Most valuable crops in California: Grapes, almonds, milk dominate San Joaquin Valley

Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties each posted new records for the value of their agricultural production in 2022. And for the second consecutive year, Tulare County farmers and ranchers outproduced their counterparts in Fresno County to land atop the rankings of California’s farm counties.

From the north end of the San Joaquin Valley to the south, the diversity of agricultural crops and commodities shows up in the products that make up the top five in each of the counties.

Grapes, for example, supplanted almonds in Fresno County for the first time since 2012, and were also the top crop in Kern County. But milk and dairy products remained champions in four of the seven Valley counties – Stanislaus, Merced, Kings and Tulare – while almonds were tops in Madera County.

Across the region, production by farmers and ranchers amounted to almost $36.5 billion in 2022.

Explore the interactive charts below to see the top five crops by gross production value in each Valley county in 2022, as well as the overall value of agricultural commodities for each county since 2010.

Tim Sheehan

The Fresno Bee

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Lifelong Valley resident Tim Sheehan has worked as a reporter and editor in the region since 1986, and has been with The Fresno Bee since 1998. He is currently The Bee’s data reporter and also covers California’s high-speed rail project and other transportation issues. He grew up in Madera, has a journalism degree from Fresno State and a master’s degree in leadership studies from Fresno Pacific University. Support my work with a digital subscription