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California agriculture experienced a nearly three percent increase in the sales value of its products in 2012. The state's 80,500 farms and ranches received a record $44.7 billion for their output last year, up from $43.3 billion in 2011 and $37.9 billion during 2010.

I recently went out to an avocado orchard on sandy soil that had had sudden leaf drop after a Santa Ana condition. The problem is that the orchard had had an ongoing leaf blight problem that had been accentuated by two years of drought and with the Santa Ana more pressure had been put on the trees.

The talk of drought and water restrictions in the State has created a time for serious decisions.

I recently traveled to the Malaga area of Spain where there is quite a bit of new planting going on. The industry celebrated its industry in 2002 with the World Avocado Congress and we saw a considerable expansion of the industry then and more has occurred since then.

The latest (2012) Department of Agriculture reports on county agricultural production can be found at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/AgComm/201212cactb00.