User:FarmerWV/sandbox

West Virginia agriculture produces $700 million with a variety of products from Swine to Sawdust and Corn to Cattle! West Virginia has a rich History in Agriculture dating back to our founding fathers. In 1890 there were 73,000 farms. The State Legislature in 1911 created the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. Howard E. Williams was elected the first West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture. He served from 1913-1917. His salary was $4,000 a year. In 1915 WVDA joined the USDA and NASS. In 1935 there were 97,000 farms. In 2016 there were 20,900 farms. 98% of those are small famrs and WV Farmers produced: 93.7 million broilers, harvested 5,700 tons of peaches, sold $13.5 million worth of apples and cut 1.03 million tons of hay. 