From Sacramento
Message from Paul Wenger, CFBF President
Message from Paul Wenger, CFBF President
2013 CALIFORNIA ALMOND
FORECAST DOWN
Production for the Nonpareil variety is forecast at 650 million meat pounds, four percent below last year’s deliveries. The Nonpareil variety represents 35 percent of California’s total almond production.
After a very cold winter, the 2013 almond crop began bloom two weeks later than normal. Bloom was strong and fast, which shortened overlap and pollination time. High winds in early April knocked nuts and branches off trees, as well as knocking down some trees. Nonpareil drop was reportedly heavy.
Despite the late bloom, harvest is expected to start earlier than normal this year. Mite pressure has been high this year. Water has been a concern for growers in the San Joaquin Valley this year, as rainfall was very low and allotments have been reduced.
Monterey County Farm Bureau Executive Director Norm Groot says: “We do think we can support a collection of source water out of the sandy dune aquifer if that provides enough water for the desalinization process, and that would solve the problem of the proposed taking of water from the Salinas Valley Basin,” said Groot.
“What this comes down to is no harm, and how will Cal-Am prove that they will do no harm. We have hydrologist looking at this from many different angle, we firmly believe that it will be very difficult to prove that there will be no harm to the Salinas River Ground Water Basin if Cal-Am punctures into the 180-foot aquifer,” noted Groot.
According to Eric Lauritzen, Monterey Ag Commissioner, Monterey County’s crop value for 2012 was a record $4.14 billion which is an increase of 7% or $285,000,000.
FRESNO, CA Feb. 26, 2013 – Today the Bureau of Reclamation announced that the initial water allocation for south-of-the Delta Central Valley Project (CVP) agricultural waters service contractors is 25 percent. Although expected, this allocation is very disappointing and exemplifies the issues faced by farmers and other people who rely on water supplied by the CVP and the California State Water Project (SWP).
The ability of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources to move water across the Delta has been greatly hindered by restrictions imposed under the 2008 Biological Opinion protecting Delta smelt. Over the last 60 days, the CVP has lost over 300,000 acre feet because of the limitations the federal government has placed on our supplies. Together the CVP and SWP have lost more than 815,000 acre-feet. This precious water cannot be replaced regardless of what happens in terms of precipitation and runoff for the rest of this year. The loss of that water for federal project water agencies translates into more than 200,000 acres of land that will be fallowed and the loss of more than 2,400 farm jobs. The economic loss to this region will be more than $1.5 billion, all because the CVP and SWP took 230 Delta smelt.
What can’t be reconciled is that when federal scientists conduct studies on the Delta smelt they are permitted to kill thousands of smelt. But the water supply of large areas of the state is shut down because the projects have taken 230 fish. This insanity has to stop.
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