Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara County released its Agricultural Crop Report and showed a $1.9 Billion value of agricultural production last year with strawberries leading the charge.
The County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office stated strawberries were yet again the leading crop producing a gross value of $849,729,000 sue in part to increases in strawberry acreage.
“Agriculture continues to be the County’s major producing industry with a gross production value of $1,918,186,000. This is an increase of $98,988,000 or 5.1% when compared with the 2020 figure.” said Commissioner Cathy Fisher.
The figures provided in the report are gross values and do not represent or reflect net profit or loss experienced by individual growers, or by the industry as a whole. Growers do not have control over input costs, such as fuel, fertilizers and packaging, nor can they significantly affect market prices.
Nursery products, such as orchids and miscellaneous potted plants, came in second at $119,137,000, followed by wine grapes at $105,151,000 and broccoli at $101,371,000. Next are Cauliflower, lettuce, blackberries, celery, and avocado, respectively.
The category of “Other Commodities” reaped $334,034,000 in 2021. It includes apiary, field and seed crops, livestock, and animal products.
A separate section addressed cannabis stating it is not included in the total gross production value for the county due to the state’s plans last year to consolidate the three state cannabis licensing authorities into a single Department of Cannabis Control (DCC). “Establishment of uniform operations and procedures, leveraging of existing funding, and better service and coordination are the focus for the DCC moving forward,” the report stated. In 2021 the DCC issued 1,686 total licenses representing a total of 280 acres (16,578,100 square feet) of cultivation in Santa Barbara County.
Where is all this food going?
The top 10 countries that receive agricultural products from Santa Barbara County are Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Qatar, Oman, Costa Rica, and the Philippines, respectively.
Canada is the largest customer of local strawberries receiving 9,111 tons last year. Next in line is the middle east where the red fruit tops the list for Saudi Arabia at 728 tons, United Arab Emirates at 404 tons, and Kuwait at 187.
The 2021 report, as well as other reports since 1916, can be found online at Crop Reports | Santa Barbara County, CA – Official Website (countyofsb.org).
Sorry but Orchids are a historical part of Santa Barbara and that won’t change with your list of q’s.
Glad you are able to produce everything you need on your personal farm.
By the way the term “Organic” or “Green” when it comes to food is one of the easiest terms to abuse.
I see organic used in fruit and berries from Mexico. That is a joke.
Its “Organic” alright, as in right out of the out house pit.
Ever hear of someone getting Salmonella?
Reality is that if everything was produced organically ,there would not be enough farmable land and water for that fantasy and a lot of people would starve.
Don’t you care about them?
Signed, A Rancher