Merced County crop report expected by late October

Crop reports released recently from San Joaquin Valley counties show records set in 2014, but residents of Merced County will have to wait until late October to learn of local results.

David Robinson, the county’s agriculture commissioner, said Wednesday his office still is compiling numbers reported by growers.

While the state expects all counties to publish crop reports by April 1 each year, “no county actually makes that date,” he said. “There’s absolutely no way to get numbers out of growers by that time. It’s an impossible task.”

Robinson said his office works on the report year-round starting Jan. 1 of each year. But, sometimes the numbers are not reported to his office until June or later, he said.

Madera County released its report Tuesday, showing the county hit a record high value of $2.2 billion. Its top crop was almonds.

Fresno and Mariposa counties also have released reports. Fresno County reported a value of $7 billion, making it the third-highest in the state after Tulare and Kern counties. It was the first time Fresno County topped $7 billion, yet the second year in a row the county’s ranking fell to No. 3. Its top crop also was almonds. Mariposa’s top crop was cattle and reported a total value from the commodity of $43 million, an increase of nearly 30 percent from 2013.

Stanislaus County has yet to publish its crop report.

In 2013, Merced County ag commodities grossed nearly $3.8 billion, a record high. The county’s top crops were milk, almonds and chickens, in that order.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Merced County crop report expected by late October."