California Ag Network

Category: Nut Industry

  • California Crop Weather Report ( For Week Ending: September 1, 2019)

    Weather

    Temperature highs ranged from the high 60s to high 90s in the mountains, low 70s to mid 100s along the coast, high 70s to mid 100s in the valley, and mid 80s to mid 110s in the desert. Temperature lows ranged from low 40s to mid 70s in the mountains, low 50s to mid 60s along the coast, mid 50s to high 80s in the valley, and low 50s to high 90s in the desert.

    Field Crops

    In Tulare, Fresno, and Kings Counties, alfalfa continued to be irrigated, cut, and baled. Cotton was in full bloom. Corn was being cut for silage. Harvesting of safflower continued. Garbanzo beans were harvested. Black-eye peas continued to set and fill pods. Sorghum was growing well. In Sacramento County, sunflower was drying down and harvesting began.

    Fruit Crops

    Nectarine, peach, pear, plum, pluot, fig, and Asian pear harvest continued. Post-harvest pruning and mechanical topping was ongoing. Dried pruning debris was shredded. After harvest, some older stone fruit orchards were pushed out and burned to clear for replanting. Pomegranate harvest began. Kiwis, olives, and persimmons were maturing well. Table and wine grape harvest continued. Irrigation and mechanical vineyard maintenance was ongoing. A limited amount of Valencia oranges were harvested. Gassing of Valencia oranges continued to counter re-greening. Ruby Red grapefruit and finger limes were harvested. Citrus groves were pruned, hedged, and skirted. Some groves were whitewashed for sunburn prevention.

    Nut Crops

    Orchards continued to be irrigated. Walnuts were developing well with no significant pest or disease problems reported. Orchard floor cleaning continued in preparation of harvest. Almond harvest was well underway and pistachio harvest began.

    Vegetable Crops

    Tulare County reported certified producers grew cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and jalapeños for local farmers’ markets and roadside stands. In Colusa, Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo counties, processed tomato harvest continued.

    Livestock

    Foothill rangeland and non-irrigated pasture remained in fair to poor condition. Water was hauled to livestock in some dry locations. Supplemental feeding was ongoing. Some cattle were moved to higher elevation pasture, while in the northern counties, cattle were grazing on recently harvested grain stubble.

  • Tulare County Crop Report (Week Ending August 24, 2019)

    Small Grains, Other Field Crops:

    Cotton fields are in full bloom and bolls are filling. Alfalfa hay continues to be cut and baled. Corn for silage and related summer row crops are being harvested, and land is being fertilized in preparation for the next crop. Dried beans are being shipped to Southern California. Black-eyed beans are maturing and drying in fields.

    Deciduous Tree Fruits, Nuts, And Grapes:

    Mature stone fruit continues to be harvested. Stone fruit orchards continue to be summer pruned, topped, and dried prunings are being shredded. Old, harvested stone fruit orchards continue to be pushed out and burned to clear the field for replanting. Peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots continue to be exported to Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Harvesting of Asian pears is accelerating, but exports are very slow. Pecan, pistachio, and walnut nuts continue to develop. Pistachio nuts are being exported to Turkey, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and Cyprus. Almonds are being harvested and are being exported to Germany, France, Brazil, New Zealand, and India. Table grapes continue to be harvested and exported to Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Some vineyards continue to have the leaves thinned to allow for better airflow, light, and to aid in harvesting. Some table grape vineyards, rows are being covered to protect grapes from rain. Kiwis continue to be thinned. Persimmons continue to develop some color in early varieties.

    Citrus, Avocados, And Olives:

    Valencia oranges are being harvested in very limited amounts, and being packed for domestic markets. They are being exported to Mexico, El Salvador, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Singapore. Gassing of Valencia oranges continues in order to counter re-greening. Some citrus groves are being pruned, hedge rowed, and skirted. Citrus groves continue irrigating during high temperatures. Grapefruit are being exported to Singapore. Star Ruby grapefruit are being harvested and packed for the domestic market. Immature olives continue to develop. Limes are being harvested, but have yet to be exported. Finger limes are picked from coastal locations to be exported to China and the Netherlands.

    Vegetables, Melons, Herbs, Berries:

    Certified producers are growing cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, melons, peppers, eggplant, and Jalapeño peppers to sell at local Farmer’s Markets. Summer vegetables continue to be sold at roadside stands. Strawberry growers are taking old plantings out and preparing the ground for fall planting.

    Livestock And Poultry:

    Rangeland feed and water remains fair. Local cattle ranchers are supplemental feeding their livestock. The fed cattle price is at $110 per cwt.

    Additional Comments:

    Retail nursery shipments continue to be received from southern counties in California.

    By Tom Tucker, Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner/ Sealer

  • Tulare County Crop Report ( Week Ending: August 17, 2019)

    Small Grains, Other Field Crops:

    Cotton fields are in full bloom and bolls are filling. Alfalfa continues to be cut and baled with some fields on their third cutting. Corn for silage is being cut. Processed horse feed is being exported to Japan.

    Deciduous Tree Fruits, Nuts, And Grapes:

    Mature stone fruit continues to be harvested. Peaches are being exported to Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Taiwan, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, and Costa Rica. Nectarines are being exported to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Taiwan, Australia, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. Apricots are being exported to Canada. Plums are being exported to China, El Salvador, Taiwan, Mexico, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Guatemala, and Honduras. Harvesting of Asian Pears is accelerating. Asian Pears continue to be exported to Canada, Panama, New Zealand, and Taiwan. Kiwi fruits are being thinned and continue being exported to Mexico. Shelled pecans are being exported to New Zealand. Some Stone Fruit orchards are being pruned after harvest and some are being pushed out. Pistachios are being exported to Vietnam, Turkey, Thailand, France, Mexico, India, China, Norway, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and Cyprus. The harvest season for Almond just started. Table grapes are continue to be harvested and exported to Australia, Guatemala, New Caledonia, Panama, New Zealand, Korea, and Vietnam. Some vineyards continue to have the leaves thinned to allow for better airflow and light. Pecan, Pistachio and Walnut nuts continue to develop.

    Citrus, Avocados, And Olives:

    Valencia Oranges are being harvested in very limited amounts and being packed mostly for domestic market but infrequent loads are being exported to Mexico, El Salvador, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Singapore. Gassing of Valencia oranges continues in order to counter the re-greening. Some citrus groves are being pruned, hedge rowed, and skirted. Citrus groves continue irrigating during high temperatures. Star Ruby Grapefruits are being harvested and packed for the domestic market. Immature olives continue to develop. Mature olive trees are being pushed up. Limes are being harvested.

    Vegetables, Melons, Herbs, Berries:

    Certified producers are growing Squash, Peppers, Eggplant, and Jalapeños to sell at local Farmers Markets. Summer vegetables continue to be sold at roadside stands. Blueberries are being exported to Vietnam.

    Livestock And Poultry:

    Rangeland feed and water remains fair. Local cattle ranchers are supplement feeding their livestock. The fed cattle price is at $111 per cwt.

    Additional Comments:

    Nursery stocks are being shipped to Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

    Prepared by: Tom Tucker, Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer

  • California Crop Weather Report (Week Ending: August 4, 2019)

    Weather

    Temperature highs ranged from the mid 70s to high 90s in the mountains, mid 60s to low 100s along the coast, high 80s to mid 100s in the valley, and mid 90s to mid 110s in the desert.  Temperature lows ranged from low 40s to mid 60s in the mountains, high 40s to high 60s along the coast, low 50s to low 90s in the desert, and mid 50s to mid 70s in the valley.

    Field Crops 

    In Tulare County, corn for silage was maturing with some fields being harvested. Black-eyed beans were sizing up, and pods drying. Cotton continued to be irrigated and cultivated. Alfalfa was cut and baled.  In Siskiyou, Trinity and Modoc counties, cattle were moved to range land at higher elevations. San Mateo County, hay continued to be cut and baled.  Fresno County corn continued to be harvested for silage. Alfalfa yields are good with lower quality with prices decreasing. In Fresno County, alfalfa seed has been dried and harvest expected to begin soon.

    Fruit Crops

    Stone fruit orchards were irrigated. Apricot, peach, plum, pluot, and nectarine harvest continued. Post- harvest pruning and mechanical topping was ongoing. Some older stone fruit orchards were pushed out after harvest. Persimmons, figs and olives were maturing well. Grape harvest was underway. Irrigation and mechanical vineyard maintenance continued. Valencia oranges were harvested. Citrus groves were pruned and hedged. Some citrus were pushed out in preparation for new plantings.

    Nut Crops

    Orchards continue to be irrigated. Almonds, walnuts, and pistachios were developing well. Almonds were treated for Navel Orangeworm and mites. Orchard floors were cleaned up in preparation of almond harvest. Almond harvest began in Fresno County with the first shaking reported this season.

    Vegetable Crops

    Monterey County is reported good weather conditions for lettuce.  In San Mateo County, fall squash plants are in flower.  In the Sacramento Valley, tomato harvest began.  Tulare County summer vegetables continue to be sold at roadside stands and famer’s markets. Producers are picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and squash. In Fresno county processing tomatoes and garlic have been reported with below average yields and carrot harvest will begin soon.

    Livestock

    Rangeland grasses continued to dry. Foothill rangeland and non-irrigated pasture remained in fair to good condition, though water was hauled to livestock in some locations and supplemental feeding had commenced. Some cattle were moved to higher elevation range. Sheep grazed in fallow fields. Bee were active in sunflower fields.

  • Current Status of CA Groundwater Sustainability Agencies – Deadline Approaching

    The California State Water Resources Control Board is getting ready to crack down on farmers for their increased use of groundwater unless their local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies can come up with a sustainable plan that will not overdraft local groundwater resources.  Watch this brief interview with Taryn Ravazzini from the California Department of Water Resources as she shares a progress report of this local GSAs at work.

    Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery and attend one of their upcoming Bennett Hickman Almond Field Days in Pixley or Modesto.

  • US Pistachio Shipments Remain Strong Despite Increased Tariffs

    Despite the recent increased tariffs slapped onto US pistachios in the midst of an international trade war, consumers worldwide just can’t get enough of them.  Watch this brief interview with Richard Matoian from American Pistachio Growers and read more about it in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.

    Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery and attend one of their upcoming Bennett Hickman Almond Field Days in Pixley or Modesto.

  • California Crop Weather Report ( For Week Ending: July 28, 2019)

    WEATHER

     Temperature highs ranged from the high 60s to high 90s in the mountains, low 60s to high 100s along the coast, mid 90s to high 100s in the valley, and low 90s to high 100s in the desert.  Temperature lows ranged from low 40s to high 60s in the mountains, mid 50s to high 70s along the coast, high 50s to mid 90s in the desert, and high 50s to low 80s in the valley.

    FIELD CROPS

    In Tulare County, corn for silage continued to mature. Black-eyed beans are sizing up, and pods are beginning to dry. Cotton continued to be irrigated and cultivated. Alfalfa hay was cut and baled. In San  Mateo County, hay continued to be cut and baled.  Fresno County corn was to be harvested for silage. Alfalfa yields are good, with lower quality decreasing prices.

     FRUIT CROPS

    Stone fruit orchards were irrigated. Apricot, peach, plum, pluot, and nectarine harvest continued. Post-harvest pruning and mechanical topping was ongoing. Some older stone fruit orchards were pushed out after harvest. Persimmons and olives continued to mature. Grapes were growing well as harvest began. Some vineyards continue to have leaves thinned to allow better airflow and light. Irrigation and mechanical vineyard maintenance continued. Valencia and Navel oranges were harvested. Valencia were gassed to improve color. Citrus groves were pruned and hedge rowed. Some citrus were pushed out in preparation for new plantings.

    NUT CROPS

    Orchards continued to be irrigated. Almonds, walnuts, and pistachios were developing well. Almonds were treated for Navel Orangeworm and mites.

    VEGETABLE CROPS

    Monterey County reported good weather conditions for lettuce. In San Mateo County, fall squash plants were in flower. In Colusa, Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo counties tomato harvest is set to begin in early planted fields. In Tulare County, summer vegetables continued to be sold at roadside stands and farmers’ markets. Producers are picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and squash. In Fresno county organic processing tomato and garlic harvests were completed with below average yields.

    LIVESTOCK

    Pastureland continued to dry. Only about a fifth of the five year average acres have burned so far this fire year. Late spring rains and moderate temperatures in the early summer months have contributed to this slow start to the fire season. Foothill rangeland and non-irrigated pasture remained in fair to good condition, though water was hauled to livestock in some locations. Sheep grazed in fallow fields. Bees were active in sunflower fields. 

  • Economic Study Bolsters Value Of Generic Marketing Efforts By Pistachio Industry

    American Pistachio Growers’ (APG) efforts to reduce or eliminate trade barriers in several key overseas markets have been a significant boon to pistachio exports and to growers’ bottom-line. A new study, “An Analysis of the Effects of the American Pistachio Growers’ Program to Reduce/Eliminate Tariffs on U.S. Pistachios,” has quantified, for the first time, the direct benefit to the U.S. pistachio industry from APG’s strategic program to vanquish trade barriers.

    The analysis from Dr. Dennis H. Tootelian, an emeritus Professor of Marketing, sought to determine what shipments of U.S. pistachios would have been if tariffs had not been lowered or eliminated in Israel, Mexico, China and Hong Kong, and the European Union which are the export markets prioritized for focus by APG. Many of his analyses centered on the period from 2009 through 2017 — the period in which tariffs were reduced in all five geographic areas.

    Tootelian’s study showed that actual shipments of U.S. pistachios after the tariffs were reduced or eliminated for each export market were more than 2.3 billion pounds greater than what would have been expected had the tariffs remained in place. Equated in economic terms, the boost in export volume after the trade barriers had been removed amounted to nearly $3 billion greater value than what would have been expected had the tariffs remained in effect.

    While Tootelian did not have any prior expectations of what his study would show, he was surprised by the findings.

    “To see this kind of an increase in shipments on a before and after basis with the tariffs did surprise me. I did not expect this kind of result in the marketplace. These are not small numbers,” Tootelian said.   “What the data tell me is that there is latent demand for U.S. pistachios and once the tariffs come down, foreign markets want to buy them.”

    Tootelian said the projected economic boon to U.S. growers is even more profound if the fluctuations in prices in China and Hong Kong were eliminated from the analysis.

    “If you take the price fluctuations in China and Hong Kong out, the increase in value of pistachio shipments amounts to nearly $355 million more dollars per year — nearly $4.5 billion in total from the time when tariffs were in effect to after they were reduced or eliminated,” said Tootelian.

    Data from the analysis estimated that more than 1.7 billion pounds of U.S. pistachios in total, or an average of more than 192 million pounds annually, may  have gone into storage if they were not diverted to other markets. While the effect of the projected added supply on the world market is unknown in terms of lower prices, Tootelian said that it would surely have had a detrimental impact on U.S. growers.

    “It is unknown what that would have done to the price,” he said. “In order to divert from storage and into other markets, prices probably would have had to come down considerably and whether they would have been able to market that much supply is an unknown.”

    Underlying Tootelian’s analysis is the fact that price is not the sole determinant of the volume of U.S. pistachio exports. He said when tariffs are lowered or eliminated, traditional economics would dictate that increased shipments would lead to lower prices, but his data show demand for U.S. pistachios in some key markets remained high in the post-tariff era.  Several factors, he said, appear to be in play.

    “One is the reputation of U.S. pistachios, which carries a very positive market image with consumers and importers. Second, it could be the quality of the product is better or more consistent, or both, for what consumers can buy from other countries,” said Tootelian. “And third, there are a lot of reputable health studies that show nuts are healthy and nutritious.  APG has invested considerable resources raising consumer awareness of the healthful attributes of pistachios, and consumers appear to be willing to pay a higher price. That is pretty clear from the data.”

    APG has aggressively worked in the halls of Congress, with U.S. trade officials and with foreign governmental bodies to alleviate burdensome trade barriers and create a more open market for U.S-grown pistachios.

    “Quantifying the value of APG’s efforts to growers has been difficult up to now, but this new study gives us some tangible answers to the importance of the work we are doing on behalf of the U.S. pistachio industry,” said Richard Matoian, APG’s executive director. “Frankly, we were quite surprised at the magnitude of these numbers.  It’s our strong belief that whenever and wherever trade barriers exist to the free flow of American-grown pistachios around the world, we will confront them vigorously.”

    In a postscript to his analysis, Tootelian added, “If I were a grower, I would be encouraging APG to be doing this more in other markets because the greater the demand there is for the product, the less goes into storage and that helps boost the price.”

  • California Walnut Board 2019 Production Research Priorities

    Walnut production research goes back over five decades. Each year, the California Walnut Board’s Production Research Committee recommends projects for funding based on industry’s short and long term needs. This year, the CWB members approved a total of 23 projects totaling $1.69 M for the 2019-2020 crop year.

    Production research continues to be fundamental to addressing production challenges in the areas of orchard management, entomology, breeding and genomics as well as plant pathology and nematology. The Production Research Committee sees the slate of projects it approves each year as an ongoing mix of short and long-range approaches: Short-range approaches, which typically consist of one or more sequential multi-year (2-3) projects by the same team of researchers, are designed to craft management solutions for problems in today’s orchards. Longer-range approaches–which almost always means plant breeding–are used to craft solutions for tomorrow’s orchards. Historically, new varieties with better productivity and quality were developed through a time-consuming process of selection and testing of hundreds to thousands of seedlings resulting from intentional crosses of chosen male and female parent trees. Increasingly, new DNA-based techniques are being deployed to accelerate the pace of this traditional process for creating new varieties. And these techniques are now also being used to speed the development of new rootstocks. It is important to emphasize that the new varieties and rootstocks that come out of these efforts will still be the result of traditional crossing of selected parents and evaluation of selection of seedlings, just augmented and made more efficient by understanding the genetics behind desirable traits.

    The scope of the breeding effort has also expanded: from finding productive high-quality productive new varieties that efficiently span the harvest timing window, to developing varieties and rootstocks that address orchard pest and disease problems–especially those that have eluded attempts to find sustainable solutions derived from shorter term research approaches.  Thus, breeding efforts now focus on reducing tree susceptibility to walnut blight, husk fly, nematode and water stress as well as the traditional goals of productivity, nut quality, and harvest timing.

    The Production Research Committee puts a high priority on striking an appropriate balance between short- and long-term research aimed at industry research needs. This balance fluctuates slightly from year to year and currently stands at a roughly 50-50 balance of short- and long-term efforts (Figure 1). Compared to other commodities, this is a large investment in the future of the California walnut industry. But our industry has always been forward looking: Most of today’s orchards, for example, are planted to varieties (and farmed using methods) developed through past industry investments in research and innovation.

    The following are just a few examples of current research:

    Breeding & Genomics:

    • Continued efforts to fill the harvest window with a sequence of productive, high quality, and pest resistant varieties, with a current emphasis on the Serr through Tulare timeframe
    • A first batch of Phytpohtopra, crown gall, and/or nematode resistant rootstocks have been advanced to ‘elite’ status and are now planted in small scale field trials around the state. Current rootstock improvements efforts are focused on moving additional candidates–some of which have resistance multiple diseases–through the disease screening process–and into the field trials.

    Diseases and Nematodes:

    • Continued efforts to find alternatives to–or better ways to use–copper+mancozeb to control blight
    • Replacing methyl bromide by field testing of new experimental and recently registered pre- and post-plant nematicides for control of lesion and root knot nematodes
    • A search for genetic and/or new molecular biology tools that will expedite the development of blackline resistant varieties or rootstocks

    Entomology

    • Continued efforts to understand aspects of navel orangeworm biology, movement, and monitoring that will make current control efforts more effective

    Orchard & Canopy Management

    • Continued refinement and validation of no- and reduced-pruning approaches in developing orchards
    • Support of ongoing pre- and post-emergence herbicide performance and safety evaluations in young and mature walnut orchards
    • An effort to improve irrigation scheduling and water application efficiency by integrating real-time estimates of orchard canopy water use (evapotranspiration, ETc) with plant other irrigation scheduling tools
    • Validation across multiple sites of the water-saving and tree health promoting potential of using pressure chamber monitoring of tree water status to delay the start of spring irrigations

    Other

    In addition to the above, CWB also provides a small amount of funding each year to UC Farm Advisors in support of local applied research trials they conduct and their efforts to extend knowledge and use of the results of those trials among growers.

    Figure 1. Twenty-three 2019 approved production research projects, totaling roughly $1.69M, divided by subject area.

  • Tulare County Crop Report (For the week ending July 27, 2019)

    Small Grains, Other Field Crops:

    Corn for silage continues to mature. Black-eyed beans are sizing up, and the pods are beginning to dry. Cotton continues to be irrigated and cultivated. Alfalfa continues to be cut and baled.

    Deciduous Tree Fruits, Nuts, And Grapes:

    The stone fruit season continues on. Peaches are being exported to Brazil, Taiwan, Canada,Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, and Australia. Nectarines are being exported to Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Plums are being exported to China, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. Hand-pruning and mechanical toppingcontinues to take place in some stone fruit orchards, after harvest. Immature stone fruit continuesto develop. Some older stone fruit groves are being removed after harvest. Grapes continue to mature and harvest has begun slowly, but will pick up next week. Grapes are being exported to Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. Some vineyards continue to have leaves thinned to allow for better airflow and light. This year’s almond, pecan, walnut, and pistachio nuts continue to develop. Pistachios are being exported to Vietnam, India, Spain, and Hong Kong. Almonds are being exported Vietnam, Germany, Finland, Jordan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia, and Argentina. Persimmons continue to develop. Irrigation continues for orchards and vineyards.

     

    Citrus, Avocados, And Olives:

    Valencia and navel oranges continue to be harvested. Late navel harvest is nearing the end, with oranges mainly being sent to juice from the field. Gassing of Valencia oranges to improve color continues. Valencia oranges are mainly being sent to domestic markets but they continue to be exported in small amounts to Mexico and Hong Kong. Ruby grapefruit and Finger limes are being exported to Mexico. Some citrus groves are being pruned and hedge rowed. Immature olives continue to develop.

     

    Vegetables, Melons, Herbs, Berries:

    Certified producers are picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, watermelon, and squash. Summer vegetables continue to be sold at roadside stands and Farmer’s Markets. Blueberries are being picked and sold by local growers.

     

    Livestock And Poultry:

    Rangeland forage is of fair-good quality. The fed cattle price is at $112 per cwt.

    Additional Comments:

    Local wholesale nurseries are still shipping small orders of nursery stock to local and out-of-state retail nursery outlets. Nurseries continue to receive various flowers and plants daily. Bare-rootrose shipments continue to be sent to Florida.