A startling statistic about Idaho agriculture for opening a presentation

You might open a presentation by asking your audience: What Idaho agricultural product is most valuable? Some would say that’s a silly question - right on our license plates it says FAMOUS POTATOES.

But on October 11, 2019 the United States Department of Agriculture had a press release titled Value of Idaho’s 2018 Agricultural Production Totals $7.69 Billion, which listed the top five products (as are shown above in a bar chart). Potatoes ($1.03 billion) only were third, exceeded by both milk ($2.38 billion) and  cattle ($1.41 billion).

I saw that press release discussed in a newspaper article by Nicole Foy in the Idaho Statesman on January 4, 2020 titled These products top the list for driving Idaho’s ag economy. (Hint: it isn’t spuds). Where does all that milk go? Some goes into a million-square-foot Chobani facility in Twin Falls - the world’s largest yogurt plant.

An image of an Idaho license plate came from Wikimedia Commons.