Almond Farmers Honored for Pollinator Protection

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honors Almond Farmers of California

Special award given only when a group does exceptional work protecting pollinators

 

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) on Tuesday presented its Business for Bees Sustainability Award – an honor reserved for standout organizations that go above and beyond to support pollinators – to the Almond Board of California (ABC) and the state’s almond farmers.

“This is about their long-term dedication to supporting all pollinators in their orchards and throughout our ecosystem,” said Kelly Rourke, executive director of Pollinator Partnership, which founded NAPPC 21 years ago. “We’ve worked with them for many years and this is well-deserved recognition of their steadfast commitment to engaging farmers in pollinator conservation on multiple levels. The Almond Board and the entire almond industry have really moved the needle to raise awareness and generate action to protect pollinators.”

NAPPC has only given out its Business for Bees Sustainability Award once before. It is given in years when there is a business taking extra special steps to protect bees and all pollinators and to advance sustainability and innovation.

“ABC’s name is on this award, but it really goes to the 7,600 almond farmers in California,” said Josette Lewis, ABC’s chief scientific officer. “Farmers understand how important pollinators are to growing almonds and to all of agriculture and the environment. They want to be part of the solution.”

The reasons for the award, Rourke said, include ABC’s leadership in founding the California Pollinator Coalition, its work promoting on-farm pollinator habitat and its support of years of research and education about the best practices for providing hospitable environments for pollinators in almond orchards and in other habitats.

ABC worked with Pollinator Partnership and the California Department of Food and Agriculture last spring to create the California Pollinator Coalition (CPC) which brought together a broad array of grower organizations across the state’s ag and environmental landscape to help promote the health of wild and managed pollinators.

“The formation of the California Pollinator Coalition was such a big step,” said Laurie Davies Adams, Pollinator Partnership’s Director of Programs, who helped found the CPC. “This is a unique statewide coalition that brings together every grower, farmer and rancher group. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. It’s going to make a real difference on the ground.”

NAPPC is a collaboration of diverse partners from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It includes respected scientists, researchers, business people, conservationists and government officials.

NAPPC works to promote awareness and scientific understanding of pollinators, to find common ground for solutions and to create innovative initiatives that benefit pollinators.

NAPPC is administered and supported by Pollinator Partnership, a non-profit headquartered in San Francisco with a mission to promote the health of pollinators through education, conservation and research.

The award was announced during NAPPC’s 21st Annual International Conference, held virtually this year for the second time and hosted by the Pollinator Partnership and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The conference and award ceremony were planned for the Smithsonian before being forced to remain virtual because of COVID-19.

Rourke and Adams said they would have liked to have given the honor in person to show how much they appreciate ABC’s work.

“The strong effort that the Almond Board of California has mounted with the support of the almond industry to engage farmers and the entire agricultural community far beyond almond orchards is really impressive,” Adams said. “Bringing every grower group together to have an agriculturally-led coalition for pollinators is significant. It will provide building blocks for even more engagement and large results. It’s a pioneering effort that other states are seeking to emulate.”

“This is an outstanding honor for our farmers,” Lewis said, “especially considering all the good work that NAPPC and the Pollinator Partnership do. As much as anyone, almond farmers are tuned in to the importance of pollinators to their crops and our ecosystem. That’s why they work so hard to make their orchards healthy places for pollinators.”

Almond farmers across California’s Central Valley sit in what is essentially a flyway for pollinators. In recent years, almond farmers have applied to certify more than 110,000 acres of Bee Friendly Farming®, providing pollinator habitat and integrated pest management across the valley to keep that flyway healthy and create badly needed floral resources that compliment and expand beyond the annual almond bloom.

“Almond farmers have doubled the number of acres of bee friendly habit in California and in that pollinator flyway,” Lewis said. “We’re proud to help lead a broad coalition of agriculture and conservation groups to work together to promote and preserve habitat for pollinators.”

 

2021-10-19T14:59:00-07:00October 19th, 2021|

New Directors Elected for Almond Board of California

New Directors of Almond Board of California Begin Their Terms

 

The new Board of Directors of the Almond Board of California (ABC) took their seats on Wednesday with five voting members – three of them new to the board – beginning new terms to help oversee ABC’s support of one of California’s most important agricultural crops.

 

Board members, whose terms officially began Aug. 1, also elected Brian Wahlbrink as chair and George Goshgarian Jr. as vice chair.

 

“This is a knowledgeable, talented board,” Wahlbrink said. “Our board members come from across our industry and around our state. They bring a great energy and an impressive range of experience, and we’re all eager to continue moving California almonds forward as one of the state’s most valuable and important crops.”

 

The 10-member board of ABC has five grower members – three representing independent growers and two representing growers working with cooperatives – and five handler members, also with three independents and two co-op reps.

 

The new grower representatives are:

 

  • Paul Ewing, an independent from RPAC Almonds in Los Banos. He was re-elected and takes a 1-year term.
  • Joe Gardiner, an independent from Treehouse California Almonds in Earlimart. He was an alternative on the previous board and takes a 3-year term.
  • Christine Gemperle, a co-op grower from Gemperle Orchards in Ceres. She was also a former alternate and takes a 3-year term.

 

The new handler representatives are:

 

  • Darren Rigg, an independent handler from Minturn Nut Co in Le Grand. He was re-elected and takes a 1-year term.
  • Bob Silveria, an independent handler from Vann Family Orchards in Williams. He will serve a 3-year term.

 

In addition, the board has five new alternates:

 

  • Brandon Rebeiro, an independent grower from Gold Leaf Farming in Modesto.
  • Chris Bettencourt, an independent grower from Westley.
  • Kent Stenderup, a co-op grower from Stenderup Ag Partners in Bakersfield and former chair of the ABC Board.

 

  • Dexter Long, an independent handler from Hilltop Ranch in Ballico. He was re-elected as an alternate.
  • Chad DeRose, an independent handler from Famoso Nut Co. in McFarland. He was also re-elected as an alternate.

 

The ABC board sets policy and recommends budgets to the Secretary of Agriculture in major areas including production research, public relations and advertising, nutrition research, statistical reporting, quality control and food safety.

 

ABC is a Federal Marketing Order dedicated to promoting California almonds to domestic and international audiences through marketing efforts and by funding and promoting research about almonds’ health benefits, efficient and sustainable farming, food safety and more. ABC works on behalf of the more than 7,600 almond growers and processors in California, many of whom are multi-generational family operations.

2021-08-12T13:49:57-07:00August 12th, 2021|

Dan Sumner on Almond Industry

 

Economics Of The Massive and Growing California Almond Industry

By Patrick Cavanaugh, with the Ag Information Network

Dan Sumner is a Distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis, as well as the Director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center at UC Davis.

“Of course, we’ve seen this coming for a decade. So, we’ve known that the bearings acreage was going to continue to go up because we’ve got the non-bearing acreage, and that’ always coming up,” Sumner said. “We don’t know for sure how many acres will be pulled, but nobody’s surprised that we have a massive crop.”almond crop

“The question is long-term demand. Do we get used to lower prices? There’s a million-dollar question. Actually, that’s a billion-dollar question, isn’t it? And nobody really knows the answer and I’m not going to pretend like I do either,” said Sumner.

“And we do know as well that even though you can’t grow almonds, very many places everybody’s trying to figure out whether the can expand outside of California. So,we know it’s a world crop and California dominates the world,” Sumner said. “It’s not just our additional size of crop, but it’s the rest of the world as well. And you can do a few almonds in Australia and you can do a few almonds here and there, and everybody’s going to try to figure out they can expand,” he said.

“And so, I don’t see any long-term disaster going on and almonds that is to say demand will continue to grow. But the real question is can demand keep up with the very rapid production increases. And the answer is maybe,” explained Sumner.

2020-12-17T18:01:07-08:00December 17th, 2020|

Individual 24/7 Bee Monitoring Now Available

 

ApisProtect Has Launched in the US

More than ten years of research, decades of beekeeping, three years of validating and testing, over 15 million anonymized data sets and more than 20 million honey bees monitored. There have been a few challenges along the way but the day is finally here.

“We are delighted to launch our new technology now exclusively available in the United States. There are a limited number of monitors available now,” said ApisProtect VP of Sales Dennis Kautz.

“Watch our short video here to demonstrate just how quickly and easily our monitors can be installed in the hive,” noted Kautz

“Our science-based honey bee monitoring technology empowers beekeepers to manage their apiaries more efficiently, reduce labor and transport costs, and focus on cultivating larger and stronger colonies. Using ApisProtect, beekeepers can generate an additional $98 of value from each hive per year,” Kautz said.

Commercial beekeepers in the United States will now be able to drive operational improvements, including increased labor efficiencies of up to 50% and reduced transportation costs during pollination by up to 25%.

Deciding which hives to send to pollination is important and time-consuming. “We provide beekeepers with an instant condition report on each hive so they can identify strong hives to travel to the almond orchards. This ensures beekeepers can fulfill their pollination contracts, earn bonuses, and increase productivity for growers,” Kautz said.

ApisProtect works with the beekeepers to ensure they have the strongest hives to maximize revenue from the pollination season. “Critically, we give beekeepers control of their information and data, enabling them to maximize the value to their operation,” noted Krautz.

 

2020-12-15T18:44:03-08:00December 15th, 2020|

Almond Orchard Recycling Research

Farm Advisor and Almond Grower Working on Orchard Recycling

By Patrick Cavanaugh with the Ag Information Network

A farm advisor is working with a grower on an almond recycling program. Mae Culumber is a UCANR nut crop advisor in Fresno County. And she’s working on orchard recycling.

“ I have several different trials going on. One is on orchard recycling. We been working with a commercial grower where his trees have got to third leaf,” Culumber said. “And so they were doing their first shaking harvest of a Nonpareil and the Monterey variety and he was nice enough to when he planted the orchard, he let us set up a replicated experiment where we had control areas in the orchard where no chips were spread.”

Now, the chips are there because when the trees were pushed over and run through a chipper, the chimps were put back in the orchard as a orchard recycling program.

“They let us cordon off areas for different one acre plots where there were no wood chips applied. So now we’ve been able to go back in and look at yield differences between what would be like a normal planting versus one was wood chips,” she said. “And we’re still in the process of doing the crack out and analyzing the data. But we’ll be looking to see if there’s any early on yield differences.”

“We’ve been looking at differences in tree growth, you know, things like that,” she said.

 

2020-10-28T12:50:13-07:00October 28th, 2020|

Sacramento Valley Crop Webinars Scheduled

UCCE Sutter-Yuba-Colusa Continuing Education Seminars:

Sept-Oct 2020

University of California Cooperative Extension Sutter-Yuba-Colusa will hold a series of webinars in September and October providing research updates on many of the major crops in the Sacramento Valley. The classes are relevant to growers throughout California and are primarily focused on pest management and pesticide safety.

October WalnutsThe September 9th webinar will feature Franz Niederholzer, Orchard Systems Advisor.

“We will be reviewing proven almond IPM practices with an eye to reducing input costs, where possible, while delivering effective pest control,” says Niederholzer. He has been working in almonds in the Sacramento Valley for almost 20 years.

Amber Vinchesi-Vahl, Vegetable Crops Advisor, will give her webinar on September 16th. She states, “I will be providing information on important pest issues in vegetables and the latest research updates on disease and weed management in processing tomatoes and cucumber beetles in melons.” Her research on tomatoes covers cultivator trials for within-row weed control and monitoring of soilborne fungal pathogens.

California-rice-field with Sutter Buttes in BackgroundWhitney Brim-DeForest, Rice and Wild Rice Advisor, will present September 30th. “The webinar will provide an opportunity for discussion and interaction about weed identification,” she says.

“We will also cover the latest research updates on specific weed species, resistance management, and new herbicides in rice.”

The information is relevant to both organic and conventional rice growers, so all are encouraged to attend.

The final webinar will take place on October 7, and will be given by Sarah Light, Agronomy Advisor.

“We will cover opportunities to decrease environmental risk through pesticide selection and application, accurate diagnosis, and reduction of loss to the environment,” said Light.

Enrollment is limited, so register early. The cost is $20 for 1, $35 for 2, $50 for 3, and $60 for 4 webinars. For more details or to register, visit http://ucanr.edu/syc-uccevirtualwebinars.

DPR CE credits are approved (4 “other” hours total, 1 per class), and CCA credits have been approved for IPM credits (4 hours total, 1 per class).

If you have questions, contact Whitney Brim-DeForest [wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu or call the UCCE Sutter-Yuba office at (530) 822-7515].

 

2020-09-07T19:35:54-07:00September 7th, 2020|

Is it Salt Damage or Almond Leaf Scorch

Salt Damage and Almond Leaf Scorch Look Similar

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Franz Niederholzer is a UCANR Cooperative Extension Orchard System Advisor based in Colusa County. In his area some growers are seeing symptoms on their almond leaves and they don’t know if it’s leaf scorch or chloride damage.

“Could it be salt damaged, take a sample for chloride and sodium. Just to check that box,” Niederholzer said.

He said to send those leaf samples to an agricultural lab. “If that comes back negative, there are labs that do test for the bacteria Xylella fastidios that causes almond leaf scorch. Answer that question,” he said. “The symptoms are similar, but not exactly the same. The chloride test is easier to do, but if it comes back that the chloride levels are low, then that leaves you with the option of testing for the almond leaf scorch bacteria, to be absolutely certain that that’s what’s going on,” Niederholzer explained.

And Niederholzer said, depending on where you’re growing your almonds in the Northern Sacramento Valley harvest could be starting about two weeks from now.

“I bet that’d be some people going in the next 10 days at the very earliest site. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but on the farthest West side where there are some gravelly soil, things happen early. So those are the earliest sites in the Sacramento Valley,” Niederholzer said. “I know the weather between now and then could alter things, but I wouldn’t be surprised that somebody was shaking first week of August.”

2020-08-03T08:55:45-07:00August 3rd, 2020|

The 2020 Almond Crop Set to Be 3 Billion Meat Pounds

 

 

By Patrick Cavanaugh with the Ag Information Network

Three billion pounds! That’s the California almond objective measurement report done by the USDA and the National Agricultural Statistic Service. It’s up 18% from the 2019 crop.

Holly King is a Kern County almond grower and chair of the Almond Board of California. “I’ve always thought, boy, when the stars line up, we are going to blow the doors off the barn with production,” she said. “And this is the year with the acres we’ve got planted, it’s not a surprise that we could get to 3 billion. We just certainly got there a little sooner than we thought, an it’s a big jump from last year, for sure,” said King.

King noted that the crops were down in the last few years when there were pollination problems because of weather. “So this year we did not. It just was picture perfect and the trees are performing and you can sure see it in the numbers. I know the North got hit harder by moisture last year and the trees had a little bit of arrest and boy, you start looking at the nut, count on the trees in northern California, and it’s huge,” said King.

And, globally consumers love almonds. “We are fortunate that they aren’t a very perishable crop, not like growing produce,” King said. And they are heart healthy. They’re nutrient dense. They’re portable, and they’re affordable. So we’re very fortunate that our product has that many attributes that are certainly more in demand. On top of that, people are asking not only is it good for them, but is it good for the planet? And we have a good story to tell,” noted King.

2020-07-22T11:42:53-07:00July 22nd, 2020|

USDA-NASS Projects California Almond Crop Up 18 Percent to 3 Billion Meat Pounds

The California Almond Objective Measurement Report, published today by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), estimates that the 2020 crop will be 3.00 billion meat pounds, up 18% from the 2019 crop production of 2.55 billion pounds.[1] This estimate is even with the 3.00 billion pounds estimated in the California Almond Subjective Forecast, published in May 2020.

According to the 2020 Objective Report, the average nut set per tree is 5,645, up 21% from the 2019 almond crop. The Nonpareil average nut set is 5,621, up 27% from last year’s set. The average kernel weight for all varieties sampled was 1.51 grams, down 2 percent from the 2019 average weight.

“This year’s crop is proof that California is the perfect place to grow almonds,” said Holly A. King, Kern County almond grower and Chair of the Almond Board of California (ABC) Board of Directors. “Perfect weather during bloom, coupled with the steps almond growers have taken to ensure our orchards provide a healthy environment for honey bees and other pollinators, resulted in the abundant crop we are seeing on the trees up and down the Central Valley.”

Recent disruptions in global trade due to COVID-19, and ongoing trade disputes and negotiations with China and other key markets extending into the year, have caused some short-term challenges with the current crop, but the long-term outlook remains positive.

“As a shelf stable and nutritious food enjoyed by consumers around the world, we’ve weathered these disruptions in pretty good shape,” said Almond Board President and CEO Richard Waycott. “Domestic and export shipments are up year-to-date, and we expect global demand to be stronger than ever as we market this year’s record crop.”

While the Subjective Forecast provides an initial estimate of the 2020/2021 crop, the Objective Report is based on actual almond counts and uses a more statistically rigorous methodology to determine yield. In Dec. 2019, ABC’s Board of Directors approved a modified sampling protocol to further improve the accuracy of USDA-NASS’s reporting. From this year forward, the Objective Report will include measurements from 1,000 target orchards throughout the state (an increase of 150 samples from 2019) and provide nut counts on not one but two branches per tree. The Objective Report will also provide the weight, size and grade of the average almond sample broken down by growing region – no longer growing district – and variety.

USDA-NASS conducts the annual Objective ReportSubjective Forecast and Acreage Report to provide the California almond industry with the data needed to make informed business decisions, and thanks all farm operators, owners and management entities for their time in providing the information necessary to create these reports. These reports are the official industry crop estimates.

2020-07-07T14:01:18-07:00July 7th, 2020|

Bee Friendly Farming Promoted By Almond Board

Almond Board Launches Bee+ Scholarship to Promote Bee Friendly Farming

  

 The Almond Board of California (ABC) and Pollinator Partnership are proud to announce the alignment of ABC’s California Almond Sustainability Program (CASP)[1] and Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) program to promote the importance of providing pollinators with nutritional forage. To further support almond growers in planting pollinator habitat, the Almond Board is simultaneously launching its Bee+ Scholarship, through which it will provide free cover crop seed to 100 almond growers through Project Apis m.’s Seeds for Bees program. The scholarship will also cover the cost for growers to register for the BFF program.

The CASP and BFF program alignment and Bee+ Scholarship expand on a commitment made in the Pollinator Protection Plan, announced in January, to promote pollinator health and biodiversity by encouraging almond growers to provide habitat for pollinators in or near their orchards.

“Protecting and improving honey bee health, not only during the short time that bees are in our orchards but year round, is critical to the success of every almond grower. By working with national organizations such as Pollinator Partnership and Project Apis m., we are expanding our focus to all pollinators, viewing working lands as part of biodiverse ecosystems,” said Almond Board Chief Scientific Officer Josette Lewis, Ph.D.

“Responsible farming is at the heart of what the California almond community does. ABC’s Bee+ Scholarship and the alignment between CASP and BFF allow us to increase our support to growers as they remain committed to growing almonds in better, safer and healthier ways, adding biodiversity to their farms, and improving outcomes for pollinators.”

Funding provided by ABC’s Bee+ Scholarship will allow growers to plant an estimated 3,500 acres of quality pollinator forage statewide – that’s in addition to the cover crop seed Project Apis m. typically distributes directly to almond growers through their Seeds for Bees program each year.[2] Currently, over half of almond growers participating in ABC’s California Almond Sustainability Program report allowing native cover crops to grow in their orchards.[3] This scholarship will help to convert more of those native cover crops to quality pollinator forage.

Partnerships Work to Best Serve Pollinators, Almond Industry

With the alignment of the CASP and BFF programs, almond growers who complete assessments in CASP specifically focused on bee health and pest management, and who meet certain BFF criteria, will qualify to register for the BFF program and become Bee Friendly certified. This certification will allow growers and their processors to use the Bee Friendly Farming logo on their product, and growers will be publicly recognized on Pollinator Partnership’s website as being a “Bee Friendly Farm” – in addition to receiving a BFF metal sign to display on their property.

The criteria to become Bee Friendly certified[4] are as follows:

  • provide cover crop forage in or near orchards
  • provide bloom of different flowering plants throughout the growing season
  • offer clean water for pollinators
  • provide habitat for nesting via hedgerows, natural brush and more
  • practice integrated pest management

“Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Farming program is a perfect conduit to increase pollinator benefits and to ensure protection and sustainability within the almond industry. Almond growers are terrific partners in best management practices, and we look forward to a close and growing relationship in support of pollinators and producers,” said Laurie Adams, president and CEO of Pollinator Partnership.

Because the CASP and BFF program alignment focuses on providing nutritional forage to supplement the diets of native pollinators in addition to honey bees, the decision to launch the Bee+ Scholarship and encourage greater forage planting among growers was a natural complement to the industry’s broader pollinator health initiatives.

“With a crop that relies primarily on honey bees for pollination, it is in almond growers’ best interest to ensure their orchards are a safe place for bees each spring,” said Billy Synk, director of Pollination Programs for Project Apis m.

Seeds for Bees aims to provide California farmers with a variety of seed mixes that bloom at critical times of the year when natural forage is scarce, but managed and native bees are active. While the mixes are designed to meet the nutritional needs of honey bees, they also provide habitat and nutrition for other pollinators and beneficial insects. Research supported by Project Apis m. and the Almond Board has shown that pollinator habitat is fully compatible with typical almond production practices and does not interfere with important growing activities like harvest.

“Working together with organizations like the Almond Board of California, Pollinator Partnership and many more, along with many researchers, almond growers and beekeepers, we can achieve far more collectively than we can separately,” said Project Apis m. Executive Director Danielle Downey. “These collaborations, focused on research and data, communication and forage, are a critical component to the long-term sustainability of beekeeping and almonds.”

2020-06-29T10:13:09-07:00June 29th, 2020|
Go to Top