Santa Barbara County’s agricultural industry grew to almost $1.5 billion in 2014, according to a report released by the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. The report marks the ninth year in a row that agriculture surpassed the billion-dollar line.
The numbers from 2014 are higher than 2013’s by some $53 million dollars—an increase which works out to a little less than 4 percent. The crop report estimates that farming generated around $2.8 billion for the local economy and provided 25,370 jobs.
Strawberries remained the No. 1 crop in the county, hauling in a respectable $464 million. That’s slightly less than last year, but enough to ensure that profits from strawberries account for nearly $4 out of every $10 generated by Santa Barbara County’s top 10 agricultural products.
Cattle ranchers saw their slice of the pie contract by about a third, falling from $34 million to $23 million. A lack of rangeland for grazing and escalating costs for supplemental feed left ranchers with no choice but to slash their herd sizes dramatically—on average, between 40 and 50 percent.
Wine grapes, which have grown by some $50 million since 2010, saw a reduction in total value to the tune of $8 million. Avocado growers, who were stumping trees and reducing leaf canopies as irrigation waned with drought, saw their production acreage fall. Still, rising avocado prices per ton ensured they hauled in about $10 million more than in 2013.
Vegetable growers continued to do battle with with the bagrada bug, a stink bug that invaded California and Arizona in 2008. Feeding in piranha-like swarms, the black insect with orange spots can take down a stalk of cauliflower, broccoli, or okra in the space of a couple of days.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter, a leaf-hopper that spreads a deadly bacterium, was targeted with egg-parasitic wasps. The campaign against the light brown apple moth, led to some 700 agricultural items being rejected or destroyed.
Around 13,000 vegetable shipments left Santa Barbara County for 34 different countries. More than half of those were broccoli or cauliflower. Canada received the lion’s share, at 9,055 shipments. Japan imported about 3,038.
This article appears in May 14-21, 2015.