The Virginia Tech Office of Economic Development was commissioned to conduct a study of current impacts of VAES and Extension on the economy and to gather recommendations from industry on how funding could be leveraged to drive more innovation and advancement. The office spoke with more than 200 stakeholders from private industry, local and state government; VCE agents, specialists, volunteers, and clients; VAES researchers; and many of the agricultural councils and commodity groups that fund and benefit from Agency 229 research and Extension.

The report represents a snapshot of findings with a focus on five key agriculture and forestry industries and four communities. The five industries chosen include: beef cattle; poultry and hogs in vertically integrated production systems; food and beverage manufacturing; forestry/wood products/timber; and row crops. These industries each represent a large share of the Virginia agricultural economy and are supported by Agency 229 in different ways.

from VTNews: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2017/11/cals-229impact.html