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Almonds, milk top SJ County ag production
almond
A recently released report indicates the 2018 California almond crop estimate is up 7.9 percent from the 2017 crop production of 2.27 billion pounds.

Almonds are still the top crop in San Joaquin County even after a wet and windy spring in 2019 reduced the crop enough to trigger a $48.9 million drop in production.

The 2019 San Joaquin County crop report released Tuesday places the value of last year’s almond crop at $449.6 million, down from $536.2 million in 2017.

Almonds — the dominate crop in the countryside around Manteca, Ripon and Escalon — was in the No. 4 spot in 2017. Countywide, 102,500 acres of almonds are in production. In 2017 there were only 75,400 acres of almonds in production. And that was up from 41,100 acres in 2016.

Overall ag production was up 0.91 percent from 2017 to reach a value of nearly $2,671,815.

Dairy production came in second at $378.4 million thanks in a large part to increased prices.

Grapes were the No. 3 crop at $372 million with 95,900 producing acres. That is down 2,700 acre. Even so San Joaquin County is still is the top wine grape producing county in the nation.

Walnuts were fourth at $290.3 million.

Soaring prices sent eggs and chickens into the No. 5 spot prompting almost a 50 percent increase in revenue for $160.3 million in production

Pumpkins — Manteca’s signature crop — saw a healthy jump of $3.7 million to $24.8 million as 59,900 tons rolled out of the area in 2019 compared to 57,800 tons worth $21.1 million 2017. Manteca with 2,560 acres dedicated to pumpkins grown specifically for holiday decorations produced 88 percent of California’s pumpkin crop.  There were 380 more acres planted in pumpkins last year than in 2018.

 

 To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com