In a 2009 crop report released today, the Monterey County Ag Industry reached the 4-billion dollar mark, while strawberries came in number 1 in the county, for the first time, passing leaf lettuce as the top producing commodity in the Salinas Valley. According to Ag officials, last year’s strawberry crop was worth over 750-million dollars, and in the last 20 years, the number of acres planted for strawberries has doubled from 5,000 acres to over 11,000. 88% of the nation’s strawberry crop is grown in California.
