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50 State Agricultural Rankings
West Virginia
Agriculture
The tables below offer information about West Virginia agriculture from the general agricultural groups to the more specific commodities or products. The ranking assigned to a given commodity is based on the commodity's cash receipts; how much money it made.
Commodity groups cash receipts - 2004
As you can see from the table below, West Virginia ranks 46th among the states for total agricultural production.
| Commodity groups cash receipts - 2004 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Group | Value ($1,000) | % State total | State rank |
| All commodities | 422,871 | 100.0% | 46 |
| Livestock & livestock products | 348,513 | 82.4% | 41 |
| Crops | 74,359 | 17,6% | 48 |
| Source: USDA:Economic Research Service | |||
West Virginia's top five commodities by cash receipts - 2004
This table lists West Virginia's top commodities in each of West Virginia's two agriculutural groups, livestock and crops.
| West Virginia's top five commodities by cash receipts - 2004 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Livestock products | % State total | Crop products | % State total |
| Broilers (9-12 week old chickens) | 36.9% | Hay | 2.3% |
| Cattle and calves | 20.7% | Apples | 1.8% |
| Chicken eggs | 7.6% | Corn for grain | 1.6% |
| Dairy products | 7.5% | Soybeans | 1.1% |
| Turkeys | 7.0% | Tobacco | 0.9% |
| Source: USDA:Economic Research Service | |||
Broilers are the top agricultural commodity produced in West Virginia. Over 80% of West Virginia's total agricultural production fall in the livestock products category, including the top five commodities produced in the state. In addition to broilers, cattle and calves, eggs, dairy products and turkeys are also important to the state.
Perhaps because of the terrain, West Virginia's crop production is limited. Its most important crop is hay, presumably to feed livestock. Ranking second in this category are apples, followed by grain corn, soybeans and tobacco.
Leading commodities for cash receipts - 2004
This table offers a more complete view of the most important agricultural products of West Virginia.
| Leading commodities for cash receipts - 2004 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Value ($1,000) | % State Value | |
| 1. Broilers (9-12 week old chickens) | 155,848 | 36.9% | |
| 2. Cattle and calves | 87,386 | 20.7% | |
| 3. Chicken eggs | 32,325 | 7.6% | |
| 4. Dairy products | 31,515 | 7.5% | |
| 5. Turkeys | 29,702 | 7.0% | |
| 6. Hay | 9,808 | 2.3% | |
| 7. Apples | 7,653 | 1.8% | |
| 8. Corn for grain | 6,894 | 1.6% | |
| 9. Soybeans | 4,812 | 1.1% | |
| 10. Tobacco | 3,842 | 0.9% | |
| 11. Peaches | 2,772 | 0.7% | |
| 12. Sheep and lambs | 2,223 | 0.5% | |
| 13. Hogs | 1,792 | 0.4% | |
| 14. Farm chickens | 1,118 | 0.3% | |
| 15. Wheat | 863 | 0.2% | |
| 16. Honey | 703 | 0.2% | |
| 17. Aquaculture | 694 | 0.2% | |
| 18. Wool | 58 | Less than 0.1% | |
| Source: USDA:Economic Research Service | |||
The 2004 table above contains information about West Virginia agricultural production provided by the Economic Research Service at the United States Department of Agriculture.
The first column of the table lists the product (commodity).
The second column of the table lists a number representing the dollar value of the product. This number is not the dollar value of the product. This number represents the dollar value of the product in thousands of dollars. For example, the number listed for the value of broilers produced in West Virginia is 155,848. This number represents a dollar value of $155,848,000 (155,848 x 1,000): one hundred and fifty-five million, eight hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars.
The third column of the table lists the percent (part) of the total agricultural value produced in West Virginia. For example, broilers create 36.9% of West Virginia's total agricultural production value. The dollars generated by the production broilers add up to over 1/3 of West Virginia's total agricultural production.
West Virginia farms and farmland - 2004
Because of different rounding methods (e.g., farm acres given by the National Argriculture Statistics Service), percentage of farmland per state should be considered a rough estimate.
| West Virginia farms and farmland - 2004 | Number of farms | Total farm acres | Percent of state | Average farm size (acres) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20,800 | 3,598,400 | 23% | 173 |
| Source: USDA:National Agriculture Statistics Service | |||
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