MARYLAND farmers harvested big bucks last year as two key measures of financial performance hit all-time highs.
Cash receipts and net income grew to record levels in the state, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
"When farmers are profitable, communities can benefit strongly from retail sales, job opportunities and overall quality of life," said Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley.
Riley added that a profitable farm "is the best way to keep agricultural land in production -- something that is more important than ever to farmers facing intense development pressure today."
The good financial times were shared by a variety of farm operations. According to the department, wheat sales rose 60 percent last year. Sales of broilers, the leading commodity in the state, jumped 27 percent, to a record $628 million.
Even milk farmers, who have suffered from low milk prices much of the past decade, shared in the prosperity. The average monthly milk check was 22 percent bigger than the year before. Milk sales totaled $196 million last year.
"Conditions were near-perfect," said Norman Bennett, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's statistics service for Maryland.
Those near-perfect conditions generated total sales of $1.74 billion, an increase of nearly 19 percent over 2003.
Once the cost of operations was removed, the bottom line net income totaled $587 million, according to Bennett. This is nearly 30 percent above the farm profit of $453.5 million in 2003, when some grain crops suffered from excessive rain early in the planting season.
Greenhouse and nursery operations, the second-largest and fastest-growing agriculture sector in Maryland, posted sales of $360 million, a gain of 11 percent over the previous year.
Corn for grain sales rose 36 percent, to $120 million, and soybean sales totaled $112 million, up 30 percent.
Grain farmers benefited despite lower corn and soybean prices. Corn prices were off 68 cents a bushel, and the price farmers received for their soybeans dropped $2.35 a bushel.
But near-record yield for both crops generated the highest statewide receipts for corn since 1996, and record sales for soybeans.
The good fortune that Maryland farmers enjoyed in 2004 was in contrast to preceding years.
Bennett said net income totaled $453.5 million in 2003, when crops suffered from excessive rain during spring planting.
