California Artichoke Production Down and ASF in China Data

**California produces 97% of the nation’s fresh artichokes, and 75% of those are grown in Monterey County, and it’s the county’s official vegetable.

Yet artichoke production on California’s Central Coast has steadily fallen over the past three decades.

That’s partly due to a transition from perennial artichoke plants to an annual or seeded variety.

**The 2018 spread of African swine fever to China had reverberations in the global pork market, according to new USDA data.

ASF caused an estimated loss of 27.9 million metric tons in China's pork output from late 2018 to early 2021 and led to a doubling of China's domestic pork prices.

The high prices attracted a surge of pork exports from four major suppliers, the EU, the US, Brazil, and Canada.

**USDA’s Economic Research Service released its annual Farm Sector Income Forecast Report for 2023 which shows lower net farm income this year.

But Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says while net farm income will drop below the record high of 2022, it’s still one of the best years on record, 15% above average for the last two decades, and 2024 is projected to be the fourth-highest year on record.

A bright spot is that some production costs, like feed, fertilizer, and pesticides, have declined.