The value of Idaho’s 2017 agricultural production was $7.49 billion, up 3 percent from the previous year’s revised value of $7.29 billion. The value of Idaho’s crop production in 2017 was $3.06 billion, up 1 percent from 2016. The value of livestock production in 2017 totaled $4.43 billion, up 4 percent from the previous year. The rankings of the top five commodities remained unchanged from 2016.
Milk remains the leading agricultural commodity in the state with a 2017 value of $2.52 billion, up 7 percent from 2016. Milk represented 34 percent of the total agricultural value compared with 32 percent in 2016. Cattle and calves remained in the second position and had value of production totaling $1.38 billion dollars in 2017, down less than 1 percent from 2016. Potatoes ranked third in 2017 with value of production of $975 million, up less than 1 percent from the previous year. Hay value of production was $718 million, up 7 percent from 2016, fourth in the state ranking. Wheat rounded out the top five with a value of $426 million, up 1 percent from the previous year. These five commodities had a combined value of $6.01 billion, or 80 percent of the 2017 value for all commodities (excluding government payments). The same five commodities in 2016 had a combined value of $5.81 billion, also 80 percent of the total value.
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 $99.2 million in 2017, increased 19 percent from the previous year. The value of Dry Edible Beans totaled $83.0 million, up 16 percent from 2016. Hops remained in the tenth position but the value of production was up 35 percent from the previous year. Only two of the top ten commodities declined in value from the previous year. Barley value of production, down 29 percent from 2016, moved down one position to seventh in the State. Other notable commodities outside the top ten that declined in value in 2017 were peppermint, down 12 percent to $29.6 million; lentils, down 44 percent to $8.79 million; and apples, down 15 percent to $8.15 million.
The full statistical report from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service can be viewed below or by clicking here.