Virginia Economic Review

Artificial Intelligence may seem like a new technology, but CarMax has been using it for years. The Goochland County-based company is the country’s largest seller of used cars.

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) describes a variety of systems that use technology to provide optimal growing conditions for crops, from simple hoop houses and traditional greenhouses to fully indoor vertical farms.

In 2001, when cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton took over their family’s 100-year-old oyster bed leases on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula, the Commonwealth’s oyster industry was on life support.

Consider the strawberry. Its skin, slightly glossy in a deep crimson hue, warmed by gentle light. A burst of sweet juice when first pierced by the teeth, giving way to tart flavors and a subtly gritty texture from dozens of tiny seeds.

Labor shortages have long been a challenge in agricultural operations, spurring innovative new ways of operating. Today’s farms rely as much on GPS-guided technology and artificial intelligence-driven automation as they do on manual labor.

Any discussion about Virginia peanuts needs to start with a clarification between Virginia peanuts and Virginia Peanuts. The lowercase former refers to peanuts grown in the Commonwealth; the capitalized latter is one of four peanut cultivars grown in the United States.

Agriculture is Virginia's oldest, largest private industry.

Just outside the city of Danville, Virginia, sits a farm unlike any of its neighbors. Tucked into the tree line, it stands 50 feet high, sleek, and solid white, standing out from the long, thin rows of tilled fields that surround it.

From fourth-generation oyster farms to award-winning distilleries, Virginia’s food and beverage trails offer a bounty for hungry travelers. Here’s how some of those businesses have benefited from being on these trails.

Expertise in grapevine grafting and propagation, basic tractor repair, fermentation, and wine racking aren’t exactly skill sets that are widely found among the general population. Yet they are skills upon which the more than 800 wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries in Virginia depend.

Cyberattacks that can drain bank accounts and steal personal data are high on the list of things that keep Virginia business owners and government officials up at night. A University of Maryland study found that hackers launch cyberattacks every 39 seconds. The good news?

Vernon Green had a hiring problem. Eight years ago, the U.S. Army veteran founded GCubed, Inc., which provides IT and cybersecurity services. The company, based in Stafford County near Fredericksburg, soon ran into an obstacle: It had plenty of work, but not enough employees to handle the work.

Broadly speaking, technology fields have a diversity problem. A recent Harvard Business Review article cited slow diversity improvement in the industry over the past several years.

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) stands poised to help train a growing regional tech workforce, offering a range of technical associate degrees and certifications for in-demand technology jobs.

One Virginia company’s vision of how we grow our food may sound like science fiction. But it’s getting an unusual assist from a unique partnership forged by VEDP’s International Trade Division.

Dr. Anne Kress is president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the largest public educational institution in Virginia and the second-largest community college in the United States.

While many drivers along the Interstate 81 Corridor focus on the beauty of the surrounding mountains, I-81 is the backbone that connects a thriving manufacturing industry. Unlike many interstate systems, I-81 circumvents major metro areas to connect smaller and mid-size cities.

From its humble 1887 beginnings selling food-flavoring extracts and spices from a pushcart on Richmond’s Broad Street, the company formerly known as The C.F. Sauer Company enters the new decade as Sauer Brands, Inc., a leading packaged-food manufacturer.