The Marin County Farm Advisor’s Office and University of California Cooperative Extension Marin have issued a survey to Marin farmers and ranchers in hopes of better understanding their day-to-day operations and priorities, and to compare the findings to a previous survey conducted in 2002. The survey, funded by the county and the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was issued to over 300 farmers and ranchers. It will be open until Oct. 21.
David Lewis, the farm advisor with the cooperative extension, said there has been a good response so far, with the number of returned surveys surpassing 50 last week.
There will be two steps in analyzing the surveys, Mr. Lewis said: summarizing the information collected and then, for the first time, comparing the results to the previous survey. He expects the results will be made available sometime early next year.
There has been an increase in regulations for Marin agriculture since the last survey was taken 14 years ago, said Sam Dolcini, president of the Marin County Farm Bureau, and the regulatory environment for farmers and ranchers has been “a challenge that’s continued to grow.” He cited a recent bill that aims to reduce methane emissions from California dairies as a specific example. “Although the regulation was probably focused on the Central Valley, it will have an impact on dairies in Marin,” he said.
The most recent crop report, released last July, indicated gross value at over $110 million for 2015, a 10 percent increase from 2014. Organic milk had the largest increase in value, but other growing sectors included eggs, meat and wool.
In 2002, the survey contacted 186 agricultural producers; of the 95 that responded, a majority were family owned, while 11 percent were part of a corporation. Sixty-three percent of operations said they were unprofitable or marginally profitable, though only 2 percent said they did not intend to keep farming. The average age of producers was 54 and 90 percent of respondents said they had no plans to sell part or all of their property within the next five years.