Washington State’s 2014 potato crop value is down from 2013.
The state’s potatoes last year were valued at $771 million, about 3 percent lower than 2013, according to the USDA statistics released Friday.
The Yakima Valley has some potatoes, but not many. However, nearby Grant, Benton and Adams Counties produce a lot, helping make potatoes the state’s fourth-most valuable crop behind apples, milk and wheat.
Washington is the second highest potato-growing state behind Idaho. Oregon is fifth.
Value was down for all three states at $1.91 billion, according to a news release Friday from the federal National Agricultural Statistics Service Northwest Field Office in Olympia, Wash.
The three states combined accounted for 64 percent of the nation’s potatoes.
Source: Yakima Herald