CROPS ACTUALLY BORROW WATER VIA TRANSPIRATION

Almonds and All Other Crops Borrow Water Via Transpiration

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Associate Editor

Editor’s note: We interviewed Allan Fulton, UC Cooperative Extension Irrigation and Water Resources Farm Advisor, Tehama County, on an important, yet overlooked, process of a plant’s water use in agriculture. We zeroed in on a major process all plants have called transpiration in which crops borrow water.

Allan Fulton, UC Cooperative Extension Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor,
Tehama County

California Ag Today (CAT): 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 big percentage of the water taken up by all plants actually transpires out of the plant, back into the atmosphere, to form clouds and precipitation, right?

Fulton: Yes, the water just returns to the hydrologic cycle. Most of the crops we are distributing, whether within the US or globally, are actually very low in water content.

CAT: When we think about transpiration, the plants are actually borrowing the water. Isn’t that true?

Fulton: We get a lot of questions from the general public about why we irrigate our crops so much.

The truth is, plant transpiration is a necessary biological process. The water cools the tree so it stays healthy. The water exits the leaves through special cells called stomata. While they are open, stomata allow water to transpire and carbon dioxide to enter the plant for photosynthesis, making sugars and carbohydrates, which, in turn, are used to make the fruits and the nuts that we eat.

So if we don’t have an adequately watered plant that is allowed to transpire, the plant won’t get enough carbon dioxide. The plant will grow defective fruits, and nuts—smaller, shriveled, cracked, all the things that the typical consumer does not want to buy.

CAT: Now, when we are talking about transpiration, can we say most of the water taken up by the plant ends up being transpired back to the environment for reuse? So the water transpired by the plant is definitely not being wasted?

Fulton: Definitely. Since we converted to pressurized systems, micro-sprinklers and mini-sprinklers, we have a lot more control over how much water we apply at any one time. We no longer measure water output in depths of acre-feet, or even 4-6 inches at a time anymore. Much like rainfall, we measure it in tenths of an inch, or 1 or 2 inches at most.

As a result, we use less water, so it doesn’t penetrate the soil very deeply, maybe only 1 or 2 feet each irrigation. We are very efficient with the water; but, we have to irrigate very frequently because we apply it in small doses, and we run our irrigation systems a lot. So, we are definitely using systems that stretch the water supply, not waste it.

CAT: But again, the vast majority of the water that the tree takes up is transpired, right?

Fulton: Yes. Most of the time, at least 90% of the water we apply is taken up through the tree and transpired for photosynthesis to occur.

CAT: Does transpiration increase on a hot day?

Fulton: Yes, plus the plant looses a bit from surface evaporation from the wet soil, but we try to control that with smaller wetting patterns and drip-confined wetting patterns.

When you think about it, the heat of the day occurs in the afternoon, and many systems don’t run because of energy costs. There are incentives not to pump in the middle of the afternoon; but for those who do, try to confine the wetted area to limit evaporation. The hot hours of a day comprise about 4 hours of a 24-hour cycle, so a lot of irrigation occurs at night-time or in the early morning hours to lesson evaporative loss.

CAT: Growers are doing everything they can to conserve water. If the trees and vines are all transpiring most of the applied water, what is the problem with using water to grow food?

Fulton: I think the concept throughout the United States has always been to secure our food supply. That security has many benefits—economically and politically. In the end, we are trying to provide the general public with great quality, safe food, at the best price possible.

CAT: And nutritious food. We are growing the food people need more of.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:11-07:00July 10th, 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|

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|

Mario Santoyo: Hold Environmental Water Use Accountable!

By Laurie Greene, California Ag Today Editor

California Ag Today met with Mario Santoyo, executive director for the California Latino Water Coalition at the recent Clovis drought forum organized by Assemblymember Jim Patterson to talk about how serious the current drought situation has become.

“We are definitely in one of the worst drought situations that has happened in recent times. But the fact is, the 1977 drought was actually worse than where we are now. But this year, we’re at a zero water allocation and in ’77 we were at 25% for both the Eastside and Westside. So what’s the difference? Well, it boils down to the differences that are now dedicating a whole bunch of water to environment use, but the environment is not being held accountable for its usage,” Santoyo said.

“Cities and agriculture have had to be very accountable for their water usage and efficiency. It’s not the same for the environment, and so I’m hoping people will understand this discrepancy when we push to reallocate some of the water back to the cities and farms. We must hold environmental water use accountable!”

Santoyo noted the critical importance of building new water storage projects. “We have been working on this for a long time, and we just can’t afford to continue losing millions and millions of acre-feet of water to the ocean during times like this, when we could use that water. We need everyone to understand they have a role in communicating to the state government that we must advance our storage capacity.“

Santoyo noted, “Farmworker communities are doing a lot worse because, again, zero allocation on both the Eastside and Westside quickly translates into fallowed land, which means there are fewer jobs available. So farmworkers now find themselves in an extremely difficult position in which they either stick around and hope for the best or they leave. But once they leave, they aren’t coming back,” he said.

And, that makes life tough for the farmworkers, but it also makes it tough for the farmers because they need water and labor. You can’t do without both, and the lack of one causes problems with the other; if you don’t have water, you lose the labor, and then what do you do? So, it’s unfortunate that some changes in the way we are using water today have changed the entire landscape of agriculture here in the Central Valley.”

In terms of what we can do, Santoyo urged Californians never to give up. “There’s no reason why we all cannot write letters to our representatives and to the governor! Wake him up! Tell him, ‘Hey by the way, you’re supposed to represent us and step to the plate. Have better control over State Water Resources Control Board because they are making tons of mistakes.’ Governor Brown must start making the right decisions for the people.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:12-07:00July 1st, 2015|

Wine Cork Debate: Synthetic vs. Natural Corks

St. Francis Winery Returns to Traditional Natural Corks

By Laurie Greene, California Ag Today Editor

Christopher Silva, President and CEO of St. Francis Winery in Sonoma County, spoke with California Ag Today on the cork debate: synthetic vs. natural corks.

“Our founder, Joe Martin, back in the 1990’s, was not satisfied when he was traveling around the country,” said Silva. “He discovered too many bottles of St. Francis wine were compromised by faulty corks. TCA (trichloroanisole) was creating bacteria issues and damaging the integrity of the wine.”

“So, starting in 1993, we moved to synthetic corks,” Silva explained. “However, internally, we tested and even bottled a case or two of our own wines in natural cork, and we’ve been satisfied that the technological advances in growing natural cork, culling the very best cork from cork forests, and significantly elevated sorting and testing techniques have contributed to eliminating much of the taint problem.”

“There is no perfect closure,” lamented Silva. “I hope that someone finds it! I promise you, I will call California Ag Today the day I find that perfect closure. But we are satisfied that the quality of natural cork has evolved so significantly that the issues we encountered twenty years ago have been largely eliminated,” said Silva.

“Our shift back to natural cork has been a logical choice because it’s been part of our certified sustainable practices,” Silva said. “Remember that natural cork is biodegradable, so it is certainly a certified, sustainable choice. We are trying to care for not only the grapes and the wines that we are so very proud of, but we are all neighbors and inhabitants of this planet, and we think that moving towards significantly consistent sustainable practices is the right thing to do—which makes it the right way to run a business,” Silva said.

“Our biggest issue in winemaking has been cork taint,” Silva explained. “We don’t want a wine that we made compromised by a cork that is contaminated, even slightly, by bacteria. But, we are satisfied that, over the years, there have been all kinds of improved techniques regarding examining the corks, cleaning the corks, and x-raying the corks. Significant advances in technology have eliminated the problem to such an extent that we don’t need to worry about cork taint, which was the biggest issue for us,” Silva said.

“We want the customer to know that when they buy a bottle of St. Francis wine, they are not just buying a product—as wonderful as that product is—and as proud as we are of it—they are buying an experience. Everything from looking at the bottle, studying the bottle, opening the cork, and enjoying the wine inside,” he said.

Featured Photo: Christopher Silva, St. Francis Winery

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:12-07:00June 30th, 2015|

Apple Growers Stuggle

As Temps Heat Up, Apple Growers Struggle

By Courtney Steward, Associate Editor

As temperatures of early summer grow hotter, farmers of permanent crops, such as apple growers, are starting to struggle due to the lack of adequate water to keep crop production where it needs to be. Alex Ott, executive director of the California Apple Commission, based in Fresno, shared part of struggle.

“It’s always a challenge, especially when you are in your 4th year of drought,” Ott began. “Our biggest concerns, obviously, are about excessive heat and lack of water for the trees that are in the ground. But we’re also concerned that, first, we have a crop; and second, that the crop sizes well.”

Yet, despite the drought challenges, Ott noted the crop looks good. “The crops have good quality and look like we’re definitely going to be up—compared to last year—which is good. Last year, the crop was very light. It was a tough year for growers.”

“I think that the trees came back with some good vigor and were able to set a nice crop this year,” he said. “The conditions this spring were perfect for bloom, So, we are excited to see a good size crop,”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:13-07:00June 24th, 2015|

IR-4 Update

IR-4 To Focus on New Strategic Plan

By Courtney Steward, Associate Editor

At a recent meeting, California Ag Today met up with Dan Kunkel, associate director of the IR-4 Project for The Food and International Program at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Since 1963, the IR-4 Project has been a major resource for supplying pest management tools for specialty crop growers by developing research data to support EPA tolerances and labeled crop protection product uses. The main goal of the IR-4 program, according to Kunkel, is to help specialty crop growers in California, but with a new emphasis on crop exportation.

Commenting on this new strategic plan for the IR-4 program, Kunkel said, “We are going to be doing a lot of the same things, like residue work, efficacy testing and our biopesticide and ornamental programs. But we are taking a larger focus on international harmonization of the pesticide residue limits for our grower exporters so they can feel more confident that their commodities won’t have issues in foreign trade.

“Of course we submit crop protection registration to the EPA for our growers. But when the commodities go abroad, we also submit the data to CODEX, an international database with maximum residue limits (MRLs), a type of tolerance standard, for pesticides,” said Kunkel.

“We also share data with some of the U.S. commodity groups to submit to the Asian and European markets so our growers’ exports can meet these residue limits as well,” he said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:13-07:00June 23rd, 2015|

Biomass Bill Passes Assembly

Biomass Bill (AB 590, Salas / Dahle) Protects Renewable Energy and Air Quality

SACRAMENTO – AB 590 will incentivize biomass utilization of agriculture waste and forest waste. The legislation will save jobs, divert biomass from landfills, and create renewable energy.

“Biomass power generation is a clean and efficient way to produce renewable energy and help improve our air. In fact, the Delano biomass facility has helped reduce 96 percent of the pollutants released from open-field burning. This facility alone converts 300,000 tons of agricultural waste per year into clean, renewable energy.” said Assemblymember Salas. “AB 590 provides the necessary structure and resources to protect and incentivize biomass power in California.”

Farms in Kern and Tulare Counties generate over 580,000 tons of woody waste annually, mostly from almond, peach, and nectarine orchards. In the past, most of this material has been burned openly in the fields. Open burning of wood residues produces up to 100 times more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than biomass power plants, which convert wood into renewable energy. The Delano biomass facility reduces 96 percent of the pollutants released in open-field burning; leading local air quality management officials to call Covanta Delano “a stationary air pollution control device.”

In addition to air quality benefits, the biomass plants produce a steady flow of reliable, renewable, baseload electric power regardless of natural external conditions, like wind, sun and water flow. The plants also help ensure that the state meets its current renewable energy portfolio standard of 33 percent by the 2020 statutory deadline.

“In the past few years we have seen the catastrophic results of forests that are too loaded with forest fuels. The people of my district have lived in a cloud of smoke, as thousands of acres have burned destroying lives, property, critical animal habitat, ruining our watersheds and wasting valuable resources,” said Assemblyman Dahle. “I introduced AB 590 to address this crisis. The bill is now on to the Senate with bipartisan support from the Assembly, where I hope to see it receive the same support.”

Currently, California biomass plants use more than eight million tons of wood waste as fuel. About 3.7 million tons represent urban wood waste kept out of landfills, helping local governments meet disposal mandates.

Biomass plants across the state employ approximately 700 people directly, as well as 1,000 to 1,500 other workers in dedicated indirect jobs. Many are in economically hard-pressed rural communities where the plants are one of the largest private employers.

Unfortunately, the 25 plants that convert biomass waste into energy are at serious risk of closure without decisive action by the State Legislature and the Governor. In the past year, five plants closed. AB 590 would allocate part of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) revenue to defer the costs of operating these plants.

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Assemblymember Salas represents part of the City of Bakersfield, the cities of Arvin, Avenal, Corcoran, Delano, Hanford, Lemoore, McFarland, Shafter, Wasco, and the communities of Armona, Buttonwillow, Home Garden, Kettleman City, Lamont, Lost Hills, Stratford and Weedpatch

Assemblymember Dahle represents Alturas, Anderson, Butte County (Portions), Colfax, Dunsmuir, Grass Valley, Lassen County, Modoc County, Montague, Mount Shasta, Nevada City, Nevada County, Placer County (Portions), Plumas County, Portola, Redding, Shasta County, Shasta Lake, Sierra County, Siskiyou County, Truckee, Weed, Yreka

(Photo: Covanta Biomass Plant, Delano, CA)

Contact: Jillian Rice. (661) 335-0302

California Ag Today2016-05-31T19:28:15-07:00June 4th, 2015|

International Trade Tariffs Must Be Lowered

For California Ag Especially, International Trade Tariffs Must Be Lowered

By Laurie Greene, Editor, CaliforniaAgToday.com

USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Associate Administrator Janet Nuzum recently met with agricultural commodity representatives at the California Center for International Trade Development (CITD) in Fresno.

Nuzum spoke about both the opportunities California agricultural groups face as well as key problems they encounter in international trade. She said, “The strength of California agriculture can sometimes appear to be its weakness, in this sense: California is, of course, the largest agricultural state in the United States. It’s also incredibly diverse compared to other parts of the United States. And, because of that diversity, it faces a wider variety of challenges and problems in global trading.

“If there were less diversity, there might be fewer problems,” said Nuzum. “But, with greater presence in the marketplace, having a wider diversity of products or types of products, and whether their product is fresh or processed, California growers and exporters and government officials and regulators face a very challenging set of circumstances, particularly with international trade tariffs.”

Nuzum said that is both the good news and challenging news—all in one. “You’ve got a rich agricultural economy,” she elaborated, and you’ve got a lot of natural resources which are not necessarily found in other parts of the United States. This enables the industry to offer a very rich plate of different kinds of agricultural products. There are some products, and I am thinking about tree nuts now, in which California represents the majority of world production or world trade. So, other consumers around the world are dependent on having that American product, that Californian product, out there in the marketplace,” she said.

Nuzum said because California’s diverse produce is exported around the world, international trade discussions need to come to fruition to lower foreign trade barriers. “Our tariffs, both agricultural and non-agricultural, are much lower than other countries we trade with. That is one reason it is so important to negotiate these trade agreements—to reduce these other tariffs to zero, or at least to our levels,” she said.

(Photo credit: The Busy Port of Oakland, Flickr)

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:15-07:00June 2nd, 2015|

Ag Stories for Wegmans Customers

Dave Corsi with Wegmans Encourages More Ag Stories to Bridge Gap with Consumers

By Laurie Greene, Editor, California Ag Today

Customers love stories and Agriculture sure has them. What could be better for the bag of broccoli florets, carrots or even pistachios and almonds to have an image of the farmer who grew them?

Ag needs to have this connection with consumers; ag stories help bridge the gap between the growers and consumers.

California Ag Today caught up with Dave Corsi at a recent meeting. Corsi knows something about customers connecting with agriculture; he’s vice president of Produce and Floral at Wegmans, a higher end east coast grocery store chain, which purchases a lot of product from California growers. He said it’s way bigger than farm local and buying local.

“The customer wants to know the face behind the name. It is important for the customer to know who the growers are, and what do they do? What is their food safety philosophy and food safety best practices? What kind of varieties are they growing? What are the flavor profiles of crops they are developing to provide a better experience for our customers?”

“All that is very meaningful. And it doesn’t matter if the farm is ten miles away, three thousand miles away, or even around the world. The customer wants to understand who the person is behind the product being grown,” said Corsi. “That’s the story we love sharing with our customers.”

He noted that customers are really interested in the knowledge learned from ag stories, “so they can feel more comfortable about their purchase because they know how dedicated our growers are to food safety, traceability, and food quality. They even want to know about the social side of business, such as the growers themselves.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:28:16-07:00May 18th, 2015|