YUBA COUNTY, CA (MPG) - The gross value of Yuba County’s agricultural production for 2019 is at $234,534,000 - down from the 2018 value estimate of $242 million by 3%. The decrease in value is primarily due to lower pricing for many of our top commodities.

Lower prices for many crops continue to pose significant challenges for producers. The rank of the county’s top three crops remained the same in 2019 despite fluctuations in price or yield. Rice remained Yuba County’s top crop generating nearly $60 million in gross value. At $54 million, walnuts remained second in rank despite a slight increase in value. Although prune yield and prices substantially lowered in 2019, the value of the commodity remained within the top three at $25.5 million.

Yuba County Agricultural impact goes far beyond the orchards, fields, farmers and farm workers. Each dollar earned within agriculture fuels a more vigorous economy by stimulating additional activity in the form of jobs, labor income and value added such as generating business in banking, marketing, transportation, and other services.

The recently completed Crop Report Plus study estimates the total economic contribution of agriculture to Yuba County at $391.8 million—or over $1 million each day! Agriculture also supported 2,791 direct employees—roughly 1 in every 11 jobs in the County.

Ag diversification (or, not keeping “all your eggs in one basket”) creates a strong buffer against economic “shocks.” For example, 2015 brought a 37% one-year decline in the county’s most valuable commodity, walnuts. The second-ranked commodity, rice, dropped 29%. Such a sudden, major drop in its two largest commodities might have damaged a less diversified agricultural economy. But gains in kiwi, cattle, peaches, and other commodities buffered the decline, limiting it to just 16% overall. Last year, prunes, almonds, timber, and rice lost value, but were offset by gains in walnuts, peaches, and nursery stock.

To view this current Crop Report: https://bit.ly/33RedX6. To view the Crop Report Plus Study: https://bit.ly/32Q5Njp. The figures presented in this report are estimated gross values with no consideration of production costs and do not reflect net income to producers.