{"id":233851,"date":"2026-03-24T08:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233851\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T08:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:11:13","slug":"spotlight-on-bakersfield-a-kern-county-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233851\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Bakersfield: A Kern County gem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kern County plays a pivotal role in California\u2019s agricultural prominence, boasting a produce industry valued at nearly $8 billion according to the county\u2019s official 2024 report. Nearly two-thirds of this value is generated by citrus, grapes, and carrots, as well as almonds and pistachios. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Although 2024 numbers remain robust, they represent a decrease from 2023 due to loss of acreage. The county is no stranger to adverse weather either, though this isn\u2019t new to growers in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the later rains affected our production, but nothing major,\u201d shares John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing for Anthony Vineyards, Inc. BB #:111344<\/a> in Bakersfield. \u201cFortunately for us, much of it was outside of Kern Country in the north and we\u2019re in the South.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some additional costs because of post-rain measures,\u201d he admits, but it could have been worse. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have increases in insect spray or mildew issues, which was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others, like colleague Rob Spinelli, sales manager for Anthony Vineyards in Coachella, are more worried about the weather prospects ahead. <\/p>\n

\u201cMarch and April are crucial timeframes for us,\u201d he stresses, noting cold snaps, a freeze, or even rain can affect bud break.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, we need constant high temps from here on out to have a good growing season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, we need constant high temps from here on out to have a good growing season,\u201d Spinelli explains. \u201cIn 2024, we had an excessive heatwave in July that really stressed the vineyard. We can\u2019t have those types of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county experienced a range of extreme weather from late-winter storms, late summer dust storms, and flash floods all through November last year with record rainfall. Then there was the widely reported tule fog that arrived, resulting in unseasonably low temperatures in the southern reaches of the valley.<\/p>\n

Challenges Old and New<\/p>\n

While Mother Nature creates challenges every season, Bakersfield and Kern County continue to face manmade obstacles including the allocation of water and availability of labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the water situation is getting dicey,\u201d comments Harley, \u201cnot because of shortages but regulation.\u201d He is not impressed with how the state is dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur state government has done a less-than-great job with water resources with regard to planning for the future,\u201d he observes. \u201cThey already have seed money that\u2019s been collected and earmarked for water storage and new dams, then defer them to other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lou Harmon, in sales for grower and distributor Billingsley Produce Sales, Inc. BB #:131780<\/a>, headquartered in Bakersfield, agrees, calling out the state government\u2019s water policies as \u201chorrible\u201d and making everything more difficult than necessary. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years we should have had a peripheral canal, which my dad spoke about in the 1970s when we needed it, but the state has been dumping water in the ocean instead of providing food for people and water for their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"FroZone\/Adobe Stock<\/p>\n

As far as labor is concerned, fear and border patrol sweeps are having an impact on foreign workers for some growers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t really affected because we start so early,\u201d Harley says. \u201cOur labor starts in May and moves up the state with us,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the earliest start in the San Joaquin Valley\u2014we start in the later part of June with regard to grape production,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe lock in our labor and they stay with us all through the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spinelli offered a different approach to resolving the labor shortages. \u201cOne of the issues is that if you let a crew go for a week you might not get them back because others might pick them up and give them weekly work.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you need to be strategic\u2014because if you don\u2019t plan ahead you\u2019ll have a shortage. Everyone wants to work a full shift but if you don\u2019t pay the workers their due, they will leave or go elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a market for both organic and conventional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is the Future More Organics?<\/p>\n

Kern County prides itself as being one of California\u2019s more prominent organic producers, and with rising demand, more area growers are investing in organic crops for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a market for both organic and conventional,\u201d Harley says, mentioning customers who deal in both. Those who regularly handle organic will always seek these items, however, since their customers want them.<\/p>\n

Anthony Vineyards continues to transition more conventional varieties to its organic program. Harley says the transition takes about four years to complete. \u201cWe\u2019re in this process on a yearly basis at a rate of 200 acres a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spinelli adds, \u201cPlanning and transition can take years, and it takes money and time to plan for new varieties and vineyards. We need to look ahead and find new varieties we can either grow organically, or the consumer and retail chains would like.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now the trend is 60 to 65 percent green grapes compared to 35 percent red grapes and the other grapes are 5 percent or less for retailers. I contribute this to the new varieties of grapes we harvest on the vine all the way up until November instead of keeping it in cold storage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kern County plays a pivotal role in California\u2019s agricultural prominence, boasting a produce industry valued at nearly $8…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-233851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}