Crop report: Gross production value of Kern's agricultural commodities down slightly
| Monday, Jun 29 2009 04:59 PM
Last Updated Monday, Jun 29 2009 05:02 PM
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Kern County's top ag products in 2008
The ranking of the top 20 agricultural commodities produced in Kern County didn't change much between 2007 and 2008, but the value did.
For the second year, Kern County had gross production value of more than $4 billion, agricultural commissioner Ruben Arroyo wrote to the Kern County Board of Supervisors in a letter dated Tuesday accompanying an annual crop report. But the gross value of all ag commodities produced was down 1.4 percent from 2007, the report said.
Arroyo could not be reached for comment Monday.
The top five commodities accounted for $2.4 billion, or more than half of the total. They were milk, grapes, citrus, almonds (and almond byproducts) and carrots, their order unchanged from the previous year, according to the Kern County 2008 Agricultural Crop Report, scheduled for release Tuesday by the Kern County Department of Agriculture and Measurement Standards.
The value of the county's No. 1 commodity dropped 13 percent from $692.2 million in 2007 to $601.6 million last year, reflecting an international drop in milk prices.
"I call it the pizza effect," said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of Western United Dairymen, a trade group based in Modesto.
Last year, 11 percent of domestically produced milk was exported overseas. This year, that figure is down to 7 percent because of the impact of the global recession, Marsh said.
"The demand for mozzarella cheese has slowed dramatically because people aren't going out for pizza anymore, but fluid milk sales have seen a nice uptick because consumers are staying home and drinking milk instead of soda pop," Marsh said.
Unfortunately, he added, those milk sales have not been enough to counter the overall slump in demand. Dairies are making about 84 cents a gallon on the sale of milk, even though it costs about $1.68 to produce a gallon of milk factoring in feed costs and other expenses, Marsh said.
That math is driving a lot of dairies out of business. Western United Dairymen projects the state will lose at least 175 dairies this year.
Other local commodities are faring a little better.
The value of grapes in Kern County fell a mere 3 percent from $579.4 million to $561.5 million.
"Our market's pretty strong so I wouldn't be worried about it," said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League.
In fact, if anything, Kern County could benefit from the recession because consumers are turning more to value wines, grapes for which are often produced in Kern, said Nat Dibuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers.
One bright spot is citrus. The value of the county's third largest crop was up 8 percent from more than $449.9 million in 2007 to $487 million last year.
Hay and alfalfa displaced pistachios as the sixth largest crop in the county, followed by cattle and calves, pistachios, potatoes and silage and forage, which are feed for sheep and cattle.
