Monterey County Crop Values Decrease in 2020

SALINAS – Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales announced on Tuesday, July 20 that the gross production value of Monterey County agriculture decreased by 11.3%, in 2020 to $3,910,135,000. This represents a $499,857,000 decrease from 2019 when, the gross production value was $4.4 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the loss of much of the foodservice sector due to the cancelation of major events with large gatherings of people and the closure of schools. Subsequently, the production of most crops was depressed. In some instances, ash from the wildfires made some produce unsellable, resulting in crop losses. In other instances, crop disease outbreaks resulted in crop losses. A bright spot was Strawberries which had a 26% increase from 2019 and moved to the top as the most valuable crop of 2020. Leaf lettuce on the other hand, had a 15.2% decrease from 2019, dropping to the second most valuable crop at $712,681,000 in part due to lower pricing and COVID-19 pandemic effects. Head lettuce remained as the third most valuable crop although it had a decrease of 16.6% from 2019 at a value of $428,580,000. The lessened value in head lettuce was in part due to a reduction in acreage, lower pricing, and the effects of the worldwide pandemic. Broccoli once again maintained its fourth place ranking despite a 25.3% decrease at a value of $341,495,000. The Vegetable Crops category saw a 18.5% decrease over 2019. The Fruits and Nuts category increased 9.4% to $1,124,737,000 primarily due to the increase in Strawberry value. Wine Grapes saw a significant decrease in value of 43%, or $80,105,000, due to wildfires smoke affecting the grapes. The 2020 Monterey County Crop and Livestock Report highlights the resilience of Monterey County Agriculture and the local community in the face of the worldwide pandemic caused by COVID-19 and local wildfires, and how the agricultural industry, health care providers, community groups, the County Board of Supervisors, and others collaborated in response to adversity and moved forward by working to protect agricultural workers and producing food for us locally, the nation and the world. Commissioner Gonzales said “With the pandemic, wildfires and the uncertainty of what to do and how to do it, this presented us with the greatest adversity we had ever encountered and yet we continued - the whole agricultural industry continued. Our inspection staff continued to safeguard the food chain supply even though other industries could not. This could not have been accomplished if not for the collaboration between the agricultural industry but also farm worker advocacy groups for the protection of agricultural employees, agriculture, and the food that we produce.” Joining Commissioner Gonzales at the briefing was a panel of agricultural leaders providing their insights and answering questions. The crop report was released at a public briefing held via Zoom. It may be downloaded from the Agricultural Commissioner’s Web site at ag.co.monterey.ca.us/.