Neither wind nor fire can stop bumper crop: county's agriculture remains fifth largest economic contributor.

The county's farmers enjoyed a boom year in the value of their goods in 2003, jumping 4 percent to $1.3 billion--the highest ever reported here--with an estimated economic impact of $4.7 billion.

That, according to the newly released 2003 Crop Statistics & Annual Report issued by the county's Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures.

It also represents the 11th successive year of growth in value for the county's agricultural industry, said Kathleen A. Thuner, the county's agricultural corn missioner and sealer of weights and measures.

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce ranks agriculture fifth as a contributing factor to the county's economy, right behind tourism, fourth; bioscience/high-tech, third (a new category); defense, second; and manufacturing, first. The rankings are based on 2002 figures, the latest available from the Chamber.

In September, the California Agriculture Statistics Service ranked San Diego County's agriculture industry 12th in the nation and eighth in the state in production values.

Ups And Downs

Some highlights from the report:

* Indoor flowering and foliage plants continue to be the No. 1 crop, with a 2 percent increase in production, for a value of $312.1 million.

* Acreage rose by 3 percent and overall nursery production acres by 10 percent.

* The value of livestock and poultry increased due to a whopping 59 percent rise in the price of eggs.

* Timber was the crop with the greatest percentage increase in value, with timber products rising 714 percent, primarily due to logging of drought-stressed trees on Palomar and Volcan mountains. Potatoes suffered the largest percentage loss in value, minus 72 percent, because of a 77 percent decrease in acreage.

"There is one large grower in Borrego Springs, and he decided not to plant that year," said Eric Larson, the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

* The value of fresh market navel oranges rose 51 percent, even with the acreage remaining the same again, just market forces at work, said Larson.

* Wine grape acreage increased 76 percent and fresh market strawberries rose 26 percent. Overall, agricultural acreages increased 17 percent in San Diego County.

According to Thuner, a contributing factor affecting the acreage increase was improved information obtained during the Mexican fruit fly quarantine.

The Mexican Fruit Fly Eradication Project in Valley Center helped stamp out the pests by September 2003, but left the county's agriculture industry with a $4 million loss.

The county's avocado crop--ranked No. 2 in value--took a minor hit, with a value of $146.1 million, down from $152.2 million in 2002. It was due to a combination of factors, including market forces, high winds, the October 2003 wildfires and the increasing cost of water, Larson said.

Some growers who had the fruit knocked out of the trees by the high winds in January 2003 weren't able to take the fruit to market because of the quarantine that was in effect.

Avocado grower and county Supervisor Bill Horn, whose farm-rich 5th District includes Valley Center, said, "The fruit was there, but we couldn't ship it and missed the winter and early spring price increases."

Also contributing to farmers' hardships were the October wildfires, with the Paradise fire having the greatest effect on agriculture, burning or destroying more than 57,000 acres and 200 dwellings in Valley Center, Pauma Valley, Rineon and San Pasqual, according to the report.

"Although the damage's ,long-term effects may not be apparent for several growing seasons, agricultural losses from the fires were estimated at approximately $28 million," the report noted.

But Horn--gratified by the county's strong showing in 2003 despite the woes, was upbeat.

"What if we hadn't had the fire?" he asked. "We would have done even better. The patient's alive and well and kicking."

Market Forces

Larson has high hopes for another solid growth year.

"The markets for most products should be pretty decent next year," he said. "The same business indicators that work for everyone else work for farming in general. If people have disposable income, they will buy our number one crop, florals, and our number two crop, avocados.

"But there are issues outside a grower's purview," Larson continued. "Growers can deal with crop issues; they're smart at those things, but there are all those other things circling around them, like quarantines, land-use decisions, water prices and the availability of labor."

This year, Thuner said, there have been no quarantines, unlike the last few years. As for 2003, she marvels at how resilient the county's farmers have been.

"It is a very diverse industry," she said. "There are so many crops grown, and so many locations in the county where you can grow crops. We don't have one flat level area, but lots of micro-climates and locations. And with 200 different crops grown, there is not one thing that can dominate.

"You might have a bad year for avocados, but even as large as they are, they still wouldn't dominate the total agricultural value. With the sum of its parts, agriculture is very resilient."

Uneasy Neighbors

What Thuner worries about is a trend toward using farmland for what she called "incompatible uses," citing the encroachment of schools, hospitals, parks and residential housing.

"A lot of land out there is agricultural land and what happens is that if you move one of those types of activities to a farming area, it has a ripple effect on the remaining farming" she said.

If a school goes in an area that abuts a farm, there are "extraordinary requirements for pesticides and their use," she added

"Even as we've moved over the last 20 years to softer and safer pesticides, there are still times when you have to use restricted materials if you are going to save your crop from insect or disease," Thuner said.

The wet weather that descended over the county in recent weeks created ideal conditions for fungus, a bane of growers.

"The recent rains have caused farmers who normally would not be using many pesticides to apply them by air, and that's especially true with the tomato-growing areas," said Thuner. "They have to use fungicides on the plants or they would lose their tomatoes."

But, she said, schools and other nonfarm users aren't required to supply buffer zones, which become the responsibility of the abutting farms. They can range anywhere from about 300 feet to a quarter-mile, said Thuner, "and you have lost a lot of production."

One solution to this trend, she added, is infilling--building within already developed land. "infilling will help maintain agriculture in the county," said Thuner, adding that it will also preserve the distinct character of the county, "so we won't end up looking like our neighbors to the north."

"What makes this place extraordinary, and different from Orange and Riverside, is its topography and it's the fact that, unlike Orange County, our agriculture has survived into the 21st century," she said. "And, unlike Riverside, there isn't a huge development going on, but perhaps a growing realization that we need to have housing that accommodates the work force from all the spectrum of people who work here.

"I find it alarming that people who work in this county cannot afford to live in this county. If you work in a place and don't live in the place, you don't have a vested interest in that place.

"Agriculture is a unique part of it."