Napa crop report shows dominance of wine grapes

May 20, 2014

(NVR) - The economic muscle of Napa County’s mighty wine industry is clearly illustrated in the 2013 crop report.

The value of the wine grape harvest clocked in at $656 million, while the value of all agricultural crops in Napa County, including vegetables, olive oil and livestock, was just $6 million more — $662 million, according to the crop report issued by the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.

Put another way, slightly more than 99 percent of the value of all the crops and livestock raised in the county last year was wine grapes.

Napa County saw a 4.4 percent increase in the total value of last year’s wine grape harvest, but total tonnage dropped 4.6 percent from the record harvest of 2012.

Wine grapes continued to dominate the agricultural picture of Napa County, as its average price per ton was $3,753, up 4.4 percent from 2012, according to the report.

Overall, yields for wine grapes dropped slightly, from 4.23 tons per acre in 2012 to 4.01 tons per acre in 2013.

The olive harvest was hit hard last year by infestations of the olive fruit fly, driving down the total weight of the 2012 harvest from 287 tons to 51 tons in 2013. That translated to a corresponding drop in value from $664,000 in 2012 to $228,000 in 2013, according to the crop report.

Among growers who harvested, olive yields were also down, dropping from 1.5 tons per acre two years ago to 1 ton per acre last year.

The vegetable crop in Napa County almost doubled in value year-over-year, jumping from $228,000 in 2012 to $451,000 in 2013. The harvested acreage also increased, going from 21 acres in 2012 to 27 acres in 2013.

Livestock such as cattle and calves saw steep drops in production in 2013, with about a third of the weight produced in 2012. Value dropped by half between the two years, from $3 million in 2012 to $1.44 million in 2013.

Sheep and lamb production jumped, however, from a $71,000 value in 2012 to $742,000 in 2013, reflecting a nine-fold increase in weight.

The crop report notes that growers had to grapple with record-setting dryness in 2013, with the lowest amount of rainfall of any year since 1908.


Share: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Furl Facebook Google Yahoo Twitter

Comments:

 
Leave a comment





Advertisement