Heat Streak and Leafy Greens

Frank Ratto on Heat Streak and Leafy Greens

By Charmayne Hefley, Associate Editor

With a high spike in temperatures in the Central Valley, growers of leafy green vegetables are concerned about the quality of their products. Frank Ratto, vice president of marketing for Ratto Bros., a diversified century-old vegetable operation based in Stanislaus County, said that although the heat streak can cause internal burns in leafy green vegetables, he is confident that, with proper management, their leafy greens will be all right.

“The summer leafy green vegetable supply is always pretty good,” Ratto said, “so prices are very stable going into the fall. But, two or three days of a heat wave like the one we’re having right now can cause tremendous damage and escalate the price of our products. That may happen and we could be a victim or we could be a beneficiary.”

Given the heat wave, Ratto said Napa cabbage growers, in particular, are facing some difficulties. “Napa cabbage does not like heat,” he said, “because it will suffer from a lot of internal burns. Many coastal growers are having issues with it, so demand is tight and supplies are very low.”

Regarding vegetable prices, Ratto said that the price of cilantro was as high as $50 per box for the last three weeks, “but now it’s coming down to the $25 zone. Mexico had some supply issues, but it looks like they’re catching up, and supplies are improving, and the price is going down.”

Other leafy greens such as leaf lettuces, according to Ratto, are in good supply and quality right now.

Ratto said Ratto Bros. has expanded their organic products to include red and La Cinato kale; red, green, and rainbow Swiss chard; leaks; and collard and mustard greens,” among others.

“We’re trying to expand our organic offerings as more people look for organics in the store,” Ratto continued. “As growers, we know that both conventional and organics are healthy and nutritious—and we don’t really see a difference—but we give the consumer what they want. As long as everybody gets healthy, nutritious food, that’s all we care about.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:27:10-07:00September 21st, 2015|

Monterey County Rules Lettuce Market

Diversity Keeps Monterey County Going Strong

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Monterey County Ag Commissioner Eric Lauritzen talked about the success of local farmers in setting new crop production records, “Despite the water and labor shortages, crop values were up in 11 commodities that exceeded $100 million and 26 that surpassed $10 million. So, the diversity of the economic engine here in Monterey County remains strong despite adversity.”

The overall agricultural value of Monterey County is nearly $4.5 billion. Lauritzen noted, “Commodity by commodity, among our top crops, we saw leaf-lettuce surpass strawberries as the number one commodity again. Strawberries are still over $709 million, and the lettuces combined were about $1.4 billion. It is pretty amazing to see those kinds of numbers coming out of one county.

In addition to water and labor shortages, Lauritzen noted, “We have dealt with the impact of food safety issues with spinach. And though production levels continue to climb back, they have not reached levels achieved since the E. Coli outbreak back in 2010. Anyway, we are still thrilled to see the numbers so strong and this speaks to the economic engine of the County.”

Other achievements include:

-$8.1 billion generated for the local economy, including:

-$5.7 billion in direct economic output, nearly 20% of the county’s total direct economic output.

-$2.4 billion in additional economic output in the form of expenditures by agriculture companies and their employees

-76,054 jobs in Monterey County, including:

-55,702 direct employees, or nearly one quarter of all jobs in the county

-20,352 additional jobs made possible through expenditures by agricultural companies and their employees

-investments in ambitious new technology.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:04-07:00September 15th, 2015|

New UC IPM Program Director

Jim Farrar Named Director of UC Statewide IPM Management Program

By Pam Kan-Rice, UCANR Assistant Director, News and Information Outreach

Jim Farrar has been named director of the Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program for the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He will begin as new uc ipm program director on Oct. 1.

UC IPM works with growers and residents to protect human health and the environment by reducing risks caused by pests and pest management practices.

Farrar is currently director of the Western IPM Center, where he has served since 2013. He succeeds Kassim Al-Khatib, UC IPM director since 2009, who is transitioning to a UC Cooperative Extension specialist position located in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. There Al-Khatib will focus on his research in weed management.

“UC IPM is a widely recognized national leader in integrated pest management,” Farrar said. “I am excited to continue efforts to make IPM the standard practice for managing pests in agriculture, communities and natural areas in California.”

Prior to joining the Western IPM Center, Farrar was a professor of plant pathology in the Department of Plant Science at California State University, Fresno for 12 years.

At Fresno State, Farrar received three teaching awards. He taught courses in plant pathology, plant nematology, diagnosis and control of plant diseases, crop improvement, aspects of crop productivity, mycology, sustainable agriculture and advanced pest management. His research centered on fungal diseases of vegetable crops, including management strategies for cavity spot of carrot. During his Fresno State tenure, he served four years as chair of the Department of Plant Science and a year as interim chair of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition.

From 1995 to 1997, Farrar taught in the Botany Department at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. At Weber State, he conducted research on rock cress plants infected with a rust fungus that causes false-flowers. This rust is closely related to a species that is a potential biological control agent for dyer’s woad (Isatis tinctoris), an invasive weed.

Farrar has published scientific papers, extension newsletter articles, and articles in agricultural industry magazines. He also wrote a chapter in the book Tomato Health Management and five disease descriptions in the book Compendium of Umbelliferous Crop Diseases. He recently completed a three-year term as senior editor for feature articles in the journal Plant Disease and was senior editor for the online journal Plant Health Progress for three years. Farrar is a member of the American Phytopathological Society and the Pacific Division of the American Phytopathological Society.

The Wisconsin native completed his Ph.D. in botany and B.S. in plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his M.S. in plant pathology at UC Davis.

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

No-tillage Grows in California

The list of crops that have been successfully grown using no-tillage in California continues to increase with garbanzo beans being the latest addition, according to Jeffrey P. Mitchell, CE cropping systems specialist, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Harvest data from the Conservation Tillage Workgroup are now in for a 2015 garbanzo crop that was no-till seeded in January in the longstanding conservation agriculture systems study field in Five Points, CA, and these data indicate no difference in yield between the no-till with and without cover crop treatments and the standard till with and without cover crop systems. Garbanzo yields for the four systems averaged about 3,600 lbs / acre with no statistical differences seen between the four experimental treatments.

Other than an herbicide spraying in the fall of 2014 to knock down weeds, the no-tillage systems relied on zero tillage prior to seeding that was done with a John Deere 1730 6-row 30” planter. Conventional tillage consisting of several passes of a Wilcox Performer bed-shaping tillage implement was done to prepare planting beds in the standard tillage plots as would be commonly done in the region.

There is now a growing list of several crops, including processing tomatoes, cotton and dairy forage that have been successfully produced, both in research studies and on California farms, with economically viable yields using no-tillage seeding.

Additional information about this study is available at the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center (CASI) website and by contacting Jeff Mitchell at jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu.

Established in 1998, the Conservation Cropping Systems Workgroup is a diverse group of more than 1,500 farmer, University of California, California State University, USDA – NRCS, Resource Conservation District, public agency, private sector and environmental group members that have come together to promote conservation cropping systems in California.

Featured Photo Soure: Source: CASI (Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation) Center, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

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

Crop Diversification at Terranova Ranch

Crop Diversification at Terranova Ranch Provides Stability

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Don Cameron, Terranova Ranch Inc.

Crop diversification is the key to California’s agricultural success. Our climate and soils enable farmers to grow different crops year-round throughout the state. Don Cameron, vice president and general manager of Terranova Ranch Inc. in Helm, Fresno County, oversees the farming of cannery tomatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers, almonds, walnuts, winegrapes, and even seeds for many other crops.

CalAgToday interviewed Cameron while he was riding a carrot harvester in the midst of harvesting for Grimmway Farms. He observed,“Our crop diversification at Terranova Ranch has really changed over the years. We used to farm cotton, alfalfa, barley and wheat, and that was about it.”

“Now,” said Cameron, “we grow between 20 and 30 different crops, both conventional and organic. There are times when one crop might not do as well as another, so diversification adds stability to our operation.”

And, of course, stability is a good thing on the farm. “We like to have stability,” Cameron commented, “and our workers love the stability because they know they are going to have work long-term, summer and winter. It is a lot more work for us, but in the long-run, it will be valuable for our operation here.”

Crop diversity and the stability it has brought to Terranova Ranch, according to Cameron, have enabled the ranch to retain its employees despite these rough times with fallow fields. “We’ve actually been able to hire some good employees from other farms where they’ve had severe cutbacks in water this year.”

Terranova uses only groundwater, and fortunately the ranch’s wells have held up over the last few years. Terranova is working on a major recharge program across 250 acres of land with water from potential Kings River floods and the James Bypass that crosses the Valley close to the ranch. Although regulations prevent implementation this year, “when the flood water comes,” said Cameron, “those fields will be flooded for recharge and they will have low berms around them. The water may only be 2-3 feet deep, but the goal is to keep the water continuously on those fields so the recharge persists. The water doesn’t have to be 10 feet deep; it can be merely 6 inches deep as long as it is continually refilled so the recharge holds.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:06-07:00August 29th, 2015|

2014 Fresno County Crop Report Sets Record Production

2014 Fresno County Crop Report Sets Record Production — $7 billion+

Les Wright, Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer submitted the following information to Karen Ross, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, TODAY accompanied by the 2014 Fresno County Crop Report showing record production.

It is my pleasure to submit the 2014 Fresno County Agricultural Crop and Livestock Report. This report is produced in accordance with Sections 2272 and 2279 of the California Food and Agriculture Code, and summarizes the acreage, production, and value of Fresno County’s agricultural products. The figures contained herein represent gross returns to the producer, and do not reflect actual net profit.

Photo, from left, Ryan Jacobson, Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO, Les Wright, Fresno County Ag Commissioner and Richard Matoian, American Pistachio Growers Executive Director

This report is a testament to the resiliency and determination of the Fresno County agricultural industry. For the first time ever, the gross value of Fresno County agriculture exceeds seven billion dollars. Almonds remain the number one crop at a value of 1.3 billion dollars with grapes a close second at $905 million.

The total gross production value of Fresno County agricultural commodities in 2014 was $ 7,039,861,000, a 9.26 percent increase from the 2013 production value of $6,443,236,500.

Increases were seen in:

vegetable crops (0.47% = $5,599,000)
fruit and nut crops (13.16%= $422,664,000)
nursery products (46.89%= $20,022,000)
livestock and poultry (31.48% = $301,144,000)
livestock and poultry products (22.09% = $116,299,000
apiary (17.39% = $10,738,000)
industrial crops (107.05% = $3,795,500).

Decreases in:

field crops (-36.20%= -$149,822,000)
seed crops (-14.67%= -$5,823,000).

I would like to express my appreciation to the many producers, processors, and agencies, both private and public, who supported our efforts in producing this report. I would also like to thank all my staff, especially Fred Rinder, Scotti Walker, Angel Gibson, Vera Scott-Slater, and Billy Hopper. Without their hard work and valuable input this report would not be possible.

Pistachios, featured on the cover of the 2014 Fresno County Crop Report, were Fresno County’s seventh top crop last year, with a value of nearly $380 million dollars.

The top nut—and crop, for that matter—was almonds, followed by grapes, poultry, milk, cattle and calves, tomatoes, pistachios, garlic, peaches and cotton.

Also included in the report was this quote from President John F. Kennedy:

Our farmers deserve praise, not condemnation; and their efficiency should be cause for gratitude, not something for which they are penalized.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:06-07:00August 25th, 2015|

California Safe Soil Honored

California Safe Soil Honored By Forbes Reinventing America

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Associate Editor, California Ag Today

At the recent invitation-only Forbes Ag Tech Summit “Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit” in Salinas, California Safe Soil (CSS) was awarded the Thrive Accelerator Sustainability Award. The Thrive Accelerator program is a highly selective mentorship and investment program for technology-enabled startups in precision agriculture.

Mark Bauer, California Safe Soil

Mark Bauer, director of business development for CSS said, “Forbes just started this process over a year ago when they interviewed over 100 companies throughout the world. About three months ago they notified us we were among the top ten finalists, and today we found out we won the Sustainability Award! So we are extremely pleased and quite honored to receive that award, ” said Bauer.

California Safe Soil, based in West Sacramento, is a fresh food recycler that increases a farm’s productivity at a low cost, while helping to improve the environment. The company converts food that supermarkets cannot sell or donate into its Harvest to Harvest (H2H) fertilizer which promotes sustainable agriculture by returning nutrients to the soil and increasing plant vigor and crop yield.

“We think it is really important to find sustainable solutions in agriculture today,” Bauer explained. “We have partnered with Save Mart Supermarkets because Save Mart recognized the value of our process. We take all of the organic food waste that Save Mart can’t sell or donate, interrupt that trip to the landfill, and we put it through a three-hour enzymatic-digestion process that takes all the available food energy and forms it into small particles that growers apply to the roots of their crops through their existing drip lines.”

Bauer noted, “We are seeing terrific response in a number of crops, especially with strawberries, raspberries and processing tomatoes. We are growing thousands of acres of almond trees right now and seeing great results. We’ve been working in the areas of leafy greens as well growing broccoli, cabbage and lettuce crops,” he said.

California Safe Soil (CSS)

“The H2H material moves with the irrigation water through the drip or micro-sprinklers and supercharges the soil microbes,” Bauer explained. “After it goes through our process, the H2H material is composed amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars–not what plants eat, but what soil biology needs. H2H is the food for the microbiology of the soil; it makes the micronutrients and macronutrients in the soil more available to the plant,” he said.

CSS’s unique full-cycle process assists supermarket customers in recycling their organics, improving store hygiene, and reducing costs. In addition, H2H is a safe, low-cost, high-volume and high-quality liquid fertilizer that helps agricultural customers save money, increase crop yield, and reduce nitrate runoff. These benefits deliver improved quality in air, water, and soil environments, while employing safe, efficient, and effective solutions.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:09-07:00July 27th, 2015|

UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor in Ventura County

By Laurie Greene, Editor California Ag Today

Ben Faber, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor in Ventura County, works with growers who farm a variety of different crops including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries as well as lemons and avocados.

Faber is developing new approaches for better avocado pruning to increase yield. “We have not done a lot of pruning on avocados in the past,” Faber said, “because this plant species responds to pruning in a very rapid fashion with a lot of shoots and water sprouts, so people have been scared to prune avocados. Over time, we have learned how to prune avocados somewhat differently than other tree crops.”

Faber said the two pruning choices are a heading cut and a thinning cut. “A heading cut,” he explained, “is often what you see peach growers doing, indiscriminately cutting into a branch. Well, they are actually doing is selecting the branches that will be the fruiting branches for the next year. Whereas, if you do that in avocados, you just get a lot of wild regrowth.”

So Faber believes the strategy in avocados has to be a thinning cut, “where you prune back to a sub-tending branch or a crotch so the remaining branch continues growth. This method controls growth lower down in the branch. It has taken a long time to discover this, though it seems simple now.”

He added, “Thinning cuts are all about keeping the tree from ‘crowning out,’ which reduces yield. As neighboring trees start shading each other, the flowering and fruiting spreads to the very top of the tree. This is where you see significant yield reduction because instead of having fruit form all over the tree’s canopy, fruit and flower production forms only on the very top of the canopy.” Faber said.

“Keeping the avocado fruit lower in the tree is better for harvesters to grab,” Faber commented. “So, growing fruit high in the tree presents not only yield loss, but a worker safety issue as well.”

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:11-07:00July 9th, 2015|

Happy Fourth to All

Our Third President on This Fourth of July

On this Fourth of July, it’s fitting to focus on Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s Agrarian President and signer of the Declaration of Independence 239 years ago.

Yes, our third President was Thomas Jefferson an agronomist, an educated man of the land. So, unique in his time, he believed in proper land stewardship for posterity.

Jefferson understood that humanity affected the environment, so he practiced crop rotation with an extensive seven-year plan, using wheat, turnips, corn, potatoes, peas, rye and clover, buckwheat, and livestock grazing.

He tested to determine the exact number of cattle required to fertilize a given area of land and compared grain yields on manure vs. unfertilized fields.

“Agriculture … is our wisest pursuit, because it will

in the end contribute most to real wealth, good

morals & happiness.”

Jefferson developed scientific plowing of “least resistance,” which lifted and turned the sod to a depth of about six inches, enabling farmers to contour-ridge erodible fields, plow out shallow ditches, and ridge poorly drained flat lands.

He terraced his vegetable garden, orchard, and vineyard sites, and planted native ground cover to stop erosion.

He conserved timber by not cutting trees for any purpose as long as cut wood was available.

As U.S. envoy to France, he sent seeds of various grasses, fruits and vegetables, acorns, olive plants to agricultural societies, farmers, and botanists back home.

He brought Italian rice to South Carolina, pecan trees to the eastern United States and was first to introduce Brussels sprouts, eggplant, cauliflower, and broccoli.

He encouraged agricultural societies, agricultural education and university-level research.

Jefferson kept extensive farm journals for nearly six decades on the 170 varieties of fruits and 330 different kinds of vegetables he cultivated, and on his experiments with viticulture and beer brewing.

Another July 4^th notation

Presidents John Adams (who lived to 90 years old) and Thomas Jefferson (who lived to 82) both died on the same day July 4 1826, 50 years to the day of the signing of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:12-07:00July 4th, 2015|

Average Almond Crop for Van Groningen

Van Groningen: Almond Crop Looks Average; Misleading Math on Watermelon Water Use

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Assistant Editor, California Ag Today

Van Groningen & Sons, Inc. farming has been operating in California since 1922. Field Manager Bryan Van Groningen updated California Ag Today, “The almond crop looks pretty average, ‘nothing that looks well over norm. It just depends on which field site you enter in; some of the younger blocks look a little better than the older blocks. So, right now the crop looks pretty old, but it is all across the board.”

Bryan Van Groningen

Based in Manteca, Von Groningen & Sons has a diversified operation growing melons, sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, almonds and walnuts, and livestock feed. Noting recent negative press on almond water usage, Bryan said, “Almonds obviously have gotten a lot of bad press lately, as has ag in general. In looking at some of the water usage figures, I tend not to agree with them. I think a lot of the water usage figures are outdated and incorrect.” He explained, “For example, we grow watermelons, and one of the articles that I read reported that 160 gallons of water was needed to produce a single watermelon. On our farm, it is closer to 35-40 gallons.”

As the state continues to deal with water restrictions, Van Groningen says a lot of fingers are unfairly pointing at the agriculture industry. “I think there is a lot of misinformation being spread around and used to throw agriculture under the bus,” he stated, “making us look like we are the bad guys, when we are actually producing the nutritious food that consumers in our state and the nation eat and enjoy. The agricultural industry has made so many advances in water efficiency that we should actually be labelled as ‘water conservationists’, and not ‘water wasters’.”

Van Groningen says he sees firsthand, every day, exactly how much water is used per crop, because he actively manages the farm’s water. “I sat down and ran the numbers 3, 4, 5 times — just to make sure that I did the math correctly. So, some of this usage is being misrepresented and therefore does not shed a good light on what ag is actually doing.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:12-07:00July 3rd, 2015|