A Bid to Beef Up Allure of Agricultural Fairs : Tourism: A state agency appoints a panel to look into ways to attract more city people to the events, which produce tax revenue.

Holy heifers!

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has named a special committee to look at the future of the agricultural fair industry in California.

But there is no fear that this could mark the demise of the grandiose Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, the California State Fair in Sacramento or even the Great Snail Festival in Walnut.

No, it’s simply that agriculture officials recognize that the industry must adapt to the challenges of rising costs, reduced funds and changing tastes.

California fairs are a product of the state’s diverse rural heritage. There are fairs--celebrating everything from dates to jumping frogs--every month but January. Although California is still the nation’s No. 1 agricultural state, its fairs have branched out to include high-technology, automobile and motion picture exhibits.

But with urbanites far outnumbering rural visitors at many of the state’s 81 annual fairs, “we have to justify the fairs’ existence,” said Conrad Ferreira, a veterinarian in Shasta County and a member of the eight-member panel. That means coming up with more sophisticated attractions and exhibits to appeal to a more citified crowd.

Ferreira said the panel has been charged with assessing “current conditions and future opportunities.” This will mean studying trends in attendance, funding and profitability; looking at issues raised by animal-rights activists, and figuring out how to pay for much-needed improvements to fairgrounds and exhibit halls.

The committee, which held its first meeting Sunday at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, is expected to issue a report late this year. It is chaired by Cornelius Gallagher, a vice president of Bank of America in Sacramento who works with agribusiness.

Like other industries, the fair business is feeling a money crunch. Although attendance has generally been on the rise, spiraling costs of staging the lavish events have begun to outweigh revenues from admissions, parking, concessions and carnivals.

“Fairs in small rural counties are very much struggling,” said Joe Barkett, general manager of the California Exposition & State Fair in Sacramento. Revenues from horse-track betting, which help fund the fairs, are stagnant or “possibly declining,” Barkett added.

In 1990, more than 12 million people attended fairs in California. The Los Angeles County Fair, which drew nearly 1.5 million in 1990, is by far the largest in the state. Fairs generate about $60 million in sales tax revenue for state and local agencies.

Despite the recession in 1991, “most of our clients had a very good year,” said Stephen Chambers, executive director of the Western Fairs Assn. in Sacramento. “The bad news is . . . that fairs are reaching a crisis in funding.”