Nursery stock include “72-inch box trees and it costs pretty good bucks for one of those.... Many contractors now want instant landscaping” for residential and commercial development, a boon for everything from bedding plants to mature trees.Raspberry acreage has grown from 372 acres to the reported 1,477 acres, bringing a 2004 valuation of $48.586 million and the seventh place ranking.A big loser last year was honey, with a bee mite slashing production from 757,419 pounds in 2003 to a scant 155,830 pounds in 2004. The price per pound also plunged from $1.48 in 2003 to $.96 last year, the result of China imports, said McPhail.McPhail said that better reporting also added to the 2004 record, with growers becoming more aware that all information gathered by Deputy Commissioner Kerry DuFrain remains confidential. McPhail credited DuFrain and Chief Deputy Ag Commissioner David Buettner for the work on compiling the annual report.The 2004 Crop Report’s top 10, in order, were: strawberries ($363.646 million), nursery stock ($221.991 million), lemons ($176.361 million), avocados ($124.661 million), celery ($122.832 million), tomatoes (including many of the pole grown variety of the River Valley ($71.735 million), cut flowers ($65.663 million), raspberries ($48.586 million), peppers (“Anything but green” are selling strong said McPhail, $34.628 million), and Valencia oranges ($20.525 million).
2004 Crop Report: Nursery stock eyes top spot, lemons, avocados up
July 29, 2005
Santa Paula News
Nursery stock - that long stretch of eye candy seen more and more throughout the Santa Clara River Valley - held firm to second place behind strawberries, and raspberries jumped to become the eighth most valuable crop, according to the 2004 Annual Crop Report.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesNursery stock - that long stretch of eye candy seen more and more throughout the Santa Clara River Valley - held firm to second place behind strawberries, and raspberries jumped to become the eighth most valuable crop, according to the 2004 Annual Crop Report. The report was released Monday at Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail’s Santa Paula ag headquarters.It was a very good year for agricultural, with an almost 20 percent increase in crop values from a year ago, hitting a $1.389 billion record, according to McPhail. Revenues for local growers increased more than $270 million from 2003, and 2004 marked the sixth year that the county’s crops broke the billion-dollar mark.“It was definitely a good year,” with 29 of the county’s 60-plus crops grossing at least $1 million, said McPhail. River Valley staples lemons and avocados were ranked third and fourth respectively, with values of $176.361 million and $124.661 million, “higher than last year when they were way down,” said McPhail.Lemons had been the king of the county crops for years, but lost ground to strawberries several years ago: now it’s nursery stock that McPhail said could someday give strawberries a run for the money. “If nursery stock continues to grow as it has the last five years, it will be a push” for the top spot, he noted.Many nursery stock growers are attracted especially to the Santa Clara River Valley, where the number of Valencia oranges have been drooping for years - the 2004 value for the 10th ranked crop was $20.525 million - and orchards are being replaced by flowers and trees. “A lot of nursery growers are trying to relocate here,” causing a labor crunch that is requiring many workers to commute from Los Angeles “day by day.” The mild River Valley weather is further complemented by the area’s proximity to major highways.
