The 2015 season will be remembered for the very low crop yields in some areas of the Central Coast due to the very poor fruit set in the spring. Lower than average yields were also observed in other regions of California, indicating the widespread impact of the cool spring temperatures. However the extremely poor fruit set observed in numerous local vineyards, particularly in the Paso Robles area, suggests that factors in addition to the cool spring weather had made this problem more severe in this region. In particular, the drought conditions that have impacted the region over the past several years likely played a role in the poor fruit set as well.

The previous blog post looked at the historical trends for San Luis Obispo County wine grape production; this post makes a similar evaluation for Santa Barbara County, and provides comparisons to statewide averages.

The following three figures represent data for all of SB County; the raw data is sourced from the SB County Ag Commissioner's Crop Reports. An inflation adjustment is made with the CPI from the US Dept. of Labor. Adjusting the earlier-year dollar values for inflation allows for more meaningful comparison of...

San Luis Obispo County has seen very rapid growth of the wine grape industry in a relatively short time; it ballooned from just a few hundred acres of vineyards in the early 1970s to nearly 45,000 acres of planted vineyards now. The economic multiplier effect of the associated wine production and tourism industries has made it a major component of the local economy. However, economic conditions for County wine grape growers have generally not been as positive in the past decade as they were during the earlier growth phases of the industry. The following figures represent data for the entire County. The raw data is sourced from the Ag Commissioner's Crop...

Irrigated agriculture on the Central Coast is much more dependent upon groundwater than are most other farming areas of the state. The composition of well water varies quite highly throughout this region, and even wells very close to each other can have very different water compositions if they are extracting water from different aquifer formations. The chemistry of the water is of concern to the agriculturist for two main reasons; the minerals in the water can clog drip irrigation systems, and lead to undesirable changes in the quality and productivity of the soil over time.

Clogging of drip irrigation systems with mineral deposits will lead to extremely poor irrigation uniformity, and subsequently very uneven vine growth in...