With the recent release of the 2017 Census of Agriculture, the agricultural industry has a chance to remind consumers about the importance of agriculture, and in Oklahoma that is no exception. With $7.5 billion of agriculture products sold in 2017, Oklahoma Agriculture continues to show its importance. Oklahoma’s animal industry showed the largest increase in sales between 2017 and 2012 with a 13 percent increase. This increase helped Oklahoma obtain the number one spot in the nation for the percentage of farms having livestock sales in 2017, with 65.6 percent of farms reporting the sale of livestock.
Cattle and calves continue to lead Oklahoma’s agricultural industry by holding roughly 50 percent of the total market value of agriculture products sold in 2017. Oklahoma’s cattle and calves ranked sixth nationally. Hogs and pigs are in second place accounting for $1.03 billion in sales and 13.8 percent of the total state sales, ranking eighth nationally. Poultry and eggs held third place in the state with $935 million in sales and 12.5 percent of the state’s sales.
Oklahoma also remains connected to its roots of producing crops. Oklahoma continued to hold the fourth place spot nationally with the total number of wheat acres harvested in 2017. With the recent expansion of the cotton industry in the state, Oklahoma also obtained the fourth place spot for cotton acres harvested in the nation.
These, among many more agricultural facts about Oklahoma, can be found in the 2017 Census of Agriculture report.
A big ‘Thank You’ to all the Oklahoma producers for your response and for showing how important agriculture is to Oklahoma!