Oregon’s top 20 agricultural commodities list doesn’t include hemp – yet

Oregon agriculture officials recently released the state’s top 20 commodities list – but despite earlier assertions that hemp will become a top crop, it isn’t even on the list yet.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture announced its top 20 agricultural commodities this week, noting that cannabis crops including hemp and marijuana are not included yet because until the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp was not recognized as a legal agricultural commodity.

Thus, there is a lack of data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Once hemp is added to the list of crops surveyed by USDA NASS, there will be better data to allow states like Oregon, where hemp has become a major crop, to track how the commodity impacts the agricultural economy.

There is currently no farm-gate value available for marijuana because it remains a federally illegal crop.

Hemp farmers nationwide can sign up to be counted in the 2022 NASS Census of Agriculture, a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them that occurs every five years, on the NASS website.

In 2019, Oregon’s state agriculture department stated that it expected the hemp industry to be more lucrative than its largest agricultural industry, greenhouse and nursery, which was worth $947 million in 2017 and remains the state’s leading commodity with an estimated value of $955 million in 2019.

As an agriculturally diverse state, the sector is vital to Oregon’s economy, home to more than 37,000 farms and ranges. The state produces more than 200 commodities, generating $5 billion in annual farm-gate sales and services per year.

The state’s top 20 agricultural commodities in 2019 are:

1. Greenhouse & nursery $955,166,000
2. Hay $674,280,000
3. Cattle & calves $625,158,000
4. Milk $552,096,000
5. Grass seed $517,406,000
6. Wheat $282,948,000
7. Grapes for wine $237,784,000
8. Potatoes $198,889,000
9. Blueberries $134,254,000
10. Pears $108,774,000
11. Onions $108,409,000
12. Christmas trees $104,451,000
13. Hazelnuts $84,480,000
14. Cherries $75,221,000
15. Hops $71,628,000
16. Dungeness crab $67,671,967
17. Eggs $56,798,000
18. Mint for oil $40,536,000
19. Apples $38,746,000
20. Sweet corn $38,103,000

More information about Oregon’s agricultural statistics is available here.