Among all the counties in the United States, San Diego County has the 6th largest urban population. So how can it also have the 2nd highest number of farms?
The answer, as the just-released 2007 annual agricultural report makes clear, is that almost 2/3rds of those 5,255 farms are less than 10 acres. A mere 5 acres is the median size.
Just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’re worth peanuts. The total dollar value of all the stuff grown in San Diego County in 2007 exceeded $1.5 billion — th
e most bountiful year on record (and 5% higher than the 2006 value). As Agricultural Commissioner Robert G. Atkins points out, “San Diego County’s unique topography creates a wide variety of microclimates,” a diversity that allows San Diego farmers to grow more than 200 different commodites, “from strawberries and tomatoes along the coast, to apples in the mountain areas, to palm trees in the desert.” Some 45 of those crops have a value of over $1 million.
As in the past, nursery and flower crops are the powerhouse, topping the billion-dollar mark. Fruit and nuts rank second, with the avocado yield continuing to be the largest in the US (despite a January and freeze and October wildfires that both took a heavy toll).
Vegetable farmers grow almost $160 million worth of bamboo shoots, bok choy, cauliflower, celery, chayote, chinese greens, cucumbers, collards, daikon, gai choy, gai long, green onions, herbs, lettuce, melons, mushrooms, mustard and turnip greens, parsley, peppers, pumpkins, potatoes, radishes, snap beans, snap peas, spinach, squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tomatillos, and more.
Even the smaller entries are kind of astonishing: more than $93 million of livestock, poultry, and related products (e.g. hides, oil, ostrich eggs), more than $5 million of field crops (barley, oats, hay, etc.), more than $3 million worth of apiary products (honey, bee’s wax, pollen, etc.), and even $749,310 worth of timber.
Also notable is the fact that the county is home to the largest community of organic growers in both California and the US overall (292 farmers growing more than 150 crops). And more than 92% of all the local farms are family-owned, with 77% of the farmers living on their land.
