Grass seed moves to #4 in Oregon commodities

Greenhouse, nursery products top Oregon’s ag products

Followed by cattle and calves, hay and grass seed

SALEM, Ore. – Greenhouse and nursery products remain Oregon’s leading agricultural commodity, with an annual value of nearly $1 billion, based on data collected by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Sources include USDA National agricultural Statistic Service (NASS), Oregon State University, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Oregon Wine Board. This is an increase for Oregon’s greenhouse and nursery industry up from $94.7 million last year. Oregon is one of the top three nursery production states in the U.S.

Cattle and calves remain in the second position with a value of production totaling more than $652 million down from $695 million the previous year. Hay value was slightly up and worth more than $590 million. And grass seed and milk switched positions in the line-up with grass seed experiencing an increase of $62 million and milk a decrease of more than $27 million to round up Oregon’s top 5 agricultural commodities.

The rest of Oregon Ag’s top ten list contains many of the same commodities as previous years. Please note, hemp is not included in the agricultural commodities list. Before the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp was not federally recognized as a legal agricultural commodity, therefore data was not collected.

Oregon’s Top 20 Agricultural Commodities: 2018

1. Greenhouse & nursery $995,950,000
2. Cattle & calves $652,063,000
3. Hay $590,414,000
4. Grass seed $517,406,000
5. Milk $473,297,000
6. Wheat $298,465,000
7. Grapes for wine $208,726,000
8. Potatoes $201,690,000
9. Blueberries $180,730,000
10. Pears $140,966,000
11. Christmas Trees $119,979,000
12. Onions $100,339,000
13. Hazelnuts $91,800,000
14. Eggs $85,136,000
15. Dungeness crab $74,527,000
16. Cherries $70,835,000
17. Hops $69,855,000
18. Apples $55,180,000
19. Sweet Corn $44,492,000
20. Mint for oil $39,523,000

For more agricultural information take a look at Oregon Agriculture’s Facts & Figures brochure online:

• Facts and Figures tri-fold brochure (English)

• Facts and Figures tri-fold brochure (Spanish)

This is an easy-to-read publication that lists rankings of Oregon’s agricultural production, value of Oregon’s agricultural exports and demographics about operations and producers.

Find the full Annual Statistical Bulletin for Oregon from USDA NASS online: https://oda.fyi/NASSBulletin.

This story original published by KTVZ