California agriculture is big! How big is it? In production value, it leads the nation. Part of the reason is the number of high value crops such as nuts, dairy and, of course, wine grapes. It's a $60 billion industry, with $23 billion of it exported. The value of organic products is increasing significantly.
The next biggest ag states are Iowa, Texas, and Nebraska.
Agriculture stats
The state's top ag products by value, in billions of dollars:
- Dairy $8B
- Grapes $6.5B (table and wine grapes)
- Cattle $4.75B
- Lettuce $4B
- Almonds $4B
- Pistachios $3B
- Strawberries $3B
- Tomatoes $2B
California produces 90% of the nation's strawberries, 75% of the lettuce, 20% of the milk, and almost all the walnuts, almonds, pistachios, artichokes, and avocados.
The top valued exports:
- Almonds $4.7B
- Dairy $3.2B
- Pistachios $2.2B
- Wine $1.1B
The top export destinations are Canada, the European Union, and China. Rapidly expanding export markets are the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico.
Anyone else see a problem here with the current economic decisions coming from Washington DC?
Wine
California produces about 85% of the country's wine, with New York, Washington, and Oregon next. The state is the world's fourth largest producer, after Italy, France, and Spain. There are nearly 900,000 acres of wine grapes and 4,700 wineries.
The state's wine business is worth about 88 billion dollars, creates over 400,000 jobs, and is a big tourism draw; the second most popular tourist activity after Disneyland.
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