Monterey County crop value to be $4.35 billion in 2023, down 6.14% from last year – Monterey Herald

Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner Juan Hidalgo released the 2003 crop and livestock report at a press conference ahead of a formal presentation to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, saying it was “overall a good crop report.” (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)

SALINAS – Monterey County’s 2023 Crop and Livestock Report, released Tuesday, shows a gross production value of $4.35 billion, with strawberries remaining the county’s most valuable commodity.

The report indicates that the 2023 value of $4,353,338,000 is a 6.14% decrease from the 2022 value of $4,638,336,000. Juan Hidalgo, Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner, said at a press conference before the official presentation to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, “Overall, it’s a good crop report.”

“The theme of the report is ‘Together We Succeed,’ reminding us of the resilience of our communities and the drive of our farmers to face some of the severe weather challenges we have experienced in our county and state over the past decade, and to continue to create technological innovations to meet and prepare for the challenges of the future,” Hidalgo said.

The Agriculture Commissioner said he believes the change and declining value reflect some of the challenges facing Monterey County agriculture in 2023 due to excessive rainfall.

Two severe storms in January and March 2023 caused flooding in low-lying areas in Monterey County, impacting planting schedules and leading to commodity losses in some areas, the report said. Cooler than usual weather in the spring and early summer also led to a slow start for some commodities.

However, the impact of the weather on raw materials was partially mitigated by market demand for high-quality crops produced here.

The four most valuable commodities for 2023 maintained their rankings from the previous year and include strawberries at the top of the list with a gross production value of $903,791,000, a 5.7% decrease from 2022; leaf lettuce, including romaine and other leaf lettuce varieties, in second place with a value of $782,134,000, a 7.2% decrease; head lettuce in third place with a value of $493,464,000, a 9.8% decrease; broccoli in fourth place with a value of $468,871,000, a 9.7% decrease; and grapes, which jumped from seventh place last year to fifth place with a value of $194,642,000, a 12% increase.

The figures are gross production values ​​and do not include the costs of labor, field preparation, planting, irrigation, harvesting, distribution, pest control, refrigeration, marketing, equipment, duties, regulatory costs for losses on individual farms and other production activities.

The weather in 2023 actually benefited the grapes, as rain boosted yields over an extended season and increased gross production value.

Jason Smith, president and CEO of Valley Farms Management, is a second-generation grape grower in Monterey County. He said what makes grape growing unique is that it is a perennial crop that is harvested once a year, as opposed to row crops that grow and are harvested in cycles.

“My positive impression, especially about Monterey County and the wine industry, is that we have land, water and people … much better than many other places in the state … and quality,” Smith said. “We can grow high-quality wine grapes. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are our main varieties because the climate is cool, but our cycles take longer to get through.”

In 2023, 40,200 acres of grapes were grown in Monterey County, yielding 136,000 tons and a crop value of $194.6 million. In 2022, 41,480 acres were grown with 124,424 tons, with a gross production value of $173.7 million.

Mary Zischke, task force leader for the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, said 2023 will be a contrast to 2022, which was marked by a dry, warm winter and seemed to favor pest problems.

“The fall of 2022 was marked by severe crop failures in our main crop, lettuce, due to the plant virus INSV, and we were very afraid that this would be repeated in 2023,” said Zischke.

However, the cold, wet winter weather in 2023 impacted the disease, as crops could not be grown in many cases.

“We’re showing the world that we’re a pretty resilient region when it comes to large-scale production,” Zischke said. “We’re dealing with droughts, we’re dealing with severe pest management issues, and yet we still produce a lettuce crop worth over a billion dollars every year.”

The lettuce growing area in 2023 was 100,700 acres with a gross production value of $1.275 billion, compared to 2022 when 103,558 acres of lettuce growing were valued at $1.389 billion.

Other commodity categories also saw losses in value.

The vegetable crops category saw a 7.9% decline in value to $2.88 billion, and the fruit and nuts category saw a 3.5% decline to $1.19 billion.

“The decline in crop yields generally reflects the inability to produce during extreme rainfall events,” said Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.

According to Groot, the weather events in 2023 not only led to the disintegration of delivery systems and the erosion of the topsoil layer, but also meant a difficult recovery and a financial burden on resources that should have been used for the production of crops.

“Local producers received little state and federal support to offset these financial losses,” Groot said. “All of this contributes to a lower gross production value for our county, but also results in significant income losses for our farmers. When crops arrive late, harvest is also delayed, and that means a loss of income that cannot be recovered.”

But farmers and ranchers can meet the challenges and continue to increase food supplies by overcoming these obstacles and adapting to change, he said.

Hidalgo said the theme of this year’s crop report reminds people in Monterey County of the survivability of agriculture in the face of numerous natural disasters over the past decade, which has been one of the most difficult. He credits Monterey County’s continued production of commodities to the dedication of farmers and the more than 62,000 farmworkers who make it a leader in the state and across the country.