<P> The Pennyroyal is also a productive agricultural region . </P> <P> In Kentucky, farm employment makes up an estimated 0.7% of total employment, and the agricultural sector accounts for about 2% of Kentucky's GDP . Agriculture as a percentage of the state's GDP has declined over time; in 1963 agriculture accounted for an estimated 5% of the state's GDP . In 2007, the state had 85,260 farms; by 2012, this number had declined to 77,064 . In 2013, the average market value of agricultural products per farm in Kentucky was $65,755 . </P> <P> Kentucky's most important agricultural products in terms of cash receipts were poultry (22% of projected 2015 sales), equine (16%), cattle (16%), soybeans (13%) and corn (13%). Other products, including hogs, dairy, tobacco, goats, and horticulture, play smaller roles . </P> <P> Tobacco was the state's leading cash crop by the middle of the 19th century, producing over 53 million pounds in 1840 and over 108 million pounds in 1860, and continuing to increase until its peak in 1982 at 589 million pounds . Tobacco cultivation and production steadily declined in importance in the state, however, due to the New Deal's limitation of acreage, increased competition from other tobacco - producing states, and the increasing awareness of the negative health effects of tobacco from the 1970s onward . Supplanting tobacco as the state's most important agriculture product was poultry, which has dramatically increased in importance to the state's agricultural sector . Collectively, farm chickens, broiler chickens, and chicken eggs rose from 1% of the state's total farm receipts in 1990 to 18.6% in 2012 . Over the same time period, tobacco went from 23.8% of the state's total farm receipts in 1990 to 18.6% in 2000 to 7.3% in 2012 . Nevertheless, Kentucky remains the United States' second - largest producer of tobacco . </P>

What is the biggest cash crop in kentucky