Agricultural production in San Mateo County in 2021 totaled nearly $98 million, which was a 5 percent increase over the previous year, according to last year's Agricultural Crop Report.
Last 2021 was a particularly strong year for floral and nursery crops and forest products, this driven by timber harvesting in the burned area of the CZU Lightning Complex, which helped producers reverse a downward trend that began in 2019.
Thus, crop values totaled $97,969 thousand in 2021, an increase of 5.17 percent from 2020. The rise follows a sharp 28.5 percent drop in production value in 2020 due to drought, the CZU Lightning Complex fire, pandemic and other challenges.
"Our local agricultural industry has been hit hard by the drought and other factors beyond the control of most farmers," noted Don Horsley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors whose District 3 includes most of the county's farmland.
"A strong local agriculture industry provides high quality food that we can all enjoy, while productive farms help balance development with preserving the coast we all know and love. We will continue to do what we can to help strengthen the industry when and where we can," he stressed.
The county's most valuable agricultural commodities are floral and nursery crops with a value of $60.2 million in 2021: $43.9 million grown in greenhouses and $16.3 million grown outdoors. This represents an increase in value of 3.79 percent, a positive trend for area growers.
Brussels sprouts remained the vegetable with the highest production value at $8.88 million, down almost $1 million from the $9.5 million reported in 2020.
However, forest products experienced a 618 percent increase from 2020 due to timber extraction from the fire-burned area of the CZU complex, to $4.9 million in 2021.
"We expect to see an increase in timber harvest in 2022 as post-fire timber recovery activities continue," said Koren Widdel, county agriculture commissioner.
It should be noted that the ongoing drought continues to put pressure on the local industry. Monthly rainfall totals for Half Moon Bay in 2021 averaged about 50 percent of normal. Meanwhile, two major atmospheric storms or rivers flooded fields and caused vegetable rot late in the year.
The good news from the report is that downward trends in several categories have mostly stabilized. Floral and nursery crops, for example, were worth $106.9 million in 2018, $90 million in 2019 and $58 million in 2020 before recovering to $60.2 million in 2021.
The county began publishing annual crop reports beginning in 1940, when the total value of production was only $7.7 million - flowers were the most valuable crop, even then, followed by vegetables. The reports are used by the agricultural industry as well as by planners and policy makers.
San Mateo County ranks 56th out of 58 in California in terms of area - larger than Santa Cruz and San Francisco counties - but ranks 38th in total agricultural production.
Horsley said the challenges facing the agricultural industry such as drought, cheap imports, and the high cost of doing business in the Bay Area point to the need for additional policies that promote local food production.
San Mateo County detailed in a release that the County Agricultural Advisory Commission will use the report to make policy recommendations to the Board of Supervisors, while launching the first Farmworker Advisory Commission in the state.
While floral and nursery crops increased from $58,065,000 in 2020 to $60,268,000 in 2021, vegetables decreased by almost $1 million from $22,275,000 to $21,167,000.
Livestock showed a slight rebound from US$5,585 thousand to US$5,697 thousand, while foreign products grew from US$684 thousand to US$4,908 thousand, while fruit and nut crops fell from US$3,520 thousand to US$2,648 thousand.
Field crops advanced just over $200,000 from $1,624,000 to $1,877,000, while livestock and apiary products registered a very small increase of $1,000 from $1,403,000 in 2020 to $1,404,000 in 2021.
You may be interested in: Heat, the main threat to agricultural workers: Stanford specialists
