Cash receipts from Ohio livestock, livestock products and crops totaled $4.58 billion in 1995, a new record high. This was 3.1 percent above 1994 and 2.0 percent above the previous record set in 1993. Cash receipts from livestock in 1995 were higher than in 1994 by 1.6 percent while crop cash receipts were up by 3.9 percent.
In 1995 livestock and livestock products earned $1.59 billion in cash receipts, up 1.6 percent from last year but was down 11 percent from the 1990 record high for livestock. The percentage of total cash receipts earned by livestock and livestock products was 34.7 percent which was only 2.0 percentage points above the record low set in 1980. The last time livestock earned more than half of all cash receipts was in 1972.
The 1995 value of cash receipts for crops, at $2.99 billion for 1995, was the largest ever recorded in this category. This value was up 3.9 percent from 1994 and up 2.0 percent from 1993 which was the previous record high for crops. The percentage of total cash receipts attributable to crops in 1995 was 65.3 percent.
Government payments totaled $167.3 million, 42.9 percent higher than last year but 61.3 percent less than the record high $431.9 million paid out in 1987. This represents 3.3 percent of all cash income and 17.6 percent of net farm income after inventory adjustment. In 1987 the record high government payments accounted for 54 percent of net farm income.
Gross farm income for 1995, at $5.40 billion, was down 1.9 percent from 1994. Total production expenses increased to $4.45 billion from $4.33 billion last year or 3.7 percent.
The top five commodity groups in 1995 in terms of cash receipts earned were, respectively: soybeans with $956.0 million and 20.9 percent of total receipts; corn $924.1 million and 20.2 percent of total; milk $598.7 million, 13.1 percent; greenhouse & nursery products, $490.7 million, 10.7 percent; poultry and eggs, $388.6 million, 8.5 percent of total cash receipts. There were no changes in the rankings of these top five commodities in 1995 from 1994. The commodities that ranked from sixth to tenth places were hogs, wheat, cattle and calves, vegetables and all hay. Cattle and calves dropped to eighth place while hogs and wheat move up to sixth and seventh places from seventh and eighth places, respectively, from a year earlier. These top ten commodities accounted for 95.6 percent of all cash receipts.
County rankings based on total cash receipts produced some changes comparing 1995 with 1994. Mercer, Darke, Wayne, Licking, Clark, Auglaize, Lorain, Putnam, Wood, and Fulton were ranked in the first through tenth places, respectively. Wayne county continued to be ranked number one in milk, cattle and calves, and oats and hays during 1995. Darke held on to its first place ranking in hogs, poultry and other livestock, corn and soybeans. Wood county retained the first place for wheat, while Lake continued to hold on to first place for other crops.