Placer County agriculture value crests all-time high of $90 million; almonds crack into top five crops
Published on Sept. 29, 2021
A surge in almond production put the nut crop into Placer County’s top five crops last year, helping drive a 4% increase of overall crop value to an all-time high in 2020.
Rice, along with beef cattle, walnuts and timber, remained among Placer County’s top five highest-gross-value crops.
Specialty crops including fruits, vegetables and wine grapes all continued to increase in value, as well, contributing to the overall increase in Placer County’s crop value.
That’s according to the 2020 Placer County Agricultural Crop Report, presented to the county Board of Supervisors as an informational item at its meeting Tuesday in Auburn.
In a Placer County first, total gross value of agricultural crops and products for 2020 was $90,710,116; representing an increase of $4,002,157 or 4% above 2019’s value of $86,707,959.
“Agriculture in Placer County continues to grow despite a very challenging year of uncertainty from the pandemic and dry weather conditions,” said Placer County Agricultural Commissioner Josh Huntsinger. “The strength of our agriculture community, healthy water systems and partnerships with Placer Grown and Visit Placer remain strong.”
The annual totals reflect the gross value of agricultural crops and products, not the net incomes producers receive.
Rice retained its spot as Placer County’s top-grossing crop with a value of $23,450,310 - despite a $2 million reduction from 2019 due to a decrease in planted acreage.
With an increase of $500,000 from 2019, beef cattle remained second in overall value, with a total value of $13,500,000.
Walnuts took over the third position at $13,154,003 with a significant increase in value of more than $1.3 million, due to much of the recently planted new acreage coming into production.
Almond production entered the top five list for the first time with a value of $6,069,492 - up from 2019’s value of $2,533,275.
Placer County’s top five crops for 2020 were:
- Rice: $23,450,310
- Cattle and calves: $13,500,000
- Walnuts: $13,154,003
- Timber: $6,132,721
- Almonds: $6,069,492
For more information, contact the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office at 530-889-7372. A copy of the 2020 Crop Report is available online here.