Almost across the board, from apples, the state's largest cash crop, to wheat, barley, potatoes and even sugar beets, prices continue to spike downward, leaving growers and farmers with too much product and not enough market. State statistician Doug Hasslen says Washington wheat production for 1999 is estimated to be 126.2 million bushels, down from 157.4 million bushels in 1998. Cool weather and poor rainfall have also cut yields over last year's near record levels. But even with the lower yields and farmers diversifying into different crops, a worldwide glut of wheat coupled with the Asian economic crisis and politically closed markets has forced prices downward. Wheat prices have been trending downward since 1996.
Hops are also down.
When you start looking at this, it really can depress a person pretty easily. Hasslen says one bright spot earlier this year was the dairy industry which was enjoying strong prices until late spring when those also began sliding. Wine grapes, one of the region's most successful crops in recent years, continue to hold their own, but prices also have slowed their upward movement considerably, advancing only slightly over last year. Hasslen says one of the toughest-hit crops has been sugar beets, a crop which was enjoying somewhat of a comeback in Washington. But low sugar prices, coupled with plant production problems have badly hurt the industry and left some farmers in dire shape.