Santa Cruz Agriculture

There are 682 farms in Santa Cruz county covering 47,489 acres with the average farm covering 70 acres. These farms sell $447,417,000 on the market with the crop sales covering $433,545,000 and livestock sales covering $13,872,000. The government has paid out $40,000 dollars with the average farm receiving $7,924.

The top crop items are as follows:

  • Vegetables: 16,619 acres
  • Lettuce: 10,277 acres
  • Land in Berries: 5,651 acres
  • Apples: 2,398 acres
  • Brussel Sprouts: 1,222 Acres (Ranked #1 in State)

The top livestock inventory items are as follows (in number of items):

  • Colonies of Bees: 2,037
  • Horses and Ponies: 1,132
  • Cattle and Calves: 734
  • Goats: 483

Overall, in Santa Cruz County, the total farm production expenses in thousands of dollars is 326,508 while the net income is (in thousands of dollars) 130,379.

The operators themselves are mostly male (535 men to 147 women). For 422 people farming is their primary profession while 260 have another primary profession. The average age of these operators is about 58 years and the farms are mainly operated by white people (998 operators) and Hispanics (189).

Source: USDA 2007 Census of Agriculture