Fresno County Ag Commissioner 1

Fresno County Ag Commissioner 1

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
There was a lot of buzz earlier this year when it was announced that Fresno County leads the nation in agricultural production. Melissa Cregan the Fresno County Ag Commissioner reported that Fresno produced nearly $7.9 billion worth of agriculture in 2018. Fresno County edged out Kern County ($7.47 billion) for the top spot.

California Ag Today spoke with Cregan about the county’s agricultural success. She said she looks at agriculture as a “valley thing” and is proud of all the growers in Fresno, Tulare and Kern. She has people coming to congratulate her and to ask about the achievement but, she’s quick to point out:

Cregan:” Really all I get to do is report the glory of what the growers produce. I didn’t do this.Our growers did this. It’s great that I get to report the great things that our growers are doing to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the world but ultimately we’re just putting together the numbers. And we’ve got a lot of staff and it takes them almost a whole year to put that report together because there’s just so much information that comes in and looking for sources of information so we really appreciate our growers that return those surveys. That’s the only way we can do this is getting the actual information from the growers.”

Cregan says it’s important that growers know that all that information they offer about their operations is confidential. She says her office can’t give out individual grower survey stats by law, and they don’t. Sometimes she says growers are uneasy that the assessor is going to come asking for it. She says when that happens she always tells them no.

Melissa Cregan was appointed to the position of Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights & Measures for the Fresno County Department of Agriculture in March.

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