 Inyo County’s agriculture industry continues to go strong thanks in part to area alfalfa crops (above), which have been fetching a good price, and the ever-present beef market. Photo by Mike Gervais By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
6-11-09 Inyo County’s second largest industry, agriculture, prospered last year thanks in part to skyrocketing alfalfa prices.
That was one bushel of good news to come from George Milovich, the agricultural commissioner for Inyo and Mono counties, in his annual report to the Board of Supervisors on local agricultural activities.
“The combined counties’ agricultural production for 2008 totaled $62,608,000, which represents an approximate 10 percent increase from 2007,” Milovich said. “The bottom line is this is some of the most dramatic swings I’ve seen in field crops in all my years.”
According to the Ag Report, Inyo produced 3,100 acres of alfalfa hay in 2007, 100 acres more than in 2008. But in 2007 alfalfa was selling for $165 a unit, and in 2008, it sold for $215 a unit. Alfalfa brought in $3.870,000.
In all, field crops in the county, which make up about 15 percent of the area’s agricultural assets, made $912,700 more in 2008 than in the previous year.
The biggest piece of the agricultural pie in the Eastern Sierra are miscellaneous crops, including dates from Death Valley and turf farms, which brought in $3,340,00. Milovich reported that miscellaneous crops in 2007 made about $3,327,000.
“There is a huge miscellaneous crop and that has a lot to do with our Sandy Valley turf farm,” Milovich said. “The date farm figures into that, it’s very minimal, but there is some.”
Livestock makes up almost a quarter of Inyo’s agriculture industry, generating $10,508,480 in 2008, about $39,000 more than in 2007.
Calves and steers are the biggest earners for livestock, bringing in $3,564,000 in 2008, followed by heifers, then cows, bulls and finally sheep and lambs.
“Beef is our biggest commodity,” Milovich said, adding that the federal government, when Congress returns to session, may be passing an expensive tax for cattle.
According to Milovich, there is a proposal to charge a nation-wide tax of $175 per cow, $68 for swine and $40 for sheep “for flatulence.”
Though Milovich said he didn’t know where the flatulence tax money would be spent, he did say that it was an effort by the federal government to mitigate the harmful affects of greenhouse gases on the environment.
“The whole concept is wrong in my opinion,” Milovich said.
First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius and Third District Supervisor and Board Chair Beverly Brown agreed.
“They’re taxing them for being alive,” Arcularius said.
Milovich said that if the flatulence tax is passed and price of alfalfa continues to rise, the Eastern Sierra has the potential to benefit by raising more hay. He explained that flax seed, which is not produced in Inyo, and alfalfa, one of the area’s biggest cash crops, reduce cow flatulence.
Despite the looming flatulence tax, Milovich is happy with the Eastern Sierra’s agricultural industry for 2008, and looks forward to next year.
“Agriculture continues as one of the integral parts of Inyo and Mono counties’ economy,” he said.
|
