Lakeport >> With apologies to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) and assurances that next year’s would come sooner, Lake County Agricultural Commissioner Steven Hajik presented the 2014 Crop Report at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Overall the gross value of agriculture production in Lake County was $93,096,266, which marked a 3 percent decrease from 2013. Hajik offered as a caveat that the apparent setback, which is attributed to a decline in the value of the wine grape and pear industries, should be taken with a grain of sugar.
The previous year — 2013 — represents the best year agriculturally that Lake County has ever had. In 2012 for instance, the total value for Lake County’s agricultural output was $84,842,411, and the numbers are even lower for previous years.
The gross value of wine grapes specifically was down 4 percent from 2013, pears down 5 percent, miscellaneous fruit 19 percent, vegetables 30 percent and livestock production down 15 percent.
Enjoying increases for the year were walnuts, which were up 7 percent, nursery production with 1 percent, field crops with 18 percent, livestock and poultry products with 1 percent and timber 210 percent.
Hajik was unsure how the fire would affect timber numbers for 2015. He stated that those figures come from the state, and that timber is “not a major crop” for Lake County — hence the outsized numbers.
The single-most valuable crop for the county for the finalized year were red wine grape varietals, which yielded 22,206 tons over 5,156 acres, or 4.3 tons per acre, with a gross value of $40,614,551, down from $41,447,203 from 2013. Of the varietals in the county, Cabernet Sauvignon was at the top of the list, with 14,025 tons crushed for a total of $28,189,511. Bringing up the bottom of the list are Syrah, with a total of $1,375.734 from 988 tons crushed, and a total of $5,899,309 from 4,380 tons for all other varietals with crush-tonnage lower than the Syrah.
The Bartlett variety topped the list of the pear contributors, with a gross product value of $19,575.268. The total gross value for all the pears grown in the county was $20,736,719 from 2,073 acres, down from $21,788,051 and 2,093 acres in 2013.
Walnuts contributed $6,732,000 over 3,700 acres, with olives and other miscellaneous fruits and nuts adding $90,872.
Crops registered as organic with the Agricultural Commissioner’s office had a total value of $4,954,873, with organic walnuts contributing $1,460,098 of that value.
The total gross value for all fruit and nuts in 2014 was $86,426,386 from 13,927 acres.
The numbers for Lake County’s livestock are much less impressive, though overall showing gains over 2013. Cattle and calves numbering 2,400 head (down from 3,240 from 2013) were valued at $2,175,600, or $185 per 100 pounds — up from $160 the previous year. All over livestock, including sheep, hogs and chicken, were valued at $130,955, for a livestock total for the year of $2,306,555. Total poultry products, such as eggs, cheese and wool, were valued at $137,760.
Looking at the present and future, Hajik also reported that $10 million in agricultural disaster relief has been applied for through FEMA after the Valley Fire. Also, the county has no indication of the value of the marijuana grows in the area or how they would affect the overall total. According to Hajik, the crop report is based solely on what is determined as a legal crop by the USDA, and he wouldn’t anticipate seeing any values for marijuana appear for several more years.
