California farmers feed the world

Summer 2024 California Bountiful magazine

Where does the food go and how does it get there?

Story by Caleb Hampton

With its Mediterranean climate, sophisticated water infrastructure and generations of farming knowledge, California’s agriculture sector produces more than 400 different crops. It is the only state in the U.S. that commercially grows artichokes, celery, garlic, honeydew melons, processing tomatoes, almonds, nectarines, olives and several other fruits, nuts and vegetables.

California farmers and ranchers are essential to providing for the nutritional needs of people not just across the nation but around the world.

In 2022, about 42% of the Golden State’s $59 billion agricultural production was sold overseas. According to economists, export markets play an important role in sustaining local farm businesses, creating jobs in rural communities and promoting food security at home and abroad.

The top commodities California farmers and ranchers produce for export include dairy products, wine, rice, table grapes, processing tomatoes and tree nuts such as almonds, pistachios and walnuts.

Common destinations for California farm products include Canada, the European Union, China and Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and the Philippines.

The products’ journey from California’s rural communities to restaurants and grocery stores abroad involves several steps.

Most crops in California are harvested by seasonal workers and loaded into trailers. From there, trucks typically haul the raw goods to processing facilities such as rice mills, canneries, wineries and packinghouses.

After being processed and packaged, most goods bound for foreign markets are loaded into shipping containers and transported by big rigs known as drayage trucks, or freight trains, to ports up and down the state. Agricultural products such as meat, cheese, fruits and vegetables are moved in refrigerated containers on a strict schedule to ensure they remain fresh. Highly perishable products such as cherries and strawberries go by air freight.

Due to its capacity and proximity to the Central Valley, the Port of Oakland is California’s primary port for agricultural exports. California farm products typically fill about one-third of all shipping containers leaving the state’s ports and about half the containers that leave from Oakland. The ports of Stockton, West Sacramento and Humboldt also specialize in agricultural goods. At ports, the containers are loaded onto ships and transported around the world.

Caleb Hampton