West Coast commodities again dominated US utilized production of non-citrus fruit and nut crops in 2020. However, according to a federal report issued this week, most of the region's major specialty crops saw price slides.
Grapes, apples and strawberries -- the lion's share of which were from the West -- accounted for 78% of the national non-citrus fruits total with 1.85 million bearing acres, down 2% from the previous season, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.
In 2020, the nation’s utilized production for tree nut crops totaled 4.12 million tons, up 24% from 2019 on the strength of massive California almond, pistachio and walnut crops. But the value of utilized production for 2020 tree nut crops totaled $10.1 billion, down slightly from the previous year, even as bearing acreage ticked up 6% to 2.49 million, according to NASS.
The value of utilized production for the 21 non-citrus fruit crops totaled $14.7 billion, down 6% from the previous year, officials reported. Grapes, apples, and strawberries claimed the highest values, accounting for 68% of the total value of harvested and sold fruit when combined.
Grapes and cherries soaring
But of those, only fresh grapes from California have seen a significant increase in price per ton since 2018, jumping from $1,120 that year to $1,500 in 2020, according to NASS. The value of utilized production rose from $1.23 million to $1.44 million during the period as overall yields dropped from nearly 1.1 million tons to 960,100 tons.
Source: farmprogress.com