For the second consecutive year Kern County, California beat out all others in gross agricultural value. However, it was not by as much as some might have predicted based on what nearby locations saw.
With neighboring counties of Tulare and Fresno (No. 2 and No. 3, respectively) up over 10 percent each in gross value, Kern’s 1 percent increase to just over $7.25 billion is still a positive trend, said Assistant Agricultural Commissioner Darin Heard.
This year’s difference between the “Big Three” counties was just over $223 million, the narrowest gap seen this decade. Last year’s spread between No. 1 Kern County and No. 3 Fresno County was slightly over $1 billion. Nevertheless, Kern County’s gross value of $7,254,168,000 was 4 percent lower than its all-time high of $7.55 billion, seen in 2014. That was a record year for most California counties.
Top crops
Grapes, almonds and citrus were the top three grossing commodities produced in the county last year, according to the crop report. Of the 115,600 acres of grapes harvested last year, almost 70,000 of those were table varieties. Just over 32,000 acres of wine grapes and just under 14,000 acres of raisin grapes were harvested. In all, grapes were valued at more than $1.7 billion.
Almonds and their byproducts – shells and hulls – were valued at over $1.26 billion on reduced bearing acreage. Though down 3,000 bearing acres in 2017 compared to the previous year, per-acre production increases more than covered acreage losses as total production topped 528 million pounds, or about 20 percent of the state-wide total. Non-bearing acreage was up from just about 7,700 to over 11,500, suggesting that perhaps growers that year replaced older orchards with younger ones. Even so, total almond acreage grew by almost 1,000 acres as farmers continue to plant almonds.
Kern is the second-leading citrus growing county in the state with over 64,000 acres of grapefruit, lemons, oranges and tangerines. Navel oranges make up almost half of the county’s total citrus volume, which predominantly goes for fresh-market sales.
Source: westernfarmpress.com
