Marin’s farms, dairies and ranches injected $257 million into the local economy last year and supported more than a thousand jobs, according to a new economic report that offers the most comprehensive analysis yet of the county’s agricultural sector.
“The findings offer vital information for anyone who is trying to determine if ag is a vibrant and resilient local economy,” said Agriculture Commissioner Joe Deviney, who presented the report to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Mr. Deviney also shared the annual county crop and livestock report, which showed the county’s total agricultural production dropped by 2 percent last year, to $83.7 million. That report, required by the state, measures the value of specific agricultural products, such as milk, poultry and hay.
But the actual impact of the sector is far greater, according to a new analysis conducted by Jeff Langholz and Fernando DePaolis of Agricultural Impact Associates, an economics consulting firm.
“Instead of stopping at raw farm-gate commodity production values, this study also quantifies local food processing, employment and economic ripple effects,” Mr. Deviney said.
For example, rather than simply quantifying how much milk Marin’s dairies sold, the analysis considers the jobs and income generated by the county’s cheesemakers. Instead of only counting the number of cows raised on Marin ranches, it also considers the income added by purveyors of organic beef.
These multiplier effects of agricultural production are many and varied, Mr. DePaulis said. Agricultural producers and processors spend money within the county on supplies and services, including vehicles, cars, fertilizer and veterinary medicine. Their employees spend money on groceries, health care and housing.
“Every dollar of agricultural output creates economic ripples throughout the Marin County economy,” he said.
In all, agriculture contributed $704,643 a day to the local economy, the report found. The sector was responsible for 1,081 jobs, 750 of them at production or food-processing enterprises and the remainder generated through spending by agriculture companies, their suppliers and their employees.
The report also attempted to estimate the economic value of benefits that ranchlands provide to county residents without the exchange of cash. Those benefits include open space, fire breaks, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration and recreational opportunities such as hunting, fishing and hiking.
“If Marin County farmers and ranchers were to send us all a tab for these free annual services, what would the bill be for each Marin County household or resident?” Mr. Langholz asked.
His answer: somewhere between $464 million and $2 billion a year. “At the high end, that’s about $20,000 per household in Marin County,” he said.
At the same time, the crop report presented by Mr. Deviney showed a fourth consecutive year of declines in the county’s agricultural output, although this year’s drop was less dramatic than last year’s 9 percent decline.
The previous drops were due in large part to consecutive years of drought. Last year’s closer-to-average rainfall stabilized output, said Allison Klein, an inspector with the agriculture department.
Field crops such as hay and silage rose in value by 7 percent, while the value of fruit, vegetable and nursery crops fell by 17 percent as some acreage fell out of production.
For the second year in a row, the poultry sector was the most valuable, producing $24.6 million in gross revenue, in large part because of the bird flu’s impact on egg prices. In second place were the county’s organic dairies, which contributed $21.6 million, a slight drop from the previous year. Part of the decline was due to the closure of a West Marin dairy, reducing the total from 17 dairies to just 16.
The drop in milk production is sure to be far more dramatic in next year’s report, which will reflect the closure of nearly all the dairies and ranches in the Point Reyes National Seashore as the result of a legal settlement to a lawsuit brought by three environmental organizations.