Ag Up in Idaho
2008 saw Idaho farmers selling their crops and their livestock to the tune of $6.3 billion. According to University of Idaho researchers from the Department of Agricultural Economics, a report titled the new Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture says that the 2008 numbers were up by 11% over 2007.
Increased input costs, however, may reduce net farm income by 5% from 2007’s record. Garth Taylor, an assistant professor from U of I’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology said that every Idaho crop and livestock category increased from 2007 to 2008 except for cattle, onions and sugarbeets. Dairy was up 5% from the 2007 record with an estimated 2.15 billion dollars.
Milk prices are down in 2009 and profits are not there due to high input costs. However, a longstanding drought in California’s Central Valley may bring benefits to Idaho’s Dairy industry according to Taylor. This is due to the fact that irrigation will be delivered primarily to high value fruit and vegetable crops.
(Taylor) “What they’re gonna shut off is their least valued crops and that’s usually your forage crops. That means their hay crops will be shut off in California as a result of the drought. It may make a stronger market indirectly for Idaho milk because if they start shutting down dairies there, because the hay prices rise too high, it may increase the market for Idaho milk. Our hay prices would go up.”
