Despite the ongoing drought, Fresno County’s crop values hit a record high of over $7 billion. In 2014 Fresno County’s agriculture values rose 9.26 percent from 2013. This shows the capability of Fresno County farmers and producers to be able to readjust and work harder while dealing with this continuous and devastating drought.

Grape crops have been severely impacted by the California drought in the valley. Grape farmer Samuel Mascarenas has encountered difficulties and describes the hectic times.

“Yes, the drought has affected farming,” Mascarenas said. “As grape farmers the drought has affected how we irrigate. Because of lack of water, we no longer receive federal district water, so we have to pump from underground wells. When you are pumping from underground wells only, your cost per acre to grow a crop increases”.

Grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the United States and value at about five billion dollars. The grape industry produces over 72 million tons a year, and is the largest food based industry in the world. They are the sixth largest fruit crop in the United States.

The main problem with this year is the expense of pumping and drilling new wells according to Samuel.

“On a wet year, when there is sufficient water and we receive federal district water, we can reduce from pumping underground well water by 60% to 80%,” Mascarenas said. “The other problem is wells are drying up fast, so farmers are having to drill new wells, which is very expensive. Because of these problems, we have to plan our irrigation schedules very carefully, sometimes reducing our irrigation by 50%, which has affected grape bunch count and berry size”.

We are facing major problems with one our vineyards up in the delta area in Northern California. The vineyard sits right on the delta and because of the drought, there is no runoff from the delta to the San Francisco Bay, so salt water is seeping back into the delta and leaching into our soil. When salt gets into the root zone, it kills plants, so our vines are dying.–Samuel Mascarenas

Fresno County’s top five crops in the year 2014 were; almonds, grapes, poultry, milk, cattle and calves.Almonds have been in second place among Fresno’s top ten crops. However in 2013, for the first time in 11 years, almonds were the number one crop in Fresno County. Almonds were also the number one crop in 2014. From 2012 to 2014 almond crop values rose around 16 percent.

Why the sudden increase in value for almonds? According to The Sacramento Bee, “Almonds have become California’s miracle food”. The continuous demand for almonds has driven up prices and made a “$4 billion-a-year crop”. Farmers are noticing how much almonds have risen percentage wise, and are getting out of other crops to get into almonds because they are making more money.

Due to the lack of water, farmers are switching crops, especially to almonds, and other various nuts.

“Most of the increases in crop values have come from nut crops, especially Almonds, Pistachios and Walnuts,” Mascarenas said. “We see a large number of farmers pulling out grape vineyards and planting almonds. It takes about 3 to 4 years to get a crop, Pistachios and walnuts, may take up to 6 years for your first crop. The reason for these crop value increase is the strong export market, especially in Asia. No, we had to increases in crop values in the grape market. In fact, in some cases the value went down”.

Grape growers are also contributing to Fresno County’s $7 billion record breaking year. Grapes are second place in Fresno County’s 2014 top ten crops. Their overall value dropped 13.31 percent to $905,009,000. According to the 2014 Fresno County Annual & Livestock Report“…the table grape yield increased slightly, the yield for raisin and wine variety grapes decreased by 19.34 and 14.33 percent respectively”.

Fresno County’s overall gross value declined 2.2 percent to around $6.4 billion in 2013 reported Jeannette E. Warnert in ANR News Blog. Due to the decline in overall gross value, Fresno County lost its No. 1 position as top agricultural county in California. Tulare County took Fresno’s No. 1 position with $7.8 billion.

For more on agriculture, read COLUMN: California drought continues its intensity.