The west side of the San Joaquin Valley was the region most affected by the 1987-93 drought and by reduced allocations from CVPIA and CALFED decisions. Consequently, this area is among the most innovative in implementing market transfer initiatives and adopting water-conserving irrigation technologies. Clearly the economic fate of this region, and the others, is closely tied to long run supplies of irrigation water and to current initiatives that seek to reallocate surface water supplies among competing agricultural, municipal and industrial, and non-consumptive environmental uses.With the majority of the state’s agricultural production located in “The Valley,” most kinds of production can be found somewhere within its confines. What is surprising is the diversity in types of farming enterprises, ranging from older, smaller, more intensively cultivated farms on the east side to the larger, more extensive farms on the west. Fruit and nut crops, including grapes and citrus, are important to the region, contributing 39 percent of the total value of production in 1995. While the majority of permanent plantings lies on the east side of the valley,u planting gutter recent plantings of nuts and some deciduous fruits have been made on the west side. Livestock and livestock products are located throughout the valley and contribute an additional 28 percent of the region’s agricultural production.
Cotton is the most important field crop. Recent introductions of pima varieties have augmented traditional upland cotton production but total cotton acreage has fallen due to poor profitability. The region is an important producer of most field crops . Irrigation and a long growing season have also led over time to increased vegetable production . Summer melon production is important, as is seasonal production for many of the major vegetables . Some seasonal production is timed to fill marketing niches as the fresh produce industry moves in the spring from desert to coastal areas and in the fall back toward the desert. Of the major categories, nursery products and cut flowers appear relatively insignificant in comparison with the total value of agricultural commodities .This region of the state is very similar to that of the North, being largely dominated by livestock and livestock-related economic activity an private and leased public lands. The Mountain region covers about 15 percent of the state’s land area, and land is mostly in public ownership; less than 10 percent of the total land area is in farms. Together, livestock , livestock products , and field crops—mainly range land and pastureland production —, amount to about three quarters of the value of the region’s agricultural activity in 1995. In truth, the dominance of these commodities in the region’s agricultural economy is larger because the geographic location of fruit and nut production , and nursery products recorded for the region, actually occur on the west slope, foothill “valley” portions of several mountain counties.This area is still a base for significant agricultural production despite progressive development with a large urban population.
Los Angeles County was once the most important agricultural county in the United States, measured by the value of its agricultural production. Los Angeles County was ranked as California’s number one agricultural county into the 1950s. Despite urbanization, 21 percent of the region’s land area remains in farms, with often intense and complex interactions between agriculture and urban constituencies. The average size of farms is the smallest among state agricultural production regions, while the average value of farm products sold per acre is the highest. With 69 percent of cropland irrigated, production is mostly high valued nursery products, fruits and vegetables. High-valued crops grown in the South Coast area are those suitable to its moderate climate and usually frost-free growing seasons. High values are needed to rationalize the application of some of the highest-cost irrigation water in California. Nursery products, foliage and flowers are the most important economically of all product categories, making up 35 percent of the regional value of 1995 production.San Diego County alone produced $585 million of nursery products, foliage and flowers in 1995. Avocados and citrus , strawberries, and wine grapes are the main fruit crops . Vegetable production, some of which is seasonal before and after the winter desert production season, includes broccoli, celery, lettuce, and bell peppers. Egg production and dairying are the two major intensive livestock product enterprises.Including the eastern areas of the Los Angeles area , this region also extends across the more remote desert valleys—the Coachella, Palo Verde, and Imperial Valleys—irrigated by early diversion rights to Colorado River water. Only 28 percent of the land area is in private ownership, and only 10 percent of the land area is in farms. Because of the severe climatic conditions, a high proportion of cropland is irrigated . The western San Bernardino and Riverside areas include remnants of the once-dominant citrus and dry lot dairying industries, which are gradually being displaced by urban expansion.
Livestock and livestock product activities contribute the greatest proportion of the value of production in the South Coast region by capitalizing on the region’s proximity to markets and a long tradition of cattle feeding in the Imperial Valley and other desert valley areas. Vegetable production , predominantly in the irrigated desert valleys, includes important winter and early season production of asparagus, carrots, lettuce, melons, and sweet corn. Highly productive desert lands with irrigation benefit from temperate winters and nearly frost-free growing seasons to produce a variety of high-valued fruit and vegetable crops that are in supply during the off- and early seasons of the major production regions. Fruit production is mainly in the western areas and in the Coachella Valley . Field crop production includes alfalfa hay production for the region’s livestock activities, cotton, sugar beets, and wheat, including durum.Risk is substantially greater in the production and marketing of perishable fruits and vegetables than in more stable commodities.15 Investments in permanent plantings are large and must be paid back over the period of economic production. Figure 2 shows the pronounced change in the distribution of field crop, tree fruit and nut, and vegetable acreages and value of production over the decade of the 1980s. In 1980, production of fruit, nuts, and vegetables contributed over half of the value of production , but only used 27.9 percent of the acreage in production. In 1990, these more intensive, higher-valued, higher-risk crops amounted to 73 percent of the value of production, while using 38.7 percent of acreage. The residual nature of field crops is evident as farmers and ranchers seek more intensive production enterprises. Shifts toward increased acreages of vegetables and permanent plantings continued through the decade of the 1990s, most noticeably with substantial increased acreages of nut crops , deciduous tree fruits , and wine grapes. The composition of California agricultural production is compared for the years 1955, 1975 and 1995 in Figure 3. Total value of agricultural production grew three-fold from 1955 to 1975, from $2.68 to $7.43 billion. Change in composition between 1955 and 1975 was not as dramatically different as that which has occurred over the last period, 1975-95, partly due to an overall increase in irrigated acreage through most of the first period.By 1995, high-valued fruit and nut, vegetable,planting gutter and nursery and greenhouse products contributed 60 percent of the aggregate value of production for the state, and total value of agriculture production amounted to almost $22 billion. Field crop and livestock/livestock product categories were reduced by about one-half and one-third, respectively, in terms of their relative contribution to the value of California agricultural production. In 2001, the value of nursery, greenhouse and floriculture exceeded the value of field crops, and the dairy sector alone accounted for 17 percent of the state’s value of agricultural production . As a consequence, the share produced by livestock, poultry, and products actually rose from 25 percent in 1995 to 28 percent in 2001.The shifting composition of agricultural production is also reflected in changes in the state’s “Top Twenty” agricultural commodities over time. Table 2 shows the “Top Twenty” commodities ranked by gross farm income for the 2001 crop year, with comparisons for 1981 and 1961. Comparison of the 1961 and 2001 lists shows that whereas there were a total of 12 livestock/livestock products, and field crops identified in 1961, only 5 were on the 2001 list. In sharp contrast, there are now 13 fruit, nut, and vegetable crops on the 2001 list, compared to only 8 on the 1961 list. Nursery products and foliage and cut flowers have been added since 1961, appearing on both the 1981 and 2001 lists.California is now the number one milk producer in the United States. California’s dairies and the dairy processing sector are part of a dynamic system that has progressively become more efficient, larger, and more specialized over its history. Herd sizes are, on the average, ten times larger than the national average, and cows are, on the average, significantly more productive.
Dairy processing capacity has more than doubled during the 1990s. The state’s dairy industry evolved from “local” dairies that originally provided fluid milk to nearby growing population centers in the San Francisco and the Los Angeles area milk sheds. The San Joaquin Valley milk shed was first a center for lower-valued manufacturing milk used mainly for butter and cheese production. With improved transportation systems and reduced land available for dairies in or near the main population centers, the San Joaquin Valley is now the major source of fluid milk serving both the Bay Area and the Los Angeles Basin. Processing continues to be concentrated there as well. Continuing urbanization and waste disposal challenges have caused more dairies to move into Central Valley and South desert areas, principally into the San Joaquin Valley. California’s dairies are highly specialized. As the number of dairies decreased, their size has become significantly larger, requiring more capital-intensive specialized production systems based on genetics, herd health, nutrition, and high levels of management. Urban expansion in the Los Angeles area led to the development of the dry lot, feedlot style dairy using concentrates and feed stuffs often grown in other areas. Modern dairies often milk 3,000 or more cows daily and use waste effluents and solids on silage and forage crops on adjacent cropland.Wine grape production occurs throughout the state. California’s premium wines come from grapes grown predominantly in cooler, coastal valleys, most notably in the Napa Valley, but also in other North Coast areas as well as in some Central Coast areas. Higher yielding vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley produce standard and mid-quality table wines often marketed in larger-sized bottles and containers. The California wine-grape vineyard and wine-production industries have grown sporadically over the last half century. Following World War II, about 80 percent of the wine produced was in the fortified appetizer or dessert wine category with production chiefly in the San Joaquin Valley. Americans did not then know much about quality wines, but gradually, as tastes changed, the industries also changed toward the production of both standard table and world-class premium quality wines. Bearing acreage increased from about 120,000 acres in the early 1960s to over 300,000 acres by the mid-1990s. Rapid expansion occurred in the 1970s and again in the 1990s. By 2001, there were 480,000 bearing acres of wine grapes with an additional 90,000 non-bearing acres. The specter of oversupply is real, affecting marginal plantings, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, as new and potentially higher yielding vineyards incorporating disease-resistant root stocks and up-to-date trellising, irrigation, and management systems come into production. Marginal plantings are often removed out of economic necessity during periods of oversupply. Some grape varieties are better for fresh use because of certain combinations of characteristics: attractive appearance, large berries, good eating quality, and resistance to injury when handled, shipped, and stored. Fresh grapes are among the nation’s most popular fruits in terms of quantity consumed, and they are second, following bananas, in sales value. California table grapes are harvested from late May through late fall. Harvest begins in the desert regions, primarily in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, and continues in the San Joaquin Valley, beginning first in Kern County and moving northward through the summer and fall. With careful treatment, California grapes may be enjoyed through March of the year following harvest.