From the Fields ®
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Brandon Fawaz Siskiyou County hay farmer
Paul Sanguinetti San Joaquin County farmer
We are in the middle of our first cutting. We’ll probably get three cuttings. Overall, quality is up from what we’ve seen in the last couple of years. Some are just starting, almost ending or in the middle of their first hay cutting. Last year, we didn’t start until mid-June. The year before, the start was June 19, which was really delayed. This year, everything is much earlier with alfalfa and orchard grass, even grain crops. I thought we had an ideal spring last year, but the plants did not do well com- pared to expectations. This year, I didn’t think it was that much different, but everything is doing much better. The hay markets are down. I do not do a lot of export hay, but it’s my under- standing the export market drives a very large portion of the California hay market. China is currently the No. 1 importer of hay and is not buying right now. In general, there’s not a lot of nearby markets, so we’re limited by the location and infrastruc- ture. We don’t have a lot of infrastructure to hold grain, sunflowers and corn silage. It appears to be a very good water year compared to what we’ve seen in the past. Some of our seasonal creeks ran better last year, and certain ones are running better this year. But we’ll know more in August and September. We have a good snowpack, but the Scott River watershed is still under an emergency drought declaration, which gives the state the ability to establish and maintain instream flows. If the state water board feels the flow level is too low, it will is- sue an order to curtail groundwater pumping. Many have found that reducing groundwater pumping does not drastically improve river flow. There have been no curtailments this year. Some entered into a local cooperative solution where they made certain concessions upfront about reduced usage for more water certainty later in the year.
I planted barley last year but decided to plant it again this year because the input costs are less. It is a crop that we don’t have to irrigate, so we save money. It yields about as good as wheat and brings in about the same amount of money. It’s one of the crops I can produce a little cheaper. We’ve got some corn planted. We don’t know if we’re going to harvest it or chop it. If we can’t get $50 to cut it for silage, we’ll probably harvest it. My boys are growing processing tomatoes. Farmers have cut back on acreage because canneries have cut back. One bright area is we planted some large lima beans. The price per sack is pretty good, so if we get a halfway decent crop, they’ll make some money. There are a lot of crops that make money, but you’ve got to have a contract, and there’s only so much of that out there. Walnuts are not very good, and I don’t see a very big crop this year. Last year, there was a nice, big crop. Last fall, I removed some walnut trees. I might take more out this fall if things don’t improve. The almond crop looks good. The talk is that the almond price may be a little stronger, so almond growers are in a little better position than walnut growers. Our input costs went up about three or four years ago. It was higher two years ago. Our labor costs are up because of the minimum wage increase. Fertilizers and chemical costs are about like they were last year, which was already twice what I was paying five or six years ago. People don’t realize that when you raise the minimum wage, you raise the cost of everything, and all those costs, such as for fuel and chemicals, are passed on. I’m not in the kind of business where I can pass it on.
Neil Nagata San Diego County farmer
We are finishing up the berry season, so both blueberries and strawberries are coming to an end. We are still picking the last of the strawberries and blueberries, but things are winding down. Everything is pretty much ending our season, and we are getting ready to do it again. We are making plans for next season and slowing down in the berry fruits. Within a short amount of time, we will be knocking everything over—not the blueberries, but the strawber- ries—and then getting the fields prepared to be ready to plant in late September or early October. There is a lot more planning than actual activity as we get ready to prepare the fields for the next season. The berry market was tough this year. Early strawberries were pretty good, but the rains that started in December and went all the way until April held us back. We had a lot of rain, so there were definitely challenges with disease and fruit quality. But overall, production was de- cent even in spite of those problems. For blueberries, the markets weren’t as good. We had a lot of competition coming out of Mexico right in our window, so it has been more and more challenging for the blueberries. For cherimoya, we are pruning the trees back and getting ready for next season. This year, we didn’t have any problems with sourcing employees, so we were able to meet our needs. Costs keep going up, which is a challenge. With all the rain, the conditions required a lot more weeding, so there was a lot more maintenance around the farm, which added to our costs.
4 Ag Alert June 5, 2024
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