Nurseries and greenhouses, cattle and calves still top Oregon’s latest list of top 20 agricultural commodities
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Oregon Department of Agriculture has released its 2024 Top 20 Commodities Posters and Agricultural Statistics Brochures, based on values and estimates from the 2022 crop year.
Oregon’s nursery and greenhouse industry remains the leading agricultural commodity in the state, with a value of $1.22 billion in 2022. Cattle and calves remained in the second position and had a value of production totaling $791.5 million in 2022, up 17 percent from 2021. Historically, greenhouses, nurseries, cattle, and calves remain two of Oregon’s top commodities by value.
Hay and milk each increased one position from the previous year to third and fourth in state rankings, respectively. Grass seed ranked fifth with an estimated value of $639.1 million in 2022. Most of the grass seed acreage is in the Willamette Valley, the “grass seed capital of the world.”
Nationally Oregon ranks No. 1 for the production of hazelnuts, Christmas trees, rhubarb, crimson clover seed, orchard grass seed, fescue seed, ryegrass seed, red clover seed, sugar beet for seed, and white clover seed.
Although these rankings represent the top 20 agriculture commodities in Oregon, it is important to recognize the diversity of Oregon agriculture’s ability to produce more than 225 commodities across the state, each of which brings value to the state’s economy.
The newly released statistics are primarily from USDA NASS in collaboration with Dave Losh, Oregon State Statistician. The Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Wine Board, and the Oregon grass seed industry also provided estimates.
