By Sean Ellis
Idaho Farm Bureau Federation
POCATELLO – Despite being the fastest-growing state in the nation, Idaho is still No. 1 among the 11 western states when it comes to farm income on a per capita basis.
Per capita farm income is arrived at by dividing a state’s population by the total amount of farm cash receipts produced in that state. Farm cash receipts refers to the revenue farmers and ranchers receive for selling their commodity.
According to federal data released Sept. 1 and crunched by University of Idaho Extension Educator Brett Wilder, Idaho farmers and ranchers produced $4,392 per Idahoan in farm revenue during 2021.
That made Idaho the top state in per capita farm income among the 11 western states last year, far ahead of No. 2 Montana, which came in at $3,729 in per capita farm income.
“We’re just a big ag state,” said University of Idaho Agricultural Economist Garth Taylor. “The profile of agriculture in the state is still huge.”
Wilder said the per capita farm income data shows that “agriculture remains an incredibly important industry to Idaho.”
California led all U.S. states in total farm cash receipts last year, at $51 billion. But when it came to per capita farm income, California came in at $1,302 per Californian.
What the per capita income data shows is that agriculture is far more important to the average Idahoan than it is to people in other states, even California, the king of ag states, Taylor said.
U.S. Census Bureau data show that Idaho has been the fastest-growing state in the nation over the past decade on a percentage basis.
While Idaho’s population is growing quickly, so is the state’s farming sector, Taylor said.
Earlier this year, he told state legislators that Idaho’s total gross domestic product grew by more than 100 percent from 1997 to 2020. During that same period, Idaho farm GDP grew by more than 200 percent.
“Agriculture is growing faster than the state’s overall economy,” Taylor said. “We’re big and we’re growing.”
When it came to per capita farm income last year, Wyoming ranked No. 3 in the West at $2,962, followed by Colorado ($1,415), New Mexico ($1,413), Washington ($1,315), Oregon and California ($1,302), Utah ($595), Arizona ($545) and Nevada ($240).
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