Kentucky’s Top 10 Agricultural Products

Take a look at Kentucky’s top agricultural products based on cash receipts:

1. Corn

$1.43 billion

Corn is Kentucky’s leading agriculture product based on cash receipts. In 2023, Kentucky farmers harvested 1.5 million acres of corn for grain an 80,000 ares of corn for silage, yielding more than 280 million bushels of corn for grain and 1.76 million tons of corn for silage that year.

See more: Corn and Soybeans Rank Among Kentucky’s Top Commodities

2. Broilers

$1.43 billion

The Bluegrass State ranks No. 10 in the nation for production of broilers (chickens raised for meat). In 2023, Kentucky had an inventory of more than 277 million broilers.

Photo credit: iStock/Jenniveve84

3. Soybeans

$1.32 billion

Kentucky’s 2023 soybean harvest encompassed 1.82 million acres, which produced more than 100 million bushels of the crop.

4. Cattle & Calves

$1.1 billion

As of Jan. 1, 2024, Kentucky had an inventory of 1.89 million cattle and calves, including 907,000 beef cattle. The state ranks No. 8 in the nation for cattle production.

See more: Feeding the Kentucky Cattle Industry

5. Hay

$326.7 million

Kentucky farmers harvested more than 2 million acres of hay in 2023, including 90,000 acres of alfalfa. The 2023 harvest yielded 4.4 million tons of hay in total, including 270,000 tons of alfalfa. Kentucky is the nation’s fifth-leading hay producer.

6. Chicken Eggs

$255.7 million

Chicken eggs are a top Kentucky agriculture product. In 2023, Kentucky farms produced more than 117 million dozen eggs.

7. Dairy Products & Milk

$242.9 million

In 2023, Kentucky dairies produced about 915 million pounds of milk from a total inventory of 43,000 dairy cows, equivalent to more than 20,000 pounds per cow.

See more: How Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Kentucky Is Elevating Agritourism

8. Tobacco

$240.6 million

About 36,800 acres of tobacco were harvested in the Bluegrass State in 2023, yielding more than 85.6 million pounds of the crop. Kentucky ranks No. 2 in the nation for total tobacco production and No. 1 for the production for burley, dark fire and dark air tobacco varieties.

9. Wheat

$218 million

Kentucky’s wheat harvest encompassed 460,000 acres in 2023, yielding nearly 40.5 million bushels of winter wheat.

10. Hogs

$181.4 million

Hogs are Kentucky’s 10th-leading agriculture product. The state’s hog inventory totaled 475,000 as of Dec. 1, 2023.