Valley’s industry again reaches $2 billion benchmark
The gross value of the Imperial Valley agricultural and livestock industry surpassed the $2 billion mark according to the 2016 Agricultural Crop and Livestock report presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The report, presented by County Agricultural Commissioner Carlos Ortiz shows an increase of 7 percent compared to production in the previous year and surpassed the $2 billion mark for the first time since 2013 when it reached $2.16 billion — the current record for the county.
Ortiz said the primary reason for the increase is due to the increase of market value on winter crops, which rose exponentially due to warm temperatures during the Despite a slight decrease in production of livestock and field crops, the areas that thrived during 2016 were vegetable and melon crops which rose 10 percent and seed and nursery crops which experienced an 18.58 percent increase.
Spinach saw a 65 percent increase in harvested acres in 2016 at the same time as the market value increased by 104 percent. Leaf lettuce saw a 9 percent increase in harvested acres and 54 percent in price while broccoli saw a slight decrease in harvested acres and yield but had a 54 percent increase in market value.
Cattle, which accounted for more than $400 million in production for 2016, experienced a 10 percent decrease in value from 2015 mainly due to a small decrease in the head count and 11 percent decrease in market price of livestock. Cattle has been the number one commodity for the Valley for the past six decades.
The top ten Imperial County commodities for 2016 ranked were: cattle, alfalfa, leaf lettuce, onions, broccoli, head lettuce, spinach, alfalfa seed, romaine lettuce and carrots.
Ortiz pointed out during his presentation that he’s seen consistent growth the organic program.
In 2016, the Valley had 48 growers of organic crops which covered 33,505 acres and generated more than $242 million, a substantial increase in the last four years. In 2012, the Valley only had 26 growers using 12,000 acres and producing approximately $39 million.
District 4 Supervisor Ryan Kelley asked Ortiz to talk about how fruit and nut crops are doing locally. The crops had a 7.57 percent increase in harvested acres but experience a 3.8 decrease in gross value. Although market values are ever changing, Ortiz said that category has seen consistent growth.
“It continues to grow, we have seen citrus growing, dates growing and just has to do with the supply and demand,” he said. “If you look in the fruit crops section, lemons actually had an increase in value, again, in the end, it’s just a matter of market.”