Wisconsin has been known as the Dairy State for about 100 years. Even though the number of dairy farms in the state has dropped dramatically in the past 40 years, there are still 8,419 dairy farms here as of Aug. 1.

Agriculture in the Dairy State is quite diverse. Following are the different types and numbers of those farms in Wisconsin, according to information from Greg Bussler, state statistician at the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service field office in Madison, Wis.

• corn for grain: 27,809
• soybeans: 17,391
• corn for silage: 14,477
• beef: 13,020
• laying hens: 7,348
• wheat: 4,870
• commercial vegetables: 2,873
• sheep: 2,590
• goats: 2,419 (994 milking goat farms)
• hogs: 2,270 (1,698 have fewer than 25 hogs)
• broilers: 1,724
• apples: 1,012
• potatoes: 718
• turkeys: 631
• strawberries: 565
• grapes: 412
• alpacas: 383
• cranberries: 241
• tart cherries: 178
• sweet cherries: 109
• ginseng: 68
• mink: 65
• mint: 11

There are 68,500 farms in Wisconsin. Of those farms, 30,200 have annual sales between $1,000 and $9,999.

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