Ag report showing Fresno County farmers continue to feel effects of drought

FRESNO COUNTY (KFSN) -- Almonds remain Fresno County's top crop worth $1.2 billion, but overall Fresno County ag production was worth $6.61 billion in 2015-- a 6-percent drop from 2014.

Fresno County Ag Commissioner Les Wright told supervisors vegetable production was up 11-percent, but several other commodities were down.

"There are many factors contributing to these declines. A strong dollar, a weakening world market, and unreliable surface water that keeps a lot of our land out of production."

Fresno County's top five crops are almonds, grapes, poultry, cattle and calves, and tomatoes. All five fell off in production.

"I don't think it's a secret that most of us pretty much assumed that's where we were going to end up-- simply because of the drought and where it's taken us. We also had some commodity price hits as well as some production that was obviously affected," said Ryan Jacobsen, Farm Bureau.

The pistachio industry took a big hit with some growers reporting "blanks," hollow shells-- in many of their orchards. They attributed the problem to an unusually warm winter.

One bright spot was the mandarin crop. New acreage helped the popular little oranges see an increase in production value from $72 million to $197 million.

Tulare County and Kern County have yet to issue their crop reports, but Fresno County could remain third on the list of the nation's top ag producing counties.