Dried Plums or Prunes? Name Debate Continues.

Important Research Continues on Dried Plums

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Gary Obenauf oversees the production research programs for the California Dried Plum Board. California Ag Today spoke with him recently about the work that he does with the fruit, also known as prunes.

Gary Obenauf, Production Research Manager

Obenauf helps with post-harvest issues in storage and handling. He also helps the industry with technical issues such as maximum residue limits, also known as MRLs.

“We ship to 135 different countries around the world,” said Obenauf. “We are the largest producer in the world of dried plums—most of the rest of the world still calls him prunes instead of dried plums.”

Obenauf said prunes are now being called dried plums due to a marketing issue about 10 to 15 years ago.

“We noticed that the younger millennials preferred dried plums over prunes, and we made the name change, but we are probably going change it back to prunes,” he said.

Obenauf said that insects, diseases, production cost, and pruning costs are some of the big challenges in the industry. “Essentially, 95 percent of our production is one variety; we need multiple varieties,” Obenauf said.

“We have an active breeding program, but we have not yet come up with good alternatives to the French prune,” he said. “The improved French prune is a good variety, and it is hard to find replacements, and that’s the problem we are having.”

2021-05-12T11:05:10-07:00August 6th, 2018|

Agritourism in California

UC Davis Experts Help Farmers, Ranchers Profit  in Growing Trend

News Release Edited By Patrick Cavanaugh

Agritourism is growing in California, along with sales and production of much of the world’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts. More and more people are paying to enjoy the bounty and beauty of California’s farms and ranches by touring peach and cherry farms near Fresno, taking classes in beekeeping, attending festivals devoted to strawberries or attending a host of other activities offered by farmers and ranchers throughout the state.

Many farmers could benefit from agritourism and the added value it brings, but developing successful agritourism operations can be tricky. Experts at the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at UC Davis are helping farmers and others in the agricultural community understand the regulations, permits, insurance, marketing and other considerations needed to succeed.agritourism

“Agritourism operations are more successful when they’re part of a supportive community of tourism professionals, county regulators, agriculture regulations and others,” says Gail Feenstra, ASI’s food, and society coordinator.

Feenstra and her team recently received a $73,000 grant from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program, to develop training, resources and peer support for farmers and ranchers considering agritourism. Feenstra is working with Penny Leff, ASI’s statewide agritourism coordinator and team project manager.

Leff led previous projects that offered agritourism education to groups of farmers, ranchers, and others involved in California agritourism. In this new project, Leff is providing comprehensive training to smaller, more targeted groups that will then offer training to others in their community.

“We’re helping farmers and ranchers assess their agritourism potential, whether it be U-pick farming, dinners on the farm, classes or even overnight lodging,” Leff says. “We help navigate everything from zoning ordinances to marketing plans.”

The project’s ultimate goal is to develop at least 24 clusters of vibrant agritourism operations in California that sustain producers, educate visitors and support the economic health of the entire community.

As Leff explained, “Agritourism is an exciting opportunity for farmers, and also for visitors who can learn about and enjoy what farm living has to offer.”

You can learn more about agritourism opportunities at the ASI agritourism website. For more information on upcoming workshops, contact Penny Leff at paleff@ucdavis.edu or call 530-752-5208.

2018-06-29T16:49:08-07:00June 29th, 2018|

Increased Chinese Tariffs Could put California Producers in a Tight Spot

There is Fear China Could Turn to Other Countries For Ag Products

By Mikenzi Meyers, Associate Editor

The ongoing threat of Chinese tariffs on American agriculture has recently been the topic of conversation for agriculturalists. With China posing a possible 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans back in April, it seems this conversation is here to stay. The added tariff could drive Chinese buyers to choose other markets on many California commodities, including walnuts, tree fruit and beef.

Matt Lantz, vice president of global access for Bryant Christie Inc., deals with international trade, and these issues on a daily basis. Bryant Christie is an international affairs management firm that is based in Sacramento and Seattle, where they help U.S. commodity groups and agricultural companies with their international trade issues in order to export their products.

Lantz explained that this new threat is a major concern for California agriculture.

“China is an incredibly important market for California fruit and vegetable exploiters, and any tariff or increased inspection makes it more difficult to export,” he said.

Making matters worse, Lantz pointed out that buyers are going to turn to the countries without the tariff—which can be bad news for producers.

2018-06-28T16:49:05-07:00June 28th, 2018|

California Agriculture’s Future in the Hands of New Tariffs

There Is Worry that Some Companies May Lose Ground on Exports to China

By Mikenzie Meyers, Associate Editor

California growers are on edge due to newly imposed tariffs that could cause the state’s agriculture to suffer. After China recently retaliated against the United States’s steel and aluminum tariff by pushing its own on U.S. imports, they have good reason to be worried. California Ag Today recently spoke to Shannon Douglass, first vice president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, who is heavily involved in this conversation.tariffs

“No matter what you’re growing, so much of our products are exported, and so it’s a really vital concern to many of our farmers,” Douglass said.

She explained that it isn’t just a concern for those involved with fresh produce—which might be the first affected—but also any farmer who depends on sales to foreign markets.

One of the biggest concerns is losing the progress made in growing the foreign market, but Douglass seemed hopeful as CFBF has continued working with those driving legislation,

“We certainly don’t want to lose that ground that we worked so hard to develop,” she said.

Agriculture has always been a winner in the trade arena, and although the climate of foreign markets may be uneasy, Douglass and the California Farm Bureau Federation are continuing the conversation to make progress toward a hopeful future for all farmers.

2018-06-26T14:41:07-07:00June 26th, 2018|

Tracking Social Media To Understand Consumer Food Likes

Social Media is Helpful in Agriculture

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Reaching consumers is key to helping with food confusion. Tamika Sims, the director of Food Technology communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation, is using social media to aid consumers.

“We will follow what is happening in … social media—including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest—to get a feel for how consumers are talking about food,” Sims said.

Sims noticed that differences and similarities between organic and conventional crops are being discussed with consumers, emphasizing how safe both are.

“That’s the one that we can’t seem to get enough of,” she said.

They talk about the differences and similarities as far as organic and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.

“We talk to consumers about how they’re equally safe and equally nutritious and that one is not superior to the other when it comes to food safety or nutrition,” Sims said. “If you have access to either, feel free to enjoy both in an equal way.”

Interested in learning more? You can go to the IFIC’s website to check out their resources.

2018-06-20T16:50:20-07:00June 20th, 2018|

Product Recall Awareness

Social Media Can Hurt a Company

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Product recall coverage has a publicity element. California Ag Today recently spoke with Caitlin McGrath, national product recall and contamination risk consultant with Lockton Insurance Brokers, about the importance of the topic.

Caitlin McGrath, with Lockton Insurance Brokers.

Product recall coverage’s publicity element can be adverse, with the accusation of contamination coming into play.

“The example I always use is a mom who puts online a food item that made her kid sick, and this gets shared 100,000 times. You get calls from your customers, supermarkets, and drug stores asking you to stop sending your product,” McGrath said.

If products are not selling, that can be a very significant loss.

“Most recalls are voluntary. They have to be reported to the FDA if they are going to cause bodily injury or property damage,” McGrath said.

She suggests having an internal communication and external communication setup. Be aware of what testing labs you are going to use, what PR companies you are going to use.

Many times, companies try to execute their recall and are not ready for the customer demands.

“Sometimes customers are coming to them and saying, ‘you owe us all this money,’ ” McGrath said. “It is important to have the plans for the whole logistics of the recall.”

2018-06-11T16:31:23-07:00June 11th, 2018|

California Food Processing: $200 Billion in Value

California Food Processing is Massive Business

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

The food packaging business is massive in California. California Ag Today spoke recently with Rob Neenan, president and CEO of the California League of Food Producers, based out of Sacramento, about California food processing.

“The League of Food Producers is a statewide trade association. Our primary function is regulatory and legislative affairs on behalf of our members,” Neenan said.

Rob Neenan is president and CEO of the League of Food Processors

The association represents about 50 food processor members across the state, most of the Central San Joaquin Valley, but it serves seven or eight members in southern California. “We have Del Monte in Modesto. We have Hilmar Cheese in Hillmar. In Lodi and Woodland, we have Pacific Coast Producers. We also have also some nut processors, dried fruit processors, so the whole gamut,” Neenan said.

“There aren’t as many frozen fruit and vegetable companies as there used to be, but we have a few, for example, Del Mar Food Products in Watsonville and a couple of companies in the Merced area,” Neenan noted.

The processing industry represents a big part of the power of California agriculture.

“The annual output of the food processing industry in California is about $200 billion. About $25 billion is in direct value added on top of the ingredients,” he said.

The food processing industry directly employs about 190,000 people. However, if you add in all the people who work in packaging, labeling, trucking, energy, IT, in support of the industry, there are 760,000 people in California whose jobs either directly or indirectly rely on the food processing industry, and that’s on top of the production agriculture component.

It’s the third largest industry in the state regarding the manufacturing sector—only high tech and oil refining are larger in California.

And Neenan explained that there are some significant issues that canners are facing.

“The biggest is the proposed steel and aluminum tariff situation. The canning industry needs tinplate steel, which is also used in cans and aluminum foil, which is inside of some packaging as well. For the canneries left in California, this is going to increase their cost of doing business greatly,” Neenan said.

2018-06-04T15:43:45-07:00June 4th, 2018|

Chinese Customers Hurt with Increased Tariff

Not Just California Farmers Hurt with Added Trade Tariff

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

The extra tariff that China is putting on California agricultural products is an added frustration for the customers in China, said Jamie Johansson, President of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

“It’s not just the extra 15 percent being levied by that country. But for our nut crops and wine guys, we already have 15 or 20 percent tariffs,” Johansson explained. “This is nothing new to us in California. California agricultural products excel in the Pacific Rim. We know we can compete with anyone in a global market. We know that no one’s better than the California farmer in terms of serving the Pacific Rim nations, and no one can get their product to the market faster in those Asian countries than California.”

Jamie Johansson, CFBF

Customers are affected the most when tariffs are implemented.

“I say when we have these trade talks and trade negotiations—and even now China [is] threatening the trade tariffs or has current tariffs on California products—it isn’t just the farmers that suffer,” Johansson said.

“We need to remind China that it is their consumers who are demanding our quality milk, our cheeses, our wine, pistachios, and almonds as well. Their consumers will suffer just like the California farmer. And we need to remind them of that because we only sell to the countries with consumers who demand it, and that’s who decides what we grow and where we ship to,” Johansson said.

2018-05-15T15:30:20-07:00May 15th, 2018|

Additional Chinese Tariff on Ag is Disruptive

Growers Concerned Over Added Tariff into China

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Trade to China is so important to California, and for that reason, the 15 percent added Chinese tariff on ag products is devastating. It’s due to the retaliation of the Trump administration tariff, which he put on steel and aluminum exported by China.

Jeff Colombini with Lodi Farming Co.

It’s worrisome for growers such as Jeff Colombini, the president of Lodi Farming, with partners that grow cherries, apples, walnuts, and olives. He noted that apples and walnuts are an essential crop to China and he’s concerned.

“Trade is significant to the apple crop for California apples, but particularly for Washington state. Apples in Washington state is the largest producer of apples. They export greater than 25 percent of their crop,” Colombini said.

“Both China and Mexico take apple varieties that have fallen out of favor for U.S. consumers. So really, it’s a match made in heaven,” he said.

Colombini said growers have made decisions over the last 10 to 15 years on planting orchards based on these growing export markets.

“Then when the markets slam shut, what do we do with all this excess production/ This becomes disruptive to the markets … not to mention it significantly affects the farmer’s bottom line,” he explained.

Colombini said apples require a lot of labor—a big economic boost to many communities—and disruption in getting that crop to China is not good.

There’s a lot of people employed in the apple industry throughout the United States, and so a trade war can have a significant impact on many thousands of families.

Colombini said it took many years to get that China market open, and when it finally got opened in 2015, it has grown to be their sixth largest export market.

“Similarly, the export disruptions for walnuts is extremely concerning to that industry,” he said.

2018-05-04T14:42:44-07:00May 4th, 2018|

iTrade Helps Growers

iTrade makes Growing and Shipping more Efficient

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

In a recent interview with California Ag Today, Dan Reighn, director of grower/shipper sales for iTrade, discussed how being a part of the system is helping the grower, shipper, supplier, and customers with iTrade’s efficiency by streamlining the process.

Cloud-based solution is key to the success of its speed. This will allow the information to flow quicker through all the channels by effectively being more beneficial to the grower, supplier, shipper, and inevitably the customer.

“The grower, shipper, and the supplier earn a lot of benefits when they are on our network every day transacting with 40 or 50 of their customers using an easy-to-use system, and we are able to handle that transaction for them rather than a purchase order being emailed or faxed or phone call,” Reighn explained.

iTrade is an efficient way to transact with buyers. It is a cloud-based software solution. There are carriers on the network to assist as well as field mobile systems that a grower can use at the source of picking. From that point, inventory can be done from the field to storage to assist the distribution.

“There are users in South America, Mexico, U.S. and Canada that are using our software on rugged mobile devices in the field,” Reighn said. “These customers are able to print off a PTI label, apply it to a case in the field as well as an electronic harvest tag. This also allows the supplier to know exactly what pallets, how much is in the field, when it is going to be received to the cooler, and when they can get that load off to Walmart or Safeway or Kroger.”

2018-04-26T15:27:39-07:00April 26th, 2018|

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