Top 10 Mississippi Agricultural Products
In partnership with: Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
From cattle and hay to corn and soybeans, take a closer look at the top 10 Mississippi agricultural products based on value of production.
1. Broilers
$2.85 billion
Mississippi is home to 1,237 farms that produce broilers (chickens raised for meat). The state produced more than 710 million broilers in 2023. Leake County is Mississippi’s top broiler-producing county.
2. Soybeans
$1.56 billion
In 2023, Mississippi farmers harvested 2.15 million acres of soybeans across 3,087 farms, which produced more than 122 million bushels of the crop.
3. Forestry
$1.48 billion
Mississippi’s 130,000 forest landowners tended to more than 19 million acres of forestland in 2023. Forest-related economic activity in Mississippi generated 67,833 jobs and more than $3.37 billion in income that year.
4. Corn
$675.5 million
Mississippi’s 2023 corn harvest encompassed 770,000 acres across 1,427 farms, producing more than 140 million bushels of the crop. Washington County is Mississippi’s top corn-producing county.
5. Cattle and Calves
$406 million
Home to 15,980 cattle farms across the state, Mississippi’s cattle and calf inventory totaled 860,000 head as of Jan. 1, 2023.
6. Cotton
$397 million
In 2023, Mississippi’s 780 cotton farms harvested 395,000 acres of cotton, producing 850,000 bales. Coahoma County leads the state in cotton production.
See more: Cotton Conservation Kings
7. Catfish
$252 million
Home to 205 catfish operations spread across nearly 33,000 acres of production, Mississippi ranks as the nation’s leading catfish producer. Leflore County was the No. 1 catfish-producing county in Mississippi in 2023.
8. Chicken Eggs
$202 million
Mississippi is home to 234 farms with 100 or more laying hens. The state produced over 1.4 billion eggs in 2023.
See more: 10 Incredible Farm Facts About Eggs
9. Hay
$180 million
In 2023, more than 11,500 Mississippi farms harvested a total of 1.2 million tons of hay across 600,000 acres.
10. Rice
$135 million
Mississippi’s 2023 rice harvest encompassed 118,000 acres across 221 farms, producing nearly 8.8 million hundredweight of the crop that year.
What Is Production Value?
The USDA’s value of production equals cash receipts (crops or livestock sold in a calendar year), plus the value of inventory adjustment and home consumption.