Washington's ag production value dropped in 2008
Washington Ag Today October 6, 2009 The value of Washington’s 2008 agricultural production was 7.88 billion dollars. The Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service says that was five percent below the revised 2007 figure of 8.3 billion. Dan Newhouse, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture says it is encouraging that Washington’s overall value of production did not experience the dramatic losses experienced in other sectors of the turbulent global economy. Linda Simpson with the Washington Field Office of the Statistics Service runs down the top valued commodities in the state. Simpson: “Leading the list was apples at 1.3 billion dollars in value followed by milk with slightly over one billion. Apples represented 17% of the total agricultural value compared to 22% in 2007. Milk accounted for 13% of the total. In third place was wheat and in fourth place was potatoes. Rounding out the top five was hay.” Despite the decline in over all value, Simpson says some individual commodities set value records last year. Simpson: “Record high values of production for major crops were set for potatoes, hay, hops, sweet corn, mint oil, alfalfa, Kentucky bluegrass, and red raspberries.” The most valuable Washington crop on a harvested acre basis in 2008 was non-storage onions with a gross value of 10-thousand-764 dollars an acre. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
