Greenwire: Despite the public image of a Central Valley on the verge of becoming a dust bowl from cuts in water deliveries, crop and labor statistics for 2009 negate the idea that California’s farm economy is on the edge of collapse.
The state’s farming community has weathered the recession better than other sectors in the state, according to its employment numbers, though reduced water deliveries hurt some areas more than others.
While construction work plummeted 17.8 percent and manufacturing jobs were down nearly 8 percent in the state, the number of California farm jobs increased statewide since 2006 and only dipped slightly — less than half a percent from 2008 to 2009.
In Fresno County, the state’s top-producing agricultural county, the number of farm jobs rose slightly last year.
“People make a lot of claims, but the data you see is showing growth,” said Paul Wessen, an economist with the California Employment Development Department. “We’re just not seeing the job loss” (Bettina Boxal, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 22). – DFM