Driven by fast food restuarants’ hunger to add healthy options
to their menu, salad lettuce was again the top crop in San Benito
County.
Hollister – Driven by fast food restuarants’ hunger to add healthy options to their menu, salad lettuce was again the top crop in San Benito County.
“In the early part of 2003, McDonald’s had a salad thing going, and that prompted other fast food places to do the same,” said San Benito County farmer Steve Nishita, adding that the demand in 2003 pushed farmers to plant more lettuce this year.
With salad lettuce leading the way, revenue from agriculture in the county increased by more than 11 percent in 2004, bringing in a total of $266.7 million. In 2003, the total revenue for agricultural commodities was $238.7 million.
“I think it’s (the agriculture industry) pretty good,” Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich said. “It’s stable for right now.”
Matulich released San Benito County’s 2004 crop report Tuesday, which shows a more than $27 million increase in total agriculture revenue for the county. That was the second year of increased ag revenue for the county. In 2003 total revenue also rose 11 percent.
“Agriculture is number one in this county,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho. “It’s the best and highest land use at this time and it has a tremendous employment base.”
According to the report, lettuce sales last year brought $48.2 million county farmers – an increase of more than $22 million from 2003. The second most-profitable crop was nursery stock, which brought in $26.4 million in 2004, though that is down by $3.3 million from the year before.
The increase in lettuce revenue is a result of farmers planting nearly 1,500 more acres of the crop in 2004 in an attempt to satisfy the demand created by fast food restaurants that added salad to their menus, according to Matulich.
But Nishita speculated that last year’s high lettuce sales probably won’t last and supply will likely outstrip demand.
“The demand for salads was still there (in 2004), so they planted more and were able to make more money, but I think what you’ll see is an increase in acreage and less demand,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll see that (increased lettuce sales) in 2005.”
Matulich said he doesn’t know if lettuce revenues will go down this year, adding that he reports concrete numbers rather than giving projections about what the future holds.
“You never know. It could be true, but it could be that the price goes up,” he said.
Besides the jump in salad lettuce revenue, the money reaped from many crops grown in the county declined between 2003 and 2004, according to the report.
Wine grapes, for one, brought in nearly $3 million less last year than the crop did in 2003.
Also, fruit and nut crops – including apples, cherries and apricots – declined more than $3 million in total value between 2003 and 2004.
Matulich said that foreign imports make fruit and nut crops less profitable for local farmers to grow. Though he said things are stable right now, Matulich said their are no guarantees in farming.
“Farmers are the only people who buy retail and sell wholesale,” he said.
Luke Roney covers politics and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext.a 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
