01/11/07 Record setting year for ID ag

Idaho beef and dairy operations provided the biggest share of the 4.5 billion dollars in cash receipts collected in 2006 by the Idaho agriculture industry. University of Idaho ag economist Garth Taylor says the gain of five million dollars was one tenth of one percent better than 2005. However the net income to farmers was down 23 percent last year on the heels of a 36 percent income drop in 2005. TAYLOR "Fuel prices were up, that means fertilizer and the whole complex of inputs they were up and they nailed them." Potatoes were the bright spot with 664 million dollars in sales last year, a 27 percent increase over 2005. TAYLOR "Oh my goodness. The seventh best year ever in potatoes." Hay sales grew by 12 percent to 373 million dollars last year. Sales of wheat sagged by three percent to $325 million from 2005. There was a 22 percent surge in sugarbeet cash receipts to $218 million, the best performance since 1998. While beef and dairy accounted for 55 percent of the cash receipts, Taylor says milk sales last year dropped nine percent to 1.3 billion dollars. Beef cattle sales also dipped 3 percent to just over $1 billion. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott