New York Agriculture
Agriculture is an important industry in New York State. There are 35,500 farms throughout the state. About 25 percent of the State’s land area, or 7.6 million acres, is used to produce a wide variety of food products. Over $5.4 billion agricultural products are sold annually in New York. Here are some other state statistics: •
Population: More than 18 million (3rd in size)
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State Capital: Albany
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State Fruit: Apple
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State Beverage: Milk
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State Tree: Sugar Maple
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Nickname: The Empire State
Touching Our Lives Every Day!
New York Agriculture,
New York is blessed with a tremendous diversity of agricultural products. The following are but a few of the many commodities from New York.
Livestock Fun Facts There are over 90,000 horses in New York State and they live between 25-30 years on average. A foal is a baby horse. A newborn foal can stand up within an hour of being born. There are over 350 different breeds of horses and ponies. A pig’s snout is an important tool for finding food in the ground and sensing the world around them. A sow is a mother pig and has sow has piglets usually two times a year. The average weight of a piglet is 3.5 pounds. A group of sheep is called a “flock”. People who care for sheep are called shepherds. Sheep are shorn,which means having all thier wool clipped off, once a year in the spring. One sheep can produce up to 8 pounds of wool in a single year.
Did you know there are more than 300 agricultural related careers for you to explore and learn about! Special Thanks Our thanks to the NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets, NASS, and the many commodity groups and organizations for the information about New York commodities and agricultural facts. Please remember, the products mentioned are but a sampling of New York’s diverse agricultural sector.
Fruit and Veggie Facts! APPLES
New York ranked 2nd in the nation in apple production in 2015, with over 1.3 billion pounds produced. Three general areas produce the apple crop: along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, along the Hudson Valley, and the Lake Champlain Valley. Leading varieties produced include McIntosh, Rome, Empire, Red Delicious, Rhode Island Greening, Idared, and Cortland.
TART CHERRIES
Produced mostly in the Lake Ontario region of Western New York. Production and value of the crop fluctuates widely. New York ranked 2nd nationally. The crop was valued at $2.76 million for the 8 million pounds produced.
NY’s Top 5 Ag Products 1. Milk 2. Corn for grain 3. Hay 4. Cattle and calves 5. Apples
SNAP BEANS
Grown in the Central and Western parts of the state for fresh market and processing. The crop value was $59 million. New York ranked 2rd in production for processing and 2nd for fresh market.
New York Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultral Education
STRAWBERRIES
Grown throughout New York for local sales and U-Pick. The state ranked 8th in production and the crop was valued at $7.2 million for 6 million harvested pounds.
PEARS
Production ranked 4th in the nation with a value of $4.01 million for the 11,000 tons produced.
SWEET CORN
Produced throughout the state with concentration in the Lower Hudson Valley and in Western and Central New York in Genesee, Cayuga, Ontario, Orleans, Livingston, Monroe, Wyoming, and Wayne Counties. The 2015 production placed New York 5th in fresh market and 6. Total value of conr produciton was $53 million.
GRAPES
New York is ranked 3rd in grape production, just behind California and Washington. In 2015 over 35,000 tons of wine were produced in NY. There are four major grape producing regions in the state - The Lake Erie area, the Finger Lakes area, the Hudson Valley area and on Long Island. Concord is the dominant variety produced in NY and normally accounts for about 75% of the total production.
CABBAGE
Principally grown south of Lake Ontario in Monroe, Genesee, Orleans, Ontario and Niagara Counties. This is the center of production of cabbage for storage, which is moved to the fresh market during the winter months. Cabbage is also grown in Suffolk County. NY is ranked 2nd in production with crop value of $58.1 million.
New York City is home to 31 farms, located in all boroughs except Manhattan. Most of these farms are less than 10 acres in size, and predominantly have sales of nursery stock and floriculture.
ONIONS
An important crop, valued at $40 million in 2015. Onions are primarily grown in muck soils in Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Madison, and Wayne Counties NY ranked 5th in fresh market production, with 258 million pounds.
POTATOES
Production is centered in eastern Suffolk County (Long Island) and Upstate in Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Livingston Counties, with scattered production in other areas of the state. Value in 2015 was $40.9 million, which puts our national rank at 11th.
NY Products are on your table every day! OTHER VEGETABLES The value of vegetables totaled $344 million and placed New York 5th. This figure includes lettuce, cauliflower, carrots, green peas for processing and beets for processing. Lettuce and celery are grown in the muck soils of Orange and Oswego Counties. New York ranked 6th for fresh market.
MAPLE SYRUP A $5.02 million crop ranked the state 2nd in value. New York was 2nd nationally in production, with 601,000 gallons, or 17% of the U.S. total. Did you know wthat is takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup?
AQUACULTURE New York has 90 aqualtuclture farms which produced $18 million in sales in 2012. New York ranks 14th nationally for aquaculture.
DAIRY PRODUCTS Milk is New York’s leading agricultural product and is produced throughout the state. Milk accounts for over one-half of the NY’s farm cash receipts from all products. Production in 2015 was 14.1 billion pounds with a total value of $2.6 billion. New York ranks 3rd nationally in milk production.
FLORICULTURE
(Ornamentals & Flowering Plants) These products were valued at $413 million with bedding and garden plants at the top of the commodity list. NY is ranked 6th nationally for output.
CHRISTMAS TREES
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NEW YORK'S NATIONAL RANKING IN 2015 1st— yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream 2nd— apples, cabbage, snap peas, maple syrup 3rd— dairy cows, milk production, grapes 4th— squash, pears, calves 5th— tart cherries, onions, corn silage, sweet corn
POULTRY An important segment of the state’s agriculture, with production of eggs, broilers and turkeys plus other chickens valued at $63.6 million. Leading poultry counties Wayne, Erie, in the west, Onondaga in the Central and Sullivan in the southeast. New York ranked 29th in egg production.
As honey bees gather pollen and nectar for their survival, they pollinate crops such as apples, cranberries, melons and broccoli. Some crops, including blueberries and cherries, are 90% dependent on honey bee pollination.
HORTICULTURE
(Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers & Ornamentals) New York had 1,058 horticultural operations that sold $324.1 million in horticultural products in 2014, compared to 1,040 horticultural operations that sold $303.4 million in horticultural products in 2009. Horticulture producers in New York had $307.8 billion in total production expenses in 2014.
Provide about $6.8 million of sales and made New York the 6th leading producer in 2015.
New York Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultral Education
NY Agricultural Statistics Top Crop Items (acres)
Top Livestock Inventory (number)
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Forage-land used for all hay and haylage, grass silage, and greenchop (1,850,981)
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Layers (5,208,831)
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Corn for grain (677,268)
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Cattle & calves (1,419,365)
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Corn for silage (496,885)
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Pullets for laying flock replacement (1,195,776)
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Soybeans for beans (310,104)
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Broilers & meat-type chickens (591,576)
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Vegetables harvested, all (135,997)
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Ducks (225,567)
Dairy Prioducts (lbs)
Livestock Production
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Total Italiam Cheese (351,031,000)
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Milk Production (14 billion lbs)
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Total Cheese (801,436,000)
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Cattle & Calves (260,million lbs)
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Creamed Cottage Cheese (82,656,000)
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Egg Production (1.5 billion eggs)
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Lowfat Cottage Cheese (103,537,000)
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Chickens (10.5 million lbs)
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Hogs & Pigs (35.3 million lbs)
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Sour Cream (262,724,000)
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Honey (3.6 million lbs)
Regional Profiles
Agricultural production occurs in every part of the State, even in New York City. The top five counties for sales in 2012 were Wyoming, Cayuga, Suffolk, Genesee, and St. Lawrence counties.
Agricultural Sales by County in 2012 Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture; Office of the State Comptroller
Total Sales ($1,000) Wyoming Cayuga Suffolk Genesee St. Lawrence Livingston Wayne Ontario Steuben Jefferson
318,412 289,235 239,818 234,292 186,431 185,477 181,511 178,980 177,710 177,025
Number of Farms 713 891 604 549 1,303 661 873 853 1,667 876
Total -Top Ten $2,168,891
8,990
Total - State $5,471,639
35,537
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture; Office of the State Comptroller
New York Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultural Education 159 Wolf Rd P.O. Box 5330 1-800-342-4143 sprokop@nyfb.org New York Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultral Education
Agriculture in New York is diverse and makes significant contributions to the economy all across the State. While primarily engaging small, family businesses, farming’s overall impact is in the billions of dollars each year. The payoff in quality of life also includes environmental benefits, such as preservation of open space. For economic, social and other reasons, a strong farming sector is critical to the Empire State. As farmers continue to address the challenges driven by factors at the local, national and even international levels, close attention to the most effective mix of State policies to support agriculture will remain essential.