Soaring prices for sugar cane helped Hawaii’s agriculture industry set a new record for farm production value in 2010, according to the latest annual compilation by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The value of crops grown in Hawaii rose by $48 million, or 7 percent, to $690 million in 2010 from $642 million the year before.

Most of the increase — nearly $26 million of the gain — came from sugar cane that benefited from a 76 percent surge in prices to their highest level since 1980, the report said.

Hawaii’s top crop was seeds, primarily seed corn, grown for propagation outside Hawaii. The value of seed crops totaled $247 million, which represents the cost of production because the companies that grow the seeds use them rather than sell them. Other crop values represent sales revenue. The cost of production is lower than sales, but either way, seeds are the biggest crop by value, representing 35 percent of total statewide farm value, the report said.

The report said 15 of the 20 biggest commodities achieved higher revenues. Besides seeds and sugar cane, commodities where sales expanded included coffee, cattle, taro, macadamia nuts, bananas, eggs, milk, sweet potatoes, hogs, head cabbage, lettuce, anthuriums and potted dracaena.

The sharpest increase occurred in lettuce farming, excluding romaine, whose production value rose nearly fivefold from $748,000 in 2009 to $3.6 million in 2010. The Agricultural Statistics Service said farms expanded from 90 acres to 150 acres while production and prices also rose.

Local farmers attribute much of the gain in lettuce production values to hydroponic and organic growers.

Chris Robb, who operates organic vegetable farm Robb Farms in Waimea on Hawaii island, said the opening of the first Whole Foods store in the state in 2008 sparked more demand among other retailers for organic crops including lettuce. "The demand is currently greater than I can supply," he said.

Five of Hawaii’s 20 biggest commodities showed revenue declines in 2010: algae, papayas, basil, potted palms and potted dendrobiums.

Revenue figures for five commodities — pineapples, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons and sod — are not disclosed because they would reveal sales for individual farms. Pineapple was once one of Hawaii’s top two crops, but two of three big producers quit the business in recent years, leaving Dole Food Co. to dominate what is left of the industry locally.