Washington’s agricultural crops in 2012 are up 6 percent from the year before. A recent USDA report say agricultural products reached nearly $10 billion.
Some of the products that saw rapid growth in Washington: dry edible beans, barley and apples.
Other crops did well too last year, but in Washington apples remain king. In 2012 they came in with a 16 percent crop increase over 2011. That’s a value of $2.25 billion dollars.
Todd Fryhover is the president of the Washington Apple Commission. He says apple growers have less acreage now than they did 20 years ago – but more trees per acre.
“In the traditional orchards of the past, we might have 380 trees per acre, today we’re seeing orchards with as much as 1,000 to 1,500 trees per acre," explains Fryhover . "So a lot more intense farming, a lot better stewardship of the land, a lot more efficiencies.”
The other top crops in Washington by value are: Wheat, milk, potatoes and hay.
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