Virginia Economic Review

Recent major biopharmaceutical announcements have sent a clear signal from the industry: Virginia is the future of biopharma manufacturing.

Food and beverage and pharmaceutical companies rely on Virginia’s cold chain infrastructure to succeed.

It’s not the first time Washington Dulles International Airport, having served record numbers of passengers the past two years, has eyed an expansion of its operations, infrastructure, and ultimately, air cargo volume. But this time, circumstances are different.

When President Donald Trump announced in June he would “unleash drone dominance,” it’s no surprise that the Commonwealth looked to NASA and its 108-year-old Langley Research Center in Hampton for guidance.

Virginia’s transportation network faces congestion issues that come with population growth, and air travel is no exception.

Connections are an essential foundation of business success — and businesses trust Virginia’s infrastructure to provide a multimodal transportation system that reliably connects them to suppliers, customers, and partners.

States, nations, and any municipality can build and tout their critical infrastructure that, on the surface, may appear second to none. Think: thriving, automated food and agriculture ecosystems. Sprawling office buildings outfitted with remote smart sensors. Unflappable financial markets.

Tom Barkin is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Barkin joined the Richmond Fed in January 2018. In his time in Richmond, Barkin has taken an interest in the issues leading to a divide between urban and rural areas in the Fed’s Fifth District.

Food and beverage processors operate in an industry where even the most successful companies depend on low margins and economies of scale. That means even the smallest advantage can be a differentiating factor when locating a new facility.