Replanting Trees as Harvest Ends

David Doll on Replanting Trees

By Laurie Greene, Editor

As harvest comes to a close for many tree crops, the time for replanting trees is swiftly approaching. David Doll, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Merced County, said that if California receives significant rain this year, the replanting process in orchards would be more difficult.

“If we are potentially coming into a wet winter, it’s going to provide challenges in establishing new orchards,” Doll said. “In the case of heavy rainfall, it’s important to keep a few things in mind and plan accordingly. First, if we’re doing any type of soil modification, we need to get a little bit of moisture to help the soil settle.”

Doll said second step is ‘pulling’ berms—the small hills or walls of dirt or sand in an orchard created to divert rain and irrigation water from the tree trunk. He explained, “We want to pull them before the soil gets too wet. We don’t want to walk into a heavy soil field, such as clay or clay loam, and pull berms because in doing so do, we would actually slick that soil over and have to deal with compaction and future issues with the orchard.”

“Third, when we start planting our trees,” Doll said, “it’s important to make sure that we dig a proper hole with wet soils.” Doll warned if you don’t spend the time to dig a hole, you can ‘glaze’ the soil or form a crust on the sides of the holes, particularly in clay soils, leaving a hard, compact surface that is impenetrable to young roots. He advised to fracture or scratch glazed soil on the sides of the hole with a shovel or rake before filling in to ensure proper root growth.

Doll also said that when planting, the graft union—the point on a plant where the graft is joined to the rootstock—needs to be kept aboveground. “Countless times I’ve seen people plant the graft union below the ground,” said Doll. “Or they’ll plant the tree, pull up a berm, and actually put the graft union below the ground. Keeping the graft union about one hand’s width above the soil line will ensure the graft union remains aboveground as the tree settles.”

“Lastly, if machine planting in very wet clay loam soil, clods [lumps] and air pockets may form,” Doll said. “That’s problematic. The same thing also may occur with hand planting. It’s important to make sure the planters are digging a properly-sized hole and the roots need to be sufficiently covered. The soil needs to be broken down and then replaced around the tree. Finally, to ‘tank’ the tree, apply about 4-5 gallons of water after replacing the dirt to reduce the air pockets and allow the tree to get a good, solid start.”

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

Groundwater Recharge at Terranova Ranch

Major Groundwater Recharge Program at Terranova Ranch Progresses

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Don Cameron, manager of Fresno County-based Terranova Ranch has been working with the Kings River Conservation District (KRCD) on a groundwater recharge plan for nearly 20 years to convey floodwaters from the Kings River across Terranova Ranch and other properties in the area. “It has been a long, hard, committed struggle,” said Cameron, “but in 2011, we got Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) involved.

“Once we submitted our grant application to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), they reviewed it and awarded us a $5 million grant, which really got the project off the ground,” said Cameron.

“We are in the third year of work with the grant and we are currently doing the environmental studies with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). We are still very much involved in the engineering phase and we are putting a lot of agreements together with all the neighboring agencies that we have to work with,” Cameron said.

Logistically, Terranova Ranch is in an ideal location to capture potential floodwaters from the Kings River. Adjacent to the North Fork of the Kings River where floodwaters move though the James Bypass to the Mendota Pool, Terranova Ranch, provides the operation a unique opportunity in terms of groundwater recharge.

“We are taking farmland that is in production, and when the floods come, we will direct floodwaters across that land and neighboring land, to recharge the groundwater in our fields,” said Cameron. “We have proven that we can recharge in existing vineyards and tree-crop orchards, as well as in tomato, onion and carrot fields before we plant. We can use the floodwater across our farmland so that we do not need a dedicated basin dug out just for a recharge.”

“We know we can recharge anywhere on our land,” explained Cameron. “We can even turn off our pumps and use the water on the land to irrigate, through our drip systems. There are a lot of different ways to attack the problem. We think this is the best fit for our area, and we hope to be successful in rebuilding our groundwater supply,” said Cameron.

“The plan is to dedicate about 250 acres of ground for recharge,” said Cameron. Low levies will be built around the land when floodwaters are anticipated. We may have crops planted on the fields,” but Cameron hopes to be able to predict floods prior to planting a crop. Nevertheless, Cameron said, “We will flood crops if we need to.”

When the fields are flooded, the water may be as much as 2 to 3 feet deep, or as little as six inches deep. But the goal is to keep the water continuously on those fields to continue the recharge.

And since this is a large project involving state money, CEQA must be involved. Cameron emphasized, “We want to be sure that there is no environmental damage to any possible endangered species anywhere near our farm or near the project we are doing. There are state and federal laws that we have to abide by and so we need to jump through those hoops to get the project approved to completion,” said Cameron.

“We have been working with the project for a long time and we think its time has come,” said Cameron. “We are in the fourth year of a drought now and there is a lot of interest in putting water underground now, rather than building dams. We think dams are necessary as part of the overall water storage for irrigation, but we need both aboveground and below-ground storage.”

Cameron contends this groundwater recharge plan could improve groundwater quantity and quality fairly quickly, and be implemented faster than trying to build a large dam in the state. “We want to do our part here,” he said. “We would hate to see all the floodwater flow by during flood periods. It’s smarter to capture those stormwater flows on the land and into the ground water reservoir. We think it’s a real win for the whole state,” he said, adding there has been a lot of interest in duplicating this type of project throughout the state.

Cameron noted the project is perfect for the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2015. “We are going to be ahead of the game on this, which is where we want to be,” he said.

Yet, not fast enough. Though a sizeable El Niño may pound California this fall and winter, bringing potential floodwaters to many rivers, the paperwork for the Terranova Ranch recharge program will not be completed in time. Cameron and the KRCD have been pushing to complete the project, but the agencies that need to sign off are numerous, including:

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) – because floodwaters will be moving to additional landowners east of 145.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) – because water will need to flow under a natural gas pipeline.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – because a major cement structure with gate valves must be in place for the floodwater to be extracted from by-pass. “This will essentially mean that the levies will be breached,” said Cameron.

Again, the floodwaters will be flowing north and to the east, to several landowners in the region. Cameron and KRCD have been doing all the setup for everyone, not just themselves. “We hope, in long term, to expand the recharge project to 16,000 acres,” said Cameron.

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:27:05-07:00October 26th, 2015|

Record Walnut Crop

New Record Walnut Crop: 575,000 Tons

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

In a recent interview with Dennis Balint, executive director and ceo of the California Walnut Board, Balint discussed the Board’s promotion efforts on what has become another record walnut crop, grown on approximately 300,000 acres in the state.

California Ag Today (CAT): Despite the drought, the valiant walnut growers of California have produced yet another record crop of 575,000 tons, up one percent from 2014’s crop, and crop quality is reported to be excellent. How does that relate to overall supply?

Balint: This increase represents 5,000 additional bearing acres. Last year, the world availability was up about 140,000 tons higher than the previous year. We knew that we could absorb incremental production of 20,000 or 30,000 tons a year; however, 140,000 tons was a bit of a surprise. Couple that with the fact that China’s economy isn’t today what it was a couple of years ago. That has hurt us a bit.

So at any rate, that means we are going to have a record total of availability this year, and I think we are going to see prices moderate. Now, the really good news is the industry had some foresight in approving a huge budget to market the product, so we’ll be having a serious marketing campaign in the 2015-2016-crop year.

CAT: Walnut consuming promotions?

Balint: The board will continue promoting walnuts with print and television campaigns, as well as public relations efforts through Edelman Public Relations. That will continue on two fronts; one is consumer appeal, like recipes, and just raising overall awareness regarding the versatility of walnuts; but second and most importantly, Edelman is in charged with promoting health. Health continues to be a very important card in promoting our product to consumers and health professionals as well.

CAT: It is always good that people think of health when they think of walnuts!

Balint: Yeah they do. It is amazing how that number has changed over the years.

CAT: Is eating more, better?

Balint: You know we have a daily range. When we do studies, researchers will always look at the composition of the product and, depending on what they are expecting, they will adjust accordingly. So we have studies that are based on 1 ounce, 1.5 ounces, and 2 ounces daily. So it really depends on the end points they choose to look at.

We try to never talk about compounds because we like to talk about the whole walnut, but occasionally researchers who are deconstructionists suspect a particular compound. Then we have to analyze it down to the nitty-gritty so somebody can put it in a pill. When that happens on occasion, researchers say, “Well, we really need to feed 2 ounces.” And in some cases, 2 ounces in the short-term works very well. In the long-term, being practical, 1 to 1.5 ounces is good.

CAT: Please go back to the advertising budget. Is it mainly domestic?

Balint: It is all domestic. The export program will remain intact—no changes there. We will still have good programs in a number of countries overseas, but all of the increased production is going into the domestic market.

CAT: Do we need to increase per capita consumption to handle the oversupply issue?

Balint: That is a good question. What we need is the following: We estimate, and we don’t have hard numbers, not much more than one in five households is purchasing and using walnuts on a regular basis. So that leaves a lot of room for growth. Our campaign has been designed to appeal to light and non-users, and not just the core consumer who is already loving walnuts and buying them on a regular basis, to expand our user base. We are doing so by presenting walnuts as an ingredient in salads, vegetable side dishes, entrees, and of course as a snack. As a matter-of-fact, we are waiting on copy testing results in the next week or two.

CAT: Good. And walnuts make everything better and that’s what it is all about, isn’t it?

Balint: Absolutely. Walnuts are a little added touch that makes food not only more interesting because of the color, texture, and taste, but also because it is healthful. All of our ads are going to have the heart check logo. I want to reemphasize health research will still capture a lot of media on its own. That will continue, ‘no reduction there.

CAT: Are the ads in food or fitness magazines primarily?

Balint: Food magazines, primarily. We have four executions of print ads and two television commercials. We are waiting for the test results for the ads. The copy testing we have done also includes what the experts call rapid eye movement. By observing people’s eyes, we’ll know when consumers like or don’t like a word or a phrase, or think something is plausible or implausible. We will also know where their glance goes, how long it stays there and where it goes next.

This will help us structure the commercial to eliminate some of those “down spots” and focus on things that capture their attention. We will be reaching 95% of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 with this campaign on average 26 times per person over a period of about five months.

CAT: Wow, you are running it on some big television programs?

We’ll be going after different segments. For example, we have scheduled morning television segments like “Live with Kelly & Michael,” “Rachael” with Rachael Rae, and pillar events. A pillar event might be a broadcast on E! Network such as “From the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards” or an event in the sporting world. But that is not a focus. We will also include standard shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and so on.

Television will be in ten key markets, and I don’t have the list in front of me. But we will also continue our aggressive social media program. We have a couple of new ideas that I think will capture people’s interest.

CAT: Tell us about the campaign with the wrapped truck that looks like a walnut.

Balint: We converted a food truck to look like a walnut by wrapping it with walnut texture and contoured the boxy truck into a rounded walnut shape. So when it is parked in downtown Manhattan or Washington D.C., the truck with those affixed contours makes quite a spectacle.

CAT: So what were you doing with that truck? Did you hand out information?

Balint: We made information available, facilitated games, hosted walnut cracking, and most importantly, served an ice cream sandwich made out of yogurt, walnuts and chocolate graham crackers. We had samples of walnuts as well.

CAT: What is your health research strategy? Are you working with key researchers to compare eating walnuts with not eating any nuts?

Balint: Our health research strategy depends on the target. Remember, walnuts are the only good food source of Omega-3; most nuts have no Omega-3. We like to test the whole walnut in a lot of our studies. Sometimes we will find an indication that one compound is more important than another; but we recently finished a study with 27 scientists for our annual meeting. They look at what we have done, what we are doing, and what we should do next. So it is not just guesswork, it is a carefully thought-out program that focuses on areas of greatest interest to scientists.

One thing I will tell you is one day before the meeting began, we had six key scientists come in for what we call a “brainstorming session.” We asked them to tell us how to make our program better: the way we run our health research program, the way we run the conference and so on. The unanimous opinion of the six in attendance was not to change a thing. They said basically the program is a model for what should happen in health research, because we don’t go into research with a preconceived notion. We don’t go in and say, “Researcher, please raise your hand and provide us with a positive result on this disease.” We follow the science.

CAT: What are your biggest markets abroad?

Balint: China of course is huge. But other very strong markets include Germany, Japan, Korea, Spain and Turkey. China slipped this past year, of course, and we are all scratching our heads because we hear a lot about China. But their economy is a little soft. They had a crackdown on the gray market, which hurt business a little bit because some of the product that goes into China finds its way there through either Hong Kong or Vietnam. So China’s utilization this year was down. It is too early to tell whether they will return or continue at the same pace they experienced in 2014-15. We just don’t know yet.

CAT: Are you promoting the health message in these foreign countries?

Balint: Yes, and it is a really interesting situation. In countries that have a tradition of walnut-use like China, only about 40% of our messaging is health-related because they have known it is healthy for a thousand years. Whereas, in Japan, when a big story breaks accompanied by some television coverage, our sales will spike like you can’t even believe. So, it differs by market.

Here in the U.S., it is very high, as in Germany and Spain. Turkey is building and India as well, but slowly. We have some issues there; India is a market in which they too grow lots of walnuts, but we are slowly but surely making some headway.

The Korean market opened in 1994, but it was 2001 before we had any meaningful number of shipments. You have to be patient with some of these markets to be able to dismantle some of the trade barriers.

CAT: Are there any markets in South America?

Balint: Years ago, in the 90’s, there was an effort in Brazil and Argentina. Now, Chile grows walnuts, Argentina grows some, Brazil still grows a few. The Mercosur* pact down there (a special trading pack between South American countries) is a problem because the Mercosur countries trade duty-free. So we are at a disadvantage. We’re contra-seasonal. Last, but not least, we have a tariff burden. So we tried it for a couple of years, but decided there were better places to invest.

CAT: Well, it’s interesting. We don’t see South America being a big market for almonds or pistachios yet either.

Balint: It’s true; they grow Brazil nuts and, as I said, walnuts. Chile, as a matter-of-fact, is increasing their plantings. As their plantings increase, their initial sales will remain within the South American continent. When they get into the summer, especially late summer, they will sell what they have left into markets like Korea, and if they can, France and Germany. They basically go into our markets and try to sell in advance of our crop.

CAT: How are California growers doing? They are going through another year of drought, and I’m sure you are worried….

Balint: Everyone is, and we are all waiting for the other shoe to drop. Here we are with another record crop, and we know the reason for that. It’s because five or six years ago, somebody planted more walnuts, and they are coming online now. It appears as though we are trying to grow more walnuts in the middle of the drought, though the fact of the matter is those trees went in the ground long before water scarcity became as bad as it currently is.

CAT: Exactly, Fresno County just released their numbers last month and broke a record 7 billion dollars. Kern County and Tulare County broke records as well. In terms of ag value, we are not taking such a hit, mainly due to high nut prices.

Balint: Even before I was in the commodity business, I used to work for a company in Massachusetts called William Underwood Company. They had B&M (Burnham & Morrill Company) Baked Beans, Underwood Deviled Ham and other meat spreads. That is where I learned about commodities.

We had an economist on staff to predict the prices of navy beans, fatback**, sugar, ham hocks, and chicken. I learned it was much easier for the chicken guy year to year; he would just have more chickens to count! The bean people could have more beans. What about the walnut people? If the trees weren’t in the ground, they were not going to get more walnuts.

________________________________

*Mercosur or Mercosul (Spanish: Mercado Común del Sur, Portuguese: Mercado Comum do Sul, Guarani: Ñemby Ñemuha, Southern Common Market) is a sub-regional bloc. Its full members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Its associate countries are Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Fatback: the fat, usually salted, from the upper part of a side of pork

Source: Dictionary.com

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:27:06-07:00October 21st, 2015|

Joe Marchini, Mr. Radicchio

Joe Marchini Brings Radicchio to California

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor

Joe Marchini, of J. Marchini Farms, was born in 1938 to Italian parents who farmed and packed tomatoes in Le Grand, Calif. Marchini has lived and worked in that locale for his whole life, exemplifying a high level of spirit and accomplishment.

His father, Florindo Marchini, brought his family over from Tuscany in 1920.” They settled in Le Grand because Florindo’s brother was already living there when Florindo first arrived. Before long, Florindo met a long time grower by the name of Carlo Giampaoli who invited Marchini to grow tomatoes and bell peppers with him. So Giampaoli took Florindo Marchini under his wing, and his brother as well, and established their farm, Giampaoli-Marchini Company. Together, they packaged tomatoes under the Live Oak brand because they actually packed the produce by hand in the shade of a live oak tree that still thrives there today!

Florindo’s son, Joe Marchini, was around seven when he began working at the packing shed stamping produce boxes. “I would sit on a box,” he said, “and as they came down the line, I used a little stamp pad to size tomatoes 6/6, 7/7, 7/8, 5/6, 4/4, 3/4. I only worked about 3-4 hours a day, and that was it. The older I got, the more I became involved in different things, from stamping, to packing, to wrapping tomatoes in cellophane paper and putting them in a box.”

The tomatoes were packed green and transported back east by train in ice cars. “They weren’t pink ones; no, they were dead green! They knew when to pick them, when the gel formed inside of the tomatoes,” Marchini said. “They could tell by the color and the shine of the tomatoes, and that’s what the pickers were supposed to pick. They were going to break soon. It took about a week, running day and night, to get to New York on steamer trains.”

“The early farming venture was comprised of 150 acres, which was a lot of acreage with horses,” said Marchini. “In the fall, we would travel to Gustine and cut tulles and bamboo for our tomato stakes.”

“My two brothers, Richard and Leonard Marchini, went to school with me. None of us could speak any English; we only spoke Italian,” Marchini said. So they all learned English in a small schoolhouse with two classrooms and one teacher.

“My dad grew tomatoes on that land for two years and then planted 40 acres of almond trees. The almonds were harvested green and then dried down by air.” Of course this was before mechanical shakers were used to harvest, so it was done with mallets and tarps. “It was very tough work,” noted Marchini, “and the price of almonds was less than 60 cents a pound.” Marchini credits Blue Diamond Growers, a cooperative he joined, with marketing the almonds so prices could increase.

Mr. Radicchio

Not satisfied with growing only tomatoes and almonds, Joe Marchini was always looking for something new to grow. In 1962 on a trip to Italy, Joe noticed fields of radicchio, a leafy Italian chicory and relative of endive, in the Venice area and found the crop was selling well in Italian grocery stores. He said, “I liked the crop and thought it would grow well in California, so I smuggled in little packages of seeds.”

Unfortunately, the seeds he brought back did not grow well. “Radicchio production wasn’t perfected and the source I had in Italy did not tell me what season the seeds were for.” Marchini’s radicchio would grow and form green leaves but not make a head. So Marchini went back to Italy, 40 miles southeast of Venice, to talk to growers, but no one would talk. “I certainly could not tell the guys that I was going back to the U.S. to grow the crop,” he said.

Marchini finally found a couple of growers to ship a 100-pound sack of seeds to San Francisco for him. “I picked up the bag, planted the seed and the same thing happened—it didn’t grow.” He called the Italian growers and asked how many different radicchio varieties they were growing. They told him eight varieties. “I asked them why they sent me only one variety, why they did not tell me when to plant the seed, and if they wanted me to buy more seed, they had better tell me what varieties to grow,” he said.

“Since I spoke Italian, the growers started to open up. Eventually, I brought them to the U.S., and we partnered up to grow radicchio. I even sent them to Mexico because they thought they could produce an earlier crop than in California,” Marchini said. After reaching mediocre success for about four years in Mexico, they moved back to California to work with Marchini, now without a partnership.

The company now productively farms in Mexico with the right seed. “We farm in Mexico for the winter crop in February, March and April. But before we started growing in Mexico, in the late 1970s, we started in Salinas and then in the San Joaquin Valley. The Italian growers knew what to plant and we got all the varieties in the right mode that would do well. The Italians wanted to be partners again and I declined it because I had kids coming up, but I told them that I would buy all the seeds from them, and they were making good money. So they ended up disclosing the secret in the whole deal of growing radicchio. So without them, and me speaking Italian, we would have never gotten started. We are still friends today and I’m still buying seed from them,” Marchini said.

Over the years, Marchini has worked with his son Jeff to plant the right seed at the right time. They learned which varieties could handle different climates, such as going into the heat, and coming out of the heat, and they emerged with 6 or 7 dependable varieties.

“So we plant six varieties in the fall, one week after the other. We can have radicchio in the San Joaquin Valley from November until March, and we harvest seven days a week.

His processors want radicchio 12 months out of the year, so Marchini’s company manages harvesting to fill the sales pipeline 12 months a year. “And we never run out of it,” he said.

Today, Marchini uses about 12 different labels, including his own image on the ‘Joe’s Premium Radicchio’ box, for the domestic market and select export markets. “We let global importers pick their own labels. J. Marchini ships all over the world now, including Italy, and has a large percentage of the market in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. “They love the color of radicchio in a blend,” he said.

J. Marchini deals with nearly every processor in California including Taylor Farms, Apio, Fresh Express, Dole, Earth Bound, and Ready Pac, year-round, with production from Kern to Merced counties and Mexico.

Managing all this production with Joe and his son Jeff (the third generation), are grandchildren Marc and Nic and Francesca (fourth generation), with the fifth generation coming along with Gabriella, Maximus and little Giuseppe, named after his great-grandfather Joe (Giuseppe). Marc and Francesca work in the sales and post-harvest side of the business. Nic works in the farming operation side of the business. Jeff oversees the company as a whole.

Overseeing production, and especially the harvest of the radicchio throughout the growing regions, including Mexico, is Alejandro Calderon, Joe Marchini’s right hand since day one. Jenny MacAfee, a key person in the sales department, has been on board for the last 20 years.

Today Marchini farms three main radicchio varieties: Castelfranco (white head with red polka dot specks), Treviso (elongated red with white ribs), and Palo Rosa (red head type with white veins). “We do a three-pack deal in the wintertime with all three varieties together, but we also grow many other varieties,” said Marchini.

J. Marchini Farms’ production operation, based in Watsonville, a great climate for radicchio in the summer months, includes 2,000 acres spread between the Central Valley, the Coastal areas and Mexico.

The Central Valley fall and winter nighttime temperatures are cool, and radicchio production, five lines down the row on 80-inch beds, is about 20,000 pounds per acre, with most of it on drip or sprinkler.

The operation also grows almonds, walnuts, fresh figs and other crops, “but radicchio has been a good ride,” said Marchini. “We have had ups and downs with the crop, but overall it has provided a good cash flow,” he said.

For the last three years, Joe Marchini has been dealing with Squamous Cell Carcinoma (the second most common form of skin cancer) and has undergone multiple surgeries and treatments. His love for his family and his incredible passion for farming keep him going.

_______________

J. Marchini Farms

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:27:06-07:00October 16th, 2015|

Plants Do Not USE Water…They Borrow it!

Plants Transpire Most of the Water They Use!

Editor’s note: California Ag Today interviewed Allan Fulton, an Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Tehama County, in Redbluff CA, to comment on the debate about the agricultural industry’s use of water and to focus on a critical but disregarded process—that all plants transpire, even plants cultivated for the crops we eat.

Allan Fulton, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor

CalAgToday: We hear in the media that our crops are using too much water. And while all plants need water to grow food, we also know that a high percentage of water taken up by all plants actually transpires back into the atmosphere, to form clouds and precipitation, right?

Fulton: Yes, when plants transpire, the water just returns to the local hydrologic cycle, leaving the harvested crop that we distribute elsewhere in the US or in the world actually very low in water content.

CalAgToday: When we think about transpiration, are the plants actually “borrowing” the water?

Fulton: Yes. We get a lot of questions about why we irrigate our crops so much, and it comes from the general public not being as close to farming everyday. The truth is, plant transpiration is a necessary biological process. The water cools the tree so it stays healthy and exits the leaves through special cells called stomata. While the stomates are open to allow water to transpire, carbon dioxide enters and is used in photosynthesis, making sugars and carbohydrates for the plant to create the fruits and nuts that we eat. So, an inadequately watered plant cannot take in enough carbon dioxide during transpiration, resulting in defective fruits and nuts that are smaller, shriveled, cracked—all the things the typical consumer does not want to buy.

Plants cannot gain carbon dioxide without simultaneously losing water vapor.[1]

CalAgToday: Can we say 95 or 99% of the water that is taken up by the plant gets transpired and definitely not wasted?

Fulton: Definitely. We converted to pressurized irrigation systems, micro sprinklers and mini sprinklers, so we have a lot more control over how much water we apply at any one time. We do not put water out in acre-feet or depths of 4-6 inches at a time anymore. So, much like when rainfall occurs, we can measure it in tenths, or 1 or 2 inches at most. As a result, the water doesn’t penetrate the soil very deeply, maybe only 1 or 2 feet each irrigation.

We are very efficient with the water, but because we deliver it in small doses, we have to irrigate very frequently. That is why we see irrigation systems running a lot, but they are systems that efficiently stretch our water supply and do not waste it.

CalAgToday: But again, the vast majority of the water that the tree is taking up is being transpired, right?

Fulton: Yes, most of the time, at least 90% of the water that we apply taken up through the tree and transpired so that photosynthesis can happen.

CalAgToday: And transpiration increases on a hot day?

Fulton: Yes, we do get a little bit of loss from surface evaporation from wet soil, but we try to control that with smaller wetting patterns—drip-confined wetting patterns. When you think about it, the heat of the day is in the afternoon when many irrigation systems don’t run because of higher energy costs. There are incentives not to pump in the middle of the afternoon, but those who do try to confine the wetted area to limit evaporation. And the hot hours of the day make up about 4 hours of a 24-hour cycle, so we irrigate mostly during the nighttime and early morning hours to lesson evaporative loss.

CalAgToday: Growers are doing everything they can to conserve water. If the trees and vines are all transpiring most of their irrigated water, why is using water to grow food a problm?

Fulton: I think the emphasis throughout the United States has always been to provide a secure food supply. That security has many benefits, economically and politically; and in the end, we are trying to provide the general public with good quality, safe food at the best price possible.

______________________________________________

[1] Debbie Swarthout and C.Michael Hogan. 2010. Stomata. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC.

The California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) is a program unit in the Water Use and Efficiency Branch, Division of Statewide Integrated Water Management, California Department of Water Resources (DWR) that manages a network of over 145 automated weather stations in California. CIMIS was developed in 1982 by DWR and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). It was designed to assist irrigators in managing their water resources more efficiently. Efficient use of water resources benefits Californians by saving water, energy, and money.

The CIMIS user base has expanded over the years. Currently, there are over 40,000 registered CIMIS data users, including landscapers, local water agencies, fire fighters, air control board, pest control managers, university researchers, school teachers, students, construction engineers, consultants, hydrologists, government agencies, utilities, lawyers, weather agencies, and many more.

California Ag Today2021-07-23T14:31:38-07:00September 23rd, 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|

New APG Ambassadors Shine!

American Pistachio Growers Introduces New Ambassadors

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Deputy Editor, California Ag Today

American Pistachio Growers (APG) held its annual summer luncheon late last week in Visalia, shared the organization’s marketing plans with a large crowd of growers, and introduced the newest APG ambassadors.

Richard Matoian, executive director of APG, framed the meeting, “We’re voting on our budget for the upcoming year, so it is a good opportunity to tell our growers what we are doing on their behalf to promote and to help sell pistachios.”

From Left, Sanya Jones, Cheryl Forberg and Judy Hirigoyen, APG

Bree Morse, recently crowned Miss California and now serving as an ambassador for American Pistachio Growers, effused, “We have so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities being here today at the annual luncheon. It’s neat today because I get to meet and interact with the people in the industry, APG staff and the growers themselves, who are behind what I’m representing. We have amazing opportunities; I get to go to China in December to be Ambassador of American Pistachios abroad, and I’m just really excited to be the face of pistachios.”

Another great APG Ambassador introduced at the lunch was Sanya Jones, the recent Season 16 Biggest Loser television show runner-up, who lost 144 pounds. And guess what? Jones considers pistachios an important part of her success, “Well the funny thing is, I always loved pistachios. I would always get them for my dad as a kid and we would sit in front of the tv and eat them mindlessly.” Anecdotally, Jones shared that pistachios was the one food that her dad would put his teeth in to eat!

“But once I got to the ranch,” Jones continued, “Cheryl Forberg, chef and nutritionist for the tv show, got them on the menu for us. Pistachios are nice when you are a food-addict or a bulk-eater because they make you slow down. I can’t just inhale them; I have to slow down and crack them open. Plus, they are so nutritionally wonderful and keep me fuller longer.”

Who can argue with success?

Featured Photo: Bree Morse, Miss California

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:09-07:00July 30th, 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|

False Data Abounds

California Drought Information Game:

False Data Out-Markets Ag

By Laurie Greene, Editor and Producer

At “The Truth About the Drought” forum, organized by Assemblymember Jim Patterson recently in Clovis, CA, moderator John Broeske, executive director of Families Protecting The Valley, said he thinks Ag is doing really badly on the information game.

“I think that we are getting out-marketed in messaging in the state of California,” said Broeske. “I think a lot of the people in the Central Valley know things that the people in Southern California and in the Bay Area, don’t know.”

Broeske continued, “I don’t blame those people for not knowing because they’re being told over and over again about the ‘80% number’ for Ag water use; and the ‘2%’ Ag contributes to the economy’. These are not real numbers, but people hear them repeatedly, so it’s not hard to understand they believe it.”

“I think the environmentalists want people to believe the 80% figure,” Broeske stated, “because it’s a lot easier to demand water from us if it appears we are using it all. But we’re not, and it’s hard for us to get the message out that these numbers aren’t true.”

Broeske did not know the best way to get the message out, but said he tries to correct people when they get it wrong. He suggested correcting online articles in the comment section to empower more people with the right numbers as ammunition for when they get into conversations. “You’ve got to fight back; if you let people use these false numbers over and over again, nothing is ever going to change.”

As false data out-markets ag in messaging, Broeske said water usage accountability is unequivalent. “Farmers are getting blasted for raising almonds and using too many gallons per almond,” said Broeske. “But, there’s no article about how many gallons it takes to raise a smelt. How many acre-feet for salmon? How many is too many? I think those questions have to be asked.”

“California is spending four million dollars of water per salmon!” Broeske declared. “Should there be some accountability there? How much water are we going to spend on one salmon? At least we get almonds at the end of the farming process. That’s what accountability means; we’ve got to create some rules about how much water is too much to save one fish.”

“I think the only way the public can demand accountability from the government and the scientists is to win elections,” he conjectured. “We are not winning the marketing war on these water usage numbers, so voters keep electing the same people who tell them the wrong numbers, and there’s nothing we can do if they keep getting elected. It’s a tough battle.”

“We are outnumbered,” Broeske said, “and I don’t know how we can overcome their marketing. They’re not even buying marketing, like billboards or advertising—just newspaper articles and news stories they are quoted in—so their marketing costs them nothing.”

“For us to win the market,” Broeske concluded, “we have to buy billboards and ads, and have enough money to do so.”

California Ag Today2016-09-13T14:11:41-07:00July 16th, 2015|

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