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PrintFruit crop values increase
Although the overall value of Washington’s agricultural production dropped 8 percent in 2009 from the previous year, grapes set a record high value, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Grape growers contributed $210 million to the state’s agricultural economy, figures compiled by the National Agricultural Statistics Service for the year 2009, show.
Apples continued to top the list of Washington’s agricultural commodities with a value of $1.5 billion, a 14 percent increase from 2008. Apples represented 21 percent of the total agricultural value, compared with 17 percent in 2008. The per-acre value for apples was $9,628, the highest of any commodity except storage onions, which had a value of $11,063.
Fruit and nut crops as a whole were valued at $2 billion, up 5 percent from 2008, but the value of specialty products, at $373 million, was the lowest in many years.
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