My family and I had the opportunity to take a drive down to Missouri this past summer and I noticed a repetitive theme that played out along our 450 mile journey. The theme was very green and featured a taller plant and a shorter plant. The taller plant, corn, occupies 12 million acres of land within Illinois and represents our largest agricultural crop. The shorter plant, soybeans, comes in a distant second occupying 8 million acres. For those of you who are not familiar with an acre, it is an area of land that is a little smaller than a football field. Illinois' 75,000 farms cover more than 26.9 million acres -- nearly 80 percent of the state's total land area. Looking at last year's receipts, Illinois farmers contributed a whopping 17 billion dollars to Illinois' economy.
Here in McHenry County, we plant 120,000 acres of corn, 58,000 acres of soybeans and 3,000 acres of winter wheat. A modest amount of this grain production is fed to our county's livestock. Another modest portion goes to regional ethanol plants and food processors. The lion's share however is not only headed out of our county, but out of our state. Some of this grain hops a ride on a train to chicken producers in the Southern States and some of it finds its way onto an ocean going vessel headed to countries around the world. Last year's corn, wheat and soybean production added 100 million+ dollars to our local economy.
McHenry County also hosts a diverse line up of livestock including dairy & beef cattle, chickens, sheep, goats, horses, ponies, donkeys, and alpacas. In total sales, our dairy production ranks 7thout of Illinois' 102 counties. We also hold top ten ranks in sheep & goats and equine. Livestock, poultry and their related products contributed another 29 million dollars to our local economy.
In addition, McHenry County leads all other counties in Illinois for its production of cut Christmas trees and short rotation woody crops. Within our county, we have a host of nurseries, greenhouses, and sod businesses. These businesses serve retailers, developers and homeowners across our region. The combined sales of these products contributed another 18 million dollars to our local economy.
McHenry County also garners a top ten state ranking for its production of vegetables, melons, potatoes, fruits, berries and honey. These items are marketed a variety of ways including, but not limited to u-pick, on farm stands & markets , road-side stands, farmers markets, sold on contract, sold wholesale, sold through a CSAs, food subscription programs, food co-ops and even purchased over the internet. The combined sales of these items contributed an additional 5 million dollars to our local economy.
Agriculture's value isn't limited to just dollars... I encourage each you to think about the importance of agriculture. Do you know anyone directly or indirectly employed because of agriculture? Are you wearing any agricultural products? What's in your fuel tank? Have you eaten today? Dan Volkers, MCFB Manager