Middle of the pack crops struggle to keep their acres in California
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Happenings
- I co-hosted (and guest hosted) a [History] of Agriculture podcast episode with Tim Hammerich for the Future of Agriculture podcast series. The topic was based on a book by Neil Dahlstrom called “Tractor Wars” which explored the early history of the invention, and adoption of gas powered tractors in the early 20th century.
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The phenomenon of the “hallowing out of the middle class” in the US has been extensively studied. There are many reasons to explain the stagnation in wages for the middle class. The adoption of automation has been one of the main reasons for the loss of jobs over the last few decades, especially in manufacturing.
On the other hand, the lack of automation might create significant challenges for keeping the middle of the pack crops to continue to grow in California. (The “middle of the pack crops” are crops with a market value which is not in the top quadrant but somewhere in the middle). It could hollow out the middle crops due to lack of automation, instead of presence of automation.
The diminishing middle
Last week, I was driving around Merced county in California visiting some growers. It is a very agricultural county in California with a lot of almond trees, and dairy operations. The setting was beautiful as I drove down county roads, and the weather was a perfect 70 degree Fahrenheit. I visited a few sweet potato growers to understand some of their challenges.
A farm in Merced County, California (photo by Rhishi Pethe)
But when you go talk to growers there, you realize there are significant challenges ahead, depending on which crop they are growing.
Merced is the fifth biggest county based on the value of agriculture production in the state of California. For reference, California is the biggest state in terms of the value of crop cash receipts (2022 data) of $ 55 billion, with Iowa at number two with $ 45 billion. Merced county’s total value of agricultural production in 2022 was $ 4.5 billion.
According to the California Agricultural Statistic Review 2022-2023,
California’s top 20 crop and livestock commodities accounted for $47.9 billion in value in 2022. Thirteen commodities exceeded $1 billion in value in 2022. The cash receipts of 14 of the top 20 commodities increased in value in 2022, compared to 2021. Of the top 20 commodities, chicken eggs, broilers, and lettuce showed the largest growth in cash receipts during the year.
Outside of animal products, the top crops in California are grapes, almonds, lettuce, berries, pistachios, tomatoes, carrots, rice, oranges, broccoli, tangerines, and lemons.