Ag Alert October 7, 2020

Ag Alert is the newspaper of the California Farm Bureau Federation, reaching Farm Bureau agricultural and collegiate members. Agricultural members are owners and decision-makers on California farms and ranches. The California Farm Bureau Federation is a non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary membership organization whose purpose is to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout the state of California and to find solutions to the problems of the farm, the farm home and the rural community. Farm Bureau is California's largest farm organization, comprised of 53 county Farm Bureaus. Farm Bureau strives to protect and improve the ability of farmers and ranchers engaged in production agriculture to provide a reliable supply of food and fiber through responsible stewardship of California's resources.

Robot patrols emitters RAPID experiment tests its ability to adjust irrigation

Special issue Learn about ways farmers can enhance water efficiency

Page 9 THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE Ag Alert ®

See stories inside

www.cfbf.com • www.agalert.com OCTOBER 7, 2020

Vegetables ®

s p e c i a l r e p o r t

ByKevinHecteman Throughout the regions of California damaged by the most severe wildfire season in recorded history, farmers and ranchers work to pick up the pieces, and crop insuranceofficialsencourage farmers with insurance to contact their agents as soonas possible. In Sonoma County, even after suffering severe losses after the Glass Fire roared through the Rincon Valley, farmer Larry Tristano said he planned to bring fresh vegetables toaMarinCounty farmersmar- ket he regularly attends. “We’re going to bring a little bit tomake our presenceknown,”he said. “Everybody knows what happened to us.” Tristano saidhe lost all his farm’s build- ings andmost of its equipment. “The only thing that survived is our Wildfires leave farmers suffering significant losses

See DAMAGE, Page 18

Raisin harvest continues near Kerman in Fresno County. The California raisin crop is forecast at 215,000 tons this year, down from 260,000 tons in 2019, but people in the raisin business say the crop could be lighter due to drying delays caused by smoke and insect pressure.

ByChristine Souza The2021water yearbeginswith farmers concerned about drymonths ahead. Despite little precipitation and a small snowpackinthe2020wateryear,whichend- ed Sept. 30, California weathered the year onwater stored in reservoirs during previ- ous years’ storms. Going into2021, farmers note thatweatherofficialspredict aLaNiña climatepattern in thePacificOcean, which hasbrought drought conditions in thepast. “We are concerned going into next year, since this is looking likemaybewe’re going intoa2014-type(drought)yearunlessweget somegoodrains,”saidGlennCountyfarmer Jim Jones, a director on the Orland-Artois Water District and the Tehama-Colusa Canal Water Authority. “It behooves us to Water year starts with concerns about La Niña

Smoky skies delay drying of raisin crop

ByChristine Souza Wildfire smoke drifting into the San Joaquin Valley has blocked the sun, caus- ing significant delays in thedryingprocess for converting grapes into raisins. Raisin drying has been delayed by two weeks due to the smoke cover, according to Fresno County farmer Randy Rocca of Rocca Ranches, which also runs a custom farming business.

“We are losing direct sunlight and so- lar radiation because of the smoke,” he said, describing the San Joaquin Valley as a unique place for growing raisin grapes due to its typically sunny days. “If it is 95 degrees outside, it is 140 de- grees at the dirt,” said Rocca, who grows raisins forSun-MaidGrowersofCalifornia. But he said the smoky air acts as the equivalent of a shade cloth over the crop.

“If you put a shade cloth up, you feel warm, butwedon’t get thesolar radiation,” he said. “I had continuous-tray (raisins) out on the ground for 16days before itwas ready to pick up. I should have had these done in half that time.” As he mechanically harvested Fiesta- variety grapes near Kerman, Rocca said

See RAISINS, Page 20

n e w s p a p e r

Voter Guide..................................2 From the Fields........................ 4-5 Vegetables....................................7 Classifieds........................... 25-27 Inside

Published by California Farm Bureau Federation

See WATER, Page 13

If you feel stressed, you’re not alone; talk to someone By ZippyDuvall

“Once I started talkingabout it…Ihadno ideahowhelp- ful that was going to be,” she said. Tara talked about that feeling we all sometimes have, that noone elseunderstandswhatwe’redealingwith. But once we start talking about it, we find out that so many others are feeling the sameway.

Tara’s story of anxiety when her dad was seriously in- jured, and then grief after the tragic loss of her grandpa’s life—ontopof the“emotional rollercoaster”of farming—is both extraordinary and something that ordinary farmers andrancherscanrelate to, becausedon’tweallhave things happening in our family lives that are just layered on top of the farmstresses we’re already struggling to handle?

If you had asked me five years ago if we in agriculture would be talking somuch aboutmental health, I probably wouldhavesaidno.But injust a fewshort years, thestresses

bearingdownonfarmersandranch- ershavebecome toogreat to ignore. From lowprices to badweather, fromtoomuchwork to not enough helpinghandstoget itdone, farmers facelevelsof stress thatwouldthrow anyone for a loop. I’m glad we’re talking about it, because it’s just not necessary or helpful to try toget through these stressful times alone.

See COMMENT, Page 3

CFBF Voter Guide 2020 General Election • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3

See COMMENT, Page 3 The California FarmBureau Federation Board of Directors adopted the following recommendations on statewide ballot measures that will be before California voters in the Nov. 3 general election.

Zippy Duvall

For mymost recent episode of the Farmside Chat pod- cast, I sat downwith twoguestswhoareplaying important roles inaddressing farmand rural stress. ChadVorthmann, theexecutivedirectorof theColorado FarmBureau, sharedhiscommitment toraisingawareness that stress and the risk of suicide are a huge problem in rural America. Chad pointed out that the suicide rate in rural America is about twice that of other areas. He serves on theAmericanFarmBureauRural Resilience Sounding Board, agroupof FarmBureaumembers andstaffwhoare workingon this issue in their communities and states and guiding our efforts at AFBF. In our conversation, Chad shared that he had friends who had lost loved ones to suicide, and it seems that, unfortunately, more of us are able to say the same. Chad and I talked about the fact that farmers and ranchers are “pull yourself upby your bootstraps”people, andhowthat strength can be a weakness in the face of overwhelming stress. That’s why we’re talking about it and trying to get morefarmersandranchers toopenupandgethelp,wheth- er it’s just someone to listenor professional counseling. This episodeof FarmsideChat also includesmy conver- sation with Tara Coronado, a young farmer in California. Tara’s enthusiasmfor agriculture isnothing short of amaz- ing, and you can hear it in her voice. I could’ve talkedwith Tara all day about her story of coming back home to the family farmand starting her own vineyard, but what I re- ally wanted to talk about was her #MentalHealthMonday campaignon socialmedia.

Yes No

Proposition 20—Criminal Penalties Amends state law to increase penalties for certain theft-related crimes, change nonviolent offender release and community-supervision practices, and require DNA collection from those convicted of certain misdemeanors. Proposition 21—Rent Control Allows cities and counties to impose rent control on most housingmore than 15 years old and to establish limits on rent increases for new residential tenants. Proposition 22—App-Based Drivers Repeals parts of a 2019 law, Assembly Bill 5, to reclassify drivers for app-based ride services as independent contractors. Proposition 23—Kidney Dialysis Clinics Requires kidney dialysis clinics to provide a li- censed physician on site while open and to obtain state approval before closing permanently; estab- lishes certain data-reporting requirements. Proposition 24—Consumer Privacy Expands data-privacy laws and rights; requires ad- ditional businesses to meet privacy requirements; creates an agency to help oversee and enforce

Proposition 14—Stem Cell Research Bonds Authorizes $5.5 billion in general-obligation bonds to fund stem-cell research for serious diseases. Proposition 15—Split-Roll Property Tax Creates a split-roll property tax that would reas- sess and raise taxes on commercial and indus- trial property, including agricultural facilities and improvements such as barns, dairies, vineyards, Repeals specific provisions of a 1996 measure, Proposition 209, that prohibited the state from providing preferential treatment ; allows use of affirmative action by public institutions, education and contracting if it meets a federal standard. Proposition 17—Voting by Paroled Felons Amends the state constitution to allow voting by people on parole for felony convictions. Proposition 18—Voting Age Allows 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections, if they would turn 18 before the subse- quent general election Proposition19—TaxesonHomes, InheritedProperty Alters tax rules on specific home purchases and on transfer of inherited properties; creates a fund to expand fire-suppression resources. orchards and processing plants. Proposition 16—Affirmative Action

NEUTRAL

X X

NEUTRAL

state consumer privacy laws. Proposition 25—Cash Bail

NEUTRAL

Abolishes California’s cash-bail system via refer- endum and replaces it with a process based on a pretrial risk assessment of suspects. A “no” vote on Proposition 25 keeps the cash-bail system in place.

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VOL. 47, NO. 36

October 7, 2020

THE WEEKLY

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2 Ag Alert October 7, 2020

Hearing hears support for vote on milk quota petition

Inthemost recenthearing,KingsCounty farmer Dino Giacomazzi, who represents UDFC, testified the organization formed last year “specifically to deal with the con- tentious issue of quota,” which he likened toa “civilwar”betweendairy farmerswho want to keep the programand those who want to end it. Though the program has existed for more than50yearsandmostdairy farmers understood there was a cost to it, it wasn’t until the state joined the federalmilkmar- keting order in 2018 and retained a stand- alonestatequotaprogramthatmilkchecks

revealed howmuch producers were con- tributing to theQIP. “It was nearly impossible to have a con- versationwithfellowdairymenaboutquo- ta, who has it, who doesn’t,” Giacomazzi said. “Butmostly thestorieswereabout the fights: best friends refusing to talk to each other, neighbors in violent arguments, families canceling holiday events and fist- fights at the auction yard.” Though UDFC was not formed to take a position on quota, he said, its purpose

ByChing Lee A public hearing to consider a petition to end the state milk quota program by 2025 faced no opposition about whether it shouldnowmove toanup-or-downvote by CaliforniaGrade Amilk producers. The petition was submitted in June by UnitedDairyFarmers of California, which seeks a producer referendum on its pro- posal to sunset thequota implementation plan, orQIP, byMarch2025 and to change the regional quota adjusters immediate- ly so the quota premium in all counties equals $1.43 per hundredweight. TheCaliforniaDepartment of Food and Agriculture qualified the petition in July, after verifying it met the 28% signature threshold of market milk producers oper- ating in the state. In a meeting in August, the state Producer Review Board, which advises CDFA Secretary Karen Ross on dairy issues, recommended the petition go through a formal hearing process. Administrative Law Judge Timothy Aspinwall, who presided over the virtual hearing last week, willmake a recommen- dation to Ross on whether the petition shouldadvance toaproducer referendum. Topass,a65%supermajorityvoteisneeded. The hearing was notably less heated than the one Aspinwall presided over in

June to consider a petition fromthe group Stop QIP, which sought to suspend the quota implementation plan with a sim- ple majority vote of 51%. In that ruling, Aspinwall recommended the state deny a referendum on the Stop QIP petition, a decisionRoss formally adopted inAugust. StopQIPhas since filedacourt actionchal- lenging the decision.

See QUOTA, Page 22

PROTECT YOUR PASSION TO

Comment Continued from Page 2

My conversationwithTara—ona tough topic—was uplifting, and I thank her so much for sharing her story. I also thank her for lending her voice and using social media to help people see it’s OK to talk about mental health. You can learnmore about Tara and her work on her blog at www.beavervineyards.com/blog. Just talking about this issue is such an importantpart of thesolution. If launching a podcast where we’ve talked about rural stress helps onepersonwho is feeling lost, it has beenmore thanworth it. We’ll keep talking about mental health and other issues on Farmside Chat. I hope you’ll join us and listen: www. fb.org/podcast/category/farmside-chat. As we do with every communication on rural stress, I want to say that if you feel you’re burdened by stress and need help, talk with someone. If you’re not comfort- able talking with your friends or family, call your local Farm Bureau. They’ll find a way to help you. Look up resources on- line. You can find a lot of resources on our FarmState of Mindwebsite: www.fb.org/ programs/farm-state-of-mind. Just know you are not alone. And if you know someone who seems to be strug- gling, don’t wait for them to ask for help. Reach out and see how they’re doing. Let themknowyouwant to listen. (Vincent “Zippy”Duvall, apoultry, cattle andhayproducer fromGeorgia, ispresident of the AmericanFarmBureau Federation.)

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October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 3

Travis Fugitt KernCounty diversified farmer and customharvester

We are gearing up to start cot- ton picking, and we’re looking at a start date of about Oct. 10. We’re estimat- ing about the same yields as

If you hire a farm labor contractor, you can’t “farm out” the responsibility for complying with the Worker Protection Standard. The responsibility is still yours.

last year. I looked at some cotton in the Tipton area that we’ll be harvesting and it’ll be a solid three-bale, if not a four-bale crop, which is excellent. The pima down in Bakersfield that we’re harvesting looks to be average for what they normally do. We already harvested our hemp. Our last day of harvest was last week. It went very well. I believe we harvested 2,000 pounds of flower per acre. This is our third year of growing hemp. We had a research permit, so we start- ed a year before everybody else. We’re learning new things every year. We’re toy- ing with all the latest and greatest genet- ics. What they gave us in the beginning wasn’t really well suited for California’s desert, dry-heat climate. What we’ve been toying with is all the different genet- ics, trying to figure out what’s going to work here or the best quality flower for the end result. We’re after the cannabinoids. Everybody just says hemp CBD. It’s not that at all. It’s actually CBN, CBG. There’s all kinds of different ones, and we began researching ourselves what each strain does and what it’s good for. CBD is good for inflammation. CBN is more for sleep. With CBG, if you’re taking a medication that you needed to get into your body faster, it’s like a supercarrier to get it in quicker. We have our own re- search labs doing that in house. Our challenges this year were germina- tion-related, and we’ve learned that cer- tain genetics like cooler temperatures to germinate. We learned that it needs to be planted earlier in the season and it does not like heat—and we had nothing but heat. Late in the season, thanks to California’s mismanagement of the forest and all the forest fires we have going, smoke/ash was a huge problem with the crop late in the season. Smoke causes the acidity in the plant to skyrocket, so the quality may not even be usable if it was in a region where the smoke was too thick. Hemp is essentially a sponge, and it goes after any of the bad things that are in the soil or its environment; it just soaks them up. Its pro is it cleans the soil and is beneficial. Its con is the finished product also takes it in too, and that’s bad. Our facility up in Lancaster was im- pacted by fire. We have farms in different regions, and different fires affected them

It’s your responsibility – not your farm labor contractor’s – to comply with the agricultural Worker Protection Standard. Take charge and take care of your workers. Your workers benefit and so do you.

To learn more, go to EPA.gov/pesticide-worker-safety

4 Ag Alert October 7, 2020

out there, the market wasn’t that good. I think they were in the mid-$40 range per box on cherries, and normally when we’re picking our earlier varieties, we’re in the mid-$60s and $70s. We had really good production—I think that helped us out—and good quality, but the market wasn’t there. As far as COVID, we changed some of our practices, kept our employees apart. Where and when possible, they’re work- ing on their own, in their own field doing their own jobs. We minimized workers being around each other. Obviously, we had to do the sanitizing and they had to

the beginning of September. We were a little bit later on those, but overall, I think industry-wide everybody’s been saying they’re a week to 10 days early. With Tulares and Howards, there’s been a lot of dark walnuts, a lot of blows, meaning they have no meat in them. Everybody was expecting heavy produc- tion this year, and looking at the walnuts you probably thought you got it, but I’d say 20% to 30% is going out the back end of the garbage because there’s no meat in them. The only thing I can relate it to is maybe the heat, that late heat clear into September. The market is down, so we were hop- ing the heavier tonnage would make up for the poor market, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I think we’re go- ing to be off of the yield estimate. The walnuts that are good are really nice; there is good quality there. We have our own processor and we process and sell our own walnuts, and walnuts going to the processor are actually looking really nice. The hullers are doing a good job at cleaning them up. Even though it’s a poor market, I don’t think buyers will be disappointed. It’s going to be really good quality to them. In cherries, we just finished our af- ter-harvest pruning. Other than that, we’re doing minor irrigation just to keep some moisture in the soil. The quality was really nice in cher- ries. I don’t know if this whole COVID thing put a damper on the market, be- cause for the quality of fruit that was

in different areas in different ways, so now we’ve got to harvest it. They’ll pro- cess it just the same, and then you’ve got to see if the flower is good enough for fresh market or, is it going to need to go to biomass for oil extraction? If it gets into the oil side of things, you can remediate it out pretty easily, but with the fresh mar- ket, it gets you out of that real fast. Our almonds came in pretty good this year. We were above our average this year. They haven’t processed them yet. They’re just picking them up off the ground. The alfalfa is pretty common; it is what it is. We harvested wheat and it made good protein. Yields were good. And the carrots—that’s tried and true. Nick Solari San JoaquinCountywalnut and cherry grower We’re har-

ized we were going to have a problem early on from a yield perspective. The quality this year for the consum- ers was very good. We had a lot of large fruit and it was with high sugar. The grades were great. Prices were decent. We just didn’t have as much fruit as we would’ve liked. After harvest, we spend most of our time going through and cleaning up the blight that wasn’t cut before harvest. Now we’re doing preparation for some herbicide control to get the weeds down. Oftentimes, maybe 50% to 75% of the time, we put a fall phosphate fertilizer down for the next year, but with a light crop, the trees are in pretty good shape, so we’re probably not going to add ad- ditional fertilizer this year in the fall for this crop, just because the trees were not very stressed with a big crop this year. We’ll start looking at pruning in December, so we’ll get our pruning crews out. Every year, labor gets a little bit more difficult. We had trouble with harvest this year. We had a lot of small crews because of COVID. We probably had three or four days of delay over the course of the week, just because we had smaller crews and it took us longer to pick, and that was primarily due to COVID. If we had had a big crop this year, it would have been very difficult to get it picked during the season. We would have stretched (harvest) into the Lake County and even Oregon/Washington fruit, if we hadn’t had a small crop.

eat lunches separately. Doug Dickson SacramentoCounty pear grower

We’re finished

with harvest. We have both Bartletts and

vesting walnuts. We’re still finish- ing up the early varieties, Tulares and Howards. Chandlers are kind of holding off, probably be-

Boscs. We pick the Bartletts first and then the

Boscs second, and we finished (harvest) around the 15th of August. Harvest this year was, on average, about 50% of normal. Quality was very good because we didn’t have that big a fruit set. We had some cold weather during the bloom time. It got down to the low 30s a couple of days, and we just didn’t have a lot of blooms that set. We had a lot of bloom drop after the bloom was over. We real-

cause of the heat, so we’re going to try to start test-shaking some (Chandlers) this weekend and see how those come down. We’ll probably finish up with our Chandlers maybe the third week in October. We have an early variety called Ivanhoe, and normally we pick that the end of August. This year we picked it

Opening Soon Registration

Join us virtually for our 102 nd Annual Meeting December 6-9, 2020

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October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 5

Governor acts on water, employment legislation ByKevinHecteman

miles of canal have sunk 12 feet below the original elevation, costing thecanal 60%of its carrying capacity. SB559,bySen.MelissaHurtado,D-Sanger, wouldalsohaverequiredthestatetoplanfor payingupto35%of therepairproject’scost. In his vetomessage, Newsomacknowl- edged California’s aging canal systems suffer from subsidence issues, but added he thinks the state should “identify solu- tions and funding that provideswater sup- ply and conveyance for the entirety of the

state, not one project at a time.” Danny Merkley, director of water re- sources for the California Farm Bureau Federation, said he was disappointed in thevetomessage,whichhe said represent- ed “another example of how government studies projects todeath.” “In our farming operations, we study and move forward, taking action to stay productiveand inbusiness,”Merkley said. “If we looked at every ship as the Titanic, we’d never set sail.”

Jason Phillips, chief executive of the FriantWater Authority, described the veto as “yet anothermissedopportunity for this administration to partner withmillions of Californians in rural and agricultural com- munities,especiallythosewhoworkhardto provide for their families while producing half of thenation’s fruits andvegetables.” The authority and the federal Bureau of Reclamationhaveworkedformorethantwo years toplanandfinancerepairs, headded. The bill was one of dozens awaiting ac- tionfromthegovernorafter theLegislature adjourned for the year Aug. 31. Newsom had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that reached his desk before adjournment. The governor signed a number of bills affecting agricultural employers, several resulting fromthe COVID-19 pandemic. Assembly Bill 2043 requires the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal/OSHA, to disseminate infor- mation about best practices for prevent- ing COVID-19 infection, and towork with groups representing employers and em- ployeesonanoutreachcampaign. Thebill requires Cal/OSHA to report findings and resultsof any investigations intoCOVID-19 illnesses at agricultural worksites. AB 2043 was one of several bills in a package by Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister.Newsomsignedanotherofthese bills, AB2165, whichexpands electronic fil- ing of court cases for rural areas; he vetoed AB2164, aimedat expandingaccess to tele- healthservices for agricultural employees. Two more COVID-19-related bills also earned the governor’s signature: AB 685 requires employers to report to Cal/ OSHAand the stateDepartment of Public Health any COVID-19 cases they “knew or should have known of,” according to the bill’s text; employers who fail to do so could be held criminally liable. SB 1159 adds COVID-19 to the workers’ compen- sation insurance systemandcreates adis- putable presumption that the employee inquestion caught the disease on the job. The bill specifically names agricultural fields as a place of employment. SB 1383, also signed by the governor, expands the California Family Rights Act to require employerswith five ormore em- ployees to provide asmany as 12 weeks of unpaid leave to tend to a newchild or look afteranimmediatefamilymemberwhoisill. However, the governor vetoed SB 1102, whichwouldhaverequiredagriculturalem- ployers tomake duplicative employment disclosures to H-2A visa holders, and AB 1066,whichwouldhaveallowedpeople fil- ing for unemployment insurance to claim maximumbenefits if their formeremployer couldn’tmeet a10-day turnaround forpro- vidingearnings records. ThegovernorsignedAB1788,whichout- laws anticoagulant rodenticides that can poisonmountain lions and other wildlife that eat rodents killed by thematerials. As Ag Alert® reported lastmonth, the bill con- tainsanexemptionforall agricultural sites, including packing sheds, canneries, pro- cessing facilities anddistribution centers. Newsomsignedanumber of bills in late September aimed at addressing wildfire preparednessandresponse.Themeasures

Hopes for expediting repairs to the Friant-Kern Canal sank when Gov. Gavin Newsomvetoed a bill aimed at helping to fix the crucial waterway. Senate Bill 559would have required the Department of Water Resources to report to the Legislature by March 31, 2021, on federal funding approved by Congress for theFriantWaterAuthorityor another enti- ty to restore the canal’s capacity. About 20

The scientific explanation. Calcium is a critical element for fruit development. A calcium deficiency in plants results in dividing cells being unable to stay bound together. This causes poor quality in fruits and vegetables such as blossom end rot,

tissue necrosis and poor storability. ENCOURAGE NANOCAL is a unique formulation of calcium carbonate. ® ®

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See LEGISLATION, Page 10

6 Ag Alert October 7, 2020

C A L I F O R N I A

Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®

Startup uses beneficial bacteria to aid water quality

ByBob Johnson Beneficial bacteria that quickly and effective- ly convert tailwater nitrates into gases could help

answe r an env i ronment a l challenge facing farmers, ac- cording to a Sal inas-based startup company.

Farmers face increased reg- ulatory pressure to deal with nitrates that begin in well wa- ter, increase as irrigation flows over the nitrogen-rich topsoil and end up in tailwater ponds or ditches. “The advent of Ag Waiver 4.0 is going to hit the growers hard next year,” said John Skardon, found- er and CEO of Tai lwater Systems, referr ing to a regional water-quality regulation for the Central Coast. “Growers will have to fix nitrate contami- nation or pay a fine. An alternative is recycling the runoff water.” Tai lwater Systems uses benef icial bacter ia to remove ni t rates on Cent ra l Coas t f arms f rom Castroville to Santa Barbara County, and also in the Central Valley. “Our flagship product is an anaerobic nitrate re- moval bioreactor,” Skardon said. “This system is capable of removing 95% to 99% of nitrates within 90 minutes.” The company is among the startup firms being nur- tured at the Center for Innovation & Technology that Western Growers opened in Salinas five years ago to encourage innovation that might help agriculture re- spond to new challenges. Although nitrate removal could go a long way to- ward satisfying water-quality regulators, Skardon, whose credentials include a doctorate from Clemson University in chemical engineering, said he sees his mission primarily as helping farmers use their resourc- es more efficiently. “Our companywas set up to help agriculture; wewere not set up to enforce regulations,” he said. While making it more affordable to meet demands of water quality regulators, he said, reducing nitrates to a level crops can tolerate may also make it possible to recycle scarce water. “We have done work for growers in the Central Valley, the Central Coast and down in Santa Barbara,” Skardon said. “The operations include row crops, greenhouse growers and some berries. We can also remove salt and other contaminants in the tailwater. You have to knock the nitrates down some or you will burn the vegetable crops. Rather than flush the water down a ditch or into the ocean, growers can recycle the water back into the system.” Treatment to remove salts and nitrates could be par- ticularly useful in greenhouses wherewater recirculates in a closed system. “If you’re growing in substrate, you can catch the See BENEFICIAL, Page 8

John Skardon, founder and CEO of Tailwater Systems in Salinas, says his company’s system can remove up to 99% of nitrates from agricultural tailwater within 90 minutes.

October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 7

Beneficial Continued from Page 7

reverse osmosis to reach the standard for drinking. “One Central Valley grower had high nitrates in their well water,” Skardon said. “Rather than drill a new well, he can remove nitrates and arsenic and then run it through reverse osmosis. It leaves you with clean water and a brine that is high in minerals, but not high in nitrates. The nitrates are turned into nitrogen gas and CO2.” The advantage of removing nitrates before reverse osmosis, he said, would be that the processmitigates the problem of having wastewater with high levels of

contaminants as a byproduct of creating pure water. Skardon said nitrate removal biore- actor technology is adaptable for many uses, and scalable for operations of many sizes. “We design, build and operate nitrate removal systems for wastewater andwell water applications,” he said “Our sys- tems are scalable from 5 to 800 gallons per minute and can remove up to 99% of the nitrate in under two hours.” Farmers come to Skardon’s firm with a recent water sample showing nitrate,

phosphorus, pH, conduct ivi ty and turbidity, plus flow-rate information showing the volume of water required for treatment. The Tailwater Systems team then de- signs a suitable bioreactor and either in- stalls it or, for larger projects, contracts for the installation. Once the neededbac- teria are in the bioreactor, it takes them from one to three weeks to colonize the bioreactor and get the system up and running, Skardon said. ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.) 2019 that now stipulate any water from an open source—such as a canal, reser- voir or river—must be treated to ensure it is pathogen-free if it will be applied via overhead irrigation within 21 days before harvest.” Farmers are also required to test wa- ter throughout their irrigation systems to ensure the water treatment effectively removes pathogens, he said. “It’s simply wrong for anyone to claim that leafy greens farms in California are not testing their water—because they definitely are,” Horsfall added. The LGMA said it continues to improve metrics in all areas of its food-safety pro- gramandhas just approved several addi- tional changes in the area of farm water use, which will also become part of the government audits. “Water is such an important part of food safety on lettuce farms,” Horsfall sa id. “LGMA member compani es are working hard every day to imple- ment these safe farming methods to prevent illnesses.” The LGMA in California currently represents 99% of the leafy greens pro- duced in the state, which accounts for 80% of the lettuce and leafy greens con- sumed in the U.S. The LGMA program in Arizona represents another 10% of the nation’s lettuce and has similar wa- ter testing requirements, the organiza- tion said.

water coming out of the containers, treat it and use it again,” Skardon said. Skardon said he bel ieves his sys- tem could also help turn some of the large volumes of wastewater gener- ated by food processing plants into animal feed. “You can have up to a million gallons of water a day coming off a food pro- cessing plant,” he said. “We can pick the stream with the highest organic matter, remove the solids and sell it as feed.” These helpful bacteria may even be able to play a role in the holy grail of agricultural water treatment—lowering nitrates in underground water to the safe drinking water standard of 10 parts per million. “We had a meeting with the chief engineer of the state drinking water division, and he said if we could help the farmers reopen some of the wells i t would make a huge di f ference,” Skardon said. Strict regulations regarding drinking water treatment might make it imprac- tical to use the tailwater system to make high-nitratewell water fit for human con- sumption, he said. “In order to provide drinking water, all the equipment that touches the wa- ter has to be certified as free of lead and other substances,” Skardon said, adding that the treatment process also must be approved by state regulators. But he said the tailwater system could play a role as a preliminary step to lower nitrates before well water is treated by

LGMA provides data on water standards Data released by the California Leafy GreensMarketingAgreement shows high compliance with food-safety practices involving water. said the audits reviewed a total of 6,348 water checkpoints and found 64 check- points out of compliance.

“This shows farmers are fully compli- ant 99% of the time and indicates LGMA members are doing a very good jobof im- plementing these new metrics in their operations,” Horsfall said. LGMA members are required to cor- rect all citations for non-compliance, he said, noting that of the 64 citations issued for non-compliance with water metrics, 25 were “veryminor” and could be corrected during the audit. The remaining 39 requiredaCorrective Action Plan be submitted. Horsfall said all those corrections had been rever- ified by auditors from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, “bringing all members into full compli- ance with the LGMA’s requirements to ensure the safety of water used in farming leafy greens.” Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not finalized wa- ter-testing requirements for produce under its federal regulations, Horsfall said the LGMA has required extensive water testing since the programwas cre- ated in 2007. “In the years since the LGMAwas cre- ated, several updates have been made to required food-safety practices under the program,” he said. “This includes sweeping new improvements adopted in

The LGMA—a food-safety program that verifies use of science-based prac- tices on farms growing leafy greens— said last week recent water-safety standards represent “a further strength- ening of what were already the most stringent measures required of any produce commodity.” The new wa t e r s t anda rds we re added to the LGMA audit checkl ist in April, the organization said. Since then, government auditors have con- ducted 69 audits of LGMA members to verify compliance with 92 food-safe- ty checkpoints for water included in each audit. Scott Horsfall, CEO of the agreement,

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8 Ag Alert October 7, 2020

Project tests ability of robot to adjust irrigation systems

ByKathyCoatney It’s called Robotic-Assisted Precision Irrigation and Diagnostics—RAPID— and Universi ty of California re- searchers hoped to finishanexper- iment in Central Valley vineyards this summer, us- ing a robot to ad- just irrigationemitters ongrapvines. Then came the pandemic. “Everything went off rail because of COVID-19, sowewill probably finishnext summer,” according to Stefano Carpin, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UCMerced. Carpin is collaborating on the RAPID project with Ken Goldberg, a professor at UC Berkeley; Josh Viers, professor of civ- il and environmental engineering at UC Merced; and Stavros Vougioukas, profes- sorof biological andagricultural engineer- ing at UCDavis. The project, which started in the sum- merof 2016, receivedfunding fromtheU.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the NationalRobotics Initiativeof theNational ScienceFoundation. The idea for theproj-

ect came during the drought in 2015. Theresearchstartedwithgrapes,Carpin said, because the crop is sensitive and de- pends on fine irrigation adjustments. “Growing grapes is an art and science, and precision application of water is criti- cal to a successful crop,” he said. Farmers strive for irrigation uniformity so thegrapes ripenuniformly,Carpinsaid, and keeping the water level and the soil uniformhelps in increasing uniformity. “With vineyards, it was particularly trickybecause toomuchwater leads tobad wine,”he said. “So inasense itwaswalking this fine line. Itwas saying, if yougive it too little, you’re going to overstress the vine, and it may end up dying,” which he said could result in large financial losses. “When stress-irrigating, growers want to be a tad below optimal irrigation,” Carpin said. In their conversations with growers, he and his colleagues learned that irrigation uniformity canhave its downsides. For ex- ample, soilswereirrigatedthesame,wheth- er sand or clay. One grower commented it wouldbeideal ifhecouldadjust theamount of water delivered to every vine—“custom- ized irrigation, so tospeak,”he said. Carpin said whenever he sees a prob-

An experiment in Central Valley vineyards evaluates whether a robot can help farmers maintain the appro- priate amount of water reaching indi- vidual grapevines.

lem, his immediate response is to search for a robotic solution. Often, it’s thought that robotics are replacing employees, but in agriculture that’s not necessarily so, he stressed. Instead, robots are assisting em- ployees to bemore productive. Carpin and his colleagues are conduct- ing their research in the Central Valley where, he said, theheat anddustmade for

a good testing ground for sensitive equip- ment todetermine if the robotwouldwork well in different environments. They started the research by determin- ing howmuch water was in the soil, then moved on to adjustable emitters, with the next stepbeing todevelopa robot thatuses

See ROBOT, Page 20

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October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 9

Farm groups request rural resources for COVID-19 ByDaveKranz

vironment for frontline agricultural em- ployees.” The organizations said farmers have done their best to assure safety by instituting best practices including social distancing, enhanced hygiene and sani- tation procedures, employee training and use of personal protective equipment. But given a “broad strain” on availabili- ty of such personal protective equipment, testingandotherresources, thegroupssaid, theWhiteHouseTaskForcecouldhelpby:

• Permitting use of alternate housing, such as FEMA trailers or RVs, to allow greater social distancing for employees whomayneed toquarantineor isolatedue to exposure toCOVID-19. • Ensuring COVID-19 testing resources areavailable toagricultural employersand employees, and that test results aremade available promptly. • Increasing availability of Commodity Credit Corporation funds to help farmers

offsetthecostofpandemic-relatedexpenses suchashousing, transportation,workplace retrofitting, testing, trainingandothers. • Prioritizing distribution of personal protective equipment and any future vac- cine tothe foodandfiber supplychain, due to theessential roleof agriculture inassur- ing health for people in theU.S. •Coordinatingeffortsamonggovernment agencies and community organizations to reduce the risk of exposure outside of oc- cupational settings inrural communities. The letter said that acrossmanyof these recommendations, expanding the pan- demic responsebeyond the farmgateand into farming communities will be critical to ensuring the well-being of employees, their families and their neighbors. The let ter was organized by the AgriculturalWorkforceCoalitionandsigned by167organizationsincludingtheAmerican FarmBureau Federation; California Farm BureauFederationand20other stateFarm Bureaus; 14 county Farm Bureaus from California; and 18 additional California- basedcommoditygroupsandcooperatives. “The availability of personal protective equipment for farmemployees has been a toppriorityforFarmBureauthroughout the pandemic—evenmore so due towildfires thathavereducedairqualitythroughout the West,”CFBFPresidentJamieJohanssonsaid. “WehopeVicePresidentPence,Agriculture SecretaryPerdueandothermembersof the WhiteHousetaskforcewillgivethisrequest their immediateattention.” (DaveKranz is editor of AgAlert.Hemay be contacted at dkranz@cfbf.com.)

Acoalitionofmore than160agricultural organizations from across the nation has asked theWhite House Coronavirus Task Force to take additional measures to pro- mote thehealthandsafetyof farmemploy- ees and rural communities. In a letter addressed to Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the task force, the farmgroups stressed that thenation’s food security “depends on a safe working en-

Legislation Continued from Page 6

include bills addressing defensible space around structures in high-risk areas (AB 3074), expeditedpermittingof emergency generators for cell towers (AB 2421) and homeowners insurance protections (AB 2756, AB 3012 and SB 872). (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)

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10 Ag Alert October 7, 2020

Techniques for almond irrigation boost efficiency

rigate because water is not uniformly dis- tributed across the orchard; it may be the onlyway toget enoughwater to the endof a rowof trees. He sa i d the Almond I r r i ga t i on Continuum provides a comprehen- sive manual of irr igat ion manage- ment and schedul ing pract ices to help growers advance. The 150-page publication focuses on five irrigation practices and tracks three levels for im- provement. It is available in PDF for- mat at www.almonds.com/irrigation; print versions are available by emailing fieldoutreach@almondboard.com. “Water status has huge growth and yield consequences.” — Luke Milliron UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor LukeMilliron, aUniversityof California Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Butte, Tehama and Glenn counties, dis- cussed how to use a pressure chamber to assess water stress, and said steps to using a pressure chamber are outlined at sacvalleyorchards.com/manuals. “Water status has huge growth and yield consequences,” Milliron said, add- ing that over time, water stress can result in significant yield reduction.

The pressure chamber also indicates when a farmer may be overirrigating, he said, which can result in hull rot and low- er-limb dieback. Milliron said sustaining near base- line or minimal tree stress throughout the season can eventually increase tree loss and shorten the economic life of an orchard. “Wet trees are really common,” he said. “Eighty percent of my calls are related to overwatered trees or problems fromawet spring likewe had last year.” The wet conditions lead to root and crown rots, higher hull rot and Alternaria and lower limb shading and dieback. Sebastian Saa, senior manager of the Almond Board of California, talked of the factors that define almond yield each season. They include the number of flowers, the percentage of fruit set and kernel weight. Saa said irrigationmanagement can re- sult in a 20% reduction in kernel size and formation of flower buds. As to flower quality, boron plays a key role for the adequate growth of the pol- linic tube, he said, and zinc accumulates in the pollen and plays a key role in early cell division. Fruit drop can be aggravated by poor fertigation and water applied in excess, Saa said. ( D e n n i s P o l l o c k i s a r e p o r t - er in Fresno. He may be contacted at agcompollock@yahoo.com.)

ByDennis Pollock During an Almond Board of California webinar focused on almond irrigation,

irrigation modules can help formulate nitrogen irrigation plans and in applying for funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Tom Devol, senior manager for the board’s field outreach and education, talked of the importance of distribution uniformitywhen irrigating. Devol said it’s important to look at an irrigation system’s efficiency, to look at water use andwhat needs to be replaced due to evapotranspiration. Also import- ant is understanding howmuch water is being applied. Devol said an auger used to evaluate soil moisture is one of a farmer’s most valuable tools. It canbeusedas a first step, he said, and it can be used at other stages to substantiate readings frommanually operated soil moisture sensors and auto- mated sensors. Causes for poor efficiency in distri- bution uniformity include plugging and leaks inan irrigationsystem.Devol citeda gasket leak that resulted ina loss of 10,000 gallons of water in a single season. Another key is flushing the system, in- cluding drip tubing. Devol said growers sometimes overir-

experts discussed techniques and technologies to enhance yields and efficiency. Eric Harris, se- niordirectorofsci- ence and sustain-

ability with SureHarvest, talked about the CaliforniaAlmondSustainabilityProgram. HesaidSureHarvest seeks toassurecon- fidentiality forparticipationintheprogram that addresses variousmodules: irrigation management, nutrientmanagement, pest management,airquality,energyefficiency, ecosystemmanagement, financial man- agement, workplace and communities, andbee health andpollination. Harris said he believes the material accrued by using the modules can help in “telling the good story of the almond industry.” He said statistics showing higher use of microirrigation in al- mond orchards as compared to farms generally “is a powerful message to be used to counter the quote-unquote ‘drought-shaming’ message.” In addition, he said, information from

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October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 11

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