Kings County farmers saw a major gain in crop value last year, with the annual crop report showing a 10.7 percent increase in total value from the year before.
Last year’s success in Kings County comes as its neighbor to the south, Kern County, experienced a downturn of seven percent in 2022.
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The big picture: Kern County’s 10.7 percent increase in 2022 brought the total gross value of all crops and products to nearly $2.6 billion.
- Milk was once again the county’s most valuable crop by a significant margin, coming in at $999,866,000 in total value.
- Pistachios remained in the No. 2 spot at $229 million.
- Cotton moved up one spot to third with a value of $192.8 million. Tomatoes also saw a jump from sixth to fourth at $177.5 million, and cattle rounded out the top five at $151 million.
- Almonds, corn, alfalfa, wheat and plums ranked sixth through tenth.
- Livestock and poultry products altogether had the largest increase at 36.8 percent due to rising milk prices. Field crops jumped by 26.5 percent due to an increase in the value per unit. Vegetables increased 13.9 perfect because of an increase in tomato processing production per acre and higher prices. Seed crops had a massive jump of 109.1 percent because of an increase in acres in production.
- Since the crop report is for 2022, the impact of the newly reformed Tulare Lake – which covered over 113,000 acres at the end of June – will not be represented until next year’s report.
Around the world: Kings County products were exported across the globe last year to every continent save Antarctica.
- Canada had the most exports from Kings County at 23 percent, with China right behind at 22 percent.
- Japan was next in line at nine percent, followed by India (five percent), France (four percent), Mexico (four percent), the Netherlands (three percent), the United Arab Emirates (three percent), Taiwan (three percent) and the United Kingdom (two percent).
