Almond Farmers Honored for Pollinator Protection

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honors Almond Farmers of California

Special award given only when a group does exceptional work protecting pollinators

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) on Tuesday presented its Business for Bees Sustainability Award – an honor reserved for standout organizations that go above and beyond to support pollinators – to the Almond Board of California (ABC) and the state’s almond farmers.

“This is about their long-term dedication to supporting all pollinators in their orchards and throughout our ecosystem,” said Kelly Rourke, executive director of Pollinator Partnership, which founded NAPPC 21 years ago. “We’ve worked with them for many years and this is well-deserved recognition of their steadfast commitment to engaging farmers in pollinator conservation on multiple levels. The Almond Board and the entire almond industry have really moved the needle to raise awareness and generate action to protect pollinators.”

NAPPC has only given out its Business for Bees Sustainability Award once before. It is given in years when there is a business taking extra special steps to protect bees and all pollinators and to advance sustainability and innovation.

“ABC’s name is on this award, but it really goes to the 7,600 almond farmers in California,” said Josette Lewis, ABC’s chief scientific officer. “Farmers understand how important pollinators are to growing almonds and to all of agriculture and the environment. They want to be part of the solution.”

The reasons for the award, Rourke said, include ABC’s leadership in founding the California Pollinator Coalition, its work promoting on-farm pollinator habitat and its support of years of research and education about the best practices for providing hospitable environments for pollinators in almond orchards and in other habitats.

ABC worked with Pollinator Partnership and the California Department of Food and Agriculture last spring to create the California Pollinator Coalition (CPC) which brought together a broad array of grower organizations across the state’s ag and environmental landscape to help promote the health of wild and managed pollinators.

“The formation of the California Pollinator Coalition was such a big step,” said Laurie Davies Adams, Pollinator Partnership’s Director of Programs, who helped found the CPC. “This is a unique statewide coalition that brings together every grower, farmer and rancher group. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. It’s going to make a real difference on the ground.”

NAPPC is a collaboration of diverse partners from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It includes respected scientists, researchers, business people, conservationists and government officials.

NAPPC works to promote awareness and scientific understanding of pollinators, to find common ground for solutions and to create innovative initiatives that benefit pollinators.

NAPPC is administered and supported by Pollinator Partnership, a non-profit headquartered in San Francisco with a mission to promote the health of pollinators through education, conservation and research.

The award was announced during NAPPC’s 21^st Annual International Conference, held virtually this year for the second time and hosted by the Pollinator Partnership and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The conference and award ceremony were planned for the Smithsonian before being forced to remain virtual because of COVID-19.

Rourke and Adams said they would have liked to have given the honor in person to show how much they appreciate ABC’s work.

“The strong effort that the Almond Board of California has mounted with the support of the almond industry to engage farmers and the entire agricultural community far beyond almond orchards is really impressive,” Adams said. “Bringing every grower group together to have an agriculturally-led coalition for pollinators is significant. It will provide building blocks for even more engagement and large results. It’s a pioneering effort that other states are seeking to emulate.”

“This is an outstanding honor for our farmers,” Lewis said, “especially considering all the good work that NAPPC and the Pollinator Partnership do. As much as anyone, almond farmers are tuned in to the importance of pollinators to their crops and our ecosystem. That’s why they work so hard to make their orchards healthy places for pollinators.”

Almond farmers across California’s Central Valley sit in what is essentially a flyway for pollinators. In recent years, almond farmers have applied to certify more than 110,000 acres of Bee Friendly Farming®, providing pollinator habitat and integrated pest management across the valley to keep that flyway healthy and create badly needed floral resources that compliment and expand beyond the annual almond bloom.

“Almond farmers have doubled the number of acres of bee friendly habit in California and in that pollinator flyway,” Lewis said. “We’re proud to help lead a broad coalition of agriculture and conservation groups to work together to promote and preserve habitat for pollinators.”

California Ag Today2021-10-19T14:59:00-07:00October 19th, 2021|

New Evidence Supports Walnuts and Heart Health

Latest Research Shows Walnuts May Lower Cholesterol and Increase Longevity

The research on the role of diet and heart health continues to evolve, and while heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the U.S.,¹ there are steps that people can take to improve their overall health and well-being. In a new, first-of-its-kind study to explore the effects of a walnut-enriched diet on overall cholesterol in elderly individuals, researchers found an association between regular daily walnut consumption and sustained lower levels of cholesterol including a 15 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease.^{2,^} This study was conducted over two years and involved over 700 participants between the ages of 63 and 79 who were healthy, independent-living adults residing in Barcelona, Spain, and Loma Linda, California.

Researchers went beyond LDL cholesterol and looked at all types of lipoproteins. One ½ cup serving of walnuts a day made a positive effect on lipoproteins, including a reduction in the number of total LDL particles by 4.3% and small LDL particles by 6.1% as well as a decrease in Intermediate Density Lipoprotein (IDL) cholesterol (16.9%). Additional findings reinforce the notion that regular walnut consumption may be a useful part of a heart-healthy eating pattern – participants that completed the study ate ½ cup of walnuts every day and did not gain weight. It is important to note, study participants had the option to eat a variety of other foods in addition to walnuts. Further investigation is needed in more diverse and disadvantaged populations. Read more about California walnuts and heart health.

Additionally, new research^{3,^} from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and published in Nutrients found that participants who reported eating five or more servings of walnuts per week had a 14% lower risk of death (from any cause), 25% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases, and a gain of about 1.3 years of life expectancy compared to participants who reported no walnut consumption. Study participants included over 67,000 women of the Nurses’ Health Study (1998–2018) and some 26,000 men of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1998–2018). Both groups were on average around 63 years old and free of cancer, heart disease, and stroke at baseline. Participants self-reported nut intake via food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), which were completed every four years. As a prospective observational study, these results do not prove cause and effect, but they do shed light on how walnuts may support an overall healthy lifestyle that promotes longevity. Learn more.

California Ag Today2021-10-19T14:18:08-07:00October 19th, 2021|

CalFresh Welcomes Texts on Healthy Eating

CalFresh Participants Welcome Texts on Benefits of California-Grown Produce

The buzz or chirp of an incoming text message started some San Diego County residents on the path to a healthier diet during this past year. In September 2020, most CalFresh participants in the county – more than 172,000 households – began receiving monthly text messages about the benefits of California-grown fruits and vegetables as part of a pilot program. CalFresh is for people with low income who meet federal income eligibility rules and want to add to their budget to put healthy and nutritious food on the table.

This novel approach to delivering nutrition messages to California food assistance program participants was developed by a partnership of the Nutrition Policy Institute of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the UC San Diego Center for Community Health, and the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, which administers CalFresh in the county.

The HHSA, which had been using its text messaging platform to send administrative reminders and alerts, was receptive to using the tool for sending nutrition-focused information. NPI and CCH partnered with ideas42, a firm that applies behavioral science to solutions for social change, to develop a series of five text messages promoting California-grown fruits and vegetables.

The text messages – originally delivered in English and Spanish, with the addition of Arabic beginning in July 2021 – were friendly and conversational in tone.

“In a text, you have very few characters you’re communicating with people, so we wanted to make sure we were using cutting-edge behavioral science to construct those messages to have the most impact,” said Wendi Gosliner, NPI senior researcher and policy advisor.

Each text included a link directing recipients to a website developed as part of the project, with information on selecting, storing and preparing California-grown fruits and vegetables; health benefits; tips to reduce food waste; and recipes – including TikTok videos.

Initially running from September 2020 to March 2021, the pilot program was well-received. Nearly 90% of CalFresh participants responding to a survey said they appreciated receiving the texts. “It is very important for us to eat healthy, to teach our children to eat healthy,” wrote one participant. “I love the recipes…they’re so delicious and easy to make…I’m very, very grateful for the help because, without you guys, I would be struggling more and I just want a better life for my children.”

Gosliner said it was encouraging to see that two-thirds of the approximately 5,000 survey respondents reported eating more California-grown fruits and vegetables after receiving the messages, and 85% expressed a desire to see more texts.

“What we see is that there’s definitely a decent-sized population of people participating in CalFresh –now this is just in San Diego County but imagine the entire state – who would benefit from having this kind of information available to them,” Gosliner said. “And there is at least a subset of people who really liked it.”

UC San Diego’s Center for Community Health was instrumental in facilitating the partnership between UC ANR and the HHSA. Further, CCH, in partnership with the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative, formed a community council composed of residents representing diverse communities throughout San Diego County. Together, the council facilitated CalFresh participants to take part in focus groups, which provided feedback and guidance on the messaging and design for online resources. Gosliner said the success of the text program has been a direct result of community input and involvement.

“The Center for Community Health-led focus groups were integral to ensuring CalFresh resources were accessible and informative to a wide range of CalFresh participants, and local individuals and families more broadly,” said Blanca Meléndrez, executive director at the UC San Diego Center for Community and Population Health, Altman Clinical Translational Research Institute. “In the process, the text-based campaign also placed a greater focus on the local production of nutritious fruits and vegetables, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, and building new streams of income for the region’s farmers and producers.”

This effort also suggests a simple way to reach CalFresh participants and bridge gaps between the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and programming that offers nutrition education and healthy eating resources.

“By combining UCSD and UC ANR knowledge about healthy eating with our outreach capability, we are able to reach thousands of families via text message each month,” said Michael Schmidt, human services operations manager for the HHSA. “With the click of a button, these families are provided with resources to assist them in making healthier lifestyle choices, supporting a region that is building better health, living safely and thriving.”

The effort has been so effective that HHSA has asked for additional messages, beyond the original five months’ worth of texts and resources.

“The partnership between UC ANR’s Nutrition Policy Institute, UC San Diego’s Center for Community Health, the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency and San Diego County community residents brought together a great team to develop an innovative, technology-based intervention,” said Shana Wright, San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative co-director at CCH. “Each partner provided knowledge, resources and assets that enhanced the project beyond the initial pilot phase, exceeding preliminary expectations.”

Gosliner said the pilot program has been a “great example and wonderful experience” of partnership in action.

“You can sit with your research or program ideas for a long time but if you don’t have people who can help you implement them, then they really aren’t helpful in any way,” she said. “In this case, it was just a nice combination of an idea…with partners who wanted to work to make something happen.”

California Ag Today2021-10-13T15:23:54-07:00October 13th, 2021|

Citrus Production Cost Study Available

New UC Study Outlines Costs of Growing Oranges in the San Joaquin Valley

By Pam Kan-Rice News & Information Outreach for UCANR

A new study outlining the costs and returns of establishing and producing navel oranges with low-volume irrigation in the southern San Joaquin Valley has been released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

“A cost study gives a ‘new’ grower a better idea of all the costs that are involved with producing the crop,” said co-author Greg Douhan, UC Cooperative Extension citrus advisor for Tulare and Fresno counties.

Real estate agents, land leasers, bankers evaluating loan applications and others can use the cost study to estimate current costs to plant and produce oranges and expected profits.

This study updates an earlier version, using as an example the Cara Cara navel, which is known for its distinctive pink-colored flesh rather than the conventional orange flesh of the Washington navel.

“The Cara Cara has been returning very good prices to growers for the past decade or so and is a relatively new navel,” said co-author Craig Kallsen, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Kern County. “Of course, grower returns are driven by consumer demand. Why consumers like it so much I do not know, but I suspect it is because it tastes good and is different. You cut it and get a pink surprise. Its harvest maturity is similar to that of the Washington navel.”

The updated version takes into consideration “things like inflation, chemical availability, changes in markets both domestic and foreign, governmental regulations and other things,” Kallsen said.

The study is based on a hypothetical farm that consists of 65 contiguous acres on land in the San Joaquin Valley previously planted to another tree crop. Establishment and production costs are based on 10 acres being planted to oranges. Mature orange trees are grown on 50 acres and the remaining five acres are roads, equipment, shop area and homestead. The grower owns and farms the orchards.

The two major orange varieties grown in the San Joaquin Valley are navels and Valencias. Navels are grouped into three types by harvest timing – early, mid and late season. Due to current planting practices, only navels are included in this budget. Cara Cara is the variety of navel oranges currently most commonly planted.

The Cara Cara orange trees are planted double density, 10-by-20-foot spacing, at 218 trees per acre. At this density, it is possible to start harvesting in year 3 or 4. At year 8 or 9, full maturity is achieved and growers begin pruning back every other tree. This allows the grower to maintain yields while at the same time converting the field to 20-by-20 spacing – maximizing yield for a fully mature orchard.

For pest management, the study includes detailed information and links to UC Integrated Pest Management guidelines for citrus. The narrative contains tables of insecticide treatment cycles for establishment and production years.

The section “Exotic Pests of Economic Concern to Citrus Growers” contains information to meet quarantine regulations on exporting oranges from California to countries such as South Korea.

The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for oranges establishment and production, material inputs, cash and non-cash overhead. A ranging analysis table shows profits over a range of prices and yields.

“2021 – Sample Costs to Establish an Orchard and Produce Oranges in the Southern San Joaquin Valley” can be downloaded for free from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities are also available for free on the website.

California Ag Today2021-09-30T19:13:25-07:00September 30th, 2021|

Advice on Blue Elderberry Cultivation Available

New Guide Shows how Elderberry Activates Hedgerows, Ecologically and Commercially

A farm-edge hedgerow can be more than a boundary or barrier. When it comprises blue elderberry, it can be a way to integrate biodiversity in an often-simplified agricultural landscape – and connect with a legacy of stewardship and use by California’s Native peoples.

A new guide, published by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, provides detailed instructions and advice for California farmers on growing, harvesting, and marketing blue elderberry. It is available as a free download in the UC ANR catalog at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8709.

“It’s the only publication of its kind, that we know of, that focuses on commercial production of a native species from within a hedgerow, which people normally think of as a conservation feature,” said Sonja Brodt, one of the publication’s authors and associate director of UC ANR’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

In addition to illustrating the plant’s many ecological benefits, “Producing Blue Elderberry as a Hedgerow-Based Crop in California” highlights the economic viability of the products made from its flowers, berries, and other components.

“Consumer interest in elderberry products is booming,” said Brodt, “and blue elderberry has the potential to meet local needs with a locally adapted species that is climate-resilient, and can be produced in a relatively low-input way that supports – rather than displaces – our native ecosystems.”

The guide incorporates the findings of a UC SAREP project exploring the farm management practices, nutritional content, and market potential of elderberry products. And Brodt emphasized that this resource also draws upon the deep knowledge of Indigenous people, as well as best practices of growers such as Katie Fyhrie, formerly of The Cloverleaf Farm in Dixon and another author of the guide.

“We originally got the inspiration to do this work from local farmers who are pioneering the use of blue elderberry harvested on their farms, and from Native Americans in California who have long stewarded and utilized blue elderberry for food and other cultural uses,” Brodt explained.

California Ag Today2021-09-26T21:10:53-07:00September 26th, 2021|

Want Better Heart Health? Consume Walnuts!

Effects of Walnut Consumption for 2 Years on Blood Lipids and Lipoprotein Subclasses Among Healthy Elders

By: Rajaram S, Cofan M, Sala-Vila A, Haddad E, Serra M, Bitok E, Roth I, Freitas-Simoes TM, Kaur A, Valls-Pedret C, Domenech M, Oda K, Corella D, Sabate J, Ros E.

Frequent consumption of nuts, an important component of plant-based diets, is associated with 15% lower total cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 23% lower CVD mortality rates. Small, short-term randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate that diets supplemented with nuts have a consistent cholesterol-lowering effect; however, no trials of nut-enriched diets for lipid changes focused on elderly individuals, recruited participants from diverse geographical locations, or lasted 2 years. Also, there is little information concerning effects of nuts on lipoprotein subclasses.

We hypothesized that incorporating walnuts into the usual diet would improve the lipid profile irrespective of differences in geographical and dietary background.

Methods: The Walnuts and Healthy Aging (WAHA) study is a two-center (Barcelona, Spain and California, USA), 2-year, parallel-group RCT testing the effects of walnut-supplemented diets in healthy elders. Lipoprotein changes were a pre-specified secondary outcome. Eligible candidates were cognitively healthy elders (63-79 years old) without major comorbidities. Participants (n=708) were allocated to either a walnut-free (control) or walnut-supplemented diet (≈15% of energy, 30-60g/day). In 2 monthly visits, compliance, tolerance, medication changes, and body weight were recorded. At each visit, 8-week allotments of raw, pieced walnuts were delivered to the corresponding group.

Results: 636 participants completed the study (90% retention rate), and 628 had full data for lipoprotein analyses (mean age 69 years, 67% women, 32% treated with statins). Mean baseline LDL-C and triglycerides were 117 and 105 mg/dL, respectively. The walnut diet significantly decreased (mg/dL) total cholesterol (mean -8.5 [95% CI, -11.2, -5.4]), LDL-C (mean -4.3 [-6.6, -1.6]), and intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL)-C (-1.3 [-1.5, -1.0]), corresponding to reductions of 4.4%, 3.6%, and 16.8%, respectively, while triglycerides and HDL-C were unaffected (Figures-B, C). Total LDL particles and small LDL particle number decreased by 4.3% and 6.1%, respectively (Figure-D). Results were not different by study site. Lipid responses to the walnut diet differed by sex: LDL-C was reduced by 7.9% in men and by 2.6% in women (P-interaction=0.007).

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that incorporating daily doses of walnuts (≈15% of energy) to the habitual diet of free-living elders with an essentially normal lipid profile resulted in a mean 4.3 mg/dL LDL-C reduction, which is modest, although greater responses have been observed among individuals with hypercholesterolemia. Our data also support a beneficial effect of the walnut diet on NMR-assessed lipoprotein subfractions, with reductions of IDL-C (a sizable contributor to remnant-C) and total LDL particles. Prospective studies have reported that LDL particle number consistently outperforms LDL-C in CVD risk prediction and that remnant-C causally relates to CVD independent of LDL-C. That lipid responses were not different in two cohorts consuming diverse diets strengthens the generalization of our results. WAHA is the largest and longest nut trial to date, overcoming the limitations of prior smaller and shorter nut studies. The novel finding of sexual dimorphism in LDL-C response to walnut supplementation needs confirmation.

WAHA was conducted in free-living individuals, who chose their daily foods, which may be viewed as desirable since it is closer to real life than the situation in controlled feeding studies. On the basis of associations ascertained in cohort studies, the observed shift of the lipoprotein subclass phenotype suggests a reduction of lipoprotein-related CVD risk by long-term consumption of walnuts, which provides novel mechanistic insight for their potential cardiovascular benefit beyond effects on the standard lipid panel. Our data reinforce the notion that regular walnut consumption may be a useful part of a multi-component dietary intervention or dietary pattern to lower atherogenic lipids and improve CVD risk.

California Ag Today2021-09-22T14:17:04-07:00September 22nd, 2021|

Walnuts in Plant Based Diets

Walnuts Are Part of Plant Based Eating

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

The California Walnut Board & Commission are working hard to position walnuts as a perfect plant-based protein food. Jennifer Olmstead is Marketing Director for domestic public relations for the California Walnut Board & Commission. She said you definitely don’t want to overlook walnuts when talking about plants.

They have so many different nutrients to offer. One of them is the fact that they’re the only nut that’s significantly high in essential plant-based Omega-3 ALA.

And she said that’s the kind of Omega-3 fatty acid that you can get only by consuming this type of food. And then of course, they offer a nice amount of plant-based protein and fiber and are also a good source of magnesium.

Olmstead comments on the Have A Plant eating guide, that’s available. “It’s available through the Produce for Better Health Foundation website. And we worked with Produce for Better Health Foundation to develop this Plant-Forward eating guide that’s really targeted to health professionals, retailers, and food professionals,” noted Olmstead.

We have also provided all of those people with a toolkit of recipes, social media posts, graphics, and other assets that they can use to then take the information from the guide and share it with their own customers.

You can find out more information at fruitsandveggies.org, where you’ll find that Have A Plant information also information at walnuts.org.

California Ag Today2021-09-21T19:31:55-07:00September 21st, 2021|

LearnAboutAg Classroom Conference 2021

Save the Date for the Virtual 2021 California Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, September 24-25, 2021

Program at a Glance

LearnAboutAg.org, the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom has scheduled its 34th annual conference for educators—an online class

California agriculture is diverse—producing everything from vegetables, to milk, to fruits and nuts, and to field crops and livestock. Farming shapes the local landscape in each California county. The goal is to make sure students learn about agriculture and how it contributes to each and every one of our lives each and every day.

Teaching students about the journey their food and fiber undergoes from the farm to their everyday lives is an important message. Using Agriculture in the Classroom allows students to experience real-life lessons that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Although the conference lasts only two days, it’s hoped that teachers continue to LearnAboutAg® all year long! LearnAboutAg is here to help you continue incorporating the theme of agriculture into your classroom, or for those of you new to our program, how to get started!

We look forward to your registration and “seeing” you on Zoom!

California Ag Today2021-09-16T19:29:18-07:00September 16th, 2021|

Open Ag Burning To Phase Out

Open Ag Burning to Phase Out 2025

By Mike Stephens with the Ag Information Network

New requirements have started to phase out open burning of agricultural materials. California Air Resources Board began the process a decade ago. In a unanimous decision, the Air Resources Board (CARB) last week approved a plan to phase out all open agricultural burning by 2025 in the San Joaquin Valley

Ryan Jacobsen, is the CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, explained how the process started. “Ultimately in control is the California Air Resources Board. They were given that authority by the SB 700 from the early 2000s,” Jacobsen said.

“There’s been a lot of progress made over time. That’s one of the misnomers is that this recent announcement was that finally they were starting to address agricultural burning. That process started literally well over a decade ago. We’ve made tremendous strides, in reducing burning,” noted Jacobsen.

There have been some difficulties with certain commodities, such as grapevines. And then secondarily, there’s been difficulties in getting rid of our materials that chip material, because you when you take an orchard out, you have this chip material, which could go to biomass facilities located throughout the San Joaquin Valley that we could dispose of the bio mass.

“The biomass facilities began shutting down significantly over the course of the last five years,” Jacobsen said. “We were losing that ability to get rid of that. What was formerly a usable product was now a waste product that nobody wanted. So that’s the issue to why there was a hurdle in trying to get through some of this,” explained Jacobsen.

California Ag Today2021-09-13T19:13:15-07:00September 13th, 2021|

California Plums Granted Access Into Japan

Japan Grants Market Access to California Plums

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Japan has granted market access for California plums. Eliminating the phytosanitary barriers keeping California plums out of the Japanese market required multiple rounds of technical negotiations that were somewhat hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) would like to extend its appreciation to the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service’s negotiators and experts, as well as the Fresno County and Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner offices for their invaluable contributions to this process.

Ian LeMay

There will be strict packing and fumigation protocols in place but given the success of the existing California nectarine program for Japan, California stone fruit exporters have already demonstrated a commitment to meeting Japan’s requirements.

“Trade barriers threaten the health and viability of the industry. This represents a significant opportunity for California plums, as Japanese consumers value premium fruit and recognize California fruit’s superior quality. As the global economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding market access will continue to be critical to the industry’s success,” said Ian LeMay, CFFA President.

California Ag Today2021-08-20T12:23:32-07:00August 20th, 2021|

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