inventory estimated 70 billion board feet of standing sawtimber-sized trees. Annual forest product yield doubled between 1989 and 1995. Forests are also the backdrop for much of the State's resource-based recreation and tourism industries (that is, tourism and recreation that is dependent upon the natural resource base of the State). About 10 percent of West Virginia's land base is managed for recreation and tourism, contributing in a major way to the economic well-being of the State.

Efficient use of the Appalachian forest resource is a critical component in satisfying the demands on U.S. timberlands over the next five decades. Harvesting restrictions in the West and timber supply shortages in the South have led to increasing demand for the northern forest resource in general and, more specifically, the hardwood resource found in the Appalachian region. Twenty percent of the hardwood sawtimber existing the eastern United States is divided almost equally among West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Hardwood demand is expected to increase 83 percent between 1992 to 2040, while softwood demand is expected to increase only 16 percent during the same period.

Sixty-six percent of West Virginia's forests are owned by nonindustrial private owners and about half of these forests are in ownerships of 10 acres or less. Only 24 percent of the forests are owned by corporations, and 6 percent are public ownerships. Over 35 percent of these owners will harvest trees during their ownership tenure and few will implement forest management plans to insure long-term resource sustainability.

The focus of timber harvests in West Virginia during 1993 and 1994 was on the extraction of sawtimber-size trees of the most commercially desirable species, especially oaks and yellow poplar. Only 20 percent of the harvests have a silvicultural plan for forest renewal or sawtimber sustainability. As a result, new seedlings of commercially desirable species are currently insufficient following many harvesting operations.

Outdoor recreation activities in the State are increasing at about 10 percent each year. These activities include 22 million visits to state and federal recreation facilities, over 6 million hunter days and over 4 million angler days. Resource-based recreation and tourism is the second largest sector of the state's economy. The total economic impact in 1996 totaled $4.1 billion.

West Virginia's forests are threatened by human and natural disturbances. As trees age, those that have been previously damaged by fire or harvesting will experience accelerated mortality. In 1991, 500,000 acres were destroyed by fires in southern West Virginia. Since 1989 an average of 131,000 acres have been defoliated by gypsy moth each year. Consecutive defoliations stress trees and increase mortality rates, especially of the commercially valuable oaks. Recent severe wind storms (1991), ice storms (1994 and 1999) and snow storms (1993 and 1994) toppled many trees or destroyed the crowns of standing trees. In a 1995 forest inventory, browsing from white-tailed deer contributed to the 20 percent reduction of trees less than five inches in diameter.

Relation of Trends to Research at the Farms and Forests. Research programs on the WVU farms and forests approximate the economic and production characteristics of West Virginia forestry and agriculture. The College's 1998-2002 Strategic Plan identified five research focus areas and also indicated 1998 resource allocations to each of the focus areas. Although the portion of the resources that was attributable to research on the farms and forests was not available, the overall resources are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Expenditures and scientist years (1998), by Research Focus Areas¹

¹ Source, Strategic Plan, 1998-2002. College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.
² Includes Hatch, McIntire-Stennis and all grants and contracts.

For approximation purposes, the data indicate the relative focus of research that is done on the farms and forests. Additional information is provided in the description of research for each property.

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