From The Fields ®
From the Fields is a firsthand report featuring insights from farmers and ranchers across the Golden State, including members of the California Farm Bureau. If you would like to be a contributor to From the Fields, submit your name, county of membership and contact information to agalert@cfbf.com.
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Photo/Christine Souza
Joe Valente San Joaquin County winegrape and tree crop farmer
Peter Johnson Mendocino County winegrape and pear grower
We had a lot of rain, and we are above average in terms of water supply. On the almond side, we are waiting for bloom. Honeybee colonies have been in position for a couple of weeks. The almond trees are at popcorn stage, but if the weather stays warm, we expect bloom to arrive very soon. Regarding potential removal of almond trees, I haven’t seen that happening as much in San Joaquin County. We still have a pretty stable water supply, so water availability does not affect us as much as it does for farmers further south. Typically, the trees or vines that get pulled out are those with marginal returns due to low yields. We’re not sure what the almond crop size is going to be. Last year, there was some frost that hit in the springtime. A lot of things can happen to affect your crop. It is hard to predict. On the grape side of things, as far as pruning, it seems like everything is moving pretty well. Applying our herbicide sprays got delayed due to the rain and the wet weather. We were waiting for the soil to dry out, so we just got started with that. There are some vineyards that are still wet, and some of them are OK to start our herbicide sprays. We have enough people, and we haven’t been short of employees yet. We expect to finish pruning in a few weeks. The grape market has become stagnate. Everything seems to cost so much more, so we’re trying to look at ways to cut costs. You can’t cut too much be- cause you have to still farm. The commodity prices are not the greatest, so many farmers are trying to figure out how to make it work.
Most ranches are trying to finish up with some pruning, and we are re- pairing equipment and getting ready for spring. We are also doing some frost protection. Labor has not been a problem in the last few months, but it always is some- thing that has to be addressed. There has been less and less skilled labor over the last few years. It is more difficult now with the added cost of overtime hours. This is a big change for a lot of ranches, which are trying to figure out how they are going to manage paying overtime or not paying overtime. That is something relatively new that I think everybody in the state is dealing with, and we are no exception. The pear market was good this last year, so hopefully that will continue. The winegrape market is a little more of a question. Farmers in our area are happy that we’re getting the rainfall that we have and are feeling confident about having good water supplies going into this season. It has been a great relief compared to the last couple of years, so I think we’re all feeling like it’s going to be a normal water year. We’re having continued changes with California water regulations, specifi- cally with groundwater protection agencies, so that is new for our area. There are still questions about how these regulations are going to be implemented in the future. At least water districts have some water to work with this year, so growers are happy about that.
Jim Morris Siskiyou County farmer and rancher
We finally have a year with rain. From a rancher’s perspective, at this point it feels like the cloud of drought has lifted. In the hills, we’re starting to see things green up. But in Siskiyou County, we’re not greening up quite yet. It’s still freezing at night, but we know that feed is on the way. Snow surveys have shown the snow and snow-water content in our valley are good. In most places it’s at 150% of average, with a few places that are just below average. I have friends and neighbors who over the last couple years have sold livestock. Some of them are multigenerational ranching families, and they have no cows. It’s been devastating over the last few years, but this year it feels like there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Because we are still living under the state water board’s emergency drought curtailment order, we need to have water-conservation crops. We were asked to cut 30% of our water use compared to our usage in 2020 or 2021. If we do that and write a plan, the state will al- low us to irrigate. Even though it’s a wet year, we still have to cut 30%. Last year and this year, the farmers grew water-conservation crops, which can be grain cut for hay. I’m experimenting. I put in some Kentucky bluegrass that I will harvest for seed. I’ll stop irrigating that in early July. Surface water and irrigated pastures may be curtailed very early on depending on the flow in the river. No matter how good of a snowpack or water year we have, until the governor rescinds his drought declaration, the state water board still can curtail us anytime. When our river is running at the magnitude over what they expect the flow to be, they will allow us to do a little livestock watering or groundwater recharge.
Photo/Kathy Coatney
4 Ag Alert February 15, 2023
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