photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB
New vineyard being planted

In spite of near crippling water shortages last year, the agricultural sector in Napa County had pretty much a bumper year. That's according to the county's annual crop report released this week.  

"We did have a productive year, our total ag production value for 2022 was eight hundred ninety four million, two-hundred ninety five thousand, five-hundred," said Tracy Cleveland, Napa County's agricultural commissioner. That was an increase of 19.9 percent, that's a good increase, for sure," Cleveland added.

The bounty, however, wasn't universal. Declines were recorded in a number of sectors, including cut flowers, nursery plants, livestock and poultry. At the same time, the value of fruits and vegetables grew.

Fires in years past, and another in a series of dry years played a role, Cleveland said.

"We had fires in 2020 that burned some of our pasture land and our grazing areas, and so we are still recovering from that. And then add on top of that drought, the lack of water so, certainly that had an impact."

There were also plenty of bright stars in the report.

"On our wine grape side, our biggest production, we saw a little over twenty percent increase. We saw an increase in our tons produced, and then our price per ton," Cleveland said. 

Cabernet sauvignon remains king among Napa growers, Cleveland says, followed by chardonnay and merlot, though rarer cabernet franc grapes commanded the highest price per-ton.

She credited the county's knowledgeable and flexible farmers.

"I think growers, particularly in Napa are very good at adapting to difficult growing conditions. In our case, disasters. We go from floods to fire to drought, so I think that we're very well adapted to dealing with those things," she said.

Marc Albert, KRCB Sonoma County News