Farm marketings in 2001 amounted to $5.9 billion, 10th among the 50 states; over $4.5 billion in farm marketings came from dairy products and livestock. Wisconsin led the US in 2002 in the production of snap beans for processing, cranberries, processing beets, corn for silage, and cabbage for kraut. It also ranked 2nd for oat production, 3rd in sweet corn, peas, tart cherries, and carrots for processing, 4th in oats and fall potatoes, 10th in hay, and 6th in corn for grain.
In the early years, Wisconsin developed an agricultural economy based on wheat, some of which was exported to eastern states and overseas via the port of Milwaukee. Farmers also grew barley and hops, finding a market for these products among early Milwaukee brewers. After the Civil War, soil exhaustion and the depredations of the chinch bug forced farmers to turn to other crops, including corn, oats, and hay, which could be used to feed hogs, sheep, cows, and other livestock.
Although agricultural income has continued to rise in recent years and the average size of farms has increased, farm acreage and the number of farms have declined. In 2002 there were 15.9 million acres (6.4 million hectares) of land in farms, nearly 50% of the total land area, distributed among 77,000 farms, a decline of 4,100 from 1986. Farmland is concentrated in the southern two-thirds of the state, especially in the southeast. Potatoes are grown mainly in central Wisconsin, cranberries in the Wisconsin River Valley, and cherries in the Door Peninsula.
Leading field crops (in bushels) in 2002 were corn for grain, 391,500,000; oats 15,000,000; wheat, 10,771,000; and barley, 1,800,000. About 5,340,000 tons of dry hay and 11,680,000 tons of corn for silage were harvested that year. Potato production was 375,000 hundredweight. In 2002, Wisconsin farmers produced for processing 473,000 tons of sweet corn, 317,070 tons of snap beans, 67,230 tons of green peas, 3,190,000 barrels of cranberries, and 4 tons of tart cherries, and 433,000 lb (196,000 kg) of spearmint and peppermint for oil. Some 31,750 tons of cucumber pickles were produced in 2002; 55,670 tons of beets for canning and 81,470 tons of cabbage for kraut were also grown in 2001.