Cotton lost its luster in Kings County, California last year with the flooding of Tulare Lake, a popular growth region for high quality natural fiber.

Long the top cotton producing county in the state, last year Kings County lost that title to neighboring Fresno County as more available ground was there to grow cotton. Even so, California’s total cotton acreage in 2023 was under 100,000 for the first time since the Great Depression.

Heavy rain, snow, and runoff from the southern Sierra flooded Tulare Lake for the first time in decades. Absent a few years in the last century, Tulare Lake has been dry. The soil and irrigation infrastructure make it a prime growing region for cotton.

Most of the lake was flooded for an entire growing season. This helped drag the county’s gross crop receipts down almost 17% on the year to just over $2.15 billion, according to the county’s annual crop report.

Kings County cotton farmers produced just over 100,000 bales of cotton from 33,228 acres. This was over 35% less cotton produced than the previous year’s bale count of 156,299 from 47,321 acres. The value of the 2023 cotton crop was over $77.6 million, 52.7% lower than the previous year’s crop.

By comparison, neighboring Fresno County produced 118,000 bales of cotton in 2023 from 44,100 acres.

Related:Farmland in peril as Tulare Lake to fill this summer

Milk production from cows and goats remains the single largest commodity produced in the county by value. A $7 per hundredweight decline in California’s Federal Milk Marketing Order price for cow’s milk drug the county’s milk value down over 30%. Milk from goats was marginally higher in 2023 than the previous year.

Pistachios

Pistachios have become a popular nut crop for farmers across California’s Central Valley. As the county’s second most valuable commodity, bearing acreage of pistachios was up over 31% last year to over 57,000 acres. Yields for the alternate bearing crop were up almost 15%. Total production of last year’s pistachio crop exceeded 170.6 million pounds, or nearly 14.5% of the U.S. crop.

50 years ago

Cotton was the county’s most valuable commodity produced in 1974, according to the annual crop report. Milk was No. 2. Much of that top 10 list hasn’t changed in 50 years, though the order may have shifted somewhat. Wheat, barley, turkeys and safflower were once on that list.