Jim Gates NevadaCounty rancher
COVID-triggered closure of our two tasting rooms and stores last April. But given our fruit stand was classified as an essential business, it was allowed to remain open— and we were pleasantly surprised that our customers deemed wine as essential. Our last crop of the year was the walnuts. Several years of large crops statewide and export sales falling off due to trade tariff issues made for a bad situation. In-shell organic walnuts were bringing to the grower as high as $2.80 a pound in 2015 and close to that the following years, but 2020 saw a return of about 80 cents a pound. With the expectation of low prices for several years to come due to excess inven- tory, coupled with the decline of our older orchard, our decision was easy to make an appointment with the bulldozer. We just finished burning the piles and readying the acreage of fresh market tomatoes. Thomas Chandler FresnoCounty diversified farmer We should be done with our
The slowdown on getting containers at the port has also compounded the problems for the citrus market this year. The ports on the West Coast have fewer empty containers available to go back to the Asian markets because of the slowdown of imports caused by last year’s COVID shutdowns. The almond bloom is done now. The bloom conditions were good except for several days of wind. Fortunately, we did not get much rain on the bloom this year. We are already two fertilizer applications into each block of our almonds. Pruning for our winegrapes is completed except for our young, late-season wine- grape variety block. We held back from pruning the winegrapes that are susceptible to disease infections caused by winter rains. The snowpack for the Kings River water- shed is about 40% of normal to date. Our expected allocation from the Consolidated Irrigation District is one irrigation turn, which is about 30 days of water. On a normal year, we get a water run of at least 90 days. Blake Mauritson TulareCounty citrus grower We are fin- ished harvesting our lemons. Movement in the domestic and international
most of the way through our regular navels and starting to work through our late navels. With good size, high sugar content and qual- ity rind, our packout percentages have re- mained high and arrivals have been good for navels. The Valencia crop is looking equally as good, with good field piece counts, good size and high rind quality. We anticipate some Valencia harvesting within the next six weeks or so. This year’s Valencia crop may have to hang on the tree a little longer, due to slow market conditions. We are currently topping citrus trees and hand pruning. Bloom is around the corner, so we have started nutritional programs and pest-prevention applications. Our almonds have reached full bloom and are starting petal fall. We will wait to see what Mother Nature has blessed us with. Our olive groves are in hold mode for the moment. Bloom will be around the corner and we will start suckering trees shortly. This year should be a heavier crop year. On the minds of all California agribusi- nesses are the impacts of COVID and the lack of precipitation. The impacts of COVID on workforce, transportation internationally at the ports, interstate commerce and home life—managing the never-ending balance of ag life and schooling children—has taken its toll. We will be stronger and more resilient because of it! An obvious concern is the lack of snow- pack and rainfall. The stresses it will put on our crops, farmers and the anticipated impact on groundwater throughout the basin will be a growing topic in the next fewmonths.
We’re currently still feeding hay, whether we like it or not. The hay situation has
gone from bad to worse, because it’s so expensive that it’s actually worth more than the cattle it is being fed to. The range is not in good shape. If the rain comes at the right time, we can still have a decent feed year. If it doesn’t come at the right time, looking at my low-ground pasture, the grass is getting ready to make head—and when it makes head, it goes to seed and it stops growing. I usually have the cattle out on the dry land by the first of November and this year, they’re just now going out there. The bulls usually go in on the 15th of November, and they’re just getting in there now, so there’s three months where no babies are going to be born. I’ve got all these heifer calves that I can’t get bred. I already reduced my (cattle) numbers and that may have to come again. We’re try- ing to keep our numbers down until we can see something come our way. We’re looking at our local irrigation district to see if we are going to be able to have full deliveries or if we are going to have to ration. If we have to ration, this directly impacts the number of cattle that I can finish that are then fit to go to market.
Tango mandarin harvest by now, but we still have over half our Tango mandarin crop still on the tree. The crop size
for mandarins was large this year. So, the industry is size- and color-picking fruit this year via multiple harvest passes through the field, in order to limit how much fruit hits the market at one time.
markets has been slower, but great quality kept us in
the higher grades. Navel oranges are moving slowly. We are
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Everyone has heard the old saying, “ Aglime works 1/3 each year for 3 years. ” Where did this saying come from, and is it true today? The Midwest has been studying aglime for decades. This is research we continue to rely on today, but the aglime from there is much more coarse. The images on the right are actual aglime samples from Blue Mtn, CA (on the left) and Nokomis, IL. Each compartment has a wire mesh between it, the number indicates the size. A size 4 mesh has 16 openings in one square inch (4 across and 4 down). The material above that mesh is retained. The material below passes through the mesh. The largest of particle sizes shown in the sample on the right, equal 50% of the product. The material retained on mesh sizes 4, 8 & 30 are ineffective within 3 years. Particle size determines how quickly an aglime reacts, the old saying is not an accurate way to describe aglime’s efficiency. The Western Fertilizer Handbook, states, for aglime to be 100% efficient it must be at least 60 Mesh.
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March 17, 2021 Ag Alert 5
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