San Benito County’s crop values in 2010 increased about 5
percent over the prior year, from $242.9 million to $255.5 million,
according to the latest crop report released this week.
San Benito County’s crop values in 2010 increased about 5 percent over the prior year, from $242.9 million to $255.5 million, according to the latest crop report released this week.
That increase came after two consecutive down years for the county. Over the prior two years values had fallen almost $50 million, including a nearly $19 million drop in 2009.
But there was a reversal of sorts in 2010, with the largest gain in the “fruit and nut crops” category. That was largely due to the prices that producers received for walnuts and from a large increase in blueberry acreage, according to the report’s summary.
The county’s fruits and nuts’ values jumped from $37.1 million in 2009 to $44.5 million last year, according to the report put together by the San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner’s Office.
The agriculture commissioner also noted that vegetable and row crops bounced back due to increases for lettuce, celery and bell peppers, while cherry income decreased with late spring rains. The vegetable and row crops make up about 62 percent of the county’s total crop value.
Still, even with the rebound last year, the county has some room for recovery. Prior to the two down years in 2008 and 2009, the county had six consecutive years of increases in total value. As far back as 2004, the total value had been $266 million.
In 2010, though, most of the county’s major crops and other agricultural activities had better years than 2009, though field crops did decrease from $30.2 million to $27.3 million.
As for other categories, the previously mentioned vegetable and row crops increased from $153.4 million to $159.5 million.
Cattle values increased from $12.2 million to $14.2 million, although the number of head decreased from 39,400 to 35,800, according to the report.
For “other livestock” and poultry products, the value stayed about the same, at around $10 million.
Crop values by year
2010: $255.5M
2009: $242.9M
2008: $262M
2007: $293.1M
2006: $270.9M
2005: $268.8M
