Drought, drought and more drought has hit agriculture in Mariposa County hard.
In the third year of sparse rainfall, the Mother Lode county lost about $4 million in agriculture value from the year 2007.
Because cattle and calves drive Mariposa's ag revenue, the drought has upended the economy. Livestock value fell from more than $19 million in 2007 to only about $15 million in 2008. The total worth of ag commodities in the county dropped from about $29 million in 2007 to about $25 million in 2008.
Cattle from other counties, such as Merced County, are pastured in the foothills of Mariposa County during the winter months when the grasses are green and nutritious.
But without rain, the grasses don't grow. And the lack of rainfall has also dried up stock ponds and natural springs, meaning cattlemen have no way of getting water to their cattle.
"The cattle are being sold off," said Cathi Boze, agricultural commissioner for Mariposa County. "Their weight went down, and now cattlemen are selling their breeding stock, too."
The price of cattle took another hit when dairies dumped cattle earlier this summer because of low milk prices.
The number of cattle in California saw a huge drop, Boze said. "The California cattle herd is the smallest in 40 years," she said.
The water situation actually became critical last year, especially along the Merced/Mariposa county border, which is prime rangeland, Boze said.
"No water on those properties meant that the land couldn't be rented," she said. "The cattlemen have nowhere to put their cattle, so they sell them off."
While cattle were No. 1 in Mariposa County in 2008, other ag products included field crops, worth about $6 million, and fruit and nut crops, worth about $397,000.
One way the county is trying to push agriculture is to start an agri-tourism program.
Boze said there's an advisory committee ready to report to the Board of Supervisors, and she believes agri-tourism can help the small mountain county.
"It's a tool," she said. "It will help keep farmers in production, help them keep their employees, and most of all, help them keep their land."
Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.
E-Mail
Print
