The 2017 Santa Barbara County Crop Report released this month said most commodities were rising in value, with strawberries leading the pack and broccoli replacing wine grapes as the years’ second most valuable.
“Agriculture is the No. 1 contributor to the county’s economy and through the multiplier effect, contributes approximately $2.8 billion to the local economy and provides 25,370 jobs,” Ag Commissioner Cathleen Fisher stated following the report’s release.
In total, Santa Barbara County’s agricultural commodities grossed nearly $1.6 billion for 2017, an increase of more than $163 million from the previous year.
“It is always important to note that the figures provided in the annual crop report are gross values and do not represent or reflect net profit or loss experienced by individual growers or by the industry as a whole,” Fisher explained. “Growers do not have control over most input costs, such as fuel, fertilizers, and packaging, nor can they significantly affect market prices.”
All crops in the county increased in value except for wine grapes, dairy, and apiary (or bee) products. The top valued crops were strawberries, broccoli, and wine grapes with values of $457 million, $259 million, and $145 million, respectively. Rounding out the top five were nursery products ($100 million) and cauliflower ($94 million).
Santa Barbara County farmers ship their products all around the world. According to the report, Canada received the most shipments of goods from the area with more than 3,500. The next closest for shipments were Mexico (606) and Japan (496). Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan all took in more than 90 shipments, while China received 61.
The total number of registered organic operations in both California and Santa Barbara County continues to grow, the report said. Organic agriculture in California topped $2.9 billion in value in 2017, accounting for more than 40 percent of all organic production in the country. From 2010 to 2017, the total number of operations in California increased by 34 percent, with 459 new organic registrants in California in 2017.
It was a rough year for agricultural losses in some parts of the county, largely due to natural disasters like December’s Thomas Fire. That blaze–the largest in recorded state history–impacted 40 farms with resulting damages totaling more than $11.7 million.
“Damage varied greatly from one ranch to another,” the report said. “[Avocado, citrus, and cherimoya] groves that may have not experienced direct damage to their trees lost their entire crop due to the smoke, which caused the fruit to prematurely ripen and drop to the ground.
“It will take months of careful monitoring to determine which trees that appear charred and lifeless will bounce back, and which will have to be replaced.”
The report’s authors noted it may take up to to five years for replacement trees to be available from the nurseries and another three to five years for them to produce a crop.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 2, 2018.