Strawberries top Crop Report, lemons 2nd, raspberries hit top ten

July 18, 2003
Santa Paula News

The crown continued to be knocked off lemons as strawberries led the 2002 Crop Report with raspberries emerging as a new contender in its own category, booking almost $20 million.

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe crown continued to be knocked off lemons as strawberries led the 2002 Crop Report with raspberries emerging as a new contender in its own category, booking almost $20 million.The highly anticipated Crop Report, a measure of Ventura County’s annual output, also sailed past the billion-dollar point and placed local growers 9th or 10th statewide, but still number one in value produced per acre, making it the nation’s 17th highest-grossing farm county.The report of the variety of crops that came in at $1.159 billion was released Wednesday by Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail at Santa Paula commission headquarters.Strawberries were up an impressive 29.1 percent over 2001, and led the produce pack with $279.9 million, a hefty lead over lemons which booked a modest 5.1 percent increase, coming in at $182.9 million. Nursery stock - minus cut Christmas trees - was a close third at $173.7 million, followed by celery at $114.7 million.Avocados, like lemons another staple of Santa Clara River Valley growers, had a market value increase of a whopping 47.7 percent with a valuation of $99.3 million.Others that ranked in the top ten were cut flowers (dropping 22 percent but still topping $40 million), tomatoes (up 15.9 percent at $37.7 million), peppers (a 22.4 percent gain to $32.1 million), Valencia oranges (still sliding. . .9.1 percent down at $24.9 million) and the new contender, raspberries ($19.9 million).No figures are available for 2001 said McPhail, as the annual Crop Report is broken down in specific categories only when growers exceed three.
Ventura County production was “phenomenal, a very solid year,” said McPhail, with the county crop average $1,600 per acre last year, the state’s highest yield for the third consecutive year.Powerhouse crop producer Fresno County’s revenues were $370 to $380 per acre.Valuation of year-round harvested raspberries - in 2002 pulled out of the fruits and nuts category - should continue to grow over the next few years, McPhail said.More acreage was devoted to avocados, a nearly 3,000 acre increase over last year bringing the total to 18,588 acres. Production increased by about 20,000 tons and prices jumped by about $100 a ton.“The trend is Valencia’s are leaving town rapidly,” and being replaced by other crops, while lemon trees have a shorter life-cycle and must be replaced more often, causing dips in the annual output, said McPhail.But, “Lemons are starting to feel foreign competition,” he noted, as are cut flowers.Cilantro jumped almost $2 million in 2002, reflecting the rising popularity of its use, and cabbage - now that people have learned that “they don’t have to boil it to death,” said McPhail - increased to $10.650 million from 2001’s $5.799 million.“Overall, it was a good year. Obviously, some commodities didn’t do as well as others,” he noted.Throughout Ventura County in 2002, about 1,200 acres of crop producing land was lost to other development, said McPhail.



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