All Central Valley Counties See Fewer Farm Jobs Year Over Year
Tulare County had around 10% fewer farm labor jobs in April 2014 compared to April 2013, down around 3500.The whole Central Valley shows this same trend with the key factor likely being the drought taking hold in this most productive fruit and nut region in the world.
In Fresno County the number of farm jobs declined 2700 in April or about 5.7% from 48,200 to 45,500 year-over-year. Kern County reports 700 fewer farm jobs from 49,600 to 48,900. Madera went from 10,900 to 9900 or almost 10% as well. Kings County fell by 100.
Census Says Tulare County Has Fewer Farms – More Farmland
Every five years the USDA carries out a Census of Agriculture withe latest using 2012 data.The last Census of Agriculture used 2007 information.
So what’s changed?
The most recent report says Tulare County has 4,931 farms compared to 5240 farms in 2007, a loss of a little over 300 farms.
But the same report says Tulare County land in farms has gone up over the same period.In 2007 the county had 1,168,684 acres of farmland. In the 2012 Census the county had 1,239,000 acre.That’s an increase of over 70,000 acres.
The market value of products coming off those farms has increased nicely over the five year period fro $3.3 billion to $4 billion.
While that increase is substantial, the report says the average net income for farming has gone down from around $166,000 to $146,000.
It may surprise you to learn that of the 5000 or so farmers in the county about 2000 of them have a main occupation off the farm.
The national report offered these insights:
Three quarters of all farms had sales of less than $50,000, producing only 3 percent of the total value of farm products sold while those with sales of more than $1 million – 4 percent of all farms – produced 66 percent.
Much of the increased farm income was concentrated geographically or by farm categories.
California led the nation with 9 of the 10 top counties for value of sales. Fresno County was number one in the United States with nearly $5 billion in sales in 2012, which is greater than that of 23 states. Weld County, Colorado ranked 9th in the top 10 U.S. counties.
The top 5 states for agricultural sales were California ($42.6 billion); Iowa ($30.8 billion); Texas ($25.4 billion); Nebraska ($23.1 billion); and Minnesota ($21.3 billion).
Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
Principal operators were on average 58.3 years old and were predominantly male; second operators were slightly younger and most likely to be female; and third operators were younger still.
Farms with Internet access rose from 56.5 percent in 2007 to 69.6 percent in 2012.
57,299 farms produced on-farm renewable energy, more than double the 23,451 in 2007.
474,028 farms covering 173.1 million acres were farmed with conservation tillage or no-till practices.
Corn and soybean acres topped 50 percent of all harvested acres for the first time.
The largest category of operations was beef cattle with 619,172 or 29 percent of all farms and ranches in 2012 specializing in cattle.