Fresno County’s Production Value Drops 6 Percent During Drought

Drought was a key factor as the total receipts from Fresno County decreased by more than 6 percent in 2015, an industry insider says. Farm gate receipts in the county totaled $6.61 billion last year, down from the $7.04 billion in 2014, according to county Agricultural Commissioner Les Wright’s most recent Crop and Livestock Report. Water-supply issues were a top concern last year, as were the slippage of some commodity prices and labor shortages, said Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive officer of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “It dropped a little bit more than I was probably expecting,” Jacobsen said.