NASS Crop Value Report Pt 1

NASS Crop Value Report Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. Ag production in Washington state was up 4-percent in 2017 to $10.6-billion ... and topping the list for the 13th straight year, not surprisingly, was apples.

That's according to the USDA's National Ag Statistics Service where Northwest Regional director Chris Mertz says dairy producers were happy to come in second on the list ...

MERTZ ... "Milk is sitting at number two with roughly $1.19-billion dollars."

That's up 8-percent from 2016 ... based primarily on the price of milk ...

MERTZ ... "You are very correct. Production went down 2% for 2017 where the price was up 10% from the previous year."

Next on the list, Mertz says there was some shuffling this year ...

MERTZ ... "Rounding out the top five is wheat, potatoes, and cattle. Wheat had a decrease in production, but price increased 17% in 2017 which helped move wheat from the fifth spot to the third spot. Potatoes was down a little bit both in production and in price so that moved it down to the number four spot and then cattle production we were down in 2017 so it knocked it down to the fifth spot in the state of Washington."

Mertz says one of the surprises that didn't make the top ten was canola ...

MERTZ ... "Yeah, the value of canola did go up 64% from the previous year so it's a $15.1-million so that's a mover for commodities that are not in the top ten."

Rounding out the top ten was hay, hops, cherries, grapes, and pears. Record high values of production were established for pears and hops. Listen tomorrow for more on Washington's ag commodity values.

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