Patrick TrautfieldLocal agriculture production was at a record high in 2006, according to the San Luis Obispo County Department of Agriculture’s annual crop report statistics released earlier this month.
Agriculture production in the county increased 4.7 percent from 2005, with the total production value at $621.5 million. The production values’ effect on Cal Poly are only minimal.
“We’re a small producer selling about $2 million a year, which includes livestock, food (honey, jam, chocolate and cheese), raw vegetables, fruits and nuts,” said Mark Shelton, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. “We’re a small-scale market so the numbers don’t affect us so much.”
While Cal Poly is subject to the market forces, especially with wine grapes and avocados, most of Cal Poly’s commodities, including oranges, apples and pears, are sold at the Campus Market and local Farmers’ Markets, and therefore, they are prices that do not tend to fluctuate.
Wine grapes, representing nearly a quarter of the combined value of the county’s agriculture industry, remained in the county’s top position for the 18th year in a row, where they will likely remain, said Lynda Auchinachie, San Luis Obispo County environmental resource specialist.
The Gallo wine grapes grown on campus go into the same district pool as wine grapes grown in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, so the price for the grapes is based on the district price.
Hass avocados had record-breaking levels of production due to weather cooperation, but the prices were reduced by nearly half because of foreign market competitors that have been phased into the market in the last few years.
“They have been concerned with the foreign imports since they began,” Auchinachie said. “They now have programs in place to address these concerns.”
The Mission avocados grown on campus are in a pooled market similar to that of the wine grapes.
“If the pool is lower, the sale is lower, and in that case we would get less for the product,” Shelton said.
Vegetable production increased in the county by 13 percent, despite the Escherichia coli outbreaks in September and October last year that heavily reduced the demand and consumption of local spinach.
Another recent setback in the agriculture industry, the extreme frost in January this year, is not included in the crop report statistics. The frost wave had devastating impacts on the industry, most notably on citrus and avocados, and its effect on next year’s statistics is not yet known.
“It all depends on the ultimate supply and demand. If we happen to have more lettuce than, say, Salinas value, people are going to be paying more for that. We won’t know until year’s end,” Auchinachie said.
Avocados and other crops on campus were heavily hit by the frost, but having a smaller market prevented the results from being as devastating as those that some farms faced.
“We have some ups and downs, but not as much as large-scale operations, because we are a small-scale market,” Shelton said.