by Dr. Patrick Jones
Walla Walla County ranks among the most important agricultural counties in Washington, a state that itself is an agricultural powerhouse. According to the Washington 2023 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the state claimed first place nationally in the production of apples, cherries, pears, blueberries, hops and spearmint oil. The evergreen state landed at the number two spot among all states in the production of potatoes, winter wheat, grapes, apricots, asparagus, raspberries and onions.
Trends indicator 1.2.7 gives a glimpse of sales data collected by the U.S. Census of Agriculture. This census is undertaken every five years, with the latest results (2022) released earlier this year. The census tallied the value of agricultural production from the county at nearly $780 million.
This result placed Walla Walla County 5th out of all counties in Washington. It followed, in order: Yakima, Grant, Benton and Franklin Counties. The indicator also shows the market value per farm as nearly $871,000 in 2022. This placed Walla Walla 6th among all counties and nearly double the Washington average. By far the leading county for sales per farm was Grant, followed by Franklin, Adams, Benton and Yakima Counties. Clearly, Walla Walla County, the smallest of all these counties except Adams, is keeping good company in the economic sector that was likely the first one to develop here.
Indicator 1.2.7 reveals the total “top line” of agricultural producers in the county, whether total or sales per farm The Census of Agriculture also produces a net farm income number. For producers in the County in 2022, this important metric of producer financial health was approximately $215,000 per farm. These results landed agricultural producers here a collective fourth place, behind (in order) Grant, Franklin and Adams Counties.
One reason for Walla Walla’s relatively high ranking is the product mix. Wheat reigns supreme by output, at 17.4 million bushels harvested in 2022, placing it third in the state, after Whitman and Lincoln Counties. Fruit, however, has now become a major contributor to the county’s cornucopia. Orchard acreage was nearly 14,000 acres in 2022, placing it 6th in the state, while grapes took up nearly 1,700 acres, placing the county fifth in the state.
Of course, the local produce basket includes onions. While Walla Walla comes in 5th in the state by acreage, no other county lays claim to Walla Walla Sweets.
Another reason for the county’s high ranking by either gross sales or net income lies in the size of farms in Walla Walla. While the median, at 22 acres, is about the same as state-wide, the average is much larger. It was nearly 800 acres in 2022, versus 430 statewide. A distribution of all farms in the county by acreage shows that 19% of the operators claimed 1,000 acres or more. That is almost triple the rate of large farms statewide.
The logic of increasing sales/farm, enabled by the development of larger farms, may lead to a future that the agricultural community, at a minimum, will be reluctant to embrace. Larger farms will mean fewer farms and fewer farmers. The Agriculture Census shows that the number of farms in the county peaked in 1997, at 960. There now are fewer farmers in the county than a quarter of a century ago.
How many fewer will there be at the next round of the Census, in 2027? And how will that likely decline impact Walla Walla’s self-identity as an agricultural cornucopia in southeast Washington?