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Virginia Agribusiness Council appoints new CEO
The Virginia Agribusiness Council announced Monday that it is appointing Trey Davis, an agriculture industry veteran, as its new president and CEO effective March 3. The council is a nonprofit member organization that advocates for government policies that support Virginia’s agriculture industry and provides resources and education for agribusiness professionals. In his new role, Davis […[...]
US trade war could raise prices, economists say
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau managed to separately negotiate a monthlong pause on Monday with U.S. President Donald J. Trump on a trade war that was scheduled to begin on midnight Tuesday. However, as of late Monday afternoon, the Trump administration was still prepared to impose a 10% tariff on […]
Smithfield Foods raises $522M in first day on Nasdaq
Smithfield Foods officials rang the opening bell Tuesday at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City, as the packaged meat and fresh pork giant launched its initial public offering of 26 million stock shares at $20 per share on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, raising $522 million. The offering consists of 13,043,479 shares of common […]
Perdue Farms agrees to $4M settlement in child labor probe
Perdue Farms has agreed to pay $4 million in restitution to settle a federal investigation into alleged child labor violations at the company’s poultry processing plant on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced it had launched a probe into alleged child labor violations at the […]
Smithfield Foods files for IPO
Virginia’s Smithfield Foods announced Monday it has filed a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. This is the first step toward the pork and packaged meats giant’s plan of selling common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SFD. In November 2024, Smithfield’s […]
The First 100 Days: What to Expect
In anticipation of a new president taking office, BridgeTower Media spoke with experts across several industries — agriculture, banking and finance, energy, health care and manufacturing — to explore how the incoming Trump administration might affect those industries. The stories in this feature provide expert insights into what organizations can expect as a new administration […]
Farm Bill, industry growth among agricultural leaders’ priorities in 2025
Anticipating President-elect Trump’s impact on agriculture in his first 100 days of office, industry experts say they are concerned about the fate of the Farm Bill and how the agriculture industry will sustain itself amid rising production costs, labor shortages, and soaring land costs. In advance of the election, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), […]
Smithfield to form new hog production company ahead of IPO
Smithfield Foods has inked a deal with VisionAg, an affiliate of North Carolina’s HD3 Farms, to start a new hog production business early next year as the meat producer gears up to go public, the company announced Friday. Smithfield, a giant in packaged meats and pork products, will provide 28,000 sows to the new company, […]
Talking turkey: Va. is nation’s sixth largest producer
As we prepare to sit down to a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, let’s consider where those birds come from and where they’re going. Virginia raises 7.1% of all U.S. turkeys, or 15.5 million turkeys a year, according to a new study by Trace One using U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That’s 429 million pounds of […]
Smithfield Foods to pay $2M to settle child labor claims
A subsidiary of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations it hired children to work at a meat packaging plant in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Smithfield’s operation in Minnesota allegedly employed at least 11 children between the ages of 14 and 17 during the […]
Work begins on organics-to-renewable gas facility in Amelia County
Vanguard Renewables, an organics-to-renewable natural gas company with headquarters in Massachusetts, broke ground Wednesday on its newest facility at Oakmulgee Dairy Farm in Amelia County. An anaerobic digester system on the property will allow Vanguard Renewables to convert cow manure along with inedible and unsalable food material into natural gas. The company expects Oakmulgee Dairy [&hellip[...]
Va. agricultural damage from Helene totals $159.3M
Hurricane Helene’s agricultural damage in Virginia totals more than $159.3 million, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension agents’ research. Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Gulf Coast in Florida as a Category 4 storm late on Sept. 26 and tore through the Southeast into Sept. 27, causing catastrophic flooding in parts of Georgia, North and South […]
