Madera County Agriculture commissioner/Sealer Rusty Lantsberger and his staff recently released the annual crop report. It read that the county saw an increase of almost $100 million from the 2020 production. The gross value of 2021 agriculture production was more than $2.45 billion, an increase of more than $95 million (or 4.92 percent) from 2020 in the agri report released in September.
Lantsberger: “The increases were due to stronger commodity prices. We had increases in harvested acres in both in fruit and nut crops and vegetable crops. There was also demand. The commodity prices were up.”
“On the flip side, all the inputs, the costs, were up, as well,” he added. “We only look at the gross value. We are only looking at what the growers tell us. Just because the number went up, it doesn’t represent net losses or gains by the producers. The cost to produce everything went up. But, we also had commodity prices rise and had an increase in harvested acreage.”
Almonds, nuts and hulls remained the No. 1 commodity in Madera County. The nuts were worth $760,205,000 last year. Making an entry into the top 10 were mandarins and tangerines with a value of more than $32 million and ranked No. 7. Grapes and pistachios traded positions from 2020 with grapes taking No. 3 and pistachios at No. 4.
Source: maderatribune.com