Rhode Island

Agriculture

The tables below offer information about Rhode Island agriculture from the general agricultural groups to the more specific commodities or products. The ranking assigned to a given commodity is based on the commodity's cash receipts; how much money it made.

Commodity groups cash receipts - 2004

As you can see from the table below, Rhode Island ranks 49th among the states for total agricultural production.

Commodity groups cash receipts - 2004
Product Group	Value ($1,000)	% State total	State rank
All commodities	63,825	100.0%	49
Livestock & livestock products	9,812	15.4%	50
Crops	54,013	84.6%	49
Source: USDA:Economic Research Service

Rhode Island's top five commodities by cash receipts - 2004

This table lists Rhode Island's top commodities in each of Rhode Island's two agriculutural groups, livestock and crops.

Rhode Island's top five commodities by cash receipts - 2004
Livestock products	% State total	Crop products	% State total
Dairy products	5.4%	Greenhouse/nursery	64.5%
Cattle and calves	1.5%	Corn, sweet	5.9%
Aquaculture	0.9%	Potatoes	1.8%
Hogs	0.5%	Apples	1.4%
Farm chickens	< 0.1%	Hay	1.2%
Source: USDA:Economic Research Service

Rhode Island's most important agricultural asset, by a wide margin, is its greenhouse and nursery industry. It provides almost 2/3 of the state's total agricultural receipts. Sweet corn, potatoes, and apples are also important crops for The Ocean State.

In the livestock product category, dairy products lead in Rhode Island. Other livestock products are cattle and calves, aquaculture (primarily oysters and hard clams), hogs, and farm chickens.

Leading commodities for cash receipts - 2004

This table offers a more complete view of the most important agricultural products of Rhode Island.

Leading commodities for cash receipts - 2004
Product	Value ($1,000)	% State Value
1. Greenhouse/nursery	41,155	64.5%
2. Corn, sweet	3,762	5.9%
3. Dairy products	3,434	5.3%
4. Potatoes	1,124	1.8%
5. Cattle and calves	938	1.5%
6. Apples	893	1.4%
7. Hay	759	1.2%
8. Aquaculture	564	0.9%
9. Hogs	344	0.5%
10. Farm chickens	1	Less than 0.1%
Chicken eggs *
Honey *
* Commodities at the bottom of the above ranked list of commodities and having no accompanying data would have appeared within the ranked list of leading commodities, but were excluded to avoid disclosure of confidential information about individual producers.
Source: USDA:Economic Research Service

The 2004 table above contains information about Rhode Island agricultural production provided by the Economic Research Service at the United States Department of Agriculture.

The first column of the table lists the product (commodity).

The second column of the table lists a number representing the dollar value of the product. This number is not the dollar value of the product. This number represents the dollar value of the product in thousands of dollars. For example, the number listed for the value of Rhode Island greenhouse and nursery products is 41,155. This number represents a dollar value of $41,155,000 (41,155 x 1,000): forty-one million, one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars.

The third column of the table lists the percent (part) of the total agricultural value produced in Rhode Island. For example, greenhouse/nursery accounts for 64.5% of Rhode Island's total agricultural production value. The dollars generated by the greenhouse and nursery products add up to almost 2/3 of Rhode Island's total agricultural production.

Rhode Island farms and farmland - 2004

Because of different rounding methods (e.g., farm acres given by the National Argriculture Statistics Service), percentage of farmland per state should be considered a rough estimate.

Rhode Island farms and farmland - 2004
Number of farms	Total farm acres	Percent of state	Average farm size (acres)
850	60,350	9%	71
Source: USDA:National Agriculture Statistics Service