From the Fields ®
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Jake Samuel San Joaquin County cherry and walnut farmer
Mike Vereschagin Glenn County almond and prune grower
We’re going to be busy in the cherries for the next 30 days. Some of the earli- er districts are getting going. It is a slow start though, and a little later start than was anticipated. We’re picking a block that’s normally picked in middle to late May rather than early May. The fruit looks good. Two weekends ago, we got a little more than an inch of rain. There’s going to be a small percentage of loss but nothing like we expect- ed. The winds that followed helped to dry out the trees. Many did some applica- tions before and after the rain to bolster the cell walls of the fruit. From what I’m hearing, there’s very minimal loss. The market for fresh cherries is relatively stable. Some early varieties have been on the smaller side, but size should improve as we get into the mainstay varieties like Coral Champagne, Garnet and Brooks. For the Bings that come lat- er in the year, it’s going to be a very large crop. For our dried cherries, demand has been maintaining, and we’re exploring new markets. Our mainstays are wholesale ingredients, general confectionary, trail mixes and other ingredient mixes. We’re seeing the snacking area pick up a little bit. The no-added-sugar kick that we promote is a big driver. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture says we need to reduce school lunch program sugar intakes, that’s been a good driver for us as well. On our walnuts, we’re in it for the long game, not the short game. We have the good Chandler variety, and we have good-producing orchards. We’ve been monitoring the budget. With the rain we’ve had, we had to apply a light spray to protect the crop so we have something to market and sell at the end of the year. Last year, it was a record-setting walnut crop. We’ve got to take a couple punch- es on the chin and roll with it.
We’re on a full irrigation schedule this time of year, and thankfully, we’ve got 100% water supply in the north part of the state. With our water district, we did some more groundwater recharge this spring, but that has ended. Our almonds are a nice, good-sized crop. The state estimate just came out, and it’s a bigger crop statewide than last year. The negative thing is depressed prices. We sure hope they improve, but the economics is still not real bright on almonds. It keeps margins tighter. We lost at least 100 almond trees in various orchards with the storm that came through two weeks ago. It was just enough to be a hassle. We had to send a man out with a chainsaw to cut up the trees and get the brush hauled out of the orchard so equipment can get through. It was mostly on the older rootstocks. With the newer rootstocks, they’re anchored down much better, so not a single tree went down. Most of the (downed) trees are in older or- chards that are planned to be taken out in the next several years. Doing a replant this late in the game won’t do any good, so we just take the trees out and leave it empty. We’ve got a very nice prune crop in my area. We did a little thinning on the crop, but by and large, most of the trees have a heavy crop. The biggest thing is trying to get the fruit to size up. Disease pressure has been fairly low this year. I haven’t had to do much spraying for disease control. We’re doing a bit of mow- ing and cutting suckers off the trunks of younger trees. Between almonds and prunes, prune prices have been doing a little better. World production on prunes is in balance with world demand or consumption, so prices have strengthened from what had been in the past.
Tony Vaught Butte County aquaculture producer and consultant
Aquaculture is growing fast, not only in California but all over the U.S. This time of year, inland farms are especially busy hatching warm-water fish such as channel catfish, large-mouth bass, hybrid carp, sturgeon and many more. They’ll be hatch- ing fish and stocking them to tanks and in outdoor ponds for production of food and recreation. In addition to hatching the fish, farmers are busy harvesting, feeding and moving their fish in different areas for production. Fortunately, we’ve had a wet winter, so the supply of water is good for fish farms. That water is reused in many different ways, including to grow conventional crops like alfalfa and row crops. Some fish farms pro- vide water for wildlife refuges and other areas that need a consistent supply of water. Most of the fish in California are raised for live-fish markets and for recreation. Not much goes into processing plants. The market is really strong because consumers really want a good-quality, fresh fish that’s locally grown. California and the entire U.S. rely on imported fish. Locally grown fish that are fresh and able to be delivered on a regular basis are in demand. Prices have been high, although the cost has been really high lately too. The market for fish is going to continue to grow, primarily because imported fish that have been coming in at a lesser cost are now costing more. The consumer is asking for a locally grown U.S. fish that they can count on being healthy and nutritious.
4 Ag Alert May 15, 2024
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