California Ag Network

Category: Ag Legislation

  • CDFA Accepting Proposals for Riverside County Grower Liaison

    The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is currently accepting proposals for its Request for Proposal for a contractor to serve as the Riverside County grower liaison. Proposals must be received by Nov. 18. Responsibilities may include conducting outreach directly to growers in Riverside County, providing them up-to-date information on the latest industry news or updates, staying engaged in CDFA activities, communicating voluntary or mandatory treatments Riverside County and more.

    The battle to save California citrus from the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and Huanglongbing (HLB) is a collaborative effort that involves local, county, state and federal officials, researchers, scientists and commercial citrus growers. To help facilitate pest management and disease eradication, grower liaisons are key pieces to that puzzle and are dedicated to serving a specific region in the fight against HLB.

    This position requires a fundamental knowledge of citrus production, a working knowledge of grove operations, and the relationship between growers, shippers and allied businesses that work in the area of pest and disease control. A Pest Control Advisor’s license is desirable, but not required. The contractor should be familiar with California agriculture and specifically its citrus industry. Knowledge of the ACP and HLB is desirable.

    To submit a bid for the contract, you must follow these steps:

    • Visit ca.gov, if you do not have a profile you must register for one in order to view the Request for Proposal (RFP).
    • Once logged in, visit the Get Public Procurement Information page and select “See current bids.”
    • Under “Search Events,” type in “Asian Citrus Psyllid Outreach and Education.”
    • Once on the Events Details page, click “View Event Package,” then under the “View Attachments” area, click “view” to download the official Request for Proposal. Once there, you should be able to view the full RFP and Start a Bid if you meet the qualifications. Please note, you must have a profile and be logged in to view the RFP.

    Proposals are due to CDFA by Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. The term of this contract is Dec. 1, 2020 or upon final signature, whichever is later, through Nov. 30, 2022.

    For additional questions, contact Contracts Analyst Donna Weber at donna.weber@cdfa.ca.gov.

  • Watermelon Board Fall-Winter Marketing Tactics

    On the heels of strategic planning and virtual Board meeting, which took place October 23, National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB) is entering in to the fall and winter months well-positioned to strengthen demand for watermelon. Considering more than 30% of watermelon is consumed in the fall/winter months, year-round promotion is an integral part of NWPB programs.

    While each department at the Board has a different audience – including consumer, foodservice, retail and international – consistent programming strategies throughout the fall and winter months will focus on leveraging partnerships, serving as a resource, educating about watermelon’s health and versatility benefits, and maximizing social platform engagement. Not an exhaustive list, activity highlights by department include:

    Communications

    “How do you WINTERmelon” consumer social campaign utilizing influencer partnerships and earned media PR tactics to visualize watermelon in the winter usage ideas and versatility benefits

    • National paid feature syndication with winter-focus “Add Fruit Flavors to Fun Holiday Desserts” suggesting watermelon in nontraditional winter kitchen dishes
    • Dietitian education, inspiration and “edutainment” through FNCE virtual expo and culinary demo, highlighting RD Toolkit, Zero Food Waste and Watermelon Flavor Pairings
    • New launch of Jump with Jill multimedia educator portal with lesson worksheets built on existing watermelon partner videos for teachers and parents at home or in classrooms
    • Influencer social partnerships with Produce for Kids/Healthy Family Project, Kim Rose Dietitian, Fannetastic Food, Ana Quincoces and Pam Smith highlighting versatility and health benefits of watermelon year round
    • Shooting new TV commercial content focusing on both wellness and happiness, to be advertised on YouTube and other streaming content channels

    Foodservice
    • Print, digital and social media advertising with predominant foodservice publications to reach foodservice operators traditionally reached at events
    • New yield tool showcasing dice, wedge, juice and other formats yield from different watermelon sizes so chefs can easily switch between mini and seedless watermelon
    • Chef’s Roll partnership to create technique and recipe videos featuring popular watermelon formats including dice, wedge, juice, julienne rind, etc. to be shared through Chef’s Roll and used by the NWPB to educate and inspire operators
    • Virtual Flavor Experience conference to highlight watermelon’s year-round availability and versatility on foodservice menus
    • Partner with StarChefs to host a recipe contest to engage with no less than 200 chefs, build our recipe database and spotlight champions of watermelon
    Retail & International Marketing
    • Year-round retailer activations via domestic and international retail account management team
    • Continued distribution of Retail Kit in print and digital formats
    • Independent grocer outreach via Live. Balanced wellness activation kit planned for early 2021
    • Retail dietitian and retailer education outreach through virtual platforms
    • Presence at virtual conferences, trade shows and networking events“For many years, the NWPB has been tasked with promoting watermelon all twelve months of the year,” said Mark Arney, Executive Director for the NWPB. “Watermelon’s health benefits and versatility lends itself to everything from Halloween carvings to holiday punch to elevated usage ideas.”

      The next NWPB Board meeting, where staff will recommend marketing programs and the Board will vote on a budget for the 2021-2022 year, will take place virtually on Saturday, March 6, 2021. For more information or specifics about individual departments, contact Stephanie Barlow, Senior Director of Communications at sbarlow@watermelon.org. 

  • Developing the Perfect Chile Pepper for Mechanical Harvest

    There are many variables in producing the perfect New Mexico green chile pepper. Consumers select for flavor profile, and pepper pod size, shape, thickness and color. Agricultural producers want a high yielding plant with picture-perfect pods that are easy to harvest. Food producers want chile peppers with no stem and no damage to the pod.

    New Mexico State University researchers have developed what is on its way to being the perfect chile pepper for mechanical harvest. “After many years of traditional selective breeding, we have a new advanced green chile line with the proposed name NuMex Odyssey,” said Stephanie Walker, NMSU chile researcher and Cooperative Extension Service vegetable specialist.

    The new green chile line, Odyssey, is the result of the NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ ongoing efforts to resolve issues associated with harvesting green Chile. “Because of difficulty in obtaining people to hand harvest the green chile, we have been working on a mechanized harvest system,” Walker said. “We began by identifying a harvester manufactured in Israel that gives us the most efficient pick of the chile compared to other machines tested.”

    While testing various harvesters, the research team realized they needed some changes in the plant and chile pod. “We worked on plant architecture and fruit attributes that would mechanically harvest better,” Walker said. “We needed the plant to have a strong, single stem with fewer basal branches. The low lying lateral branches interfered with the machine, causing it to uproot the plant. We also found that fruit setting slightly higher on the plant and also detaching from the plant with less force contributed to a cleaner mechanical pick.”

    Fixing these traits in Odyssey resulted in higher mechanically harvested yield, with significantly less fruit loss in the field, compared to standard commercial green chile varieties.

    While this plant architecture helps the harvest efficiency of the plant, Walker said another really exciting thing about the Odyssey variety is the destemming – pedicel removal – efficiency of the fruit.

    “For green chile processing, we needed the pedicel – stem and calyx – to come off the fruit easier and cleaner,” she said. “Often when you pull the pedicel off of other varieties, you might either break it and partially leave it on the fruit, or you break the chile fruit.”

    Pedicels perfectly detached from Odyssey fruit 68 percent of the time as opposed to 34 percent for AZ 1904 and 24 percent for NuMex Joe E. Parker.

    “With Odyssey, we get very good, clean breaks,” she said. “This will also help hand-harvesting.”

    Pedicel removal is very important for the quality of commercial processed green chile.

    “In a processing plant where you are getting thousands of pounds of chile through the system, you have to remove the stem, or otherwise it creates woody material in the processed food,” said Walker, who began her work with chile as a quality control supervisor in a processing plant.

    “Currently, with the 100 percent hand-harvest system, the people actually remove the pedicel out in the field,” she said. “When it doesn’t come off easily, they sometimes break the fruit which causes yield and quality loss.”

    Ultimately, how does Odyssey taste? After taking a bite from the green chile pod, Walker declared, “Delicious New Mexico chile flavor, although very mild.” The new variety’s heat factor averages between 300 and 400 Scoville units.

    New Mexico State University researchers Brad Tonnessen and Stephanie Walker look at a NuMex Odyssey chile pepper plant that they have bred for easier harvesting (NMSU photo by Jane Moorman).

    Watch Walker talk about the new variety on YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=Eoevm6aXHZI

    For a complete list of chile developed by NMSU, visit aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/horticulture/RR792/. — By Jane Moorman, New Mexico State University

  • Driving Market Demand for Walnuts During COVID-19

    California Walnut Board — As we enter the seventh month of lockdowns and shelter-in-place, many people wonder what the impact of this pandemic will be on the walnut industry and consumer spending. Together, as your partners, we have been monitoring and evaluating the COVID-19 media landscape and consumer sentiment and have adapted plans and messaging as necessary across all of our audiences and platforms, ensuring our messaging continues to resonate with our consumers and drive market demand for walnuts.

    During COVID-19, the California Walnut Board (CWB)/California Walnut Commission (CWC) have been working collectively to promote the health benefits of walnuts to U.S. consumers and around the world. One example includes tapping into the pandemic trend of “at-home baking” and showcasing the many benefits of walnuts. Another example includes expanding our retail efforts with an e-commerce campaign as well as a targeted snacking campaign in the U.S., which will drive awareness and encourage purchase. There remains incredible growth opportunity in the U.S. market, particularly in retail, to drive demand. We will continue to find new ways to reach our consumer in the U.S. and around the world.

    Capitalizing on Current Trends

    It is the CWB/CWC’s goal to ultimately make walnuts the desired and preferred choice for consumers and the ingredient of choice for food manufacturers and food service operators – used in cooking, baking and snacking. Having a steady drumbeat of media coverage on walnuts is key to keeping walnuts top of mind with the consumer, which drives them to purchase at retail food outlets.

    Cooking and baking at home is trending and has been for months, as many people worldwide continue to shelter in place. In the U.S., we pivoted our media outreach to focus on baking, especially banana bread and cookie recipes. Total U.S. media coverage was up 85% year-over-year for the March through May timeframe and was viewed by consumers 3.1 billion times, leading them to in-store/online purchase. Interest in baking and cooking drove recipe coverage for April/May to exceed holiday coverage, demonstrating record interest in using walnuts.

    In India, a large percentage of the middle class has hired help to cook their meals, and during COVID, many left the major cities to return to their villages. For some, this was the first time that they have had to prepare meals for themselves, and recipes and instructional videos from celebrities, chefs and prominent influencers have become a lifeline. With our versatility across all parts of Indian cuisine, as well as international recipes, we reached out to the media, promoting walnuts as a healthy staple to have in every home. Each month, these efforts have reached hundreds of millions. For example, during just the month of May, our recipes alone reached over 237 million consumers.

    Health and wellness are top of mind now more than ever with consumers who are looking for foods that will contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Our ongoing messaging around the scientific health research continues to solidify walnuts as a key food to have at home year-round. In Spain, during the height of lockdown, we shared with consumers how to keep a healthy lifestyle with walnut recipes and nutritional and exercise tips through videos, influencers and press activities reaching 26% of the Spanish population.

    These are just a few examples of how we capitalized on timely and media-worthy opportunities to drive media coverage and encourage purchase.

    You may be wondering how media coverage impacts you as a grower/handler. The more visibility we have with press and consumers, the more likely they are to purchase, driving retail and industry demand.

    Snacking Drives Consumption

    To drive meaningful ways for the media to cover California walnuts, the CWB commissioned a consumer survey to assess changes in snacking habits in light of COVID-19. The survey revealed that, not surprisingly, consumers are snacking now during COVID more than ever. They are also nearly split on preference for sweet versus savory snacks. Providing these types of timely and relevant hooks is key when pitching media outlets to grab their attention and make sure they write about walnuts.

    Typically, consumers are more likely to try products recommended by a celebrity or influencer than by the brand. One example of using a key influencer (with celebrity status) is with Ali Fedotowsky-Manno, of The Bachelorette and E! television fame. We partnered with Ali to promote her favorite walnut snack ideas, encourage trial and drive market demand.

    Online Shopping

    As the pandemic continues, consumers’ cooking and shopping habits have changed. Consumers are looking for simple recipes using ingredients they already have in their refrigerator/pantry. As part of their changing habits they are also more open to learning new ways to do things, which include shopping online. To piggyback on this trend of online shopping, the CWB/CWC created shoppable engagements. A shoppable engagement allows a customer to add recipe ingredients directly to their online shopping cart – leading to purchase. In the U.S., sponsored recipes with walnuts as an ingredient increased 38%, while California Walnuts recipes and blog articles promoted through digital media resulted in a 200% increase in clicks versus the same period a year ago, showing that our marketing efforts are leading to purchase.

    In the U.S. we also conducted a retail e-commerce test program that launched in July on Kroger, Amazon, Instacart, Albertsons Safeway and Ahold banners. The online program drove mass awareness and ensured California walnuts stayed top of mind while consumers were actively grocery shopping online. A dedicated California Walnuts product page created an easy way to encourage purchase, and at the end of August, this program had delivered $490,687 in attributed sales with over 67,000 units sold. Instacart has had the strongest performance with 13.8x return on advertising spend; 2-4x is the typical benchmark for the platform.

    In Korea, we ran an online promotion for one week at the end of April with an e-commerce site called “we make price” that is popular for its daily delivery service. We created a landing page with over 40 different sizes and packaging of California walnut products and promoted the landing page through the we-make-price mobile app. Our ad reached 3.6 million consumers, and with this promotion, we saw a 2,340% sales increase year-over-year. With e-commerce promotions, not only do we have the opportunity to drive sales, but we can also create awareness with consumers who are actively in the purchase mode.

    As COVID-19 continues to unfold in the coming months, the CWB/CWC continue working to protect, develop and grow the California walnut industry. There remains an incredible growth opportunity in the U.S. and around the world to drive market demand.

    For the latest news and developments, please visit walnuts.org.

  • Japan Grants Market Access for All Varieties of US In-Shell Walnuts

    As of September 16, 2020, Japan allows imports of all varieties of U.S. in-shell walnuts to Japan. Back in 1986, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) granted market access to Hartley, Payne and Franquette varieties of U.S. in-shell walnuts. Since then, the United States had requested that Japan expand market access to all U.S. walnut varieties.

    On September 16, 2020, Japan revised the Ordinance for the Enforcement of the Plant Protection Act with immediate effect. This revision allows exports of all varieties of U.S. in-shell walnuts to Japan.

    Due to Japan’s phytosanitary concern about codling moth in the United States, U.S. in-shell walnut exports to Japan must be fumigated. Furthermore, a phytosanitary certificate issued by APHIS is required to import fresh and frozen in-shell walnuts to Japan. For detailed import requirements for in- shell walnut, please consult MAFF’s Standards and Regulations; for U.S. walnuts (available in Japanese only). — By Tomohiro Kurai, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

  • Nutria Eradication Bill Becomes Law

    Today, President Donald Trump signed Representative Josh Harder’s (CA-10) first standalone bill into law. The new law authored by Rep. Harder reauthorizes the Nutria Eradication and Control Act and amends the bills to ensure for the first time in history, California and other states impacted by nutria are statutorily eligible for the program’s federal funding of $12 million for each of the next five years The nutria is an invasive species of swamp rat from South America which threatens water infrastructure, almond trees, and local ecosystems.

    “It’s an incredible honor to have my first bill signed into law by the President – and it’s an example of what we can achieve if we’re willing to come together on commonsense issues,” said Rep. Harder. “Working together, we’re going to protect our farmers, our water infrastructure, and the native ecosystems threatened by the swamp rat menace.”

    Nutria were originally introduced to the United States as part of the fur trade in the late 1800s but were eradicated from California in the 1970s. The invasive rat made a sudden reappearance in 2017. Over 1,600 have been taken from the wild since then. Nutria can devour up to 25 percent of their body weight daily and one female can lead to 200 offspring per year. These invaders threaten water infrastructure, certain crops, and indigenous wildlife.

    In June of 2019, Rep. Harder introduced his bill to reauthorize the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003. Since its introduction, the bill was amended to direct $12 million to programs in nutria-impacted states, including California. The programs supported by the bill encourage habitat protection, education, research, monitoring, and capacity building to provide for the long-term protection of wetlands from destruction caused by nutria.

    Representative Harder has repeatedly pushed to pass the bill. Last year, he brought “Nellie,” a life-size taxidermy nutria to a Congressional hearing to illustrate the threat posed by the invader. In a separate hearing, he brought a graphic example of the invasion curve (colloquially referred to as a “#RatChart”) to demonstrate the need to act urgently. In February, during House debate on his bill, Rep. Harder brought Nellie back to the Capitol again – this time to the House floor –  to encourage his colleagues to support his bill.

    The bill passed the House with  unanimous consent and a broad bipartisan vote. The Senate passed the bill through the “hotline” process, which requires unanimous support from every single Senator. Rep. Harder was joined on the bill by Republican Garrett Graves of Louisiana as well as fellow California Representatives Jim Costa, TJ Cox, John Garamendi, Barbara Lee, and Jimmy Panetta. Identical legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senators John Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein.

  • American Farmland Trust Shares Tool Kit to Quantify Soil Health Benefits

    Today, American Farmland Trust, the organization that for 40 years has been saving the land that sustains us and advancing the principles of regenerative agriculture has launched online access to the methods, tools, and training resources it used in developing case studies featuring soil health successful farmers in its Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health project funded by a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant.

    Becoming all the more evident this year, farmers face enormous challenges. Extreme weather, a trade war and pandemic-related market disruptions have made it difficult for many to make a living. In a normal season, farmers work just to maintain yield, keep costs under control and try to improve the profitability of their operations. And, now we are asking farmers to respond to society’s call to improve environmental outcomes like water quality and help to mitigate climate change.  Soil health practices like cover crops, no-till and nutrient management can help address these challenges.  However, despite farmers’ belief in the science underpinning the practices, they are often reluctant to change management techniques without knowing how much the practices will cost and what the financial benefits will be.

    “AFT encourages our fellow conservationists to use this suite of tools and training resources to produce their own case studies demonstrating the economic and environmental benefits of soil health,” said Michelle Perez, AFT water director. “Our hope is that farmers, who have been considering adopting soil health practices, will find the economic evidence quantified for a farmer in their area, sufficiently compelling, to get them to “say yes” to trying the soil health practices.

    Specifically, partners will be able to use  AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tool, an 11-tab Excel-spreadsheet tool, to evaluate the costs and benefits of soil health conservation practices including no-till or reduced tillage, cover cropping, nutrient management and conservation crop rotation on row crop farms that have adopted any combination of the practices, ideally for more than four years and within the last 10 years. The tool presents the net economic benefits in a partial budget analysis table and an estimate of the Return on Investment, or ROI, in the soil health practices. The R-SHEC Tool and the case studies that AFT published underwent a review by five NRCS Economists, five NRCS Soil Health Specialists, three university economists, among other experts.

    Materials explain how to use the R-SHEC and how to identify and interview a soil health successful farmer to obtain the data needed to run the tool.  Additional resources are provided to instruct conservationists how to estimate the water quality and climate benefits associated with the already adopted soil health practices using USDA’s Nutrient Tracking Tool and USDA’s COMET-Farm Tool, and then how to assemble all the findings and present them in a compelling two-page case study. A six-part series of training videos provides instructions on each aspect of the process. To access the methods, tools and videos, go to link.

    In spring and summer 2021, AFT will release several new tools:

    • An almond version of the R-SHEC tool that aids estimation of the economic effects of almond-specific soil health practices such as conservation cover, nutrient management, mulching, and compost application.
    • A Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) Tool that will enable conservationists to partner with farmers who are “on the fence” about soil health practices to estimate the potential short-term and long-term economic effects of an investment in practices which will hopefully give the farmers the information they need to overcome their apprehension.
    • An online, user-friendly, web-based version of the R-SHEC Tool.American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • Central Coast Wine Competition Winners Announced

    The California Mid-State Fair is pleased to announce the winners of the 18th annual Central Coast Wine Competition (CCWC) presented by SLO Life Magazine, the Central Coast Spirits Competition (CCSC) and the Central Coast Vinegar Competition (CCVC). The blind-tasting event, held October 12-14 at the Paso Robles Event Center, is the largest wine competition on California’s Central Coast, which encompasses ten counties stretching from Alameda to Ventura.

    This year’s competition included 86 wineries and 503 wines entered. The competition features 71 classes based on grape varieties and vintages, where the “Best of “ wines are selected for their varietal typicity, quality and character.

    Best of Show/Best of Red – Piedra Creek Winery, San Luis Obispo, 2017 Estate Lagrein
    Best Dessert – Glunz Family Winery & Cellars, Paso Robles, Mission Angelica (Fourth year in a row winning category)
    Best Sparkling – Laetitia Vineyard & Winery, Arroyo Grande, 2017 Brut Rose (Third year in a row winning category)
    Best Rose – Détente, Paso Robles, Field Blend Rose
    Best White – CASS Winery, Paso Robles, 2019 Mr. Blanc

    The Central Coast Wine Competition named Cass Winery as the 2020 Winery of the Year. The Paso Robles winery placed with all 18 entries entered featuring Best of White and 3 Best of class awards. This is the third Winery of the Year award for Cass, which took home the same honor in 2015 and 2018.

    The Central Coast Spirits Competition included 12 companies with 35 total entries. The competition featured 60 total classes in each division—California – Spirits made in CA and Invitational – Spirits made outside of CA.

    Best Brown Spirits/Best of Class Bourbon – The Splinter Group, Napa, Straight Edge Bourbon
    Best White Spirits/Best of Class Vodka – Krobar Craft Distillery/Americana, Paso Robles, Americana Kaffir Lime
    Best of Class Brandy – Castoro Cellars, Paso Robles, Bethel Rd. American Brandy
    Best of Class Gin – Krobar Craft Distillery/Americana, Paso Robles, Americana Pink Gin
    Best of Class Liqueur – Calwise Spirits Co. Paso Robles, WFEx Barrel Reserve Orange
    Best of Class Rum – Krobar Craft Distillery/Americana, Paso Robles, Navy Strength Golden Rum
    Best of Class Rye – The Splinter Group, Napa, Whip Saw Rye
    Best of Class Whiskey – The Splinter Group, Napa, Slaughter House
    Best of Class Whiskey (Outside of CA) – Breckenridge Distillery, Breckinridge, CO, Bourbon Whiskey

    The Central Coast Vinegar Competition featured six brands with a record-breaking 19 total entries in 10 classes based on varieties.

    Best of Show/Best of Class Flavored – IL Fiorello, Fairfield, CA, Fig Flavored
    Best of Class White Vinegar – Virginia Vinegar Works, Wingina, VA, Petit Manseng
    Best of Class Red Wine Vinegar – American Vinegar Works, Cambridge, MA, Ultimate Red Wine
    Best of Class Apple Vinegar – American Vinegar Works, Cambridge, MA, Cranberry Apple Cider

    “We are proud to be able to showcase several of the best wines, spirits and vinegars from around the Central Coast during this unprecedented year,” said Colleen Bojorquez, Interim CEO.

  • Farmer Survey: How Are You Doing At This Stage Of The Pandemic?

    Complete the survey by Monday November 2, 2020 and enter to win a $100 PayPal gift card! The Center for Agricultural Development & Entrepreneurship (CADE) has re-launched a survey to learn from farmers across the nation about their real needs and concerns at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic and its related economic recession. The national survey was first circulated by the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in March and April. They surveyed 250 farmers across the country to learn how Covid-19 was affecting their livelihoods.  Their report found that nearly a third of small, independent farmers were facing bankruptcy by the end of 2020. Stone Barns Center’s complete survey results can be found in their report at www.resourcedny.com.

    A lot has happened since April as farmers and other small businesses have worked tirelessly to stay in business in a constantly changing environment and with government support ending for many small businesses in July 2020.  UBS and PwC’s October report, “Riding the Storm: Market Turbulence Accelerates Diverging Fortunes,” demonstrates that billionaires saw their fortunes rise 27% from April to July during the pandemic. What did our nation’s farmers experience during that same time? What local and federal responses to the pandemic have worked for farmers and which ones have not? What will farmers need as they head into winter and over the next year?

    CADE’s 50-question survey takes about 10 minutes to fill out and is intended to answer these questions and more. CADE is looking to farmers to fill out the survey and for readers to share it with farmers across the country. The deadline to complete the survey is Monday, November 2, 2020. The survey can be found on CADE’s website at: http://www.cadefarms.org/news/2020/10/26/national-survey-for-farmers-how-are-you-doing-at-this-stage-of-the-pandemic. All survey participants will be entered into a drawing to receive a $100 gift card to PayPal!

  • CDFA Raisin Handlers Annual Report

    California Department of Food & Agriculture — Free raisin tonnage produced by handlers in 2019 totaled 24,844 tons, up from the 9,423 tons reported in 2018. This figure does NOT include raisins purchased from other handlers or producers. The total 2019 raisin crop purchased from producers, for whom pricing had been finalized, reached 145,145 tons at an average price of $1,162 per ton, down significantly from the $2,119/ton average of 2018. This price is rounded to the nearest dollar per ton and includes all bonuses and allowances.

    Purchases from producers, for whom pricing was NOT finalized, totaled 139,888 tons. The average “good faith” estimate of the final weighted average price for this tonnage was $1,031 per ton.

    The quantity of all raisins purchased from producers was 285,032 tons for the 2019 crop. This figure does not include raisins produced by the handler or purchased from other handlers. The tonnage produced by the handler plus tonnage purchased from producers for the 2019 raisin crop was 309,877 tons.

    Information contained in this report was supplied by raisin handlers to fulfill reporting requirements of Sections 55601.7 and 55601.8 of the Food and Agricultural Code. The report includes all tonnages of raisins that were either produced by the handler or purchased from producers. The final weighted average price, including bonuses and allowances, has been reported for all contracts which were finalized.

    All 2019 crop transactions completed through the close of business on August 31, 2020 are included in this report. A “good faith” estimate of final weighted average price was reported for those contracts which were not final on the same date. The data are shown by major varieties at the State level only.

    DEFINITIONS

    Producer: A person or operator who is responsible for the raisins in the unprocessed state. A dehydrator operator is considered the producer of raisins if they grew or purchased fresh grapes and dehydrated them.

    Handler: Firm that processes and markets raisins.

    Finalized Purchases: Tonnage purchased from producers, for which a pricing contract has been completed.

    Non-Finalized Purchases: Contracted tonnage, for which a final price has not yet been determined.

    Free Tonnage: Tonnage received by a handler, for which the only Federal marketing order regulation is a minimum quality or size standard. Reserve tonnage is the tonnage set aside as authorized by a Federal marketing order.

    Weighted Average Price: Weighted average price reflects prices or “good faith” estimates of prices as reported by handlers and include any bonuses or allowances.