Author: John

Tulare and Kings Counties report lower 2023 value as milk price falls

Three Central Valley counties reported their 2023 crop reports this week and Kern County took the prize for tops in value nationwide narrowly edging out Fresno County who reported a month ago.

Tulare and Kings Counties also released their reports this week noting milk – their number one crop – was down in value in 2023.Tulare County celebrated bragging rights for the top prize nationwide in 2022.

In Kern County, the gross value of all ag commodities reached $8.62 billion in 2023 – up 12% from the year before.

Fresno County announced a record crop value of $8.59 billion in 2023, a fraction lower than Kern.

In Kern County the 2022 year was a tough one for farmers due to the drought and 1.3 million acres in the county left unplanted. By contrast the 2023 year saw wet weather conditions and a rebound crop value. Unlike Tulare and Kings Counties, Kern is less dependent on milk, not on their top five crops.

In Tulare County, Ag Commissioner Tom Tucker reported $7.86 billion in gross ag production – a 8.3% decrease from 2022. Besides a lower milk price, the county saw its number 2 crop, oranges suffering from small but abundant fruit decreasing their value. Navel and Valencia values were $1.3 billion in 2022, but came in about $800,000 in 2023.

Tulare County’s milk value dropped to $2.04 billion compared to $2.67 billion in 2022 when milk commodity prices nationwide were noticeably higher.

Kings County

In Kings County, Ag commissioner Jimmy Hook reported a value of $2.15 billion in 2023 -16.9% less than the year before. One category showed strength- fruit and nuts – with a value that was higher. The value of milk was just under $700 million compared to $1 billion in 2022.

Livestock and Poultry Products had the largest decrease in value at $301,043,000 (30.0%) due largely to a decrease in cow milk prices and production. Field crops decreased in value $208,345,000 (38.4%) due to lower planted acreage and decreased values of cotton lint, alfalfa hay, safflower, silage corn, wheat grain and hay. Vegetable crops decreased in value by $11,666,000 (5.4%) due primarily to a reduction in tomato processing acreage.

Fruit and nut crops had the largest increase in value at $77,021,000 (12.6%) due to an increase in the harvested acreage of table grapes and pistachios along with an increase in the price of freestone peaches. Seed crops increased in value $3,624,000 (29.1%) due to increases in planted acreage and seed value of lettuce, triticale and certified wheat.

The latest Kings County crop report features photos of pioneer families highlighting their contribution over the years to Kings farming.They include the Boswells,Dutra,Giacomazzi, Hansen,
Newton, Stone Land and Verboon families.

Tulare County crop values by year

National Weather Service Hanford says the early storm system coming into California today and in the next few days offers a 45% probability of 3 inches of snow falling in the Central Sierra 7500 feet and above.

CNN says “There have only been five September snowfalls on record in Grant Grove, California, which is just west of Kings Canyon National Park, and is around 7,000 feet in elevation. The last time this area had snow in September was in 1986.”

Togas Pass is likely to see snow.

NOAA is predicting cooler days ahead, as well as the possibility of some moisture in California, but probably light.
The cool down is coming this week  providing some relief in Southern California that has been devastated by record heat and damaging exploding  wildfires.

Latest GFS modeling suggests the season’s first storm coming into Northern California including the Bay Area around September 17,& 18th.

NWS Los Angeles says”Early next week an even colder/deeper trough will move through the area bringing additional cooling and even a possibility of light showers. Temperatures on Monday are expected to be 10-15 degrees below normal with highs only in the upper 60s to mid 70s area- wide. As the upper low moves through Central California on Monday there may be enough cooling aloft to support some light showers across the area.” 

Sacramento National WeatherService says there is a “45 to 75 percent probability of atenth of an inch of rain or greater, with best chances over the Monday into Tuesday timeframe. We will also be keeping an eye on the potential for some isolated thunderstorms with this system as well, where the NBM currently offers a 10 to 20 percent probability of thunderstorm development, mainly over higher
terrain in the afternoons and evenings.”NWS Hanford says the event could be the first precipitation of the season.

“Still is a fairly significant system with the first widespread valley rainfall in a while, albeit very light, this
meteorological fall. Mid-level lapse rates and low top thunder is probable in the Sierra. The Sierra has a 10 to 15 percent probability of thunder, and even the Valley north of Bakersfield has a 5 to 10 percent probability of thunder.

Latest CalFire map

GreenPower Motor Company Inc. with a manufacturing plant in Porterville, has announced  the sale of electric school buses to two Tulare County school districts.
GreenPower will deliver five all-electric Type D BEAST school buses in California this summer.

Of the five BEASTs to be delivered this week, four will go to the Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District and the fifth to the Terra Bella Union Elementary School District. “We are pleased that these school districts see the great health and safety benefits provided by GreenPower’s all-electric, purpose-built, zero-emission school buses in meeting the transportation needs of their students, a company spokesperson said.
The Cutler Orosi school district is a good size with over 4000 students enrolled.

Save Mart closing two distribution centers 
Grocer Save Mart, based in Modesto, has a new owner as of earlier this summer. Canadian based The Jim Pattison Group purchased the company in June and now has announced closure of two of the company’s three Northern California distribution centers including in Merced.Over 500 jobs are being lost.
Just what’s going on with the company isn’t clear but the supermarket chain has a big presence in Visalia and in Tulare County with four stores including FoodMaxx in the city alone and  SaveMart stores in Exeter,Lindsay and Porterville.
The Save Mart Companies has about 200 stores under the names of Save Mart, Lucky California and FoodMaxx.There are currently 51 FoodMax stores.
In addition to its retail side, the company also operates Smart Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industries, which has a distribution center and a Sunnyside Farms dairy processing plant.
Source says since 2010, the company has closed stores inBakersfield, Clovis, Delano, Elk Grove, Folsom, Fresno,Kerman, Larkspur, Madera,Merced, Milpitas, Modesto, Sparks, Sanger, San Pablo, Tracy and Yuba City mostly due to stiff competition.

Employees at the company’s stores are represented by labor unions. including  United Food and Commercial Workers,Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and Machinist Automotive Trades District.

‘Build it and they damn well better come’

As we approach fall of 2024, three speculative industrial buildings adding up to more than 500,000 ft.in Visalia are well under construction and expected to be ready to lease out by early 2025. Adding more available buildings in different sizes to the industrial inventory here increases chances that companies will come to our area or locals can expand to add jobs and economic activity to the local economy.

Two of the new buildings underway are being developed by Visalia businessman Butch Oldfield just outside the city limits along Highway 99 and Goshen.

Here is a picture of the two in this August construction photo showing advanced progress. The developments are along Bradham Dr sandwiched between the Union Pacific rail tracks and freeway 99.

Each is about 115,000 ft. and available for lease in December 2024 according to the project website.

The other big project, well underway, is being built by Fowler’s G4 company, a 310,000 square-foot building on Kelsey just south of Goshen Avenue in Visalia.

Realtor Ethan Smith says the building will be available in early 2025 for a tenant. Description of the building says “The Class “A” logistics building is designed for tenants requiring state-of-the art functionality and features. The site and building design allows for over 300 parking stalls, 46 dock positions and 4 grade-level/drive-in doors. The building features 36’ clear height, ESFR sprinklers, 54’ x 58’ typical column spacing, 4000+ AMPS/480V electrical service, natural gas to the building and office area to suit. Landlord will consider adding solar to the rooftop.The property is located in the highly desirable industrial, office and commercial park near HWY 198 and Plaza Drive in Visalia, CA. The development is near 7M+ SF new logistics projects, including two new Amazon fulfillment centers, a new UPS regional sort and distribution hub and Ace’s new 1M± SF regional distribution center. Property is located on Kelsey Road (also called Road 84) between Hurley Avenue and Goshen Avenue. Access to the property is via HWY 198 and Plaza Dr. interchange, which is less than one mile from HWY.”

The three new ‘spec’ buildings will be added to the recently completed 1.27 million square-foot CapRock building on Plaza Drive that is also seeking a tenant. Add in the 176,000sf ‘spec’ building on Riggin and Clancy owned by YS Industries, that is still available. Put it all together and you have over 2 million square feet of uncommitted industrial space ready for companies who may want to move in a short time frame.

Visalia has a long tradition of building speculative space that dates back to the 1990s pioneered by Fresno developer John Brelsford who has built around two million square feet of spec space in Visalia over the years and almost all of it filled. The firm manages more than 8 million square feet of industrial properties from Visalia to Fresno — more than 45 buildings.

His company. Diversified Development is looking to build 2.8 million square feet in eight buildings on 150 acres purchased from the Doe family on the northwest corner of Plaza and Riggin — clearly Visalia’s hottest address – one of number of huge projects that could bring millions of square feet to the city in the next decade if the economy holds out.
Developers like CapRock have put in somewhere around $100 million to construct their giant building and are making a giant bet that if you build it, they will come.’ With that kind of money on the line,you might forgive them if they say ‘they damn well better come.’

Photo of two new industrial buildings on the edge of Visalia nearing completion this month.

A lawsuit brought by a labor union coalition called Golden State Environmental Justice Alliance is challenging the City of Visalia approval of an 75-acre annexation in the industrial park claiming that the city did not follow the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The property at the southwest corner of Shirk and Riggin was approved by the city under a Mitigated Negative Declaration(MND) in late May. The group representatives had argued at public hearing that the city ought to require a separate EIR while the city maintained the annexation approval was no different than scores of others in the industrial park already included and covered in the city’s General Plan.

City attorney Ken Richardson says Visalia received notice that the lawsuit was filed on June 20 setting in motion a likely court hearing in coming months.

The project is proposed by LA-based YS Industries who has built two other large warehouses on Riggin nearby. Golden State Environmental of Justice argues in their pleading that the city has “piecemealed” the project in their current environmental document- the MND. This type of analysis is less comprehensive than a full environmental impact report but it is argued detailed enough in cases where few impacts are expected. Full EIRs often take a year to process.

The Visalia City Council at their public hearing voted four to one to approve the 75 acre annexation without a full impact report.Tulare County LAFCO has also approved the project and the parcel has been recorded as in the city limits.

The filing in Tulare County Superior Court is a request for a writ of mandate – an order to any governmental body, government official, or lower court requiring that they perform an act or cease to act where the court finds that an official law, duty or judgment requires them to do so.

Richardson says the two parties will collect the administrative record of the case in anticipation of a hearing

The action stalls YS industries from moving to develop the property that for years had a dairy on about half of it although the cows are no longer there. Much of the Visalia Industrial Park was former ag field crop land offering few jobs. But under the city’s General Plan and zone changes the open acreage has been transformed to an economic powerhouse providing thousands of jobs.

Despite the potential economic benefits, the labor group finds that people living near facilities in the industrial park that admit toxic releases may breathe contaminated air. On the other hand, observers note that the industries that populate the industrial park have no smoke stacks. The old polluters like Exide Battery are long gone, replaced by logistic warehouses like Amazon and manufactures like California Dairies that produce nothing more than milk.

Golden State also says the census tract is 50% Hispanic and 8% Asian American especially vulnerable to the impacts of pollution. The community has a high rate of poverty- 39% of the households in the census tract have a total income before taxes less than the poverty level. They argue that the environmental report of the project should do a specific analysis of the environmental impact on the disadvantaged communities nearby like Goshen. Golden State argues that the MND provides no evidence that the project would not induce substantial unplanned population growth. They add that the MND does not include confirmation about parcels available to shelter the homeless.

In total, the MND environmental document approved by the city does not identify potentially significant impacts as to transportation, air quality, greenhouse, gases, and hazardous materials, argues the labor group.

The LA-based Golden State has offices in Corona and in Fresno. In the Valley, the group has recently filed similar lawsuits in Madera County in 2022.Also in Reedley this past May and in Fresno in March 2024. In May the group filed another suit against the City of Lancaster.

The Fresno lawsuit is critical of Scannell Properties plans to develop 48 acres at the northeast corner of N. Marks and W. Nielsen Avenues a project valued at $100 million.Golden State argues the warehouse would worsen pollution in the area.

Nick Audino, the project’s broker, says the matter remains in limbo.

“These attacks on industry in the Central Valley are part of the California wide squeeze on warehouse construction,” he says.
“Looks like now Visalia is being hit with the same actions that Fresno has seen in the past few years. Hope you can do better than Fresno has.”

Audino says the overall industry real estate market is weaker than it was a year ago and the election this year has created uncertainty by decision makers that won’t be resolved until the results are known.

Dated photo shows 75 acre property including a former dairy on about half of it.