At the 105th Annual Meeting of Sun-Maid, American Vineyard Publisher Dan Malcolm presented retiring Sun-Maid President Barry Kriebel with American Vineyard’s Outstanding Service Award, after 30+ years of dedicated service to Sun-Maid and the raisin industry. Watch his brief interview, and read more about Mr. Kriebel in the December Issue of American Vineyard Magazine.
Although we received a lot more rain this year, the threat of drought is not over for California agriculture, and dairy producers are considering sorghum as alternative feed crop to corn. There is a difference in nutritional value that will need to be addressed in the feed mixture; however, irrigation needs are much different from corn as well, and drought-tolerance is one of the major reasons for considering sorghum. But just how much water stress can sorghum really handle? Watch this interview with Bob Hutmacher as he explains, and read more in California Dairy Magazine.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, here is the November issue of California Dairy Magazine:
It is devastating to see our friends in the wine industry, neighbors and families losing their homes and in some cases, their lives to these destructive wildfires. Learn about the current status of the situation from both the community and wine industry perspective by watching this video interview with Nat DiBuduo, President of Allied Grape Growers, and what you can do to help in the relief effort. Read more in American Vineyard Magazine.
The 12 signatory California raisin processors/packers have come to an agreement with the Raisin Bargaining Association (RBA) on the 2017 Natural Seedless Raisin crop field price, coming out to be the second highest price growers have ever received from their raisins. Watch this interview with RBA CEO Kalem Barserian for the price announcement as well as an update on the crop size estimate. Read more in American Vineyard Magazine.
Subsurface drip irrigation is growing more and more common in field crops, but what about in the orchard? The UC Cooperative Extension has been experimenting on this for a few years now in a stone fruit orchard at the Kearney Ag Center, and the results are very positive. Watch California Ag Network’s interview with Becky Phene as she explores the benefits of converting to subsurface drip, and read more about it in California Fresh Fruit Magazine.
Central Valley raisin growers experienced two brief rainstorms during harvest of an already short crop. Time will tell the true extent of the damage and ultimate size of the crop this year. The rain also put price negotiations at a halt. Watch this brief interview with Kingsburg raisin grower Jaswant Bal as he shares his perspective, as his crop was harvested just days before the most recent rainstorm. Read more about it in American Vineyard Magazine.
The eve prior to the last (unpredicted) rainstorm hitting the Central Valley, the Raisin Bargaining Association (RBA) Board of Directors met to agree on offering a price to the packers. Once the storm hit in the middle of the night though with raisins still on the ground, that offer was never officially made. Watch this brief interview with Kalem Barserian, CEO of the RBA, as he explains the current status of the crop and price negotiations. Read more in American Vineyard Magazine.
The 2017 “Leader of the Year Award”, given by the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), was awarded to Salinas Valley wine grape grower Al Scheid from Scheid Vineyards Inc. Al was greatly instrumental in the formation of both CAWG and the CA Grape Crush Report, among many other accomplishments throughout his many years of service in the industry. Watch this video presentation from the CAWG Summer Conference to learn more about this grape industry leader.
Concerned with labor or liability issues? Consider converting to pedestrian orchards, with higher-density planting and shorter trees — no ladders necessary! Watch this video interview with UC Farm Advisor Kevin Day to share what he has been learning from the pedestrian orchard research trial at the Kearny Ag Center.
Growers were grateful for the additional rain we got this year; however, due to abnormal weather conditions in the early season, the raisin crop is looking to be much shorter this year, and the sudden rainstorm that hit last week did not help the situation, as many growers still had raisins drying out in the vineyard. Watch this brief interview with Madera raisin grower Jamie Hansen, as he describes the situation and what is being done to protect the precious crop.