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.

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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.

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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.

2016-05-31T19:27:02-07:00December 3rd, 2015|

Vandenheuvel Justifies FMMO in CA

Vandenheuvel Justifies FMMO in California

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

This Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearing in Clovis, now in its seventh week, still has more ground to cover before it wraps up. Rob Vandenheuvel, general manager of the Milk Producers Council (MPC), reflected on the current California Marketing Order, “We’ve been operating under a separate system for many, many years. And while that may have worked for a good chunk of that time, in recent years, we’ve seen that the California system has not kept up with prices paid for milk in other parts of the country. So we’re trying to get on an even playing field.”

Vandenheuvel said resistance to the FMMO has come mainly from those who currently purchase California milk. “They’re not interested in a system that would require them to pay more for their milk,” he said. “They’ve had a pretty good deal in California, so they’re trying to protect it.”

He said some minor resistance comes from non-California dairymen concerned their prices could decrease should California join the FMMO. “There was talk earlier in this hearing that if dairy farmers in California were put on an even playing field and had more money paid for their milk, would they increase production? What impact might that have on the overall market?”

“When you look at California and the competition for land from pistachios and almonds,” Vandenheuvel said, “dairy is not the only agricultural interest here. So competition for land and competition for water are really going to put a lid on future growth—no matter what the dairymen get paid.”

Significant LossesMilk Producers Council

Vandenheuvel said the state’s current system has caused a significant profit loss for dairymen in California. “Our milk going to cheese plants is the largest class of milk sold in the state, but it’s still 45 percent of the total milk production. So, the state cheese price is less than the Federal price on that 45 percent of milk. The difference is a shortfall of nearly $2 billion since 2010 for the California producer.”

Vandenheuvel said when all dairies in the United States slumped in 2009, those outside of California were better able to recover under the FMMO than those inside under the CSMO. “When you look at the peaks and valleys that the dairy industry has gone through, we’ve had years like 2009, which was the worst ever,” Vandenheuvel said, “and 2012 was probably the second worst ever due to high feed costs. Most of the rest of the country recovered in the months and years following 2009 and then again 2012.

“California is still reeling. If we had sold off assets, we really haven’t recovered to where we were before 2009. So that $2 billion divided by the 2,000 dairymen that existed at that time in California was the difference between catching up and netting a profit. But actually happened, is that the industry has never recovered the losses, even after a few good years,” he noted.

Out-of-State Dairies Object to Federal Order

Vandenheuvel said that many California dairymen are looking to become part of the FMMO to get on a level playing field with the rest of the country’s milk producers. “If you buy into the theory that California dairymen got a fair price for milk will increase milk production and that would have a negative impact on the rest of the country,” Vandenheuvel said. “The best thing to happen to the rest of the country would be for California to go completely broke and shut down our entire dairy industry because they would be better off because we’d have twenty percent less milk in the whole country. That’s why I don’t think that those concerns are really strong. This hearing is more about the sellers of milk getting a fair shake and the buyers of milk not wanting to pay that fair shake.”

Vandenheuvel said that the way the dairy industry works—with milk spoiling each day—the government had to get involved in order to prevent buyers from refusing to buy one dairy’s milk and significantly devaluing the price of milk. “Cows don’t produce Monday through Friday only; there is no on or off spigot,” Vandenheuvel said. “So when you have a product that is being produced and piled up every day and has to be sold every day to a group of buyers who don’t have to buy every day –and they don’t have to buy from you—you’re at a huge disadvantage negotiating a fair price for that product.

“Imagine going to a car dealership where they had to sell a certain amount of cars that day or the vehicles would literally spoil, go bad and be worthless,” he noted. “You would have a great position to buy a car. That’s where we are, and that’s why the government got involved, said milk is important and we know dairymen are at a disadvantage. So we’re going to play referee between the two parties. Our problem in California is that that referee has been much more on the side of the processors keeping a low price in California.”

Two Main Proposals

Vandenheuvel said that two major proposals have been submitted to the USDA—one from the dairy-farmer-owned cooperatives and the other from the manufacturers. He said the USDA would decide upon the final proposal that will be voted on by producers.

“Manufacturers do not vote on Federal orders,” Vandenheuvel said, “It’s a producer vote. So it really comes down to the USDA. We think we’ve put together—as a producer coalition—a very sound, comprehensive approach of going to a FMMO while still respecting some of California’s issues—like our quota program; our transportation program.”

Vandenheuvel explained that it was very difficult to get the USDA to hold a hearing on the Milk Marketing Order. “We had to basically exhaust every alternative option in the state system,” he noted. “We tried a dozen hearings over the last ten years. We’ve tried legislation in California. We’ve tried suing the Secretary of Agriculture in California. We’ve tried protests and rallies on the steps of the capitol in front of CDFA, and at the end of the day last year our milk prices, compared to the rest of the country, had a bigger gap than we’ve seen in the last ten years.”

Vandenheuvel said the CDFA could have easily addressed many of the issues that caused milk producers to fight for a FMMO. Nevertheless, one issue, the CDFA could not have regulated for producers is interstate commerce. “That’s big for a state like California,” Vandenheuvel said. “We’ve got 35-40 million people here who drink milk and we’ve had situations in the past and currently in which milk is moving into California just to take advantage of the fact that California can’t do anything about it. Only a FMMO can regulate interstate commerce because of the way the constitution is drafted.”

Vandenheuvel said he hopes to see a recommended decision on the order by the middle of next year.

 

2016-05-31T19:27:04-07:00November 9th, 2015|

More on Federal Milk Marketing Order

Continued Coverage on Federal Milk Hearing in Clovis

More on Federal Milk Marketing Order: Let the Market Sort it Out

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

 

Bill Verboort is the General Manager for AgriTech Analytics (ATA), a national company based in Visalia Calif. Owned by the Holstein Association USA, AgriTech is part of the U.S. Dairy Herd Improvement Association System, and provides data to dairy producers for management, genetic improvement and pedigree purposes. Verboort has been attending the USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearing in Clovis, Calif., which is gathering testimony from milk industry people who want, or do not want to abandon the California Milk Marketing Order and adopt the FMMO.

“I think it is a very historic day, because I think California is one of the only major markets outside the FMMO,” said Verboort. “When the Federal system came in the 1930s, there were good reasons for us to be on a state order due to geographic isolation, etc. Today, I don’t see us as geographically isolated as we once were. So why not be part of the FMMO?”

Verboort noted that the FMMO should put California producers on par with the rest of the country when it comes to milk and cheese prices. “That is the intended and anticipated effect,” he said.

Of course there are many against adopting the FMMO. “Some are saying if the California producer is going to get more money for his milk, he is going to produce more,” said Verboort. “If you look at the industry over decades, when the price of milk has gone up, producers have produced more. You’ve got to make hay when the sun shines, so to speak. And when prices are down, the cash flows are down, so a producer needs to get more cash. What is the solution to that? Produce more milk!”

“So the California producers are going to produce more milk whether the FMMO system is in place or not; at least that’s the way I see it,” Verboort explained. “But if our producers in California are at a disadvantage to producers in other parts of the country, we need to make an equitable situation here.”

“And the market will shake it out. It is as simple as that,” he said. “We can produce milk products more efficiently in California and I think that is good for the U.S. and for the consumer. If the producer can produce it here more efficiently by getting on the right strategy with the FMMO rather than the California milk order, then we are on the right track.”

“California producers have been on the short end of the stick for a long time,” Verboort said. “Even though last year was a very good year for most producers throughout the country, and for California producers as well, they still sold their milk for several dollars per hundred weight less than the rest of the country,” Verboort said.

As for the hearing taking place in Clovis, Verboort said it seems that the momentum is going in a good direction. “But we will find out; that is what these hearings are about,” he added.

 

AgriTech Analytics (ATA) is a certified Dairy Records Processing Center.   

Part of the U.S. DHIA System, AgriTech Analytics provides data to dairy producers for management, genetic improvement and pedigree purposes.  

By utilizing the reports and herd analysis made available by AgriTech Analytics, Herd owners are able to maximize profitability and better position themselves in today’s competitive dairy industry.

________________________________________

Links:

AgriTech Analytics

U.S. Dairy Herd Improvement Association System

 

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 14th, 2015|

California Table Grape Commission

Kathleen Nave on the Table Grape Commission

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

Before the California Table Grape Commission was established in 1968, only 1.7 pounds of grapes were consumed per person annually, according to Kathleen Nave, president of the organization. She said the Table Grape Commission began at the request of growers working with California’s legislature to better promote grapes. Today’s annual consumption rate is 8 pounds of grapes per capita.

“I had talked to some of the founding fathers back in the late 50s, early 60s,” Nave said. “They told me there were so many changes happening in the world and in the retail environment at that time, they were afraid of losing the land their families had immigrated to from around the world. So they wanted to come together and pool a little bit of money from every box of grapes they sold to be overseen by the state of California and a board of table grape grower directors to increase demand for their product. “To this day, the Table Grape Commission is still governed by growers who are nominated by their peers in each district in which grapes are grown in the state,” Nave said, “and it is all overseen by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.”

While the Table Grape Commission continues to promote table grapes and to create a domestic demand for them, Nave said the Commission is reaching beyond this basic consumer base, to foreign consumers. “Everything we do is designed to create demand,” Nave said, “to get that retailer to put more California grapes on the shelves, to promote and advertise them more often, to encourage that importer to bring grapes in, and to get consumers to go into their grocery stores and ask, ‘Where are the California grapes?’”

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 12th, 2015|

Cornell Kasbergen On Federal Milk Marketing Order

Continued Coverage of Milk Hearing

Dairyman Cornell Kasbergen: We Need Federal Milk Marketing Order

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Cornell Kasbergen, a dairyman in Tulare County, is fed up with the flawed California State Milk Marketing Order. So much so, that he and other dairymen and women have a great desire to switch to the Federal Marketing Order.

This idea is presently front-and-center in Clovis, CA as USDA officials are holding an historic hearing that may extend into early November.

“It started three to four years ago when our milk prices were dramatically less than those in the rest of the country, and we wanted to get our industry on a level playing field. It has been a lot of work getting the co-ops together, but we are just at the beginning of this whole process.”

Having the USDA here is, in itself, a big beginning,

Kasbergen has worked hard to drum up interest in the idea. “When I was a co-op board member at Land O’Lakes, Inc. [a national, farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative milk cooperative], we worked with other dairy co-ops and their members to get educated.  We discovered, for the last three to four years, California’s whey value in its milk pricing formula deviated from national prices, and California producers were losing money. Once we realized we were leaving a lot of money on the table—over a million dollars a day—it opened people’s eyes. That’s why we are having this hearing.”

“The California Department of Food and Agriculture intentionally left the state’s whey prices lower than the rest of the nation, and though we’ve been petitioning them over and over again to rectify the issue, they have failed,” said Kasbergen. “That’s why we have gone this route in getting our milk prices formulated by the federal government rather than by the state. Our state has really let us down.”

“The CDFA has taken hundreds of millions of dollars out of the dairy farmers’ pockets, the loss is killing the dairy industry in California,” said Kasbergen.

2016-05-31T19:27:07-07:00October 9th, 2015|

Dairyman Xavier Avila on Federal Milk Marketing Order

Continued Federal Milk Marketing Order Hearing Coverage

Kings County Dairyman, Xavier Avila Worked Hard to Get Federal Milk Marketing Order on the Docket 

By Laurie Greene, Editor

Xavier Avila, a dairyman in Kings County, is monitoring the USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Dairy Hearing in Clovis very closely. “Well, I was one of the ones who pushed for it five or six years ago. It’s kind of dear to me to get it done,” he said.

Avila explained, “As a kid growing up in the sixties and seventies, all my family members who were in the dairy business talked about how bad it was before the orders. Milk needs to be picked up everyday, so it it’s really easy to mess the market up if you don’t pick up a guys’ milk or threaten not to pick it up. So the California marketing order was established to bring order to California milk.”

Avila said the California marketing order worked for many years when dairies across the country were making the same amount of money per hundredweight. But prices are not equal now, and California dairy farmers are getting paid much less than those other parts of the country.

“We set up a solution on end-product pricing. Yet in California, the CDFA was not following the rules. If the rules had been followed, we wouldn’t have a need to go to the FMMO,” said Avila. “But CDFA just wouldn’t follow the rules regarding end-product pricing and the USDA does follow the rules; so it is just a simple matter of going with the people who are following the rules.”

“For the past ten years,” Avila said, “our whey prices have been much less than the national whey price, so the California dairy industry has lost billions of dollars.”  “It’s really simple. There are six pounds of whey per every 100 pounds of milk. Basically for the last few years, whey was 60 cents/pound. Doing the math, 60 cents times 6 pounds; you come up with a total of $3.60 for the whey in each 100 pounds of milk. With the California Milk Marketing Order, we were paid just 25 cents towards that total and the plant kept the rest. The Federal order is basically the reverse; not quite, but almost the reverse.”

Avila is bullish on the California dairy industry’s conversion to a FMMO. “I think it’s going to happen. Nothing is for certain, but the industry is united. Milk is the same everywhere, and I think it is in California dairy farmers’ hands because we are going to vote on this. Whenever you produce the same product and earn far less for it, it is inevitable that something is going to happen.”

Avila noted it will take some time, “but I knew that from the start, it would not be quick and easy. We are looking at anywhere from one to two years,” Avila said, affirming his belief the California dairy industry can hang on for two years. “We’ve got not choice. Now with the drought, there are other crops you can do better with. Some dairy farmers will leave the business just because they have something better to do than milk cows. So we see this as saving the California dairy industry,” Avila said.

Click here to view Video of Xavier Avila, September 22, 2015.

 

 

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 6th, 2015|

Historic Milk Pricing Hearing in Clovis

Historic Milk Pricing Hearing in Clovis:

Converting California to the Federal Milk Marketing Order

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

In Clovis last week, an historic USDA milk pricing hearing commenced to gather testimony from the California dairy industry, which for the most part, favors changing to the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO). This represents an abandonment of the state marketing order which has been harmful to dairies since it was altered 10 years ago to disallow dairies from getting paid the same price for their milk and whey products.

William Francis, director, USDA Order Formulation and Enforcement, is involved in the formal rule-making process for marketing orders. Francis commented, “There’s been tremendous interest in a federal order for California and we are holding a formal rule hearing for the promulgation of a California FMMO. This is an historic event. For years, the state has operated a program. But, farmers have gotten together and invited us to come in for the state’s hearing.”

The hearing could last as long as eight weeks to review each of four proposals. Francis noted, “We are here as long as it takes. We want to make sure we have a complete and accurate record so there are no time constraints,” He said the USDA will post a transcript on their website, filter through all of the documentation and make a recommendation.

A comment period with a sufficient amount of time will follow the public announcement of the USDA decision. “Then we will generate a modified final decision,” Francis said. “By the time we complete that process, farmers will have the opportunity to vote on the modified decision through a referendum process, which could be up to two years away.”

USDA Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO)

Industry Information Request postings

All of the proposals can be viewed at www.ams.usda.gov/CAOrder.

2016-05-31T19:27:08-07:00October 2nd, 2015|

Ag in the Classroom

Teaching Ag in the Classroom

 

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

 

As the disconnect between consumers and the source of their food grows, many students do not understand where their food comes from. California teachers are doing their part to bridge the educational gap by teaching ag in the classroom.

Agriculture in the ClassroomKathy Yager, a fifth grade teacher at Fowler Unified School District, as well as a farmer, brings agriculture education to her students in several ways. “We’ve been using programs through the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom,” Yager said.

“I’ve participated in Taste Test grants,” Yager said. The grant allows teachers to bring in a new ag product, “and the students get the opportunity to try those things.” Yager said it also helps expose students to new products, and allows them to become better informDairy Council of CAed consumers in the future.

“We also have visits from the Dairy Council of California and students get to see a dairy cow and how the whole milking process works,” Yager said.

In addition Yager brings farmers, including her own brother, into the classroom to educate students, “and [they] show students how agriculture works and how a product gets from the field, to the stores, and to them.”

Healthy Eating

California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (CFAIC)

More than 7 million California students are fed, clothed and housed with products grown right here on our farms, in our fields and within our forests. California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom is dedicated to helping students and teachers across our great state gain an understanding of how agriculture provides the daily essentials necessary to make our society and our world function.

From the cotton in our jeans and the food on our tables, to our landscaped yards and playing fields, we all depend on agriculture. The survival of this vital industry depends on educating and encouraging the next generation of decision-makers. We do this by engaging students and educators in meaningful ways: developing and sharing unique classroom curriculum, supporting school garden efforts, spreading our message at local Ag Days, honoring outstanding educators, rewarding students who learn and write stories about agriculture and so much more.

http://www.cfaitc.org/imaginethis/Featured Programs:

Imagine this… Story Writing Contest

Meet Academic Content Standards for California schools through this creative writing contest!

Create a positive learning experience that promotes reading, writing and the arts, and furthers the understanding of agriculture in our lives by using this award-winning contest in your classroom.

PUBLISHED AUTHOR

State-winning authors will have their stories published in an illustrated book and will be distributed to school libraries and classrooms across the state!

DEADLINE: NOV. 1

Entries must be postmarked by November 1, annually.
Download entry form (PDF, 331 KB)

California Fruits and Vegetables Seasonal Chart (PDF, 18 KB)

2016-05-31T19:27:09-07:00September 22nd, 2015|

Karen Ross on Ag Innovation

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross on Ag Innovation

 

The next big thing is always right around the corner. Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said while that may be so, farmers should be consulted to help with ag innovation–the creation of the next big thing–so both farmers and innovators will benefit.

“Here’s what we need to go to the next generation of innovation, so come talk to us early; don’t just come and say ‘we’ve got your solution,’” Ross said. “We manage a vast biological system, a complex system on the farming side, that responds to fast-moving markets on the consumer side. So don’t divorce yourself from us in the industry. Truly understand what we need and how we put together all these complex moving parts to meet consumer needs and expectations in the marketplace.”

Ross said while farmers are always willing to listen to a new way of doing things, involving them in the process and providing access to the data that demonstrates the need for a new product would be more beneficial.

“Farmers are always open to ‘is there a better way?’” Ross said. “But they want the data. They like to see some demonstration of that data—which comes back to partnering with our academic institutions and Cooperative Extension. Don’t just come out and sell me something; show me the data; show me the demonstration projects. Let me kick the tires. Maybe, I’ll put in a few acres of that this year. It’s not just a sales job. You’ve got to partner with the farmer. And if you do, you’re going to come up with a much better product.”

2016-05-31T19:28:05-07:00September 3rd, 2015|

High Pricing Keeps Tulare County Ag #1

Tulare County Ag Tops all Counties

By Laurie Greene, Editor

The 2014 crop report from Tulare County indicates another record-setting year. Marilyn Kinoshita, Tulare County Ag Commissioner, noted how well the dairy industry did, “30% of our overall value was actually milk, so dairy is incredibly important to our county. They had some good prices for most of the year. That is what brought up the value of milk to $2.5 billion. It is a significant increase over the prior year. A little bit more yield, but it is the price that kicked up well over two billion dollars.”

Tulare County Ag sales topped $8 billion in 2014, and the dairy industry overcame significant pricing obstacles to contribute to the County’s success.

Kinoshita continued, “We’ve got several classes of milk, and California producers are at a disadvantage to the other folks in Wisconsin or Nebraska, or wherever milk is produced. California producers feel singled out. They have their own system by the Secretary of Ag, so they have lobbied to get some hearings to be put under the federal system of pricing. California is lower than the federal standard.”

Citrus sales also played an important role in setting the new sales record, she said, “They had a really good year and went up considerably. So there is our number three crop. We are the nation’s number one citrus county. When our growers are having a good year, it benefits the county. We have 71 citrus packing sheds in our county and all the major juicing plants in California are right here.”

Kinoshita also mentioned some of the ways that citrus has become the number three crop, “It is sort of supply and demand, and great marketing. We ship to 90 different countries around the world. A portion of our production is exported.”

In 2014, livestock in general was up 40%, which also made an impact on sales in Tulare County, “You’ll find when you go to a grocery store that steaks, chicken, and turkey all cost more. So all of our species had an increase in price per unit for this crop reporting year.”

2016-05-31T19:28:06-07:00August 30th, 2015|

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