VC Crop Report: Winter freeze didn’t hamper overall 2007 crop value
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: August 13, 2008
The 2007 winter freeze didn’t hamper the crop value - $1.55 billion - in Ventura County, according to the annual report issued by the Agricultural Commissioner’s office.
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
The 2007 winter freeze didn’t hamper the crop value - $1.55 billion - in Ventura County, according to the annual report issued by the Agricultural Commissioner’s office. The report was the last for longtime Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail, who retired after about 30 years of leading the department, which works closely with area growers on a variety of issues.
The report noted that strawberries were again the top crop in 2007, with a value of $366,428,000. Second place holder nursery stock increased by $29,099,000 to $292,989,000.
Once the king of the crops, lemons managed to hold on to third place overall in spite of the devastating freeze. “Lemons recovered well from the freeze in 2006 and increased in value by $43,573,000” to $235,124,000, McPhail wrote in the report to the Board of Supervisors.
Sixth-ranked “raspberries surpassed avocados, but decreased in value by $11,885,000” to $69,268,000; while avocados, “devastated by the 2006 freeze, decreased in value by $34,480,000,” barely holding on to seventh place at $52,911,000.
Others listed as Ten Leading Crops for 2007 are celery (4th place at $169,512,000), tomatoes (5th place at $84,486,000), cut flowers (placing 8th at $48,646,000), peppers (9th at $39,676,000) and always being replaced - at least in the Santa Clara River Valley - Valencia oranges (which held onto 10th place at $19,393,000).
Other million dollar crops ranged from cilantro to orchids (the latter included in the nursery stock total at $3,926,000). In all there were 20 crops listed that were valued in 2007 at more than $1 million.
Harvested acreage for avocados continued to decline: in 2006 avocados were harvested on 16,417 acres, down to 16,417 acres in 2007. Lemons also saw a decline in harvesting acres, down from 19,100 acres in 2006 to 18,892 in 2007.
Land is being shifted to nursery stock, a growing and strong county commodity. Production greenhouse square feet and field acres grew dramatically year-over-year in several categories listed in the Crop Report.
Ventura County is expected to maintain its position as the eighth largest agricultural producer in the state and the 12th or 13th largest in the nation. In spite of the freeze, growers saw an overall gross value of nearly $1.55 billion in 2007, up about $42 million from 2006.
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