Washingtoh's ag production value in 2010 second highest on record

Washington Ag Today October 17, 2011 The top five agricultural commodities in terms of value at the farm gate in Washington in 2010 were, by rank, apples, milk, wheat, potatoes and cattle and calves. That is what the Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service has reported.

In all, the value of Washington’s 2010 agricultural production is placed at 8.25 billion dollars, including government payments, second only to the 2007 record of 8.35 billion. Those top five commodities alone produced 57 percent of the total value of commodity production, excluding government payments.

Commodities that saw record high value of production in 2010 were blueberries, corn for grain, dry edible beans, cherries, grapes, pears, sheep and lambs, wool, non-storage onions and sweet corn.

Now that free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama have been passed by Congress what’s next? The U.S. Trade Representative’s Chief Agriculture Negotiator Isi Siddiqui says it’s the Trans-Pacific Partnership currently being negotiated among the U.S. and eight other partners.

Siddiqui: “There have been eight rounds of negotiations. Just the last one being in September in Chicago. Negotiations are moving smoothly, better than expected and we hope to conclude this in the near future.”

The U.S. is negotiating with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.