Editor’s Note: The Washington Policy Center (WPC) is a nonprofit organization that researches relevant public policy issues and offers practical commonsense recommendations. A few months ago, Chris Cargill, the WPC’s Eastern Washington director, took a look at the state’s agricultural industry and the value it adds to Washington state in a white paper available on WPC’s website.
By Chris Cargill
Washington state is blessed with four key ingredients that make it an agricultural production powerhouse: a diverse climate, rich soil, abundant water and hard-working people.
Throughout our state’s history, agriculture has remained a key component of the state’s economic success. In fact, agriculture adds $51 billion a year to the state’s GDP and the agricultural sector makes up more than 13 percent of our state’s economy. Read the rest of the white paper here.