AUGUSTA – While Maine retained second place in New England in the value of its agricultural sales in 2005, overall receipts slipped by 5 percent.

Although the percentage didn’t worry the state’s agriculture commissioner, the reason behind it did.

“The big issue is the price of milk and eggs on the farm,” Seth Bradstreet said this weekend. He said it was the value paid for milk that had caused the drop in percentage.

“I am certainly worried about our dairy industry,” he said. “Milk has taken a big hit in the past 18 months. We are all concerned.”

Maine’s diversity, however, has proved its strong point, Bradstreet said.

“We had strong showings in blueberries, potatoes and beef,” the state official said. “These numbers have been strong over the past several years. Diversity is our safety net.”

According to statistics released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine’s cash receipts – what farmers actually got paid for their food products – were $535 million last year.

Milk sales, at $99 million, was the top individual contributor, followed closely by potatoes at $91 million.

But the rest of Maine’s agriculture sector contributed greatly. Milk represents 19 percent of the whole agriculture picture, while potatoes are 17 percent; eggs, 9 percent; blueberries, 7 percent; aquaculture, 5 percent; fruits and vegetables, 8 percent; and other livestock and poultry, 23 percent.

Compare that to Vermont’s latest USDA statistics. Milk represents 75 percent of all agriculture commodities in that state, with everything else far behind. When milk prices drop, it is particularly hard on Vermont farmers.

In Rhode Island, 66 percent of all commodities are horticulture and greenhouse crops, with milk at only 5 percent. Horticulture also has the top spot in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Maine is diverse, which helps it weather agriculture ups and downs, but Bradstreet said the volatile milk market is definitely hurting.

Gary R. Keough, director of the USDA’s New England Agricultural Statistics division, said that although more pounds of milk were marketed throughout New England, average milk prices received by farmers fell from $17.20 per hundredweight to $16.20.

In food commodities, eggs generated another $47 million, but fewer eggs produced coupled with lower prices resulted in a 34 percent drop in value from 2004.

This was partially offset with blueberry cash receipts, at $39 million, double the previous year.

Keough said that Maine’s drop was higher than New England as a whole, which dropped 3 percent.

Milk continues to rank No. 1 in sales throughout New England, followed by greenhouse and nursery sales, at $535 million.

Non-food farm production has increased, Keough said.

“Crop sales in New England were estimated at $1.13 billion in 2005, 1 percent above sales generated the previous year,” he said. Greenhouse and nursery sales remain New England’s top crop contributor, Keough said.

Other commodities with significant contributions to Maine’s economy included livestock, apples, vegetables, maple syrup, and poultry.