Specialty Agriculture in Humboldt County

Economics 309 -- Humboldt County Wealth Indicators Project 2001

Sean Dockery

The Specialty agriculture industry in Humboldt County is comprised of a base of organic farms, sprout companies, and flower companies. Sun Valley Floral was left out of the statistical analysis because it is by far the largest employer in this industry, and due to its slow, steady growth, it flattens out the results of the statistics.

This industry can be used as a sustainability indicator both quantitatively and qualitatively. First of all we will look at trends in the industry over the last ten years in terms of number of businesses and employees.

Source: http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov

How are we doing?

According to available data, the number of businesses in the industry has remained relatively stable, while the number of employees has fluctuated dramatically from year to year, as well as from month to month. This fluctuation of employees is due to the nature of the agriculture industry and the labor demand due to seasons, weather, and produce demand. It is important to note that this data is incomplete, as many local small farms are not represented. Also farm hands are often paid under the table.

Why is this important?

The specialty agriculture industry is an important indicator of sustainability in Humboldt County because this industry brings Humboldt County diversity through the labor at farms like Sun Valley Floral, whose workforce is primarily Chicano. Industries such as Sun Valley also increases Humboldt Countyís economic viability by bringing currency into the area through their exports.

Because ìorganic agricultureî also fits within the area of Specialty Agriculture, we can see another grouping of effects from this industry that help foster sustainability in Humboldt County. Through forums such as local food cooperatives, such as the Arcata and Eureka Co-op, and Farmers Markets, this industry fosters community. By bringing people together in a common meeting place, where they can interact and learn about each other, these forums help to foster a sense of ownership and pride in there community, by giving peoples desire to eat locally grown food, and buy food from farmers they know.

In addition to the benefits this industry provides to community, it also has a profound effect on the environment. This is due to the fact that organic farming often internalizes costs that other parts of the agriculture industry tend to externalize. For example, conventional agriculture mines the soil, by draining its nutrients and compacting its structure until the soil is unusable, and then moves to the next field. By contrast, organic farming builds soils by incorporating compost and covercrops, improving soil structure to insure long term viability. In addition, locally grown food reduces our dependence on the fossil fuel industry by minimizing our need for trucked in food.