Milk remains Idaho's top ag commodity

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Milk remained the leading agricultural commodity in Idaho with a 2016 value of $2.36 billion, up slightly from 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Milk represented 33 percent of the total agricultural value compared with 30 percent in 2015, NASS reported.

The total value of Idaho’s 2016 agricultural production was $7.25 billion, down 6 percent from the previous year’s revised value of $7.75 billion. The value of Idaho’s crop production in 2016 was $2.99 billion, down less than 1 percent from 2015. The value of livestock production in 2016 totaled $4.26 billion, down 10 percent from the previous year. The rankings of the top seven commodities remained unchanged from 2016.

Cattle and calves remained in the second position with a production value totaling $1.39 billion in 2016, down 17 percent from 2015.

Potatoes ranked third in 2016 with value of production of $968 million, up 6 percent from the previous year.

Hay’s value of production was $674 million, down 17 percent from 2015, fourth in the state ranking. Wheat rounded out the top five with a value of $422 million, down 6 percent from the previous year.

These five commodities had a combined value of $5.82 billion, or 80 percent of the 2016 value for all commodities (excluding government payments). The same five commodities in 2015 had a combined value of $6.22 billion, also 80 percent of the total value.

Hops moved into the top 10 in 2016, up from 13th in 2015. Onions, which had held the 10th position in 2015 moved down three positions in 2016.

There were commodities outside the top five that showed significant increases in value from the previous year.

Corn for grain production, with a value of $83.7 million in 2016, increased 23 percent from the previous year. The value of hops, at $51.1 million, reached a record high in 2016. This was up 66 percent from the previous year. The value of lentils, at $15.3 million, increased 59 percent from the previous year. Four of the top 10 commodities declined in value from the previous year.

Other notable commodities outside the top 10 that declined in value in 2016 were onions, down 44 percent to $28 million; apples, down 36 percent to $9.63 million; and oats, down 18 percent to $3.05 million.