California Ag Network

Category: Featured Post

  • National Cancer Institute Endorses Dairy Council of CA’s Nutrition Education

    Dairy Council of California, a quasi-state government nutrition education organization committed to elevating the health and wellness of children and families, announced its fourth grade Nutrition Pathfinders program was accepted as a Research-Tested Intervention Program (RTIP) by the National Cancer Institute.

    NCI’s RTIPs is a searchable database that provides public health practitioners with easy access to evidence-based cancer control interventions and program materials. To qualify, listings must demonstrate measurable impact as research-tested intervention programs.

    Dairy Council of California’s Nutrition Pathfinders for fourth grade is part of a K-12 nutrition education curriculum designed to teach students healthy eating habits and encourage physical activity. Evaluated by an independent research group tracking the program’s effectiveness of improving knowledge, attitudes and nutrition choices, Nutrition Pathfinders demonstrated effectiveness in teaching healthy eating and exercise patterns to children and their families.

    The study showed:

    • Improved student knowledge of the food groups, key nutrients in foods and how to make nutritious food choices.
    • Improved nutrition behaviors in students and families, including decreased consumption of highly processed foods and sugary drinks.

    “Dairy Council of California’s free nutrition education curriculum is an effective classroom resource teachers can use to educate and empower their students to eat healthfully,” said Dr. Megan Greene, a fourth-grade teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary. “It’s easy to teach, aligns with Common Core Standards and truly does empower students to make healthier choices in the cafeteria.”

    “Educators are influential gatekeepers of children, teaching lifelong skills every day in the classroom,” said Tracy Mendez, R.D.N. and director of nutrition education at Dairy Council of California. “Integrating nutrition education lessons in the classroom equips students with the right tools to make healthy eating decisions that will last them a lifetime.”

    Dairy Council of California’s nutrition education resources are developed using the latest nutrition research. They align with Common Core State Standards and include teacher-friendly, plug-and-play lessons that use proven behavior-change models. Available to educators teaching K-12, the nutrition lessons cover relevant food topics like identifying nutritious foods, food label evaluation, appropriate serving sizes, how to create nutritionally balanced meals and snacks, and the importance of physical activity.

    Free to California schools, Dairy Council of California’s nutrition education curriculum can be ordered at HealthyEating.com/Order. For a small fee, out-of-state schools can also order classroom lessons by calling 1.866.572.1359.

    About Dairy Council of California
    For a century, Dairy Council of California has empowered stakeholders, including educators, health professionals and community leaders, to elevate the health of children and families through the pursuit of lifelong healthy eating habits. Funded by California’s dairy farm families and local milk processors and under the guidance of California Department of Food and Agriculture, Dairy Council of California’s free science-based nutrition education resources, Mobile Dairy Classroom assemblies, training programs and online resources educate millions of students and families in California and throughout the United States. Learn more at HealthyEating.org.

  • Be Sure to Manage these Insect pests in Young Pistachio Orchards

    Growers likely have heard a lot about the damage leaf footed bugs and navel orange worm can cause to their pistachio crop, but what about integrated pest management practices in the early nonbearing years of an orchard?  When there’s no crop, growers may overlook the impact that some insect pests can have their young trees that are in their critical years of establishment.  These pests should not be ignored; but what are these pests, and how does a grower go about managing them?  Watch this brief interview with Entomology Farm Advisor from the UC Cooperative Extension David Haviland as he explains and read more about it in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.

     

    Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery for their industry support by visiting them at their booth at the following November Events: Tree & Vine Expo, the Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo & Blue Diamond Growers Annual Membership Meeting.

  • California Wine Grape Harvest Update with Allied Grape Growers

    How is the 2019 California wine grape crop and harvest progressing?  And what are the current trends in the wine market?  Watch this brief interview with Jeff Bitter from Allied Grape Growers and read more about it in American Vineyard Magazine.

     

    Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery for their industry support and attend their upcoming Grapevine Clonal Field Days.  Learn more HERE.

  • Gerawan Farming and Wawona Packing Merge to Create Leading Stone Fruit Producer

    Gerawan Farming Inc. (“Gerawan”) and Wawona Packing Co., LLC (“Wawona”), today announced that they have completed a merger. Paine Schwartz, an existing investor in Wawona and a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, is partnering with both companies to facilitate the transaction. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

    Both Gerawan and Wawona are third-generation family businesses. Gerawan is a stone fruit industry pioneer with best-in-class farming, packing practices, and proprietary varieties marketed under the Prima® brand. Wawona is a California-based supplier of high-quality stone fruit and a leader in the organic segment of the market. The merger builds upon the legacies and reputations of the two industry-leading companies and creates an enhanced platform for growth and innovation. The combined business will be able to better serve its customers and create significant opportunities for employees.

    The combined company will be led by Dan Gerawan, who will be the largest individual shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. Brent Smittcamp, current Executive Chairman of Wawona, will also remain a significant shareholder and continue to be highly involved with the combined company. The management team will be comprised of leaders from both companies.

    Mr. Gerawan said, “At Gerawan, innovating on a large scale to grow, pack and ship the world’s best fruit has been key to our success, and those efforts have always hinged on investing in our employees. These same values underpin Wawona’s success. This merger is an exciting next step to unlock the full potential of both companies.” Mr. Smittcamp, Executive Chairman of Wawona, said, “Over the last several years, we have focused on accelerating Wawona’s growth by building on the inherent strengths of our business and management team. Our acquisition last year of Burchell Nursery Inc. was one example, and now this historic merger with Gerawan takes it to yet another level. We are eager to bring the benefits of this merger to our employees, suppliers and customers.”Mr. Gerawan continued, “We have great respect for Wawona’s management and employees, all of whom share our passion for producing the highest-quality stone fruit. We look forward to working closely with them and the team at Paine Schwartz to deliver even more of the best quality fruit to our customers.”

    Kevin Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Paine Schwartz, said, “This merger represents a tremendous milestone and the type of growth opportunity that we can achieve by leveraging Paine Schwartz’s agribusiness sector expertise and close collaboration with family-owned businesses. We look forward to this new chapter for two companies that have been incredibly successful on their own, and we believe they can achieve even greater success through this merger. Dan’s experience and commitment are invaluable assets, and we look forward to supporting him in leading the combined company in this next stage of growth and value creation.”

     

  • Blue Diamond Growers Celebrates Grand Opening of New Salida Manufacturing Facility, Unveils Industry-First Technology for New Pasteurization Line

    Blue Diamond Growers today announced the official grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of its new 52,000 square-foot, energy-saving manufacturing facility in Salida, California. The event marks the completion of the facility to add new pasteurization technology and processing lines. The announcement follows the cooperative’s recent groundbreaking of its receiving warehouse on the same property in Salida, which is the largest almond receiving station in the world.

    “It’s an exciting time for Blue Diamond as we continue to invest in our facilities here in Salida and across the Central Valley to better meet the growing demand for our products worldwide,” said Mark Jansen, President and CEO for Blue Diamond Growers. “The new building design and innovative processing technology we’re deploying provides the highest quality almonds to our customers and consumers.”

    The new energy-saving and sustainable manufacturing facility spans 52,000 square feet and has been engineered to support future expansion plans as needed. Within the facility, Blue Diamond is the first in the almond industry to use Log5 technology across two of its natural pasteurization lines – one for processing whole almonds and the other for dry roasting on an integrated line. A third line uses innovative design with custom features to produce the finest flour texture in the industry.

    The new CALGreen facility features several energy-saving attributes including LED lighting, a multi-staged HVAC system, and temperature-controlled processes. To meet and exceed today’s stringent food safety standards, the new facility houses separate room enclosures with electronic-controlled entry to better control environmental conditions, along with automated pressurized air, and automated controls for all processes and packaging, including monitoring line performance, yields and downtime.

    Additionally, the integrated processing lines move finished product direct to cold storage and shipping and will greatly reduce material handling and trucking costs. Beneath the facility, buried perforated pipe will keep stormwater on- site to recharge the ground water and deliver it directly to the soil.

    Continuing its investment in the local community, the company also announced a partnership with Valley Children’s Hospital for its new Pelandale Specialty Care Center, located approximately one mile from the Blue Diamond Salida facility. A $25,000 partnership will help the hospital as it grows to support the more than 12,000 Stanislaus County pediatric outpatient visits per year.

    About Blue Diamond

    Blue Diamond Growers is the world’s leading almond marketer and processor. It led the development of California’s almond industry since it was formed as a nonprofit, grower-owned cooperative over 100 years ago. Today Blue Diamond has over 3,000 growers across California. Blue Diamond markets and sells a wide range of almond-based snacks, beverages, and ingredients, including Blue Diamond Snack Almonds®, Nut-Thins® crackers, almond flour, and the number one almond milk in the U.S., Almond Breeze®. For more information, visit www.bluediamond.com.

     

  • Oaks in Vineyards A ‘Win-Win’ for Bats and Growers

    Californians love their oak trees. During vineyard development, Central Coast grape growers often feel compelled to leave an old iconic oak standing, even if it ends up right in the middle of their vineyard. While driving through the Central Coast, it’s not unusual to see the pattern of vineyard rows broken by a majestic oak tree. Aside from their beauty, what are some of the ecosystem services that these majestic trees provide?

    To find answers, a UC Cooperative Extension scientist in San Luis Obispo County collaborated with a U.S. Forest Service scientist to study how bats use blue oak and valley oak trees in vineyards. UC Cooperative Extension specialist Bill Tietje, a co-author of the study, says they focused on bats that eat insects because bat populations have declined dramatically in some areas due to habitat loss and disease. “And bats don’t hurt grapes. As a matter of fact, thanks to the huge number of bugs they consume—bats could be very good for a vineyard.”

    To understand the potential value of remnant oak trees for insectivorous bats, the researchers placed microphones to detect bat calls within 14 Central Coast vineyards. The recordings revealed 11 species of insectivorous bats foraged within the vineyards and bat foraging activity was 1.5 times greater at the trees compared to open, tree-less areas within the vineyard. And the bigger the tree, the bigger the number of bats it attracted.

    “The study results suggest that the large oak tree in my vineyard not only increases the beauty and biodiversity of the agricultural

    Western red bats, which resemble this eastern red bat, were one of 11 bat species found at oak trees. Photo by Merlin Tuttle

    landscape, but also attracts insect-eating bats that can provide natural pest control—a win-win,” said grape grower Jerry Reaugh, who cooperated with the researchers.

    In fact, the presence of insectivorous bats called woodland-adapted bats more than doubled within the vineyards with trees. The study indicates that the oak trees attracted woodland-adapted bats that would normally be absent from vineyards.

    Tietje hopes that the free insect-reduction services provided by bats will increase grape growers’ incentive to manage and maintain the trees, and even to plant new oak trees in suitable areas around their vineyard, in mutual benefit to both agriculture and biodiversity.

    “In addition to their value for insectivorous bats, remnant trees maintain bird and insect diversity by providing food, habitat, cover and stepping stones that facilitate the movement of wildlife within agricultural landscapes,” said Tietje.

    This study comes at a time when declining blue oak and valley oak populations are of great concern.

    The study by University of Washington graduate student Anne Polyakov, Theodore Weller of USDA Forest Service and Tietje is published in the September 2019 edition of Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

  • Argentine Ant Inhibits Biocontrol Options for Deadly Citrus Pests

    Growers want to minimize their pesticide use in the orchard; but when you have invasive pests like the Argentine Ant protecting aphids and psyllids from natural predators, your options are limited.  Watch this brief interview with Greg Simmons from the USDA-APHIS as he explains and read more about it in California Fresh Fruit Magazine.

  • Ramona Ranch Vineyard & Winery Receives Year Three CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE Status

    Ramona Ranch Vineyard and Winery has received renewal of CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE status by meeting the requirements set by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) and audited at three years.

    Ramona Ranch was the first and is still the only winery in San Diego County to be designated Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE) as a result of meeting a comprehensive set of standards for “environmental stewardship, conservation of natural resources and socially equitable business practices” set by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA).

    Ramona Ranch has now completed Year Three certification requirements for renewal for both its winery and vineyard by:

    • Ensuring all prerequisite action plans were complete and all year three prerequisite scores achieved.
    • Meeting the minimum score for targets.
    • Recording metrics information for annual nitrogen and water use for the past year.
    • Ensuring no Red List materials were used for pest management.
    • Ensuring the winery is meeting existing requirements for self-assessments, prerequisites, continuous improvement and action planning for the coming year.

    CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE is an outgrowth of the Sustainable Winegrowing Program, a free, educational program initiated by the Wine Institute and California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) in 2002 to provide educational information and encouragement of sustainability. This third-party certification program was developed by the Sustainable Winegrowing Joint Committee—comprised of 50 grower and vintner members of the Wine Institute and CAWG—and sustainability certification experts and launched in 2010. Input was also solicited from other industry and external stakeholders.

    To qualify for sustainable status Ramona Ranch Vineyard and Winery had to: complete an annual self-assessment of 140 vineyard & 104 winery best practices; meet 58 required prerequisite practices for vineyards, and 37 required prerequisite practices for wineries; comply with “CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE” list requirements; meet sustainability performance metrics for water, energy, nitrogen and GHGs; demonstrate continuous improvement in the adoption of sustainable practices; undergo an annual audit and submit an audit report each year; and complete a Chain of Custody audit. 

    Ramona Ranch, a San Diego County vineyard and winery, is located in the heart of the Ramona Valley AVA (American Viticulture Area).  They strive to produce balanced wines that will stand the test of time, that are enjoyable now and become more intense as the years go by. They have focused on sustainability since they moved to Ramona in 2004.  Throughout their vineyards are wind-turbines, solar panels, owl boxes, and insectary, bringing in beneficial bugs and birds to improve the bio-diversity of the farm, which was recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. With a natural riparian area, the quail coveys are thriving, along with a family of California Greater Roadrunners, red-tail and cooper hawks, beneficial snakes like the coastal rosy boa, and the occasional golden eagle or snowy egret.

    Their wines are produced from Estate and local Ramona vineyards that they have personally selected for the quality fruit due to the meticulous attention of each grower. Tasting is available for their award-winning wines, including the Double-Gold, Best of Class Estate Tannat.

    Ramona Ranch Vineyard and Winery is located at 23578 Highway 78, Ramona, CA 92065. (760) 789-1622.  Open for tasting: Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday-by appointment only.

    For additional information on Ramona Ranch Vineyard and Winery, go to: http://ramonaranchwines.com

  • Marcy Martin Named CA Citrus Research Board President

    Marcy L. Martin was named today as the new president of the Citrus Research Board (CRB). The appointment was announced by CRB Chairman Dan Dreyer, who said that Martin was selected after a nearly year-long national search for the very best candidate to lead the organization.

    Martin joins the CRB with more than 25 years of experience with California commodity organizations. She most recently served for 14 years as director of trade for the California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA), where she advocated on behalf of the state’s fresh grape, blueberry, pomegranate and deciduous tree fruit production in governmental, legislative and policy issues. Prior to that, she had been controller of the California Apple Commission for ten years.

    In 2015, then U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack appointed Martin to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Trade in Fruits and Vegetables. In his announcement, Vilsack said of those who were appointed, “They are an invaluable asset as we work to enact trade agreements and trade policies that deliver the greatest economic benefit for U.S. agriculture and for our nation as a whole.”

    “California’s citrus growers, packers and shippers have demonstrated through their keen understanding that an industry must invest in sound research to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving environment, marketplace and consumer,” said Martin. “The Citrus Research Board, industry, staff and research community have stepped up to take on looming challenges, specifically huanglongbing, that have devastated citrus production within other regions, both domestically and globally. This is an area I am passionate about, and I look forward to bringing my experience in the technical and regulatory arena to the team.”

    Dreyer said, “The Board is pleased to have Marcy Martin taking the helm of CRB. Her extensive experience with commodity organizations and local, state and federal regulatory agencies will be a key ingredient to the success of CRB projects and priorities. She comes to the CRB with extensive knowledge of fresh tree fruit production and the agricultural use of plant protection products. Our Board members were impressed by her dedication to and passion for agriculture.”

    “The California citrus industry is an important economic contributor and an icon of the Golden State,” Martin said. “Citrus is part of our American and Californian agricultural footprint – a commodity we need to preserve and foster. I’m honored to be part of this continuing tradition.”

    Martin officially will join the CRB on October 1 and will be based out of the CRB headquarters in Visalia, California. She will take the reins from Interim President Franco Bernardi.

    “We cannot thank Franco enough for his dedicated service to the CRB throughout the past year,” said Dreyer. “He did an excellent job in guiding the organization through a challenging period, and the Board has been truly grateful for his leadership.”
    About the Citrus Research Board
    The CRB administers the California Citrus Research Program, the grower-funded and grower-directed program established in 1968 enabling the State’s citrus producers to sponsor and support needed research. More information about the Citrus Research Board may be found at www.citrusresearch.org.

  • Friant Water Authority Shares Blueprint to Save Central Valley Farmland & Water

    With the tasking demands of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act coming down on California farmers, a considerable amount of farmland will have to be retired and will have a severe economic impact on the Central Valley.  But there has to be a way to meet the demands of the state without devastating our farming communities.  Watch this brief interview with Friant Water Authority CEO Jason Phillips as he shares their Water Blueprint initiative to meet both the State’s demands without robbing our critical farming communities of the water they need to continue feeding the world.  Read more about it in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.

    Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery for their industry support by visiting them at their booth at the following November Events: Tree & Vine Expo, the Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo & Blue Diamond Growers Annual Meeting.