Oregon counties rank high in US agriculture, Aug. 21

What county leads the nation in pear production? The answer is Hood River. That’s in Oregon. What county leads the nation in acres planted in Christmas trees? The answer is Clackamas. That’s also in Oregon. What county is first in the US for green pea acreage and production? The answer is Umatilla. Once again, that happens to be in Oregon. For a state not always recognized as an overall agricultural leader in the US, Oregon has a large number of counties ranking highly in a variety of categories as listed in the latest Census of Agriculture, according to the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture. In those categories, which include crop acreage and livestock inventory, Oregon counties crack the top 50 list of all US counties at least 113 times– and that doesn’t count the commodities not tracked by the census. Not bad for a state that ranks only 28th of all states in value of agricultural products sold. In the fruit category, two south coast counties rank high nationally in cranberry production. Coos is #7 in cranberry acreage and Curry is ranked #10.