AGRICULTURE

San Joaquin Valley Crops Set Record: The gross value of crops grown last year in the eight-county region totaled about $12.2 billion, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press. The figure is up 12.3% from 1992 and about $900 million higher than the previous valley record, set in 1990. As usual, Fresno was the nation’s leading farm county, with $3 billion in gross values, followed by Tulare at $2.36 billion. Kern County returned to third place in the nation in 1993 after slipping behind Monterey County in 1992. Kern’s crops were up 23.8% to $1.9 billion.