Santa Rosa, Calif., (September 1, 2017) – The Sonoma County Department of Agriculture presented the 2016 Crop Report at the Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday August 1st. The theme of this year’s crop report was “Growing Winegrapes, Sustainably”.
The total reported value of agricultural products in Sonoma County was $898,125,200, a 17% increase from 2015. The increase in value was attributed to an increase in rain over 2015 and an increase in both tons crushed and price per ton of winegrapes.
Sonoma County’s apple yield increased significantly over 2016 while the value of livestock and poultry products decreased 6%. The 2016 apple yield increased significantly over 2015, which Ag Commissioner Tony Linegar referred to as “the worst apple crop in recent history”. The 2016 apple crop grossed $5,466,800, up 42% from 2015’s value of $3,752,400.
Sonoma County’s 60,000 acres of winegrapes accounted for more than 50% of Sonoma County’s crop value totaling $586,517,700. This was up significantly from the 2015 value of $446,538,900. Chardonnay was the top producing varietal with 16,000 acres values more than $162 million. Chardonnay was followed by Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon which each have more than 13,000 planted acres have values over $100 million.
Sonoma County produced 14 million dollar crops in 2016. In millions these were: Winegrapes ($586), Market Milk ($146), Misc Poultry ($40), Misc Livestock and Poultry Products ($31), Cattle and Calves ($20), Nursery – Ornamentals ($14), Nursery – Misc ($13), Vegetables ($9.9), Sheep and Lambs ($8.4), Oat and Rye Silage Crops ($4.0), Nursery – Cut Flowers ($3.9), Apples – Late Varieties ($3.9), Apples – Gravenstein ($1.6) and Nursery – Bedding Plants ($1.2).
The 2016 crop report can be found online at sonomacounty.ca.gov/Agriculture-Weights-and-Measures/Crop-Reports/
By Rachel LaFranchi – and courtesy of Sonoma County Farm Bureau
