Agriculture and food-processing operations are huge in Northern Colorado, thanks to Weld County.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Weld County is No. 8 in the country in terms of the value of its farm and ranch products.

According to the latest data, the annual market value of all of that agricultural activity is more than $1.5 billion.

Of that, $1.26 billion comes from livestock and more than $272 million from crops.

The 2.5-million acre county – where the first ditch in the U.S. was built specifically to grow food – dedicates 75 percent of its space to farming and raising livestock.

Some of the largest companies in the industry operate in Greeley, and many of those operations are growing.

The Leprino cheese factory in Greeley, for example, is expected to process 4.5 million pounds of milk by the end of 2013. The plant someday will have capacity for additional production, which would require 50,000 additional cows in the region.

That's on top of the approximately 545,000 cattle that already call Weld County home.

The increase will add to an already robust dairy farming industry. In total, there are about 100 dairy operations in Larimer