Hillsborough Agriculture Sales Grow

Despite the current economic malaise, data from the Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Service and the Hillsborough County Agriculture Industry Development Program shows an increase in agriculture sales estimates for 2007.

The county recently reported that 2007 sales of Hillsborough County agriculture products totaled $845,828,174, representing a bountiful increase of 10.8 percent from 2006. The crop with the highest sales in Hillsborough County continues to be strawberries ($343,275,000), representing 40.6 percent of the total county agricultural sales value.

Other primary crops included:

• Ornamental plants - ranking second ($207,575,011), with 24.5 percent of the county's agricultural sales
• Vegetables - ranking third ($115,000,000),with 13.6 percent of annual sales
• Citrus - ranking fourth ($34,358,720), with 4.1 percent of annual sales
• Aquaculture - ranking fifth ($33,685,700), with 4 percent of annual sales

These five crops together generate 87 percent of the agricultural sales in the county while using only 17 percent of the total land area devoted to agriculture. According to the county, the total land area devoted to Hillsborough agriculture is approximately 241,199 acres.

Average sales-per-acre have continued to increase since 1997, and agricultural commerce continues to have a positive economic impact in the Tampa Bay area, supporting related businesses such as banking, real estate, legal services, transportation, packaging, equipment, seed, agricultural suppliers and services and marketing firms.