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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Farming: The Industry That Gets No Respect

Farming in San Diego County might be the Rodney Dangerfield of local industries, but it continues to thrive , logging more than $1.3 billion in agricultural value in 2003, with an economic impact of more than $4.7 billion.

“Most people are surprised to see these numbers, because they don’t look at San Diego as a farming community per se,” said Mitch Mitchell, the vice president of public policy and communications for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “But we have thousands of farms contributing to our economy each year.

“Overall, when you look at the low unemployment rate, it’s not just biotech, manufacturing, defense and tourism, but farming too.

“Most people have very little knowledge that we have this many farms,” he continued, “because you don’t see farmland and crops growing every day in urban centers. It’s a mystery to San Diegans, who see skyscrapers and storefront businesses, but not someone out producing crops for sale.”

Avocado grower and county Supervisor Bill Horn also is rankled by the public’s seeming indifference to an industry that not only ranks high in the county and his farm-rich 5th District, but the nation as well.

“We are one of the few regions in the country that can feed its own population,” he said. “But it’s not as big a thing as the mayor’s race, with people stabbing each other in the back. And our industry is not declining, but increasing and benefiting everybody.”

And, Horn added, “The cows never get involved in a gangland shooting.”

A few more farm facts, according to the recently released 2003 Crop Statistic & Annual Report, County of San Diego, Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures:

* The county is 4,200 square miles, about the size of Connecticut, with a population of 2.9 million.

* Agriculture in the county covers 265,041 acres and ranks fifth as a major economic force, behind tourism, fourth; bioscience/high-tech, third (a new category); defense, second; and manufacturing, first, according to rankings set by the chamber.

* The county has 5,255 farms, the third largest number of farms when comparing all counties in the United States.

* Some 63 percent of county farms are 1 to 9 acres; 37 percent are 10 or more acres.

* The median size farm here is 5 acres.

* In the county, 92 percent of the farms are family owned and 77 percent of the farmers live on the land.

* Nursery and flower crops make up about 69 percent of the county’s agricultural value, followed by fruits and nuts, 18 percent; vegetables, 7 percent; livestock and poultry byproducts, 5 percent; livestock and poultry account for 1 percent; and field crops, specialty crops (timber and firewood) and apiary products (including honey, beeswax and pollen) at less than 1 percent each.

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