BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The value of crop production in North Dakota last year reached its highest level on record, paced by demand that drove up prices for spring wheat, corn and other commodities, the Agriculture Department says.

The overall production value of $6.46 billion, an increase of 75 percent from 2006, was mainly due to higher prices, the department said in a report Friday.

North Dakota's hard red spring wheat crop had the highest value, at a record $1.7 billion. Production last year was estimated at 234 million bushels, up 10 percent from the previous year, and prices for the grain have reached record levels because of tight supplies.

The average price in North Dakota over the marketing year was $7.30 per bushel, compared with $4.49 the previous year.

Farmers right now can lock in fall harvest prices at about $10 per bushel, said Jim Peterson, marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission.

"Very good demand, both internationally and domestically, is driving that," he said.

The total value of the state's durum wheat crop increased 234 percent, to $482 million, the Agriculture Department said. Durum is used to make pasta.

It was the second-highest durum level on record, behind $488 million in 1975, even though last year's production of 44 million bushels was less than half of the 105 million bushels in 1975, Peterson said. Last year's average durum price of $11 was more than double the $4.65 mark in 1975.

Last year was the first year in North Dakota history that corn bushels outpaced spring wheat. In terms of value, however, the corn crop was much lower than spring wheat though still a record at $1 billion.

"We had an excellent production year across the state," said Jay Nissen, president of the North Dakota Corn Growers Association. "Then you take in an above-average price and you've got a mark that's really good for producers."

Tom Lilja, executive director of the corn group, said tight wheat supplies nationwide are more of a factor in higher corn prices than is demand from the ethanol industry, which uses corn to make fuel.

"Corn futures have really had to keep pace, because otherwise everybody is going to plant wheat and nobody is going to plant corn," he said.

North Dakota's 2007 soybean and dry edible pea crops also set production value records, at $1 billion and $110 million respectively, the Agriculture Department said.

The value of all types of sunflower production in North Dakota was estimated at $318 million, double the previous year's value. The state barley crop, valued at an estimated $307 million, was up 138 percent from the previous year.

The state's potato crop was the only one to see a decline in value. USDA estimated the 2007 crop at $156 million, down 6 percent from 2006.

Nationwide, the total value of 2007 crop production was estimated at $132 billion, up from $94 billion in 2006.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The value of all principal crops grown in South Dakota in 2007 more than doubled from the previous year to $5.29 billion, according to the Agricultural Statistics Service.

The 2007 total was up 112 percent from the $2.49 billion value of 2006 crops and 99 percent above the $2.66 billion value of 2005 crops.

The increase last year was due to record corn and wheat production along with higher prices for most crops, the service said.

Corn for grain was the leading valued crop of 2007 at $2.09 billion, up from $921.4 million in 2006. The 2007 corn crop was a record 544.5 million bushels.

Soybean was the second highest valued crop, at $1.3 billion, followed by winter wheat, $608.3 million; alfalfa hay, $498.7 million, and other spring wheat, $350.1 million.