Monterey Co. crop values rise 13.1% in 2022

Monterey County (CA) crop values rose 13.1 percent from 2021 to 2022 to $4.6 billion.

This week the county released its annual crop report, which showed strawberries as the highest value crop at $959 million (decreasing 1 percent from 2021), leaf lettuce at No.2 with $842 million (up 13.6 percent from 2021) and head lettuce as the third most valuable at $547 million (up 21.1 percent from last year).

“We do not usually see double-digit increases in crop value from year-to-year,” said Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo in a July 25 media briefing. “There are many factors that can contribute to double-digit increases. I think one of those things is the continuance to emerge from the pandemic.”

The report says the vegetable crops category saw an increase in value of 21.8 percent to $3.13 billion. Fruits and nuts category had a decrease of 3.9 percent to $1.23 billion “primarily due to unseasonable warm weather observed in mid- to late summer that reduced production yields for wine grapes.”

The report says “the values represented here reflect gross values of agricultural commodities grown in Monterey County, and do not include costs incurred by growers that include but are not limited to labor, field preparation, planting, irrigating, harvesting, distribution, pest management, cooling, marketing, equipment, assessments, regulatory costs or loss experienced by individual operations, and other production activities.”

To read the full report, click here.

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