BOISE—Idaho trailed only California in the West for net farm income in 2012 and was more profitable than No. 3 Washington despite bringing in $1.7 billion less in farm gate receipts.
According to USDA data, Idaho ranked No. 2 among the 11 Western states in 2012, with $2.75 billion in net farm income.
California ranked No. 1 in the nation, with $16 billion in net farm income. Washington ranked third in the West, with $2.16 billion, despite leading Idaho in total farm gate receipts, $9.3 billion to $7.6 billion.
Those rankings were calculated by University of Idaho agricultural economists using USDA Economic Research Service data. Data needed to make comparisons for 2013 will be available in November.
They also show that Colorado ranked No. 4 in the West with $1.75 billion in net farm income in 2012 despite having the same amount of gross farm receipts as Idaho that year.
Though the rankings count for little more than bragging rights, farmers were intrigued by them.
“That’s actually kind of interesting,” said North Idaho farmer Robert Blair. “That’s something to be proud of.”
Washington has a lot of high-value crops compared with Idaho, but those crops also cost a lot to produce, said UI ag economist Garth Taylor.
“They have a lot of gross but the cost to produce those crops ate up ... more of their margins than it did in Idaho,” he said.
The ERS data show that Washington producers spent $5.2 billion on inputs in 2012, while Idaho producers spent $4.1 billion.
Washington producers spent $1.6 billion on manufactured inputs such as fertilizer, fuel and electricity, while Idaho producers spent $1.17 billion.
Washington producers spent $469 million for pesticides and $78 million for contract labor while Idaho producers spent $198 million and $39 million for those inputs.
Idaho only ranked ahead of Washington in net farm income three times in the 10 years prior to 2012 — in 2002, 2005 and 2008.
While the net farm income rankings shuffle from year to year, Washington does produce a lot of high-value crops, said Desmond O’Rourke, president of Belrose Inc. a private consulting firm out of Pullman.
“Their fixed costs tend to be high,” he said. “When prices are high, they make a lot of money. When they’re average, they don’t make as much and when prices are low, they lose a lot of money.”
New Mexico ranked fifth ($1.4 billion), Montana sixth ($1.3 billion), Oregon seventh ($960 million), Arizona eighth ($902 million), Utah ninth ($364 million), Wyoming 10th ($356 million) and Nevada 11th ($222 million).
Source: www.capitalpress.com