With the theme "Ag Trade: Growing Opportunities," this year’s Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention will focus on how farmers can increase their profitability through trade.

As many as 900 farmers and others with an interest in agriculture and agribusiness will gather Nov. 29 through Dec. 1 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott to attend educational conferences and set Farm Bureau legislative priorities for next year’s General Assembly session.

Topping the conference is a keynote speech by J.J. Keever, senior deputy executive director of external affairs for the Virginia Port Authority, titled "Agriculture & Maritime: Partnering for a Brighter Future." Keever will talk about how farmers can take advantage of the Port of Virginia to increase agricultural exports.

Participants also will have the opportunity to attend two educational conferences: "Port of Virginia: Proximity & Potential Profit" and "Conservation Easements: The Right Fit for Your Farm?"

Greg Edwards, director of external affairs for the Virginia Port Authority, will piggyback on Keever’s keynote speech and offer farmers tangible ways to get involved in exporting their products through the Port of Virginia.

Lisa Anne Hawkins, Kevin Schmidt and Laura Thurman will participate in a panel discussion on conservation easements and how farmers can benefit from them.

Hawkins is a founding partner of the law firm Lenhart Obenshain PC and has worked on easements to preserve thousands of acres of land in Virginia. Schmidt is the coordinator of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Office of Farmland Preservation. Thurman is the easement project manager for the Shenandoah Valley region of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

Todd Haymore, Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry, will share news from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s recent trade mission to Israel and India, in which he participated. Haymore will speak at a Nov. 30 breakfast.

During general sessions of the convention, voting delegates from each of Virginia’s 88 county Farm Bureaus will discuss and vote on the organization’s state and federal legislative policies for the coming year. They also will elect members of the VFBF board of directors to represent Districts 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13.

With more than 150,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farmers’ advocacy group. Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization committed to protecting Virginia’s farms and ensuring a safe, fresh and locally grown food supply