08/12/08 Survey says total farm expenses fell in Washington in 2007

Washington Ag August 12, 2008 While nationally farmers and ranchers expended a record 260 billion dollars to produce their crops and livestock in 2007, total farm expenditures in Washington actually fell last year. That's what the National Agricultural Statistics Service's recently released 2007 Farm Production Expenditures Summary shows. That report showed total production expenses in Washington in 2007 were five-billion 890-million dollars but they were just over six billion in 2006. Still, the Ag Statistics Service says the average expenses per farm in Washington rose over 14-hundred dollars to 178,485 dollars. Not surprisingly, Kevin Barnes of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, says higher oil was behind many of the increased production costs. Barnes: "What we saw basically was an increase in petroleum costs, fuel costs and all that has translated into higher prices for other farm products, particularly fertilizer, chemicals, transportation services. So those have been some of the indirect effects of fuel prices and growth in economic production." In total Washington farmers and ranchers spent less last year on interest, tractors and other self-propelled machinery, trucks, farm improvements and labor. I'm Bob Hoff.