Source: NCDA&CS In The Field Blog, 12/13/11

Cash receipts from farming in North Carolina grew to more than $9.6 billion in 2010, according to the latest Agricultural Statistics Yearbook. That’s an increase of more than $400 million over the 2009 total. 

Net farm income in North Carolina rose 18 percent in 2010, to $3.3 billion. Livestock, dairy and poultry accounted for nearly 66 percent of farm cash receipts in the state, while crops made up 34 percent. 

Our top commodity was broilers, at $2.6 billion, followed by hogs at $2.2 billion. N.C.’s top crop continued to be greenhouse and nursery, at nearly $765 million. The top counties overall for farm cash receipts were Duplin, Sampson, Union, Wayne and Robeson. One of the facts that might be surprising is that Mecklenburg County ranked second in cash receipts from crops. When people think of Mecklenburg County, they usually think of banking. But Mecklenburg also is the hub of North Carolina’s greenhouse and nursery production. 

North Carolina continues to rank high in agricultural production in the United States. The state is still the nation’s top producer of tobacco and sweet potatoes, and ranks second in hogs, Christmas trees and turkeys. North Carolina is third in cucumbers grown for pickles, and strawberries. And the state has moved up to fourth place in the production of bell peppers.