Farm Progress

Farm gate value hits record $1.76 billionSecond-highest harvest volume everAbout 40 percent of table grape crop is exported

tfitchette, Associate Editor

March 30, 2015

1 Min Read
<p>California table grapes were valued at more than $1.7 billion in 2014. This was a new record for the industry.</p>

California table grapes set a record farm-gate value of $1.76 billion in 2014 on the second-largest crop on record.

Total harvest was 110 million 19-pound boxes of table grapes made available to global consumers, according to the California Table Grape Commission. This compares to 116.2 million box equivalents for the record 2013 crop.

Acreage details on table grapes were not available for the 2014 season from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Table grape growers harvested from about 84,000 acres the previous year.

Exports totaled 44.5 million boxes at a value of $857 million.

The top volume export markets included Canada at 11.4 million boxes, followed by Mexico at 5.7 million boxes and China/Hong Kong at 5.5 million boxes. Just over 40 percent of the total crop volume was exported.

“Overall, 2014 was a good year for most growers,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission. “The industry was able to successfully harvest and ship a large crop at good prices over a very long season.”

According to Nave, the 2015 marketing season is expected to mirror 2014 in timing, beginning late April and running through Jan. 2016.

 

About the Author(s)

tfitchette

Associate Editor, Western Farm Press

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