Ventura County Crop Value Ranks 11th in the Nation

California’s Ventura County’s crop value grew by 2.87 percent in 2015 over 2014, despite increasing water, pest and labor issues.  The 2015 Crop and Livestock Report released by the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office shows Ventura County has an estimated 2,150 farms, with a crop value that ranks 11th among all U.S. counties.

Ventura County has approximately 95,802 acres of irrigated cropland with a total acreage of 293,549 (197,747 is rangeland), according to the report.

In 2015, Ventura County crops generated $2.199 billion in gross revenue, up from $2.137 billion a year earlier.

The county’s top three crops remained strawberries, lemons and raspberries, respectively, again this year, but each of the big three saw at least a $10 million decrease from the 2014 report:

• Strawberries, the county’s top crop by far, had an estimated value of $617.8 million in 2015 ($10 million less than in 2014).
• Lemons, Ventura County’s most valuable crop from the 1930s to 1990s, dipped to $259.5 million last year ($10 million less than in 2014).
• Raspberries dropped to $228.2 million in 2015 ($12 million less than in 2014).

Despite the value decreases, growth in other crops helped county crop values increase as a whole. Growth was seen in nursery stock, cut flowers, celery, avocados, peppers, tomatoes and kale in 2015.

Avocados experienced the largest increase in 2015, growing 32 percent from the previous year and grossing nearly $189 million.

Ventura County, like many ag regions in California, was in an “extreme” or “exceptional” area of the U.S. Drought Monitor for much of 2015 and received about half its average rainfall during the 2015-16 water year. Along with the water issues, the cost and availability of labor remains a constant issue for Central Coast growers.

Ventura County agricultural commissioner Henry Gonzales said the region’s dedication to science, technology, engineering and mathematics has helped Ventura County growers overcome those challenges.

“In Ventura County we have some of the most expensive row-crop land in the state with a scarcity of water and a regulatory structure second to none,” Gonzales noted in the report. “Farmers in Ventura County use (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) on a daily basis in order to continue to produce at the levels essential to stay in business. As the world’s population approaches 8 billion, farmers will need to continue innovating using agriculture.