A couple years ago, I posted some statistics on the tree, vine, and berry acreage in California because I find that kind of thing interesting and thought others might too.  The bad news is that the book chapter revision that I originally compiled those data for is still not done; however the good news (?) is that I updated those T&V acreage data and I still find them interesting (my two-year revision of that book chapter, somewhat less interesting...).

In the 2011 crop season, the two largest acreage crop groups were tree nuts and grapes.  Tree nuts included about 760,000 acres of almond, 245,000 acres of walnut, and 153,000 acres of pistachio.  Grapes were mostly wine grapes (about half a million acres) followed by 200,000 acres of raisin and 85,000 acres of table grapes.

Relative to two years ago, grape acreage increased a bit, and value increased around $1 billion.  Bearing tree nut acreage increase around 100,000 acres and value of the crop nearly doubled!  Both stone and pome fruits decreased a little in acreage and more in farmgate value.

Citrus overall was similar to two years ago but the relative amounts and values of some of the sub-types changed a bit with market preferences for the small, easy-peel types.  I know a lot of these have been planted in recent years and I expect the value to increase as these acreages reach full bearing age.  Avacado acreage didn't change much but the value increased a lot - I suspect the value in 2009 was a bit low due to a hard frost around that time.

Other large changes in the past two years include olive with ~30% increase in acreage and value due mostly to high-density oil olive plantings. The berry group also changed a little in value but several hundred million dollars in value.

I compiled the data above from the National Agriculural Statistics Service (NASS) 2012 Citrus Fruit Summary (Sept 2012) and the 2011 Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts Summary (July 2012) - any math errors are likely mine.  Frankly, if you are using blogs as a primary source of information, you are probably getting a deserved level of accuracy...

Take care,

Brad