(TNT) - Washington blueberries, wine grapes, eggs and milk are booming.

The state’s billion-dollar crops — apples, milk and wheat — were worth $4.5 billion in 2013, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And at least six of the state’s 10 most valuable crops saw gains in 2013, although not all of the production value information is available yet.

However, apples, the state’s most valuable crop, were worth nearly 12 percent less that year because of a record crop and higher prices in 2012.

Smaller apple crops in the East Coast and Midwest helped drive up the price of Washington’s 2012 apple crop.

But apples may have peaked again in 2014, said Bud Hover, director of the state Department of Agriculture.

That’s because farmers picked a record 150 million 40-pound boxes of apples last year and started exporting Red and Golden Delicious apples to China.

Starting this month, China is expected to accept all Washington apple varieties.

Agriculture’s rising stars

Both wine grapes and blueberries are becoming larger players in the state’s agricultural industry.

“We grow such high quality fruit for wine making,” Hover explained.

Each year seems to bring a new record for the state’s wine grape industry. The 2013 crop value grew more than 19 percent to $233.1 million.

Hover said the future of the wine industry appears bright. Washington wines are performing well in competitions and there is a growing demand for the state’s wine, including exports.

The Red Mountain grape growing area near Benton City has received international acclaim and is expanding thanks to a recently finished Kennewick Irrigation District project bringing Yakima River water to vineyards there.

The state’s wine industry is expected to continue to grow because growers continually have added and expanded vineyards, and it takes several years for new vines to mature and produce a full crop.

The state’s blueberries hit records in acreage, yield and production value during 2013. However, the value of state’s blueberries dropped to about $71.6 million, according to the data. That’s a 16 percent cut from the previous year.

Washington farmers, including those in the Mid-Columbia, picked about 9,000 acres of blueberries in 2013. In all, about 81.6 million pounds of blueberries were harvested.

Eastern Washington farmers began to grow blueberries about a decade ago, and the combination of added acres and maturing bushes has helped drive up production.

Hops also have become more prominent with the advent of microbreweries, which tend to use more hops for brewing, creating a demand for more hops and different varieties. Hover said he expects that demand to continue to climb.

Hops, the state’s 11th most valuable crop in 2013, were worth $184.9 million, a 28 percent jump from the previous year.

Setting records

Dairy edged out wheat to become the state’s second-most valuable agricultural commodity in 2013. Milk was worth about $1.3 billion that year, a 12 percent increase.

The state’s dairy cows produced the most milk ever, at about 6.4 billion pounds in 2013. The population of Washington dairy cows has gradually increased over the last decade, and so has the average amount of milk each cow produces.

Franklin County is among the state’s largest dairy counties.

Washington’s chickens popped out a record of nearly 2 billion eggs in 2013, the most since the USDA started keeping track in 1924. That helped increase the value of the state’s egg production to about $146.5 million, a nearly 7 percent increase from 2012.

The number of chickens in the state has climbed in the last decade, as has the price of a dozen eggs.

Other top crops

Other top state crops, such as beef, potatoes and hay, did well in 2013 even if they did not set records.

Washington farmers dug the same amount of potatoes in 2013 as the previous year, but the value was up.

Potatoes, the state’s fourth most valuable crop, overall were worth about $792 million, a 13 percent improvement over 2012, when fresh potato prices were dismal because of an oversupply.

While only about 10 percent of the state’s potatoes are grown for the fresh market, the prices were low enough in 2012 to bring down the overall crop value.

The state’s beef industry became the state’s fifth most valuable crop, pushing hay down to sixth. The worth of cattle and calves grew by about 7 percent, reaching $706.5 million.

Hover said the price of cattle has been good during the last two years.

Hay still saw some gains, despite some Mid-Columbia farmers losing their last cutting of hay during a mid-September storm. The crop was worth $675 million in 2013, up by nearly 8 percent.

Not all Mid-Columbia crops fared as well.

The state’s wheat value slumped by about 13 percent to just over $1 billion.

And cherries were down by nearly 23 percent in value, to $385 million in 2013. That year’s crop was hit hard by storm damage.