FRESNO COUNTY \u2013 With more than $9 billion of total gross production value generated in 2024, Fresno County has reasserted its dominance in the agriculture sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner Melissa Cregan unveiled this figure \u2014 which places the county back on top in California and the nation \u2014 to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 4. A record high, this year\u2019s production value reflects a 5.7% growth over 2023 values, an increase of more than $486 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve all heard me say this before, but it bears repeating: We are the food capital of the nation,\u201d Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said. \u201cFresno County\u2019s 2024 Crop and Livestock Report once again captures, in numbers, the bounty and diversity of what we grow here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After coming in second place to Kern County in 2023 and to Tulare County in 2022, Fresno County surpassed both of its neighbors to the south, as Tulare County reported a gross production value of $8.3 billion and Kern County reported a value of $7.9 billion. Citing these numbers, Supervisor Nathan Magsig questioned how Fresno County was able to climb all the way to $9 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cregan said much of the county\u2019s growth and ag value can be attributed to its fruit and nut sector, which accounted for 55.6% of total production value. Almonds and grapes alone each brought in more than $1 billion, and all commodity groups grew in value except seed crops and nursery crops.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Almonds brought in the most value in 2024 after ceding the top spot to grapes for the previous two years. The crop\u2019s value grew by more than 30%, increasing from just over $1 billion to $1.45 billion. This growth came despite the county recording nearly 20,000 fewer harvested acres in 2024 than in 2023.<\/p>\n
Using more explicit language, Board Chair Buddy Mendes said this is because the price of almonds went from being really bad to just kind of bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other highlights from the report showed that Fresno County had 82 different crops with gross production values of more than $1 million. Pistachios, cattle and calves, milk and poultry all had values of more than $500 million. Tomatoes, peaches, garlic, oranges, mandarins, nectarines, onions, melons, apiary products\/pollination, plums, lettuce and cotton all had values ranging from $100 million to more than $400 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report also features the contribution of farmworkers to the agriculture industry, detailing harvest cycles around California and the seasonal flow of labor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout (farmworkers), we would not be able to achieve the level of agricultural production that we have here in Fresno County that feeds the world,\u201d Cregan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where water flows<\/p>\n
Jacobsen acknowledged that \u201cfood grows where water flows\u201d and said 2024 was a good water year for Fresno County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat blessing allowed farmers to grow the rainbow of crops that we are very capable of doing here in Fresno,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, Jacobsen said to those outside the ag industry, the record-breaking numbers may seem like a reflection of the industry\u2019s health; however, that\u2019s not necessarily the full picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve faced some very difficult times the last four years from a combination of issues, whether it\u2019s the less than average market prices, rising input costs, higher interest rates and a long list of regulatory and logistical hurdles,\u201d Jacobsen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the topic of water, Supervisor Garry Bredefeld asked Cregan for her take on solar farms, which Bredefeld said the board receives many requests for on fallowed ag land. Cregan said if farmers had all the water they needed, she would generally be against solar farms, but given present circumstances, they can be a good source of steady income for growers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although Cregan said the two farmers on the board, Mendes and Supervisor Brian Pacheco, might be better suited to respond to that question, Pacheco said she answered it well. He added that he thought Cregan made a good point about the volatility of the ag industry as things like water availability and the price of crops can vary drastically from year to year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To illustrate his point, Pacheco said that as a production dairyman, he\u2019s had one of his best years and that \u201cthe beef industry is phenomenal.\u201d Yet, President Donald Trump then announces he would start importing Argentina beef, and the beef market \u201cplummets for two weeks in a row.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He continued, saying corn and soy prices were down until Trump went to China and announced a trade deal, and prices went up. At the same time, the area\u2019s top milk exports are to Mexico and Canada, the U.S. gets into a tariff war with Canada, and the milk price plummets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re extremely accurate, it\u2019s highly volatile,\u201d Pacheco said. \u201cIt\u2019s up and down, and not even from year to year \u2014 it\u2019s day to day with this current political environment that we are in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The board then went on to discuss the work of the agricultural commissioner\u2019s office and commended Cregan and her staff for all they did to put the report together. The full 2024 Crop and Livestock Report is available<\/a> on the Fresno County website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO COUNTY \u2013 With more than $9 billion of total gross production value generated in 2024, Fresno County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[27947,22181,112,622,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-41436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-ag","9":"tag-crop-report","10":"tag-fresno","11":"tag-fresno-county","12":"tag-fresno-headlines","13":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41436","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=41436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}