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1. This week in Ag Data News, our dog who thinks he's a sheep, agglomeration economies, and grass seed.
What ties those things together? https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/our-dog-thinks-hes-sheep
What ties those things together? https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/our-dog-thinks-hes-sheep
2. Our family dog, Milo, appears to think he is a sheep. He has a penchant for grazing on the lawn, especially this particular patch. As is apparent from the picture, we will need to re-seed it, and when we do, we'll most likely get seed from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
3. The western US is mostly mountains and deserts. Nestled in between are several fertile agricultural regions, typically specializing in a few crops and irrigated by water from the surrounding mountains. Oregon's Willamette Valley is an example.
4. OR contains 75% of grass seed acres harvested in 2017. It harvested 366,000 acres that year; the next highest-acreage state was WA with 33,000.
Nationwide, 80% of grass seed acres are allocated to ryegrass or fescue, which are commonly used for lawns, turf and pasture.
Nationwide, 80% of grass seed acres are allocated to ryegrass or fescue, which are commonly used for lawns, turf and pasture.
5. The only counties with more than 15,000 acres of grass for seed were in the Willamette Valley. The highest-acreage counties were Linn with 118,000 and Marion with 74,000.
6. Grass seed used half of harvested acreage in Willamette Valley in 2017, with hay the next most produced crop. Hay is what you get if you harvest the grass before it goes to seed. Most other OR agriculture in the northeast part of the state, where wheat and hay are major crops
7. It is possible that the the Willamette Valley's wet winters and dry summers make it uniquely productive for grass seed. However, I suspect there are numerous other places in the west that could also produce grass seed productively.
8. So, why has the Willamette Valley gone all in on grass seed? It likely reflects a combination of historical accident and agglomeration. Forest Jenks planted the first commercial ryegrass in Linn County in 1921. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/grass_seed_industry/#.YAjPmuhKiUk
9. After the second world war, an industry built up around grass seed. Numerous seed companies and processors established themselves in the area, so growers now have a network of buyers for their product and a suppliers for their inputs.
10. In short, growing grass seed is a good choice for a Willamette Valley farmer because everyone is doing it.
And Milo is doing his best to keep them in business. https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/our-dog-thinks-hes-sheep
And Milo is doing his best to keep them in business. https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/news/our-dog-thinks-hes-sheep
11. The figures in the article were produced using this R code: https://files.asmith.ucdavis.edu/grass.R
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