The Annual Crop Report for the County of Monterey was released Tuesday showing a decline in crop production and overall profit.

County officials say multiple factors, including last year’s wet winter, are to blame for the $285 million decrease.

While strawberries remain the "top crop," yielding $903 million for the county, this was still a 6% decrease in gross production value (GDP) compared to 2022. Leaf lettuce, head lettuce and broccoli hold the second through fourth highest spots.

Vegetable crops, fruits and nuts also saw decreases in production value this year. County officials say a shortened growing season due to last year’s storms is behind the change.

“Fields were essentially out of production for several months at a time, so it wasn't just the flooding itself, but it's also the recovery time mitigating what happened in the fields with loss of topsoil or picking up all the debris and trash,” shared Norm Groot, from the Monterey County Farm Bureau. “It took time to get back in production.”

Despite overall losses, some crops, including wine grapes, saw an increase in production value compared to 2022. Groot went on to explain why.

“Value of the harvest per acre for wine grapes was up this last year even though they didn't harvest everything because the market was a little soft for wine grapes last year,” Groot shared. “We did better in this region than other regions in part of California.”

Beyond market prices for the fruit, Juan Hidalgo, the county’s agricultural commissioner, added that wine grapes "actually benefited" from the increased rainfall as well.

Hildalgo also shared that despite this year's decline, he has a "positive outlook" on agriculture in the county moving forward.

"I think all of us are keeping in mind, not forgetting, what happened last year," said Hidalgo. He went on to emphasize his gratitude for the "commitment" of agricultural workers in the county.

Source - https://www.ksbw.com