FAIRFIELD — Solano County agriculture continues to recover after several years of decline to the gross value of crop and livestock production with one of the biggest years in county history.
The gross value of Solano County’s agricultural production for 2019 was $372,113,000 up from the previous years $363,977,000, representing an increase of less than 1% according to the county Agriculture Commissioner’s Office annual report submitted to the Solano County Board of Trustees.
For the first time, almonds were Solano’s top-grossing crop with a total value of $55,312,000. This represented an increase of 89% from 2018 when it was $29,299,000.
Almonds in Solano have expanded from 1,531 acres 20 years ago to more than 20,000 today. This is also a reflection of what is happening in other areas in California.
High crop diversity allowed Solano County to remain competitive as market demands rapidly change.
Tomatoes (processing) ranked second with a 7% increase in value to $37,041,000.
Cattle and calves moved up third place with a value of $36,967,000, a 5 percent reduction which resulted in lower prices from 2018. This was still an increase from the value in 2018 of $30,367,000 due to expanded grazing from good seasonal rain patterns.
Nursery products which were the top crop in 2018 dropped to fourth position at $31,231,00 – a 28% decrease from the value of the previous year’s $43,248,000.
Walnuts came in fifth place in 2019 with a gain in value to $27,492,000. Walnuts rose from eighth place in 2017, when it’s value was $25,133,000 due to reduced production and market values from years of strong production in the region.
Alfalfa (hay) dropped from third place to sixth with a decrease from $31,746,000 to $27,159,000.
Grapes (wine) also decreased from $29,404,000 to a value of $21,587,000.
The beloved sunflower (seed), dropped from seventh place at $25,203,000, to $15,666,000.
Wheat decreased in value from the previous year of $7,580,000 to $5,825,000.
Sheep and lambs landed in the “Top Ten,” with a value of $4,386,000 from reduced overall production in favor of cattle and calves as grazing conditions improved.
