Food Safety First for Valley Harvesting

Food Safety Top of Mind with Valley Harvesting

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Valley Harvesting & Packing, Inc. is a company of people who don’t even think about slowing down; they simply don’t have the time. Headquartered in the Imperial County community of Heber, the company has major operations in Mexico, California and Arizona that supply labor, logistics, trucking and custom harvesting, while never compromising food safety. The company’s customers include Fresh Express, New Star Organics, Frisco Farms, River Ranch Fresh Foods, Dole, Tanimura & Antle, Natural Selections, and Foxy Fresh Produce.

Founded by Steve Scaroni and his wife, Brenda, in 1983, Valley Harvesting & Packing is not far from their home deep in the Imperial Valley, a few miles north of Mexicali, Mexico. As president of the company, Steve Scaroni has an enormous passion for the vegetable industry and spends this time of year in Oceanside, Santa Maria, Oxnard, Salinas and Watsonville, where about 30 percent of the business is harvesting and providing labor for strawberries. The remaining 70 percent is devoted to vegetable harvest, labor and logistics.

“If you look at the scope of the company, statistically,” Scaroni said, “we are ‘touching’ somewhere in the process about 25 percent of every salad eaten every day,” said Scaroni.

Valley Harvesting & Packing is a subsidiary of the Scaroni Family of Companies, founded by Steve and Brenda Scaroni in 1984, that also includes Fresh Harvest, a major labor provider, staffing company and harvesting company to the leafy green and berry industries, SMD Logistics, a harvesting, logistics and maintenance company with a 24/7 Dispatch Center, and Harvest Tek de México, a year-round farming operation. The SMD Logistics fleet of 50 trucks follows the harvest operations to deliver fresh-picked produce straight to the cooler within one hour.

Scaroni explained, “We have a food safety team overseeing everything we do. We have to do the same thing in Mexico, but even better than in the U.S.” Scaroni commented, “We have a saying in our operation: Food safety. Everyone. Everyday.”

“Animal intrusion is certainly always an issue,” Scaroni continued, “and you always have to check your water sources. We constantly swab our water tanks. And of course, we are always making sure people wash their hands and no one is sick, has a runny nose or is sneezing. These three things—animals, water and people—are 90 percent of the battle.”

“We believe in and follow the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA),” Scaroni emphasized. “The results show that this program works and we are completely focused on that. Every crew has a safety officer wearing a bright yellow and orange vest to ensure that the crew is operating safely.”

To help the supervisor maintain excellent quality, the safety officer oversees the sanitization of the cutting knives which are washed in a bucket with bleach every two hours, on average; before and after work; at every break and during lunch. “Out here, everyone uses a knife,” Scaroni continued, “so we have to make sure no one gets cut. There is also a lot of equipment in the field, so the safety officer makes sure no one gets run-over.”

California Ag Today2016-06-14T22:06:51-07:00May 20th, 2016|

Innovation Marks National Nutrition Month!

March is National Nutrition Month. Many innovative USDA programs are improving access to safe, healthy food for all Americans and supporting the health of our next generation.

About half of all American adults—117 million individuals, according to USDA—have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor quality eating patterns and physical inactivity. These include cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and poor bone health. More than two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children and youth are overweight or obese. Trends in food intake show that Americans do not follow healthy eating patterns.

2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Earlier this year, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion released the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Written for use by health professionals and policy makers every 5 years, the Dietary Guidelines provide nutrition guidance for Americans ages 2 and older to prevent diet-related chronic disease and maintain health.

Healthy Eating Index

The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) measures how the nation’s food choices align with the Dietary Guidelines. While the nation’s current HEI score—59 out of 100 (an improvement over previous years)—diet-related chronic disease rates over the last 25 years have risen and remain high. It follows that if we were to eat closer to the Dietary Guidelines and thereby increase our nation’s HEI scores closer to 100, we would see reductions in the prevalence of diet-related chronic disease.

The tool is being updated to reflect the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines released in January. In the meantime, the HEI has been used to monitor any defined set of foods including dietary intake data, menus at restaurants, and a market shopping basket of foods and can be applied to surveillance, policy, epidemiologic, clinical and behavioral research.

Over 200 scientific publications have featured the use of the HEI, a majority of which have examined the association between overall diet quality and health outcomes, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dental health, and ocular health.

National Nutrition Research Roadmap

Catherine Woteki, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for Research, Education & Economics, and co-chair of the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research (ICHNR), described the first-ever National Nutrition Research Roadmap released the fourth of March, National Nutrition Month.

The Roadmap will help guide government, academia, and the private sector to collaborate more effectively and productively on federally funded human nutrition research by identifying knowledge gaps and breakthrough opportunities. Accordingly, the Roadmap itself is the result of more than a year of collaboration among 10 different federal departments and agencies, more than 90 federal experts, and numerous public comments.

American consumers want to know which dietary choices will help them to be healthy and prevent chronic diseases, so research could have a profound impact on health and deliver large economic benefits to many societal, environmental, and economic challenges facing the U.S. and the world.

Nutritional needs differ according to a number of factors, including an individual’s age, health status, and their level of physical activity. Dietary guidance can be tailored to personal preferences so that individuals can make nutritional choices that are right for them. With this in mind, three overarching questions were identified in the Roadmap:

How do we better understand and define eating patterns to improve and sustain health?
What can be done to help people choose healthy eating patterns?
How can we develop and engage innovative methods and systems to accelerate discoveries in human nutrition?

The Roadmap provides a subset of specific research areas for each question based on population impact, feasibility, and emerging scientific opportunity, with special consideration given to knowledge gaps (a) related to at-risk demographic groups such as pregnant women, children and older adults and (b) nutrition-related chronic diseases that contribute most to morbidity, mortality, and health disparities.

While the Roadmap focuses primarily on reducing nutrition related diseases in the US, it could also improve our understanding of nutrition’s role in optimal performance and military readiness, as well as guide other national governments, non-governmental organizations and collaborative global efforts to advance human nutrition research to improve and sustain health across the globe.

MyPlate, MyWins Challenge

On a personal note, if you need a little extra motivation to focus on building healthy eating habits, pledge to take the MyPlate, MyWins Challenge! It’s a fun and simple food and physical activity challenge available to SuperTracker groups.

All you have to do, according to Sarah Chang, nutritionist at USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, is

2 + 2 + 2:

Eat 2 foods from each MyPlate food group
And do 2 physical activities
For 2 days

SuperTracker Groups

You can run your own MyPlate, MyWins Challenge for your family, colleagues, or community in five easy steps:

Create a SuperTracker group – Watch this video for a step-by-step tutorial
Invite others to join via email or with your group code at usda.gov/join
Create the MyPlate, MyWins Challenge for your group – Watch this video for a step-by-step tutorial
Participants use the challenge Quick Tracker on your group page to record their foods and physical activities. They’ll earn points and get progress updates along the way.
Check the challenge leaderboard to discover the winners!

Sarah’s MyPlate, MyWins Challenge Group!

If you don’t want to create your own challenge group, join Chang at “Sarah’s MyPlate, MyWins Challenge Group!”

Starting next Tuesday, March 22, eat two foods from each food group and do two physical activities each day. Log in to your SuperTracker account, and record them using the Quick Tracker on the group page to earn points and compete against others in the group.

The MyPlate, MyWins Challenge is one of several challenging consumer education initiatives, grounded in the most recent edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and available through USDA’s new online MyPlate Challenges.

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Sources:

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Roadmap Sets the Table for Nutrition Research, by Dr. Catherine Woteki, featured on Science Tuesday series on the USDA blog.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, The Healthy Eating Index: How Is America Doing?, by TusaRebecca E. Schap.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Pledge to Take the MyPlate, MyWins Challenge this March, by Sarah Chang, MPH, RD, CNPP.

“Savor the Flavor” image, from eatright.org. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

All other images from U. S. Department of Agriculture.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:57-07:00March 22nd, 2016|

MachineryLink—the Airbnb of Agriculture

Jeff Dema: MachineryLink—the Airbnb of Agriculture

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Agriculture, like any other industry, is constantly growing and developing to increase productivity, efficiency, sustainability and profitability. Jeff Dema, president of FarmLink, said his company has created a new program called MachineryLink Sharing that enables farmers to rent equipment that may be too costly for them to purchase outright from fellow farmers who own the equipment.

Source: MachineryLink.com

MachineryLink Solutions, created 15 years ago by FarmLink, a data science and technology company that aims to help create and support a long-term, sustainable global food system by seeking opportunities for advanced analytics and modern technology, offers quality equipment at a fraction of the cost of ownership. This new feature, “MachineryLink Sharing, is really the Airbnb*[1] for agriculture,” Dema said. “You can think about it as the industry’s first online internet-based platform that allows owners of equipment and users of equipment to transact and share equipment.” Dema said the program helps solve the issue of farmers receiving limited returns on equipment investments.

“Equipment and machinery represents a significant portion of the farmer’s cost-structure,” Dema said. “In fact, 41 percent of non-land production costs are tied up typically in machinery and equipment. This provides farmers an opportunity to access equipment without having to deploy mass sums of capital to buy their equipment. The USDA tells us that farmers have $244 billion worth of equipment and machinery tied up in those assets,” he explained, “and the utilization rates are minuscule. The average asset turnover ratio for farmers is 0.34, which means for every dollar a farmer has tied up in assets, he or she is generating 34 cents worth of revenue—a very low asset utilization level. This service addresses that economic challenge.”

Aside from MachineryLink, FarmLink offers growers two additional ways to optimize their success and profitability. More than five years ago, FarmLink began to collect data to build an analytics platform that accelerates the pace of data-driven insights and innovation in agriculture. “The result,” Dema stated, “TrueHarvest, is a data-analytics platform that helps farmers benchmark[2] their yield performance—the first and only independent[3] yield benchmark service for agronomic effectiveness available. By using actionable data to compare each field, down to the 150 square foot area called a micro-field, growers can easily uncover yield improvement opportunities and make better input and management decisions.”

TrueHarvest, according to the FarmLink website enables each farmer to:

Validate input, resource allocation and farming practice decisions
Measure the year-over-year results of farming practice changes, including seed and fertilizer choices, regardless of the weather conditions
Make in-season changes and planning decisions for next year’s crop
Determine which areas of your fields have more or less potential
Determine revenue improvement opportunities

Lastly, Demo said, At FarmLink, we help with risk management as well to help buy and sell the materials that farmers buy and sell.”

________________________

[1] Founded in 2008 and based in San Francisco, Calif., Airbnb, according to its website, is a community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone or tablet. Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Airbnb claims to be the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.

[2] To benchmark = Objectively validate the impact of input variables to optimize production, profitability and sustainability

[3] FarmLink is independent in that it does not sell seed, equipment, fertilizer or crop chemicals.

________________________

Links

FarmLink

MachineryLink

TrueHarvest

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:27:02-07:00December 10th, 2015|

New Biodico BioFuel Facility In Fresno County

Biodico Biofuel Facility, World’s First, to Operate Entirely on Renewable Heat and Power

Biodico Inc., a sustainable biofuel and bioenergy company, announced the opening of its Biodico Westside Facility, the world’s first biofuel production facility to operate entirely on on-site power-generated renewable heat. Biodico’s ribbon-cutting ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, December 4, 2015, at the at Red Rock Ranch in Five Points, Fresno County, California, is open to the public and will feature the “Sustainable Rhythm” of the Mendota High School Marching Band’s drumline.

Biodico is transforming biofuel production with sustainable solutions to convert diverse feedstocks into environmentally sound renewable sources of fuel and energy. The Westside Facility will produce up to 20 million gallons of biodiesel annually, utilize multi-feedstock functionality, incorporate advanced sensors for real-time and remote monitoring, leading to complete system automation, and provide 45 new jobs to the San Joaquin Valley.

“Our new facility in the Valley will produce economically and environmentally viable biobased* fuel and energy for local farmers and truckers, and create new jobs in the community,” said Biodico president and founder, Russ Teall, an internationally-acknowledged leader in biofuels with more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of the industry including legal and regulatory affairs. “This facility demonstrates Biodico’s commitment to an integrated value chain model that includes accelerated and inexpensive construction and deployment, enhanced throughput with reduced operating costs, and increased monetization of renewable fuel and energy,” said Teall.

Teall successfully evolved patented and proprietary biorefinery* technology in conjunction with the U.S. Navy and the California Energy Commission. The most recent generation of equipment, the MPU (Modular Production Unit) brings automation and remote real-time sensing to biorefineries as part of an integrated self-sustaining system, utilizing anaerobic digestion, gasification, solar, and advanced agricultural and algaculture* [a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae, Wikipedia].

Teall is currently the California Biodiesel Alliance president, California Air Resources Board Panel on the Low Carbon Fuel Standard member, and CIA Afghan Energy Project panelist; and formerly National Biodiesel Board (NBB) vice chair and the NBB Legislative Committee chair. He has provided biorefinery consulting services to private companies, governments and trade associations throughout the world, including the US, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Hong Kong and the PRC, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand.

_____________

Again, Biodico will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility on Friday, December 4, 2015, featuring the “Sustainable Rhythm” of the Mendota High School Marching Band’s drumline. Details follow:

What: Ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the world’s first fully sustainable biofuel facility.

When/Where: Friday, December 4, 2015, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Red Rock Ranch in Five Points, Fresno County, Calif.

Why: Fossil fuels are finite and the world needs economical alternatives that reduce toxic air emissions and greenhouse gases.

About Biodico: Biodico is a privately held company headquartered in Ventura, Calif. that (1) builds, owns and operates sustainable biofuel and bioenergy facilities, (2) conducts research, development, and validation studies with the U.S. Navy, and (3) collaborates with strategic joint venture partners to commercialize new technology and initiatives.

The company and its management have been pioneers in the industry for the past 23 years, with an emphasis on using advanced, patented and proprietary technologies for the sustainable multi-feedstock modular production of next generation biofuels and bioenergy.

_____________

Lexicon

[Source: Wikipedia]

*algaculture – a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae, Wikipedia].

*biobased = intentionally made from substances derived from living or once-living organisms

Biobased products, designated by the Secretary of Agriculture, are commercial or industrial products that are composed in whole, or in significant part, of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials or forestry materials.

*biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, heat, and value-added chemicals from biomass. The biorefinery concept is analogous to today’s petroleum refinery, which produce multiple fuels and products from petroleum.

The International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefineries has defined biorefining as the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of bio-based products (food, feed, chemicals, materials) and bioenergy (biofuels, power and/or heat).

_____________

What is biomass electricity?

[Source: California Energy Commission]

Biomass electricity is drawn from combusting or decomposing organic matter. There are about 132 waste-to-energy plants in California, with a total capacity of almost 1,000 megawatts. These plants power our homes and businesses with electricity from waste matter that would have been released into the atmosphere, added fuel to forest fires, and burdened our landfills.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:27:02-07:00December 3rd, 2015|

Thanks to California Ag!

Thanks to California Ag for Thanksgiving!

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

As Americans enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, let us recognize that farmers, especially California farmers, have made our bounty possible.

California is a big turkey producing state, always ranking in the top six nationally.

In 1948, Sophie Cubbison, who was born in San Carlos, California and who graduated from California Polytechnical University in 1912, invented the Mrs. Cubbinson’s melba toast or cornbread stuffing most of us serve. (She even paid her way through college with the money she earned feeding farmworkers. Source: www.mrscubbisons.com)

What would Thanksgiving be without wonderful California wines and Martinelli’s (another great California company) great sparkling apple and grape beverages to celebrate our good fortune?

And all those amazing side dishes . . . the russet and red potatoes from Kern County; the sweet potatoes from Merced County; the many wonderful squash varieties including zucchini, yellow, acorn squash . . . are all produced by farmers and farmworkers in California.

Green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, radishes, and carrots will grace the tables across America, thanks to California producers in ped and other areas of the state.

Don’t forget garlic, onions and mushrooms are all produced primarily in California!

California farmers produce it all, with the exception of cranberries!

Thanks Wisconsin!

(And New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and parts of Canada)

You can thank California egg producers for those tasty hardboiled deviled eggs on Grandma’s favorite serving dish.

Plus raisins, a great addition to dressings and other dishes, thanks to the raisin producers in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties.

And of course walnuts, almonds and pistachios are big part of our savory stuffing recipes and our snacks.

Apple cider and apple pie? California, among the top five states, produces a wide variety of apples.

Wait! What about pumpkin pie? California farmers.

And the wonderful whipped cream? Thanks to the California dairy industry.

Did you know the turkey pop-up timer was invented in California? Yes, indeed. Back in the 1950s, the California Turkey Producers Advisory Board brainstormed to figure out how to prevent over-cooked turkeys, according to Leo Pearlstein, a Los Angeles pubic relations pro in the food industry, who was among the five original board members. One board member—a California turkey producer, as Pearlstein tells it—looked up at the ceiling, noticed the sprinklers and had a Eureka moment! He suddenly realized the ceiling sprinklers were triggered when heat melted a material inside the gizmo. For a complete explanation, see How Pop-Up Turkey Timers Work at home.howstuffworks.com/pop-up-timer1.htm.

From all of us here at California Ag Today,

Thanks to California Ag for serving us a delectable nutritious Thanksgiving!

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:27:03-07:00November 24th, 2015|

Water and Nitrogen Use Research

Andre Biscaro on Water and Nitrogen Use Research

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Many jobs exist solely for the improvement of agriculture. Andre Biscaro, agriculture and environmental issues advisor at the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties said his job is to find ways to improve water and nitrogen use in fertilizing crops such as strawberries and celery.

“We’re measuring how much nitrogen the plant takes in and at what time,” Biscaro said, “so we can make more accurate recommendations for nitrogen fertilizers. It’s the same for water. We’re monitoring the crop growth of the strawberry plants—how deep the roots go and how the canopy develops—so we can make more accurate water recommendations. We’re assessing fields in Santa Maria and we are implementing the second phase here in Ventura County, Santa Maria and Watsonville.”

Biscaro is researching in strawberries and celery how to push salts in the soil beyond the root zone, the point beyond which plants will generally seek water unless they are stressed. “It’s essential to install soil moisture sensors at the end of your root system,”Biscaro said, “to make sure the soil is saturated every time you irrigate and then you need to push the water down. And it’s also really important to calculate the amount of water you’re applying because a lot of growers are irrigating without knowing how much water they are applying.”

“We calculate the leaching fraction [the portion of irrigation water that infiltrates past the root zone] based on the sensitivity of the crop to salinity and to the salinity of the water,” Biscaro explained. “And by only knowing how much water you’re applying, you can add a certain leaching fraction to your crop,” Biscaro said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:27:09-07:00September 29th, 2015|

#AgLaw: Safe and Accurate Food Labeling – GMOs

H.R.1599 – Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015

Status/Next Steps:

H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 passed the House of Representatives on July 23, 2015 by a recorded vote: 275 – 150. H.R. 1599 has been received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Description:

Sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo [R-KS], this bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the developer of a bioengineered organism intended as food to submit a premarket biotechnology notification to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A “bioengineered organism” (commonly called a “genetically modified organism” or “GMO”) is a plant or part of a plant that has been modified through recombinant DNA techniques in a way that could not be obtained using conventional breeding techniques.

The developer must determine, and the FDA approve, that the GMO food is as safe as a comparable non-GMO food. If the FDA discovers a material difference between these two foods, the FDA can specify labeling that informs consumers of the difference.

A food can be labelled as “non-GMO” only if the ingredients are subject to certain supply chain process controls. No food label can suggest that non-GMO foods are safer than GMO foods. A food can be labeled as non-GMO even if it is produced with a GMO processing aid or enzyme or derived from animals fed GMO feed or given GMO drugs.

The FDA must allow, but not require, GMO food to be labeled as GMO.
The FDA must regulate the use of “natural” on food labels.
This bill amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Agricultural Marketing Service to establish a program to certify non-GMO food.
This bill preempts state and local restrictions on GMOs or GMO food and labeling requirements for GMOs, GMO food, non-GMO food, or “natural” food.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:08-07:00August 5th, 2015|

Manufacturing Consortium

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced late last week that The Central Valley AgPlus Food and Beverage Manufacturing Consortium, led by Fresno State, was one of 12 new communities designated this year under the Obama Administration’s Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. IMCP was designed to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing in communities nationwide by supporting the development of long-term economic development strategies.

Consortium members represent major Central Valley public and private institutions from the education, business, economic and workforce development and civic sectors joining forces to foster the growth and creation of food and beverage businesses and middle-skills manufacturing jobs in the Central Valley.

“An IMCP designation is an important signal to potential investors that these communities are a good place to spend their money, and this is smart government at work,” Pritzker said. “By breaking down silos and encouraging communities to take a more thoughtful, comprehensive approach to their strategic plans, we are ensuring that precious federal dollars are used on the most high impact projects and in a way that maximizes return on investment.”

The new communities were selected by an interagency panel based on the strength of their economic development plans, the potential for impact in their communities and the depths of their partnerships across the public and private sectors to carry out their plans.

Consortium members worked together to identify a sector of manufacturing where their community has a comparative advantage and drafted a strategic plan that addresses workforce and supply chain challenges; infrastructure; research and innovation; trade and investment; capital access; and operational improvement for manufacturing companies.

The 12 designated manufacturing communities will receive:

coordinated support for their strategies from 11 federal agencies with more than $1 billion available in federal economic development assistance.
a dedicated federal liaison who will help them navigate available federal resources.
recognition on a government website, accessible to prospective private foreign and domestic investors, looking for information on communities’ competitive attributes.

Mike Dozier, director of Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development, the lead office for the project, said the opportunity and challenge facing the Central Valley is to claim more value from agricultural production through the food processing industry, along with its supply and distribution chains.

“California’s food system is the largest agricultural economy in the U.S. and among the top 10 globally,” Dozier said in the application. “It produced nearly $105 billion in economic output in 2012, and it was responsible for over 198,000 jobs tied directly to manufacturing.”

With 28 counties located in California’s heartland, the Central Valley plays a dominant role in this economy as America’s “Farm to Fork Capital.”

“Production agriculture has been the Central Valley’s mainstay and competitive advantage, fueling growth in the food manufacturing sector as those industries are part of a highly integrated supply chain,” he said.

The AgPlus implementation strategy will build upon the Central Valley’s unique asset base, committed partnerships and networks to:

capture more value-added cluster manufacturing and supply chain activity within the region, including to meet new demand and for local specialty products such as through the Farm to Fork efforts;
provide the workforce with the needed skills through successful career pathways models;
accelerate the development and adoption of innovative technologies so the Central Valley’s food and beverage manufacturing industry is the most efficient, safe, healthy, viable and sustainable national and global center of innovation for next-generation processing and supply chains;
facilitate the transformation of the industry to adapt to the short- and long-term impacts of drought and climate change; and
strengthen business operations and access to capital.

Consortium members are:

Higher Education: Fresno State; California State University, Chico; University of California, Davis; Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium; Fresno State’s Water, Energy and Technology Center; Los Rios Community College District; NextEd; and UC Merced Small Business Development Center.

Government Entity: Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority; City of Avenal; City of Fresno; City of Winters; and Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

Nonprofit: Valley Vision; Center for Land-Based Learning; Fresno Community Development Financial Institution; Northern California World Trade Center; Sacramento Employment and Training Agency; Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce; and Solano Economic Development Corporation.

Private Sector: AgTech Innovation Fund; CalAsian Pacific Chamber of Commerce; Davis Chamber of Commerce; JBT FoodTech; and PackageOne, Inc.

For more information, contact Mike Dozier at 559.278.0727 or mdozier@csufresno.edu.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:10-07:00July 16th, 2015|

Almond Growers Conserve Water

Almond Growers Conserve Water…Period!

By Laurie Greene, Editor, California Ag Today

At a recent drought forum, California Ag Today spoke with Mike Mason, an almond grower and partner with Supreme Almonds near Wasco, as well as chairman of the Almond Board of California. Noting breakthroughs in the almond industry, Mason said, “Facts bear out that we use 33 percent less water today than we did 20 years ago for every pound of almonds grown. There’s no reason not to expect a similar result over the next 20 years given the ongoing research and funding we do through the Almond Board. We will continue to become more and more efficient, not just with water use, but with fertilizer and everything else we do in farming as well,” said Mason.

“Keep in mind that almonds, like all flowering plants, transpire 95 percent of the water they take up,” said Mason. “Water moves through the vascular system of the plant and exits the stomata of the leaves. When the stomata open, pure water exits and carbon dioxide enters the leaves. The carbon is used in photosynthesis to make carbohydrates that enable the almond almond tree to produce almonds. It’s all part of the universal water cycle that enables life to exist on the earth!”

Though current public opinion on water use seems to focus on almonds primarily, Mason remains confident that the facts will speak for themselves. It is simply a matter of getting the information out there. Mason elaborated, “We’ve got to go back to education because there are so many ways of comparison, and it is pretty hard to refute some of the things people are saying out there. But I think, over time, as we get the facts out there, public perception will be different.”

Because almonds are proving to be profitable at the moment, other countries are starting to take notice and planting more almond orchards of their own. Currently, California accounts for about 80 percent of the world’s supply of almonds. Mason believes, in spite of increased international competition, California will remain a world leader. “I wouldn’t call it a threat;” he said, “it is more like an opportunity than anything else. I think California will continue to be the world’s supplier, but there are other areas around the world where almonds can be grown, and that’s perfectly fine,” said Mason.

American consumption of almonds has increased roughly 220% since 2005. As a result, almonds have become the most-consumed nut in America, after surpassing that of peanuts. This explosive increase in demand has been the driving force for almond production expansion.

Now, almonds cover about one million acres in California. On maintaining this level of success, Mason commented, “Markets go up, and markets go down. There are all kinds of different factors that cause these fluctuations, from oversupply to environmental issues. We think we have a bright future with a healthy product. Time will tell,” he said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:11-07:00July 7th, 2015|

LA Declares Citrus Matters TODAY

LA Citizens And Commercial Citrus Growers Highlight Deadly Citrus Disease And Why Citrus Matters

LOS ANGELES (July 2, 2015) – California’s citrus industry is threatened by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), a tiny pest that can transmit the world’s deadliest citrus disease, Huanglongbing (HLB). Currently, all of Los Angeles County is under quarantine[1] for the psyllid, which continues to spread across the state. Along with Bayer CropScience and California Citrus Mutual, City Councilmember Gil Cedillo announced TODAY, July 2 that, “Citrus Matters” to Los Angeles. During the event, commercial citrus growers from the region were recognized for their contributions to the state of California and acknowledged the devastating disease that could destroy the state’s citrus industry. The announcement also serves to highlight the role Los Angeles residents must play in protecting California’s $2.4 billion commercial citrus industry through the #CitrusMatters initiative.

To date, the psyllid has reached 15 counties throughout Southern California[2]; however, HLB has been recorded in only one tree in California[3] – a lemon/pummelo tree found on residential property in the Hacienda Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2012. For every Californian who cares about citrus, that tree, which has since been removed and destroyed, serves as a warning that all citrus trees are at risk of being affected, from the trees that decorate their neighborhood to the commercial groves nearby.

The #CitrusMatters initiative from Bayer CropScience and California Citrus Mutual encourages all residents of California and Los Angeles – where there are more citrus trees on residential property than in commercial groves – to take action to help prevent the spread of the ACP. It is essential that homeowners with citrus trees on their property understand how to protect their trees and know what to do if they suspect trees are infected. If left untreated, the insects can move quickly from one tree to the next, eventually spreading to the commercial groves that cover much of Southern and Central California.There are a number of ways the Los Angeles community can get involved with the campaign to help prevent the spread of ACP and protect California citrus, including:

Spreading the word and increasing awareness about the disease, the ACP and why they love citrus, using the hashtag #CitrusMatters. Through each use of the hashtag (now through September 30), Bayer CropScience will contribute $1, up to $25,000, to advance existing and future research to find a solution to HLB in California.
Visiting CaliforniaCitrusThreat.org to access HLB and ACP resources specific to Los Angeles County.
Monitoring their trees, contacting the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Exotic Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899 if they think they’ve spotted an infestation and having their trees checked.
Becoming familiar with solutions[4] available that can protect against ACP in their trees

The citrus industry has a storied history in Los Angeles. Southern California’s first orange grove[5] was planted at San Gabriel Mission in 1804, and the state’s very first commercial citrus operation[6] was established in what is now downtown Los Angeles.

“Almost all of us native Los Angelenos have some kind of memory of grabbing a lemon off of the trees in our yards growing up or stepping outside during the spring and taking in the fresh scent of orange blossoms,” said Cedillo when he presented the announcement. “The city of Los Angeles recognizes the contribution citrus adds to California’s economy and our residents’ lives.”

“The Los Angeles area has played a vital role in the industry’s history,” said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual. “We’re excited to see residents celebrate citrus and rally around our mission to protect it from the spread of HLB.”

The #CitrusMatters initiative is part of the ongoing effort by Bayer CropScience to provide citrus growers across the nation with solutions to help combat ACP and HLB. To learn more about the #CitrusMatters initiative and how homeowners, commercial citrus growers and citrus lovers alike can help save citrus, visit CitrusMatters.us.

For more information on Bayer CropScience’s citrus portfolio, please visit: https://www.bayercropscience.us/crops/citrus!

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[1]http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/citrus_greening/downloads/pdf_files/nationalquarantinemap.pdf

[2] http://www.californiacitrusthreat.org/pdf/ACP-Quar%20Expansion_2-17-2015_CA-AZ.pdf

[3] http://californiacitrusthreat.org/news/huanglongbing-citrus-greening-disease-found-in-california.php[4] http://www.bayeradvanced.com/find-a-product/insects-pests/fruit-citrus-vegetable-insect-control

[5] http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=924

[6] http://californiacountry.org/features/article.aspx?arID=695

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Bayer CropScience is committed to bringing new technology and solutions for agriculture and non-agricultural uses. For questions concerning the availability and use of products, contact a local Bayer CropScience representative, or visit Bayer CropScience online at www.bayercropscience.us.

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About Bayer CropScience

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 9,494 million (2014) and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 23,100 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.

About California Citrus Mutual

California Citrus Mutual (CCM) is a citrus producer’s trade association whose 2,200 grower members comprise 60 percent of California’s 275,000 acre, $2.4 billion citrus industry. The Exeter, California-based organization was founded in 1977 by those who felt the need to unite their fellow growers into a cohesive, powerful force. Throughout the years, CCM has brought to fruition many of the goals of the founding fathers and has developed into a dominant force from within as well as outside the industry. Having attained the privilege to be called the “voice of the citrus grower,” CCM remains the vessel which successfully navigates the often rocky waters of the business interest of its membership. For more information on CCM, visit www.cacitrusmutual.com.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:12-07:00July 2nd, 2015|

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