The West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC) has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) to launch a Regional Agritourism and Agribusiness Development Program that will collectively market and brand the region’s agritourism and agribusiness sites and activities. The program will identify agricultural businesses and create a regional inventory, which will include location(s), products and services offered. The inventory will be used to create a regional interactive agribusiness website, which will allow users to search specific products, services, and activities. A group of agritourism and agribusiness owners and agriculture stakeholders will be formed to guide program development and sustainability. As a part of the program the WPPDC will also conduct an Economic Impact Study to determine the impact of agriculture and agritourism on the region’s economy. While the primary purpose of the study will be to determine the value of agricultural products and agritourism it will also include the number of jobs supported by the agriculture sector and an assessment of future market growth potential.
“During the development of the West Piedmont Pandemic Recovery and Resiliency Plan some of our local jurisdictions and partner organizations made us aware of the need to assist our agritourism and small farm businesses that had suffered financially during the Covid-19 shutdowns,” said Michael Armbrister, WPPDC Executive Director. “We have already worked with some of our Farmers’ Markets and their vendors through other projects. We are excited to expand on those relationships with this project while helping them increase their farm income.”
The West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC) is a regional planning organization serving the counties of Franklin, Henry, Patrick, and Pittsylvania; the cities of Danville and Martinsville; and the Town of Rocky Mount. Formed in 1970, the WPPDC is one of twenty-one state designated planning districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia charged with developing collaborative regional approaches to issues of greater than local impact including, but not limited to, economic development, transportation, and legislative priorities. The WPPDC seeks to carry out its mission by facilitating regional thinking and dialogue among the district’s local governments, K-12 and higher educational institutions, economic development organizations, workforce development, and other key stakeholders.