By DAN WHEAT

Capital Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Agricultural products had a banner year in Washington in 2010 with a total value, including government payments, of $8.25 billion.

That's great news after two years of decline, said Mike Louisell, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

The 2010 farmgate value is second only to 2007, which was $8.35 billion, according to the annual report on the state's top 40 ag commodities issued Oct. 14 by the Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service in Olympia.

The 2010 figure is 13 percent above a revised $7.3 billion for 2009.

"While rising production costs impact the bottom line, farming, food production and agricultural exports remain bright spots in Washington's economy," Dan Newhouse, director of the state Department of Agriculture, said in a news release.

Apples were the leading ag commodity for the sixth year in a row with a 2010 value of $1.44 billion, a 2 percent increase from 2009, NASS said. Milk, wheat, potatoes and cattle-calves rounded out the top five for $4.54 billion or 57 percent of total ag value.

Cherries, wheat, milk, cattle and calves, pears and hay all were up substantially from the year before.

"Consistent demand, and in some cases tighter supplies, drove commodity prices higher in 2010," said David Knopf, director of NASS in Washington.

Wheat prices were up 29 percent in 2010 while production was up 20 percent, he said. Milk prices were up 31 percent and production 6 percent and cattle prices were up 21 percent with production down 1 percent, Knopf said.

Nine of the top 10 commodities increased in value, Louisell noted. Exports are helping and bode well for 2011, he said. Ag exports in the first seven months of 2011 totaled $5.7 billion, up 53 percent from the same period in 2010, he said.

New free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama and suspension of Mexican tariffs should help in the future, he said.

The 2010 Top 40 report showed record high production values in blueberries, corn for grain, dry edible beans, cherries, grapes, pears, sheep and lambs, wool, non-storage onions and fresh sweet corn.

Looked at by commodity groups: field crops were valued at $2.83 billion, up 13 percent from 2009; fruits and nuts, $2.23 billion, up 10 percent; and livestock at $1.9 billion, up 25 percent.

Commercial vegetables, $483 million, were down 14 percent and specialty products, $371 million, fell 2 percent.

Non-storage onions had the highest value per harvested acre at $16,533 per acre in 2010. Next were blueberries at $10,512 and cherries at $9,830.

Online

www.nass.usda.gov/ Click on statistics, by state, Washington, publications, current news releases, top 40