SOSA California Agricultural Commodities

Agriculture is one of California’s leading industries, and the Central Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. As a result, counties within the SOSA region that extend into the fertile Central Valley – Fresno, Kern, Tulare and Madera – have agriculture production numbers that dwarf counties that reside wholly or primarily within the Sierra Nevada mountain and foothills.

According to the California County Agricultural Commissioners’ Report released in August 2006, gross county value of agricultural products in 2005 within the SOSA region ranged from $4.4 million in Alpine County to more than $4.6 billion in Fresno.

Because the report is compiled by county rather than by zip code, accurate figures for agricultural production within the Sierra Nevada portions of these counties is elusive.

As an economic entity based strictly on dollar figures, agriculture plays a minor role in the Sierra Nevada. But minor does not mean insignificant. Several SOSA counties residing primarily in the Sierra Nevada have considerable gross county agriculture values:

Yuba:     $133 million
Modoc:     $88 million
Placer:     $59 million
Amador:    $28 million
Mono:       $27 million
El Dorado: $26 million
Tuolumne: $26 million

Agricultural products related to ranching and grazing dominate commodity values in many California SOSA counties. Almost every SOSA county produces cattle and hay. The Sierra region is known its cattle with ranches a uniform feature of the landscape. But in the East Side region agriculture means ranching and grazing. In Alpine, Inyo and Mono counties cattle, steer, heifers, hay and pasture dominate the landscape. In Mono County nine of the top ten-valued agricultural products are related to ranching and grazing.

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Cattle and products related to livestock are still prevalent throughout the North region, but fruit and nut crops are also found. However, tree fruits and nuts along the Sierra foothills are produced in high quantity and quality. In the 1920s Placer County was known as the "Fruit Shipping Capitol of the World"; exporting nearly 70 tons of fruits and nuts. The moniker may not be apt anymore, but the foothills do produce a wide variety of products: tangerines, walnuts, peaches, apples, wine grapes, pistachios and Christmas trees. Cattle and ranching products are still frequently found as well.

As the elevation drops, productivity increases. The foothills counties have more agricultural producers than other parts of the Sierra Nevada region and generally have higher production of crops and livestock.

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The South region does not lend itself to easily extrapolating agricultural numbers for the Sierra Nevada portions of Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties. The Central Valley portions of the counties contain some of the world’s best agricultural lands, which the agricultural values attest. The three counties are the top grossing agricultural counties in the state: Fresno $4.6 billion, Tulare $4.4 billion, and Kern $3.5 billion.

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