Idaho agriculture enjoyed a record year in 2011, with cash receipts 29 percent ahead of 2010 levels, University of Idaho agriculture economists said Thursday.

Net income shot up 88 percent to $2.6 billion. Total receipts were $7.4 billion.

Strong prices and increased production overshadowed rising fuel and fertilizer prices, economists said.

While much of the rest of Idaho's economy seemed merely to rouse from its doldrums in 2011, most crop and livestock sectors showed strong gains, and many broke records, said Garth Taylor, a U of I College of Agricultural and Life Sciences economist.

But the good news may not hold. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts farm income will fall over the next several years as commodity prices drop.

The weak U.S. dollar — which helps exports — along with growing demand in China and the new Chobani yogurt plant in Twin Falls could offset some of that decline in Idaho, U of I economists said.