Editorial

September 26, 2010

     Oregon’s agricultural economy took a hammering in the past year — another piece of bad news in the nation’s economic swoon.

   Net income for agricultural sales in 2009 fell 41 percent from 2008. That’s a monstrous drop. With statistics like that, it’s hard to understand how the recession could be declared over. That announcement came Sept. 20. And not only is it over, it ended 15 months ago after an 18-month run. Funny, it doesn’t feel like it’s been over that long — or at all. Statistics like Oregon’s agricultural sales make it feel even less so.

   Net income for agricultural sales is the amount retained by producers after paying all business-related expenses. The total value of all Oregon agricultural products, which includes business expenses, dropped to $4.1 billion from $4.8 billion from 2008 to 2009.  

   Figures released earlier this year showed that the total value of Klamath County agricultural products dropped $59 million in that time span. Crops lost $41 million in sales value and livestock lost $18 million. Total Klamath County agricultural sales went from $300 million to $241 million.

   The loss to the local economy was estimated at about $120 million.

   There’s room to hope, though.

   Brent Searle, an analyst for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said that the 2010 results, “I think will be better … We are seeing signs of stabilization in the dairy industry and some spikes in the price of grain due to events around the world. Hopefully, we are on the upswing, although it may take a couple more years to complete.”

   Agriculture is one of the bed rocks of the Oregon economy and its condition will have a widespread effect. That’s particularly true for counties that rely on it as heavily as Klamath County, which ranks fifth among Oregon’s 36 counties in agricultural sales.

   As for the recession being over, believe it when you feel it.