BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — According to the 2023 Kern County Crop Report, the gross revenue from all commodities sold from the county totaled over $8.62 billion dollars, a 12% increase from the year prior.
- According to the report: grapes ($1.619b), all citrus ($1.277b), pistachios ($1.003b), almonds and by-products ($892.3m), and all carrots ($858.9m) totaled approximately 2/3 of the gross total revenue seen by Kern County Ag producers last year.
- Casey Creamer, the president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual, stressed the importance of citrus throughout the central valley noting that 80% of domestic fresh citrus comes right from groves nearby.
- Kern County Ag Commissioner Glenn Fankhauser said while the total gross revenue reaching a record-high is a great thing for the county and producers, it needs to be taken with a grain of salt because the report doesn't display net revenue which factors in operating costs that producers incur throughout the growing, harvest, and sales processes. In Fankhauser's mind, and in conversations with growers across the region, increased costs for things like gas, water, labor, and much more are eating into what producers are actually making throughout the year.
- The full 2023 Kern County Ag Report, and all previous years' dating back to 1930, can be found on the Kern County Agriculture and Measurement Standards website.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Another Fall, another crop report to comb through, and let me tell you I am excited, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter covering all things Ag and when looking at the crop report for 2023, the total gross profit from the year stacked up to over 8.62 billion dollars with Grapes, Citrus, Pistachios and Almonds leading the county for revenue generated by commodities respectively, but let's drill down a little bit on those numbers.
"Citrus is very important to the overall of California's economy, especially in the Central Valley where about 80% of the entire state supply is grown, you know, Kern County, Tulare Country, Fresno County, and Madera County and 90% percent of the fresh citrus grown in the entire United States, come from right here in California," said Casey Creamer.
That's Casey Creamer, the president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual, who stressed the importance of Citrus to the Central Valley, and the numbers back it up. According to the 2023 crop report, citrus as a whole accounted for 1.27 billion dollars in gross revenue.
According to the report, the top five commodities, which include carrots, make up about two-thirds of the gross revenue from the 2023 crop year.
But do you see how I've been saying gross profit and revenue and not net revenue, which subtracts operating costs from the total profit?
Kern County Ag Commissioner Glenn Fankhouser tells 23ABC the numbers represented in the annual crop report are gross profits, not net profits – so it doesn't take into account what producers had to spend to get to that record-setting number for the county. Fankhauser says from his perspective, and in talking with growers all across the region, while prices for their commodities are going up, increased costs for various operating costs like gas, pesticides, labor, and much more in order to get their crops out to the general public is leveling increase and in some cases driving net profits for producers down.
"A lot of people like to take that number and say 'Kern County is number one' and 'the growers in Kern county are making a killing, they've got all record profits', etc., etc., but it's a gross number, it's not net profit," said Fankhauser. "It's great that they're getting more money, but part of that is from an inflationary standpoint."
To get the full scope of the Kern County crop report, you can find that linked in this story online and if you have an ag-related question that you'd like to see answered, feel free to send me an email to the address on screen.
Ambling through farmland, I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
