2012 A Good Ag Year for Washington

2012 A Good Ag Year for Washington. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

I know that 2013 will soon be wrapping up but the National Ag Statistics Service has just released their report on the value of Washington's ag production for 2012 and it was a good one. The Ag Network's Lacy Gray has more.

GRAY: 2012 agricultural production reached $9.89 billion, 6 percent above the 2011 revised figure of $9.31 billion. There were a number of increases but some notable decreases including a 30% drop in berry production. Apples remain the leading agricultural commodity in the State with a 2012 value of $2.25 billion, a 16 percent increase from 2011. Apples represented 23 percent of the total agricultural value compared with 21 percent in 2011. Cherries ranked 6th overall with grapes and pears in the 9th and 10th positions. Grapes saw a 24.8% increase with pears up 13.6%.

Thanks Lacy. Other fruits saw a mix of ups and downs. Red raspberries were off 14.6% while cranberries jumped nearly 37%. Apricots were up 17.4% and peaches were up only 4.4%. It will be interesting to see how this year compares with those numbers.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.