Growth in the milk and livestock industries made up for a hefty drop in apples to push Washington's overall 2014 agricultural production value to a record high.
The state's overall farm value reached $10.1 billion, less than 1 percent above the 2013 figure, according to statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service Regional Field Office in Olympia.
The big winners were the dairy and beef industries.
A 25 percent jump in milk value brought the dairy industry crop value to $1.6 billion to maintain second place on the state's top 10 crop value list, while rising beef prices pushed cattle and calves up 15 percent to $820 million, leapfrogging both wheat and potatoes for third place.
Milk saw surging prices in early 2014 as China heavily ramped up purchases of milk powder, said Jay Gordon, director of policy at the Washington State Dairy Federation.
"A lot of buying going on," he said.
However, sales have dramatically decreased this year after China boosted its own production and Russia banned agricultural imports from the European Union and the United States.
Yakima County is the state's top milk producer.
Apples are still king, accounting for nearly 1 in every 5 dollars spent for farm goods in the state, though they had a bad year in 2014, dipping 11 percent to $1.9 billion due to shipping problems and oversupply.
Potatoes dropped only 2.6 percent to $771 million for fourth place, while wheat -- previously No. 3 -- plummeted 30 percent to $715 million for fifth place.
Hay, cherries, grapes, pears and hops rounded out the top 10 list.
Blueberries, though not a top 10 crop, showed one of the highest areas of growth at 57 percent to $113 million.
Apples have suffered declining values two years in a row since 2012, an unusually good year with a large harvest and high prices due to poor growing conditions in other U.S. production regions.
In 2014, a host of problems plagued the apple industry -- labor disputes that slowed down Puget Sound shipping ports for several months, Russia's ban on Western agricultural products and a record volume of 140 million 40-pound boxes.
Washington is far and away the largest apple producer in the United States, while Yakima County is the nation's leading apple packing county.
