Fresno County reclaimed the title of top ag-producing county in the nation with reported 2024 values exceeding $9 billion for the first time.

The record amount comes as Kern County, which held the top spot in 2023, fell to $7.96 billion while Tulare County recovered last year, climbing to $8.3 billion.

Fresno County Ag Commissioner Melissa Cregan told supervisors at their meeting Tuesday that almond’s rebounding prices helped push the returns for growers.

“Fresno County’s ag strength is based upon the diversity of crops produced. In the 2024 report, there were approximately 200 commodities, 82 of which have a gross value in excess of $1 million,” Cregan said. “Fresno County continues to supply the highest quality food and fiber nationwide and abroad, exporting 96 unique commodities to 91 counties around the world.”

Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes said Fresno County’s ag returns are dependent on water availability and policy. He said the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is increasingly reducing water availability.

“This whole deal is very fleeting, because as SGMA comes in and is more and more enforced, there’s going to be a lot of places in Fresno County that don’t have surface water,” Mendes said. “When they’re held to the actual pumping they can do, they’re going to have to pull out a lot of crops. It’s a very fleeting number.”

Diversity of Crops Keeps Fresno County Strong: Cregan

Almonds reclaimed the highest grossing crop value after falling behind grapes. Following the pandemic, almond prices collapsed from record highs. A slow return made almonds profitable again, earning $1.45 billion in 2024, compared to $950 million the year before.

Mendes, a grower himself, said: “The price went from really shitty, to just kind of shitty.”

Grapes took a hit this year, falling to just above $1 billion from a high of $1.3 billion in 2023.

Pistachios retained their No. 3 ranking, holding at about $860 million. Cattle, milk, poultry, tomatoes, peaches, garlic, and oranges rounded out the rest of the top 10 crops.

In total, fruits and nuts grew by 19%, Cregan said. Livestock and poultry similarly had good years, climbing 9%. The only sector that experienced loss was nursery, which is not a large industry in Fresno County.

Cregan said the diversity of crops keeps Fresno County values high.

“When one crop has a bad year, we have others that have good years,” Cregan said.

Tulare Recovers, Kern Loses

In 2024, Tulare County ag values grew 6% to $8.3 billion, driven by milk returns, grossing $2.3 billion, an 11% year-over-year increase.

Grapes stayed around the same, hovering at $965 million, a nominal decrease from the previous year.

Navel oranges — popular in eastern Tulare County — similarly retained their value, staying just above the $600 million mark. Juicing oranges, Valencias, dropped to $90 million from $145 million.

Kern County dropped about 8% from 2023 to just below $8 billion, with citrus, grapes, carrots, almonds, and pistachios leading the way. The county is facing sharp reductions in irrigation water availability.

Citrus grew to $1.3 billion from $1.28 billion. Grapes declined to $1.1 billion from $1.6 billion. Pistachios tumbled to $723 million from $1 billion, with lower per-acre production levels as the stumbling block.

Farmers Directly Impacted by Political Decisions: Pacheco

Cregan’s office also did a study on ag’s impact to the Fresno economy, saying it was the biggest industry in the county, bringing in $21.7 billion to the economy. It employs 63,000 people, putting ag behind only health and social services and government employment.

Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, said at the meeting that the high values don’t reflect the challenges growers face.

Farmers still face difficulties with low commodity prices, higher costs to operate, and high borrowing rates. Farmers did, in 2024, however, have a good water year to help.

“That blessing allowed farmers to grow the rainbow of crops we are very capable of growing here in Fresno,” Jacobsen said.

Farmers are also among the first to face pressures from political decisions, said Supervisor Brian Pacheco, a dairyman.

He said prices fluctuate day-to-day, and are especially impacted by President Donald Trump’s administration.

“This year, a production dairyman, we’ve had one of the best years,” Pacheco said. “The beef industry has been phenomenal, and two weeks ago, the president said he’s going to start importing Argentinian beef. And the market plummets for two weeks in a row.”

Following negotiations with China, corn and soy prices — important cattle feed sources — jumped, raising the cost to operate, one of the key drivers for high beef prices, Pacheco said.

Tariff policies also impacted trade with Canada and Mexico, the two biggest importers of American dairy, Pacheco said.

“It’s highly volatile, it’s up and down and not even from year-to-year, it’s day-to-day with this current political environment that we are in,” Pacheco said.