Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Sonoma County crop report

The 2018 edition is out, and available here
https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Agriculture-Weights-and-Measures/Crop-Reports/
A friend reported that the conference yesterday launching it was not well attended. She brought by a copy of the power point handout. Under reporting, especially from small specialty crop growers, continues. But

  • For the first time, the gross value of agricultural product in Sonoma County exceeded one billion dollars.
  • It was a bumper year for wine grapes.
  • Tree fruit volume was down, but value way up. So local fruit is even less affordable for many of our residents?
  • Hard to figure out what's happening with the burgeoning cider business - how many of the processed apples are becoming an alcoholic beverage - or with cannabis production, which I'm guessing comes under another agency, even though it uses precious ag land. 
I am drinking more cider these days than wine. I enjoyed the cider tasting at the Gravenstein Apple Fair on Sunday. But it concerns me that more and more land is growing crops for alcohol or other intoxicants. I want the statistics on that.
And a btw. The pictures in the report are great, and much less fuzzy than this thumbnail. .
Crop Report 2018

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