Intro to Wayne County Agriculture

Wayne County is diverse in its agricultural base. The countryside is plentiful in orchards, vegetables, dairy farms, grain operations and nurseries. Cornell Cooperative Extension provides education for these ag businesses.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Wayne County supports three regional agriculture teams and a local commercial horticulture program. By providing local county dollars into the regional agriculture program, Wayne County farmers and agriservice have access to more than 13 specialists in specific commodity areas. Check out the "Commercial Agriculture" page to get more information and enrollment form for the teams

According to the 2002 US Ag Census, there are 165,213 acres in farms, covering more than 42% of the county. More than 900 farms dot the countryside growing everything from hay to wine grapes to the main crop of apples.

Wayne County farms sell more than $103 million in agriculture products each year. The leading products are: fruit and berries, dairy products, poultry, and vegetables. Wayne County is the fifth largest ag producing county and the second largest crop producing county in the state.

Farm acreage has remined relatively stable, losing less than 10,000 acres since 1992 (<10%), including less than 2,000 acres since 1997.

Wayne County ranks number one in the state for apple production, and third across the nation. With more than 1.5 million trees, total value of all fruit grown in Wayne County was more than $40 million, an increase of more than $16 million from 1987 census data.

2002 Value of Selected Crops:

Fruit, Nuts and Berries—$40 million, 39.5% sales

Livestock and Products—$16.7m, 15.8%

Nursery and Greenhouse—$12m, 11.9%

Dairy and Products—$14.8m, 14.6%

Vegetables—$9.5m, 9.4%

Grain—$8.9m, 8.8%

For more specific information on agriculture in Wayne County, look in the NYS Ag Statistics web page OR USDA 2002 Agriculture Census Data.