Mississippi's state agriculture production value dropped to $7.2 billion, a 4.9 percent decrease from 2014, according to the Mississippi State Agricultural Extension Service. Row crop farmers were hit the most, but there has been good news for sweet potato and peanut farmers.
Agricultural Commission Cindy Hyde-Smith said that although production values decreased in 2015, agriculture is still a top producer in Mississippi.
"Although the overall value of production is estimated to have decreased during 2015, the value of production for several commodities increased significantly such as sweet potatoes and peanuts. As with any industry that competes in the global marketplace, supply and demand is directly correlated to the value of the commodity."
Smith said "uncontrollable factors that affect yield such as environmental conditions, rainfall and pest pressure" are unique to the agricultural industry and, as a result, "row crop farmers were among those producers who most felt the decline as they experienced both lower commodity prices and lower yields."
Row crop value dropped to $2.06 billion, a 22 percent decline in value from 2014, the agency said.
However, the “big winners” in farming in 2014 were peanut and sweet potato farmers.
Stephen Meyers, Extension sweet potato specialist, said the crop saw a 12 percent increase in planted acreage over the previous year primarily due to increased demand.
"As long as consumer demand for sweet potatoes domestically and internationally continues to increase, we likely will see some growth in the U.S. sweet potato industry."
