Agriculture's a Big Player.

Agriculture’s a Big Player. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
Agriculture remains a big economic player across the U.S. and into the northwest and in all 36 Oregon counties. More than half of Oregon's counties reported an increase in agricultural sales last year, according to new statistics released by Oregon State University. Many counties reported dramatic growth buoyed by high prices and good yields. And there were some surprises in the ranking of county agricultural sales.

JOHNSON:  You've got two eastern Oregon counties that have broken into the top three. They have not just inched in there, they've moved in big time. That would be Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Jim Johnson is a land use specialist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Johnson says while eastern Oregon enjoyed substantial sales growth because of such commodities as wheat, hay, and potatoes, he's noticed something else west of the Cascades.

JOHNSON:  The decline in the nursery industry leading to some of the numbers declining in the northern Willamette Valley counties. They are still powerhouses in agriculture but they've lost a little bit of that luster, so to speak.

Clackamas, Washington, and Yamhill counties are among those that actually dropped in agricultural sales last year. For the record, the top ten ag counties in Oregon now are Marion, Umatilla, Morrow, Clackamas, and Washington followed by Klamath, Linn, Yamhill, Malheur, and Polk. Johnson says Oregon's tremendous diversity of agriculture helps continue the overall growth in sales. When one commodity is down, chances are another is up.

JOHNSON: Parts of the industry have taken some dramatic hits. But when you look at the industry as a whole, it's still growing. The diversity really protects the overall agricultural industry in this state from some of the downturns we get in some of the commodities.

Johnson says agriculture is important to all 36 Oregon counties, whether they are east or west of the Cascades.

JOHNSON: It's even more evident that agriculture is even more important in rural areas on a per capita basis than the numbers would indicate, and when you look at the overall numbers, agriculture is still a Willamette Valley phenomenon, so it's still important in the North Willamette Valley, the South Willamette Valley, and it's just as much an urban phenomenon as a rural phenomenon.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.