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Crop Report: Value Up 3.5% and Berries Are No. 1, By Zach Friend
FEATURED COLUMNIST
Crop Report: Value Up 3.5% and Berries Are No. 1
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By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District
The most recent Santa Cruz County Crop Report, an annual look at crop production values in our area, showed a nearly 3.5% increase in overall crop production values compared to the previous year.
What is the purpose of the report?
The Annual Crop Report is required under the California Food and Agricultural Code and represents estimated acreage, yield and gross values of agricultural products in Santa Cruz County.
Agriculture, along with tourism, is one of the largest employment sectors and economic generators in our region so this report helps provide an understanding of the health of this industry.
The data is provided by farmers, ranchers, commissions (that review their own industry’s production), packinghouses and more. The report looks at the
gross values and not the costs incurred by growers including labor, land preparation, irrigation, pest management, transportation, cooling, marketing, equipment and more.
What did the report show?
Berries continue to be king within Santa Cruz County with strawberries remaining the top crop, with an estimated value of $211,062,000 — nearly one-third of the overall estimated crop value of $657,370,000.
When you include all berries, including strawberries, raspberries and blackberries (which has seen a strong growth in our area), 60 % of the total gross production value in Santa Cruz County is accounted for. By comparison, nursery stock, including cut flowers and cut greens, make up about 20 % of the overall production value in our area. Nursery stock saw a significant increase in gross value from the previous year, an increase of 14 % in gross value, to $136,730,000.
Growers noted that excellent conditions also made last year a banner banner year for wine grapes, with high yields leading to a gross value increase of 65 percent, to $7,926,000. Wine grapes overall, however, account for about 1 % of the total crop value — matching with timber and livestock.
Apples, once the dominant crop in the Pajaro Valley, account for about 2 % of the overall production value. The production of timber, as measured by board feet, doubled from 2020 to 2021 — however, the overall production value increased by about 34 %.
Vegetable production was also up, with an overall value of $95,848,000, a 7.1 % increase from 2020.
Organic farming saw declines in
Michelle Lopez-Rubio, Aptos High School, “Sacrificing My Father’s Hands” 1st place in 20th Congressional Art Competition, May 2022
2021 in total acreage and in value, with an estimated gross value of $110,310,000 representing an 18.7 % decline from the previous year. Organic acreage and value can change from year to year and some of this change can be attributed to crop rotations and types of commodities grown.
One additional fun fact: Our district (the 2nd District) has more agricultural land than any other district in the County.
Where are the crops exported?
While many crops are sold locally or domestically in general, a significant Santa Cruz County’s residents. ••• amount of local crops are exported.
From cut flowers and cut greens, to book chop, carrots, celery, lava beans, kale, raspberries, spinach and strawberries — in fact, over three dozen different crops are exported from our County.
Crops are exported to over 20 countries ranging from Australia and New Zealand to Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, South Africa, and Ukraine.
How can you learn more?
The full report is available at www. agdept.com - which is the website for the Santa Cruz County Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the County Ag Department is to serve the public’s interest by ensuring equity in the marketplace, promoting and protecting agriculture, assuring environmental quality and protecting the health, safety and welfare of If you have any trouble finding the report please don’t hesitate to call me at 454-2200 and I would be happy to send it to you. As always, if you have any questions about this issue, or any other matters in our district, feel free to call me. I’m maintaining regular updates on social media as well at www.facebook.com/ supervisorfriend.
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Have Some Flap Jacks!
This week the Pet of the Week for the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is Flap Jacks!
This one-year-old Belgian Malinois mix has been at SCCAS for about a month and is looking for his new best friend. When he first came to the Shelter as a stray, he was a bit nervous, but has blossomed with all of the TLC from staff and volunteers.
He loves to play but tends to bark at dogs before greeting, but once he has had a slow introduction, he has a great time and is in some fun play groups with Shelter buddies. Flap Jacks is working on his manners and life skills but is making amazing progress. At events he is lovely- has meet people out in public and been so sweet and relaxed.
Riding the car is also something that Flap Jacks is great at, and he tends to lay down and entertains himself while riding along. A home with another playful dog might be a great fit provided that the dogs meet at the Shelter first.
Flap Jacks should not live in a home with cats, and children should be older and respectful.
Come to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter at 1001 Rodriguez in Santa Cruz to meet Flap Jacks — an amazing dog looking for an amazing home!
Adoptions are first come, first served! Please view available animals on our website and then visit the Shelter to turn in your application. All adoptions require proof of home ownership or landlord approval. Please have this information prepared. If an animal is in Foster Care, please bring in your adoption application and schedule an appointment to meet the animal. Call 831-454-7200 x0 during business hours or visit www.scanimalshelter.org for more information! n •••
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s full-service, open-admission shelter:
Santa Cruz Location (Public Entrance): 1001 Rodriguez St., Santa Cruz, 95062 Hours: Daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Watsonville Location: CURRENTLY CLOSED 580 Airport Blvd, Watsonville, CA 95076 SCCAS Main line: 831-454-7200. Animal Control: 831-454-7227. After-Hours Emergency: 831-471-1182 • After Hours: jillian.ganley@santacruzcounty.us
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Aligned with our commitment to Whole Child, Whole Family, Whole Community and our Expanded Learning Opportunities Program Plan, Intersession Saturdays are intended to be available to TK-6th graders, however, our Intersession Saturday on Oct. 22 had many opportunities available for the whole family.
On Oct. 22, we had Camp WOW with the City of Watsonville,YMCA Enrichment Day Camp, Gilroy Gardens Kid Go Family Night, Science Workshop, Día De Los Muertos Nichos Class, and a Wetlands Restoration Day.
On Oct. 29, Camp WOW will be hosting a Fall Fun Day Camp that will include a field trip to the Downtown Candy Crawl. Details for all events can be found on our second Intersession at https://asp.pvusd.net.
Questions can be emailed to extendedlearning@pvusd.net.
Are the SROs on campus every day? Are they there the entire school day (same hours as the students)?
On May 11, the PVUSD Board of Trustees approved the adoption of the School Resource Officer (SRO) and Mental Health Clinician pilot model.
The model includes one full-time Mental Health Clinician paired with one SRO at Watsonville High School and Aptos High School.
Our Mental Health Clinician and SRO are on campus Monday-Friday and are present during school hours.
Why are our children being fed Doritos for lunch?
Prior to March 2020 and the COVID pandemic, a USDA school meals compliant formulation of Doritos was offered to students as an a la carte item available for purchase at secondary schools.
The USDA school meals formulation of Doritos contains less fat and sodium and higher amounts of whole grains (50% minimum) than traditional Doritos. Since March 2020, a la carte sales have been discontinued to encourage students to eat whole meals.
As supply chain issues continue to create shortages for the Food & Nutrition Services Department, they have on occasion had to substitute the regular tortilla chips served (also a USDA school meals-compliant reduced fat/sodium, higher whole grain formulation) with a USDA school meals compliant formulation of brand name chips such as Doritos.
What is the district doing to address the staph infection as well as the hand, foot and mouth disease infections at schools?
PVUSD Board policy regarding infectious diseases (such as staph or hand, foot and mouth) encourages parents and guardians to inform school staff if their child has an infectious disease so that school staff may work to minimize exposure to diseases in the school setting.
When there is a communicable disease at a school site, the site administration is notified. An exposure notice is sent home to the families. This notice explains when your child was exposed, signs and symptoms of the illness, information about how to prevent further spread of the virus and any next steps the families can take.
Consultation with your primary physician is also recommended. If there are clusters of students at a site who have been identified with the same illness, the school nurse contacts County Health for guidance and support.
Administration works with Maintenance to do an enhanced cleaning of the classrooms, locker rooms, or area that needs to be disinfected.
It is very confusing all of the work that we are doing with both MTSS and Wellness Teams. Why are we doing both?
Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS) is an integrated, comprehensive framework that focuses on core instruction, differentiated learning, student-centered learning, individualized student needs, and the alignment of systems necessary for all students’ academic, behavioral, and social success. The Wellness Teams and referral process is part of the MTSS framework.
The Wellness Referral process is the first step in helping identify students’ concerns. Whether the concerns are academic, socioemotional, or behavioral the Wellness Referral process allows us to gather information about the efforts made to address the noted concerns and helps us to identify action steps.
Following the MTSS process can be one of the possible outcomes of the Wellness Referral. Please speak with your site administrator if you need additional clarification and or assistance.
Hello Dr. Rodriguez, I am a student at Watsonville High School and I do not have a permanent teacher for two of my classes this year. I know last year there were teachers on special assignments covering these unfilled positions. Will this be taking place this school year?
The District and Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers worked on a memorandum of understanding for the 2021-2022 school year which temporarily transferred the Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs) into the classroom to mitigate the increased number of vacancies due to the teacher shortage.
Part of the agreement included the commitment to return them back to their TOSA positions for the 2022-2023 school year to continue their important work in the District supporting teachers.
The District has a significantly lower number of teacher vacanciescompared to last school year, however, we are still seeing the impact of those vacancies at a few sites in the District and Watsonville High School is one of those still being impacted.
The District would like to utilize our TOSAs in a different capacity this year by having them added to the emergency sub rotation at our most impacted sites. By adding them to the rotation the load on the teachers who are covering during their prep would be reduced as well as provide the students with fully credentialed teachers.
The District has proposed this solution to PVFT and we hope to reach an agreement.
Currently, TOSAs are supporting uncovered teacher absences District wide, however, as previously mentioned we do see a higher need to place them at our most impacted sites. The Human Resources Department is actively recruiting both classroom teachers and substitutes. n
