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Washington hay production has fallen nearly 25% since the early 2000s, a decline driven by both drought and economics. This chart traces that shift, showing how repeated years of severe drought and a strong U.S. dollar since 2022 have squeezed growers from two sides—reducing yields at home and pricing out key export buyers abroad. As traditional export markets weaken, Washington’s hay industry is steadily pivoting toward higher-value domestic markets, where resilience, efficiency, and quality matter more than sheer tonnage.

“You might be giving up $10,000 in beef production to raise $5,000 worth of hay.” -Dr. Carson Roberts

Why do some farmers reject government help while others rely on it? Because independence is a core value, but survival is a core necessity. Farmers carry different histories, risks, and realities, which lead to different choices.

The challenge is not to prove one side right and the other wrong. It’s to recognize that both independence and support have their place. Farmers need tools that allow them to survive disasters without becoming middlemen for corporate profits.

Until then, the divide will persist. Some farmers will wear their independence like a badge of honor, others will quietly sign the paperwork at the FSA office, and agriculture as a whole will remain fractured — weaker than it needs to be in the face of challenges bigger than any one farmer, crop, or philosophy.

Hay producers are the forgotten farmers. They bear the same droughts, the same markets, and the same financial pressures as everyone else, but with fewer tools to manage the risk.

When hot, dry summers reduce cool-season hay yields, warm-season grasses like millet, sorghum, and sorghum-Sudan hybrids can fill the gap.

As Jeffrey “Alfalfa” Jackson says: “If you like to haul manure, go ahead. If you want more efficient feed, think fiber digestibility.”