Despite the ramifications of this four year drought Fresno County announced today/Monday that its farming value for 2014 increased over nine percent. FM89’s Ezra David Romero reports.
The lack of rain and snow has made it a tough few years on farmers, but according to the Fresno County Department of Agriculture 2014 Crop and Livestock Report the county’s gross value has increased from around $6.5 billion to just over $7 billion. Although, the increase doesn’t necessarily mean farmers are making more money.
Ryan Jacobsen is the Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO.
JACOBSEN: “This is literally just the value of the crops as it is harvested and shipped off to farm. The input costs have risen dramatically over the last couple of years. Those input costs really nick away at any profitability on some of these crops.”
Almond sales grossed over $1.3 billion, $200 million more than in 2013. Poultry, milk, cattle, tomatoes, pistachios, and garlic all increased in value as well. The only two top Fresno County crops that lost value last year are grapes, dropping around $131 million, and cotton, decreasing about $9 million.
