REAL ESTATE
RICE/TREE GROUND. Between Chico and Willos CA. Over 300 acres with ex- cess water. Glenn Colusa Water District and 2 large wells and air strip. $5.8 mil- lion. Shop and 7 ac parcel extra cost. Contact Dan Schuller 530-228-5546. 70 ACRES OF LAND with 58 acres planted to almonds good varieties. Property has a nice 3600 sq ft home plus a rental home and a shop/barn. This year’s crop goes with the sale if purchased soon. Contact Dan Schuller 530-228-5546. Valley Trust Realty Tony Oliveira Brok- er BRE 02071049 24476 Fairfax Ave. li ir Bro- ker BRE 02071049 24476 Fairfax Ave. CA 93245. More than forty r in Agribusiness experience. Valley Trust Realty Tony Oliveira Bro- ke BRE 02071049 24476 Fairfax Av . Lemoore CA 93245. More than forty years in Agribusiness experience. Representing sellers f ag properties and buyers seeking ag investments Specializing in marketabili y of agricul- ture properties and 1031 Ex hanges Contact Tony: Em il: t ny olivei a@ msn.com Cell 559-469-5119. Lemoore CA 93245. More than forty years in Agribusiness experience. Rep- resenting sellers of ag properties and buyers seeking ag investments. Spe- cializing in marketability of agriculture properties and 1031 Exchanges. Con- tact Tony: Email: tonytoliveira@msn. com Cell 559-469-5119 Representing sellers of ag properties and buyers seeking ag investments. Specializing in marketability of agricul- ture properties and 1031 Exchanges. Contact Tony: Email: tonytoliveira@ msn.com Cell 559-469-5119. RICE/TREE GROUND. Between Chico and Willows CA. Ov 30 acres with ex- cess water. Glenn Colusa Water District and 2 large wells and air strip. $5.8 million. Shop and 7 ac parcel extra cost. Contact Dan Schuller 530-228-5546. t een hico and Willows CA. Over 300 acres with ex- t . l l t r i trict large wells and air strip. $5.8 million. Shop and 7 ac parcel ext a cost. Contac Da S huller 530-228-5546. ll r t R l RICE/TREE GROUND.
Ventura County Ranches
Lemons, Avocados, Row Crop Land for Sale
Scott Dunbar • 805-358-6644 www.vcranches.com • CalDre #01242893
MISCELLANEOUS
FARMERS GET THE MOST, money for your Walnut Burls. Call Brush Hard- woods. 209-847-7345
MISCELLANEOUS
Duncan Family Farms is entering its fourth season growing organic vegetables in the Klamath Basin. The farm will rely on well water for irrigation this year, after the federal Klamath Project suspended surface-water deliveries.
Klamath Continued from Page 3
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whole-head program with the multi-leaf. Currently, DFF raises 100% organic crops in the Klamath Basin, but is also considering a small conventional program in the near future, Calderon said. Every growing region has its challenges. In the Klamath Basin, water is a main issue, especial- ly with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation closing Klamath Project water deliveries for 2021 due to drought and fish-protectionmeasures. DFF has access to surface and well water, but with no surface-water allocation, Calderon said the farmwill rely 100% on well water. When surface water is available, he said, higher microbial activity in the water becomes a chal- lenge, particularly with leafy greens. With surface water, algae begins growing when temperatures increase. The algae, at times, can create an envi- ronment for more microbial activity to grow and make the water unsafe to apply to leafy greens, Calderon said. When there is a high molecular count on the test results, they switch towell water, he added. Weather in the basin has been another fac- tor. Some of the baby items are quite suscepti- ble to frost, and a heavy frost will burn them, Calderon said. Hi gh w i nds and ha i l s t o rms have a l s o brought problems. “The last three years, we’ve been hit pretty hard with some hailstorms in some of the fields, so that made us think outside the box and invest in some of the hail netting that we are now starting to use,” Calderon said, adding other weather factors pres- ent obstacles, such as heavy rain that damages the leaves and high temperatures in the middle of summer. But there are advantages to growing in the Klamath Basin, and isolation is one of them. For example, Calderon said, if in the Salinas Valley a farmer has high mildew or insect pressure that gets out of control, it can infect neighbor- ing crops; being isolated in the Klamath Basin reduces that risk. The harvest season begins around June 10 and goes through the end of September. Once the sea-
son begins, crops are harvested every day, six days a week. “Some of the crops do multiple cuts on baby lettuces, but spinach, greens and some of those items, as soon as we do the first harvest, we have to prep the soil and replant again,” Calderon said. Finding employees can be an issue, he said, whether recruiting general labor, skilled labor or for management positions. “We’ve been really focusing on our contin- ued recruiting efforts,” Calderon said, noting that the farm has hired a new teammember for that purpose. In addition, DFF has turned to automation to help fill gaps in hiring. “We have already invested in some new tech- nology in the last three to five years that can help us with the labor shortage. We are also pushing really hard on autonomous tractors, drones and other automated pieces of equipment,” Calderon said, adding that the farm had acquired an auto- mated weeder. “We’re doing the R&D work to see what’s go- ing to work best for our type of products,” he said. “We’re continuing to look at newer technology like laser and oil weeders.” Weed control represents one of the highest costs in an organic operation, and a big challenge, especially in the first two to three years, Calderon said, though there aren’t any specific diseases in the basin that impact what DFF grows. “We have experienced higher damping off— Pythiumcauses damping off in certain fields. The other disease we are aware of that is semi-specific to the area is white rot, but that doesn’t affect our crops,” he said. Crop rotation and growing cover crops are im- portant, but coldwinters in the regionmake it dif- ficult to grow cover crops, he said. Duncan Family Farms is experimenting with other commodities to see what will grow best in the area, Calderon said, citing melons, tomatoes, squash, beets, broccoli and cauliflower. (Kathy Coatney is a reporter in Bend, Oregon. She may be contacted at kacoatney@gmail.com.)
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June 9, 2021 Ag Alert 27
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