News & Features

Virginia Farm Bureau News & Features is your place for news and information from around Virginia. From gardening tips and recipes to politics and events, stay up to date with what matters to Virginians.

Giving gifts of flowering bulbs can brighten the holidays

Specify Alternate Text
Flower bulbs are beautiful gifts for the holidays. Purchased from local greenhouses and nurseries, bulbs will bloom indoors, providing a bright accent on bleak winter days.



Deck the halls with a Virginia-grown Christmas tree

Specify Alternate Text
There are more than 500 Christmas tree farms in Virginia, and thousands of this season’s trees are about to hit the market. 



Excess moisture affecting crop production

Specify Alternate Text
Topsoil moisture levels have been higher than normal throughout this year’s harvest season and remain high.



Buy and burn local firewood

Specify Alternate Text
When stocking up on firewood this season, forestry officials have a hot tip. Buy local and burn local when it comes to fueling your campfire, fireplace or wood-burning stove, and you will be doing your part to curb the spread of invasive insects and disease. 



Rainy weather leads to wide range of crop conditions

Specify Alternate Text
Another rainy weekend at the end of October put some soybean producers even further behind in harvesting their crops. And while the rain from two tropical storm systems prevented drought problems, it’s been far too wet for many grain producers.



Sweet potatoes pack a nutritious punch

Specify Alternate Text
Sweet news for yam fans: Carbohydrates can be good for you—as long as they’re complex carbohydrates, like those found in sweet potatoes.



Virginia growers put chestnuts back on the map

Specify Alternate Text
The chestnut blight wiped out the American Chestnut in the early 1900s, but a handful of farms in the commonwealth have found a way to maintain blight-resistant orchards. Marketing collectively as Virginia Chestnuts LLC, they are harvesting thousands of pounds of fresh chestnuts each year.



Spotsylvania grower breaks State Fair record for giant watermelon

Specify Alternate Text
The winner of this year’s giant watermelon competition set a new State Fair of Virginia record with a whopping 254-pound entry.



Farm Bureau hay bale contest accepting entries

Specify Alternate Text
Entries are being accepted through Nov. 1 for the annual Hay Bale Decorating Contest sponsored by Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s Women’s Committee.



Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, in Cultivate

Specify Alternate Text
Find out how to prepare this fall and holiday treat, with Virginia-grown nuts.



Get Recognized

If your publication or radio or television station is delivering stellar coverage of agriculture on an ongoing basis, this is the award competition to enter. Learn More