Solano's ag diversity keeps county's crop value up

Jun 16, 2023

The diversity of the Solano County agriculture cornucopia and the stability of Lake Berryessa water supply kept the 4.12 percent dip in the 2022 gross ag value from being any worse than it was.

"When we were here with you last year we were excited about an all-time high," Agriculture Commissioner Ed King told the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 1.

That record value in 2021 was $407.64 million, about $16.97 million higher than the 2022 value of $390.88 reported in the 73rd annual Crop and Livestock Report.

King said there are 90 commodities represented in the report. So despite significant losses in the almond crop, the top value crop in each of the last three years, the walnut crop, also a top 10 crop that has taken losses, and sunflower seeds, which fell out off the top 10 crop list, the county still had the second-highest gross ag value in its history.

The next highest reported value came in 2014 at $378.54 million.

"It tells a story of how important agriculture is to Solano County," board Chairman John Vasquez said about the annual crop report, repeating the significance of the Lake Berryessa and Solano Project vision that has supported the county for decades.

King said his office is tracking the loss of about 1,000 acres of walnuts that have been removed from production due to continually low prices. Asked by Supervisor Wanda Williams what the farmers are replacing the trees with, King said mostly field crops, but also olives and pistachios.

Processing tomatoes had a lot to do with the success of the 2022 overall crop values, despite its own September rain issues. A top-five value commodity since the 1950s, the gross value in 2022 hit a record high of $47.35 million, the report stated.

Tomatoes – with 439,000 tons harvested from 9,500 acres, at $107.88 per ton – moved up from the second highest valued crop in 2021 to the top spot in 2022. Almonds, the county's perennial top crop, fell to sixth with a value of $21.29 million – a 70 percent decline of nearly $49.83 million from the 2021 value of $71.12 million, the report states.

"Extreme weather events throughout the year impacted crop and livestock production: freezing temperatures in late February severely damaged the developing almond and olive crops; early September brought a relentless heatwave with temperatures peaking at well over 100 degrees across the county for nine consecutive days, including localized highs of over 115 degrees desiccating grapes on the vine," King wrote in the report.

"Mid-September rains temporarily halted the final weeks of tomato harvest and caused tomatoes still in the field to mold. (The) excessive heat and rain likewise led to mold and poor kernel color in walnut crops; a third year of drought continued to stress soil moisture, groundwater and rangeland conditions; and in early December, Lake Berryessa dropped to its lowest level since 1994," King added.

Apiary pollination broke into the top 10 at eighth with a gross value of $9.34 million. Dropping off the list was sunflower seeds, which were eighth in 2021 with a value of $10.529 million. In 2022, that value was $7.487 million, the report states.

The rest of the top 10 crops, by gross value, were nursery products ($43.698 million), moving from third to second on the list; cattle and calves ($36,218 million), moving from fourth to third; alfalfa hay ($30.946 million), from fifth to fourth; and wine grapes ($26.164 million), from sixth to fifth, the report states.

Rounding out the top 10 crop value list were almonds followed by walnuts ($11.304 million), holding at seventh; pollination; sheep and lambs ($9.074 million), holding at ninth; and staying at 10th was dried prunes with a gross value of $9.009 million, the report states.

King focused on the crop groups in his presentation to the board, noting vegetable crops representing about 25 percent of the overall gross value, followed by animal production (22 percent), field crops (20 percent) and fruit and nuts, which has typically been close to one-third of the value, but reduced to 19 percent in 2022. Nursery products (11 percent) and seed crops (3 percent) finish the group list.

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