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.
Salmon strategy State plan maps out steps to help restore species
Rice weeds Growers battle new invasive threats
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www.cfbf.com • www.agalert.com FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Field Crops Fruits & Vegetables
special reports
By Ching Lee Seven counties in Northern and Southern California remain under ongo- ing quarantines in a battle to eradicate and stop the spread of four different species of invasive fruit flies that agricultural officials say could wreak havoc on California farms and hundreds of crops. The Oriental fruit fly triggered quaran- tines in parts of Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Portions of Los Angeles County have been under quarantines prompted by findings of the Mediterranean, Tau and Queensland fruit flies. The Queensland quarantine largely affects areas of Ventura County centered around Thousand Oaks. While two or three quarantines pop up in the state during any given year, the cur- rent ones are unprecedented because of the sheer number of flies found, said Ivan Godwyn, deputy agricultural commission- er in Contra Costa County. In an average year, the state typically detects around 75 fruit flies. In 2023, findings topped 800. “I think those statistics tell the story,” Godwyn said. All the quarantines started in 2023. The one involving the Tau fruit fly came in July, followed by the Oriental fruit fly in September, and the Mediterranean and Queensland fruit flies in October. Altogether, the quarantines encompass 1,248 square miles. It’s unclear why California has seen increased detections of fruit flies, though agricultural officials agree the smuggling of contraband fruit harboring fruit flies re- mains a main culprit. Godwyn noted that when travel was vastly restricted during the pandemic in 2020, the number of pests and intercep- tions at ports of entry went way down. This strengthens the theory that invasive pest finds are related to international travel and people illegally bringing in prohibit- ed items. See QUARANTINES, Page 10 Fruit fly findings, quarantines deal blow to farmers
San Joaquin County farmer Joe Cataldo, who grows winegrapes and cherries in Lodi, says a portion of his vineyard would be affected by a transmission line project proposed by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Farmers are concerned the project could remove productive farmland and reduce property values.
PG&E proposal a concern for Lodi farms
By Christine Souza Farmers and vintners in northern San Joaquin County are expressing concern about an electrical transmission project they say would bisect farm properties, re- strict the ability to change crops and neg- atively affect property values in one of the state’s top wine regions. Growers with farms in the path of the
transmission system proposed by inves- tor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the local municipal power provider, Lodi Electric Utility, raised concerns during a virtual meeting last week of the California Public Utilities Commission. In interviews and testimony to the CPUC, some farmers said they under- stand the transmission line is needed but
suggested the project be modified or that power lines be placed underground to re- duce the acres of farmland that could be taken out of production. San Joaquin County farmer Joe Cataldo, who grows 73 acres of wine- grapes and cherries in Lodi, said he be- lieves the transmission line will reduce
See TRANSMISSION, Page 6
n e w s p a p e r
Comment.......................................2 Fruits & Vegetables............12-13 Field Crops..........................14-15 Classifieds........................... 26-27 Inside
Published by
Where does water wind up? You might be surprised
By Mike Wade Water, the essence of life, is an indis- pensable resource intricately woven into the fabric of our daily existence. From the food on our plates to the gadgets in our hands, water silently plays a pivotal role
the ongoing need to charge them entails substantial water use, from mining lithium for batteries to manufacturing the vehicle components. Auto manufacturing requires 13,700 gallons of water to almost 22,000 gallons of water for each vehicle produced. • The vast digital landscape we navigate daily is hosted in data centers that ne- cessitate significant amounts of water for cooling systems and infrastructure main- tenance. Every 200 gigabytes of internet ac- cess consume 40 gallons of water, or about one-fifth of a gallon per gigabyte. • It takes twice as much water to produce a plastic water bottle as the volume of wa- ter inside the bottle, and every gallon of gasoline requires up to 2.5 gallons of water to refine it. • Producing a pair of leather shoes re- quires more than 2,100 gallons of water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests that public awareness and understanding are vital to navi- gating the intricate web of water usage. Misunderstandings about the water foot- print of everyday products can lead to misplaced concerns and hinder progress toward sustainable water management. Water is the silent hero and unsung companion in our daily lives, touching every facet of our existence. California is already a global leader in agricultural water-use efficiency. To foster a more sus- tainable future, consumers, industries and policymakers must collaborate to enhance water efficiency and raise awareness about our unseen water use. By educating the public on the diverse ways water influences our lives, we can help put into perspective the water farmers use to grow the food we all need every day. (Mike Wade is executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition. He may be contacted at mwade@farmwater.org.)
How our water is used
9.9 TRILLION Gallons of water per year consumed in food products 8.2 TRILLION Gallons of water per year to produce food and fiber
in the creation of almost everything we encounter. In a world where
water scarcity is a looming concern, it is essential to ex- plore the profound impact of water in the production of goods and services that shape our lives as well as the food we feed our families. Criticism often falls on agriculture for its water use. Consumers in California face limits of 55 gallons per person, per day in allowable indoor water use. It isn’t surpris- ing that they might react negatively when confronted with the fact that more than 800 gallons of water is needed to grow the food one person consumes in one day. However, food is something we literally cannot live without. In addition, it’s crucial to recognize that the end user of farm wa- ter is not farmers but consumers. Whether you’re shopping for the items in a chicken fajita recipe, a bunch of broccoli or a carton of ice cream, you’re carrying water home from the farm. Take a moment to consider a cup of cof- fee, a staple in many people’s mornings. The water footprint of a single cup of coffee is estimated to be around 37 gal- lons. Spaghetti sauce with ground beef, garlic, oregano, onion and basil adds up to about 365 gallons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. A serving of rice and Mike Wade
The green bars represent water used to
irrigate California’s 7.8 million acres of farmland. The blue bars represent water consumed as food by people in each region.
Source: California Farm Water Coalition
beans requires around 65 gallons of water to produce, and the fruit in a fruit medley needs 71 gallons of water. From a statewide perspective, the total amount of water in the food consumed by California’s roughly 40 million people ex- ceeds the entire amount of water devoted to the state’s irrigated agriculture industry. A little over 25 million acre-feet of water is consumptively used to grow food on the state’s 7.8 million irrigated acres. The water required to feed the state’s population adds up to more than 30 million acre-feet. This means if there were no imports or exports, the amount of food grown in the state would be insufficient to meet the needs of all the people who live here. If state and federal regulations contin- ue on their current path, even less water
will be available for farmers to use to grow food, increasing our reliance on import- ed products. That’s why efforts to capture more water during wet years and banking it for the dry years is so important. What few people realize is that water is a required component in almost everything we need to get through the day. Our lives are filled with products that demand sig- nificant water inputs, and sometimes the water footprint is less apparent. Here are a few examples: • The manufacturing process of a mo- bile phone involves various water-inten- sive stages, from mining rare minerals to assembling electronic components, all of which total almost 3,200 gallons of water per phone. • The production of electric vehicles and
VOL. 51, NO. 5
February 7, 2024
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2 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
A spring-run Chinook salmon is shown in a Sacramento River tributary. A new California Salmon Strategy document maps out intensified actions officials urge to safeguard the threatened species.
Newsom announces strategy to help salmon populations
By Christine Souza As California experiences hotter, dri- er temperatures due to climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced the state’s first strategy to protect and help restore salmon species to reduce their risk of extinction. The California Salmon Strategy, re- leased last week, is a 37-page document that outlines actions state agencies are al- ready taking to stabilize and recover salm- on populations. It also maps out additional or intensified actions needed in coming years. The document identifies six priori- ties and 71 actions. The salmon strategy’s priorities call for: removing barriers and modernizing infra- structure for salmon migration; restoring habitat; protecting water flows in key rivers at the right times; modernizing hatcheries; transforming technology and management systems; and strengthening partnerships. California Farm Bureau senior policy advocate Alexandra Biering said, “Many of the strategy actions—from dedicated habitat to dam removal and ecosystem flows—require the participation of private landowners and water rights holders.” Biering said farmers would also like to see thriving salmon populations. She said the state’s objective to “recover salmon in the state across their range is a worthy goal but one that might not be completely attainable.” The state’s salmon strategy includes sev- eral projects that are already underway, in- cluding removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. The Copco 2 Dam in Siskiyou County was removed in 2023. The deconstruction of two other Siskiyou dams, the Iron Gate and Copco1 dams, and the JC Boyle dam in southern Oregon is ex- pected to happen in May or June. Other ongoing efforts include a push by tribes and the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to decommission and remove the Scott Dam on the Eel River in Mendocino County.
In addition, work continues toward finalizing agreements for passage and reintroduction of fish in the Yuba River. Other efforts include developing min- imum instream flows and a long-term management plan for the Scott and Shasta rivers in Siskiyou County and completing a salmon conservation and rearing facility below Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River on the border of Fresno and Madera counties. Dennis Thibeault, executive vice presi- dent of forestry for the Humboldt Redwood Co. and the Mendocino Redwood Co., called the state’s new salmon strategy “a major step forward.” He said, “Conserving this keystone species will require a coordinated effort throughout its range in California on both public and private lands.” In a related effort, the California State Water Resources Control Board, at its Feb. 6 board meeting, will consider a proposal to approve final biological goals for un- impaired flow objectives to help improve salmon populations in the Lower San Joaquin River tributaries. The state’s decision to set flows on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers is part of the state’s Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. The Newsom administration and the California Legislature have spent almost $800 million in the past three years to pro- tect and restore salmon. With projections showing Chinook salm- on population at historic lows last year, the salmon season was closed, and the state requested a federal fishery disaster decla- ration to support impacted communities. Learn more about the California Salmon Strategy at www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2024/01/Salmon-Strategy-for-a- Hotter-Drier-Future.pdf. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
From The Fields ® From the Fields is a firsthand report featuring insights from farmers and ranchers across the Golden State, including members of the California Farm Bureau. If you would like to be a contributor to From the Fields, submit your name, county of membership and contact information to agalert@cfbf.com.
Photo/Courtesy Rob Miller
Photo/Cody Wirz
Rob Miller Del Norte County flower grower
Pat Wirz San Benito County cattle rancher and winegrape and walnut grower The cattle are doing pretty good. We’re still feeding a bit of hay. The grass in our area is coming along well for this time of year. I’m guessing in another three weeks we’ll be able to turn out and we won’t be supplement feeding anymore for the season. We raise our own supplement hay, and we had a really good hay crop this year. That cut down on some of the expenses over the past year because we didn’t have to buy hay. The year before, we had to buy quite a bit of extra hay. With the good year we had last year—and this year we’re running right at nor- mal rainfall—we are doing fine. We had a storm last week, and we’re still getting showers. We have tarps over all our hay piles. The market is holding pretty good. I generally sell in May or June when the cattle start coming out of the hills. I don’t sell much this time of the year, so I hav- en’t marketed anything for a while. We’re getting ready to start calving at the end of this month and in March. In our vineyards, we are pruning. We’ve got about another month and a half to go. In a couple of weeks, we’ll start spraying the weeds around the vines. Everything is looking good. Our harvest was about normal. The price wasn’t too bad, and we were able to market all our grapes. We had a decent year. In the walnut orchard, we’ve got a cover crop planted, and we’re waiting until things start happening in the spring. I bought the orchard last year from a neighbor who wanted to retire. The orchard bordered us, so we expanded. I’ve always had a few walnut trees, but not as many as I have now. They’re organic, so we planted the cover crop for nitrogen and the extra organic ma- terial it brings.
We have Easter lilies, Oriental lilies, hydrangeas and other flowering crops in the greenhouse. They’re in the middle of growing. The plants in the greenhouse are sold for Easter specifically. Easter dates vary greatly, and we control the flowering time with the temperature in the greenhouse. We also grow bulbs in the field and ship them across the United States and Canada. They supply other greenhouses in North America with Easter lilies. Those were all shipped in October. They go into cold storage at 40 degrees for six weeks and then come out and get planted in greenhouses, including mine, sometime in December. Insurance access is a challenge. A couple years ago, my insurer decided they no longer wanted to insure me because of the potential for catastrophic loss because of a forest fire. They based it on my brush score, which is a fire-related risk assessment the insurance company makes using an aerial photograph and looking at areas with the potential for wildfires. Then they draw a circle or line around the area. My building is between 1 and 2 miles from the closest tree, with irrigated pasture all around. They canceled me, and another insurance compa- ny decided they would insure me for six times more money for coverage worth about 50% of the previous one. Most of what we do is labor-intensive. California’s overtime law for agricultural workers has made it hard to pay irrigators and crop protection workers to work the necessary hours to keep the crops alive. Sometimes you can’t get that work done in an eight-hour day, and we cannot find extra labor to hire. We haven’t been able to keep margins up because we can’t raise our prices com- mensurate with the increased expenses. We’ve scaled way back. Our greenhouse facility used to be full year-round, growing various crops. We employed 100 people at one point. Now, we’ve shrunk back to just flowering crops mainly for Easter.
Greg France Santa Barbara County strawberry grower Everything is planted. We’re doing some weeding and pest control. Otherwise, we’re watching the strawberries grow and letting the rain fall on them. There’s an October or November planting, and the summer planting is usually in May or June. Then we harvest from mid-March and go all the way into December. We harvest strawberries twice a week for six or seven months. The crop we recently harvested had a short- er growing season because the planting was delayed by cold weather last year. Yields were down. Pricing was OK. We have seen an in- crease in costs across the board. Our margins have been tremendously squeezed, if there’s any margin at all. We’ve identified two main drivers of our cost increases. One is labor—not only the increase in
California’s minimum wage but also the Adverse Effect Wage Rate for the H-2A program. About 18% of our workers are from the H-2A program. We have used the program for several years. This past year was probably our best year being able to recruit workers domestically. There were more workers available than in other years. The other major driver of our increased costs was any product made from petroleum. We use drip tape, plastic that goes over our strawberries and fuel for our hauling trucks and tractors. Another challenge has been pest control. They keep reducing the number of materials we’re allowed to use. We can’t use methyl bro- mide anymore and that hurts. The fumigants we do have are not as effective. There are more pests and soil-borne diseases now. Every year, we lose probably 15% to 20% of our crop. As a farmer, we’re always hopeful. We’re hope- ful we can get a fair and honest price for our products and receive a decent margin this year.
Photo/Len Wood
4 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
Peter Ficklin Madera County vintner
We started on time in late August/early September, and then there was this lull. The weather held nicely, and everybody was waiting for that last bit of ripeness to occur. My concern at the time was that everything was going to ripen at once and we were going to get totally slammed. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but it was the latest harvest we’ve ever experienced in our history of making ports. It was a perfect storm of great quality for the 2023 crush. We finished crush- ing grapes two days before Thanksgiving. Typically, we finish in mid-October. We got some of the white Portuguese grape varieties that we use to make some of our white ports. The crops were big and of great quality. Even after Thanksgiving, I was getting calls from growers who had grapes that they had not been able to sell. I wish I could have taken more, but we don’t have the volume of tank space it would have required. After Thanksgiving and through Christmas, we were busy shipping wines across the country. Allied Grape Growers stated there’s an overabundance of some of the red wine varieties and that grapes need to come out, so I’m seeing some valley vineyards getting pruned. For the vineyards that haven’t yet been pruned, it may be that it is due to a shortage of labor or growers plan to take out those vines and replant. We are in good shape with the port varieties. We’re pleased to have a couple of growers willing to replant with some Portuguese varieties so that we’ll have additional tonnage. We are now getting the new wines racked, which means getting them clarified and in the barrel. We are doing a limited bottling of a rosé port for Valentine’s Day. We always talk about getting your loved one a dozen rosés. We are also getting the 2023 wines put to bed and getting our club wines ready for an April release.
Photo/Tomas Ovalle
February 7, 2024 Ag Alert 5
Transmission Continued from Page 1 the value of his property. “I’ll have about 6 to 7 acres worth of ground that will have to be taken by PG&E for the five or six steel poles and access roads that are proposed on my property,” Cataldo said. “To have steel poles right in the middle of our cherries and access roads everywhere…is going to create a huge hardship. We’re already struggling as farmers as it is.” Lodi farmer Dwight Busalacchi, who grows 20 acres of rare grape clones for specialty wineries, said his property is af- fected by a steel tower and a portion of the transmission line, which is near a 426-foot- deep well. “It would cost about $160,000 to relocate the well and probably another $50,000 to abandon it,” Busalacchi said, adding he es- timates it would cost half a million dollars to prepare his property for the line. “We’ll lose about $6,000 of yearly income from the grapes that have to be removed.” Karen Norene Mills, California Farm Bureau director of Legal Services, said pro- ponents of proposed transmission lines are frustrated about how long it takes for projects to be approved. She said this can lead to shortcuts in the outreach process by utilities that can undermine the com- munity’s ability to provide input. “There is tremendous pressure at the state and national levels to build out transmission lines, so it takes extensive pressure to overcome the preference to simply rubber
stamp the application of the utility, in this case, PG&E,” said Mills, who has been engaged on the issue on behalf of farmers since the project was first proposed in 2015. “The first opportunity to convey con- cerns about the project” is through the California Environmental Quality Act process overseen by the CPUC, Mills said. “If the process is fairly conducted, com- munity concerns can be addressed, yet still allow the project to move forward.” The Northern San Joaquin Transmission Project, formerly known as Northern San Joaquin Power Connect, would include almost 11 miles of new transmission lines, access roads, new and modified substa- tions and other upgrades. The purpose of the new 230-kilovolt transmission system is to address the San Joaquin County region’s reliability and ca- pacity issues identified by the California Independent System Operator. The CPUC is due to conduct an envi- ronmental review before deciding on the project. Addressing utilities commission repre- sentatives, farmers talked about impacts to their operations during the project construc- tion, which is expected to take several years. Dave Simpson said PG&E plans to use a portion of his property as a staging area as it builds what he described as “a major construction project.” “We have 28 acres of winegrapes that are going to be impacted by the construction of this project,” he said. “They want to use
a 20-foot dirt road between two vineyards, which is enough to turn a grape harvester, and they want to use that for I don’t know how long.” Simpson also argued that transmission lines should be put underground or that existing transmission corridors be im- proved instead. “There needs to be a better way,” he said. His wife, Sandy Simpson, said the proj- ect will decrease property values and neg- atively impact “the ambiance of the Lodi wine country that the city of Lodi and farmers have been trying to capitalize on to make this a viable destination, which it is becoming more and more.” With about 40% of the state’s premium grapes grown in Lodi, the viticultural area is touted as the “winegrape capital of the world.” Lodi growers produce more than $450 million in winegrapes annually, said Amy Blagg, executive director of the Lodi District Grape Growers Association. “A lot of families have been grape grow- ers for generations and have opened small wineries, so the aesthetics of having a transmission line through the property doesn’t really lend to that as well, so there’s a lot of concerns and questions about alter- natives,” Blagg said. The project is happening at a time when farmers are having to make hard decisions about their futures, Blagg said. “We have a lot of growers right now, just as markets change, looking at pulling out a vineyard and determining what alterna- tive crops they could grow,” she said. “The overhead lines limit their ability to plant alternative crops such as trees.” Jim Grady, who farms almost 50 acres of winegrapes in Lodi, said the transmission line bisecting his vineyard “will make ae- rial application of sulfur impossible.” After late-spring rains, Grady explained, farmers must aerially apply sulfur to mitigate mil- dew and mold. Katie Koepplin of Lodi said the project would affect two of her properties and cause her to lose a portion of a cherry
orchard. She and others who addressed the CPUC expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of outreach to the community during the process. “We were not informed of any of this happening until about three years ago, so we missed many of the beginning meet- ings, and we were not able to have any in- put because we were not aware of them,” Koepplin said. PG&E provided outreach to the com- munity at a workshop in 2019, but then “everything went quiet,” Blagg said. Last September, when many farmers were harvesting winegrapes, Blagg said, PG&E submitted its preferred route to the CPUC. Locals said they learned the project was revived after noticing a letter stapled to a telephone pole. Weeks after making phone calls, farmers received letters in- forming them of the proposed project. “There’s just so much wrong with the way this was handled,” Cataldo said. “I have a lot of questions that I need answers to.” Many shared concerns about the proj- ect’s impact on aesthetics and Lodi’s viti- cultural area, which attracts a few million visitors annually. Cataldo said he wonders whether he’ll be able to achieve his goal of adding a tasting room on his property in the coming years. “If you’ve got this beautiful vineyard and skyscape, and then all of a sudden there’s huge, industrial metal and concrete towers buzzing over our property,” he said, “that’s going to be a game changer.” The Public Utilities Commission may approve the project as proposed or make changes. The agency is expected to make a final decision in 2025. The project is planned to be operational by 2029. Public comments are due Feb. 9. To learn more, visit https://ia.cpuc. ca.gov/environment/info/ascent/NSJTP/ pdfs/CPUC_NSJTP_NOP.pdf. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
Wine leaders: ‘Anti-alcohol’ narrative causing slow sales
By Caleb Hampton Winemakers in the U.S. and abroad are struggling to sell their product, and leaders in the sector are increasingly focused on one culprit. “It’s the louder and louder anti-alco- hol messages from various corners, both domestically and internationally,” Danny Brager, a wine expert and consultant, said last month at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento. According to Shanken, a news orga- nization that collects data on wine, beer and spirits, 2023 was the third consecu- tive year of negative volume growth for U.S. wine sales, following more than a de- cade of flattening consumption. Some in the wine sector have traced the origin of
negative health messaging around wine to a 2018 study published by The Lancet, which found there was “no safe level” of alcohol consumption for avoiding long- term health consequences. Since then, groups including the World Health Organization have pro- moted public health messaging that warns against any level of alcohol con- sumption. According to a Gallup poll from last year, more than half of young adults were concerned that moderate drinking was unhealthy, up from 35% five years prior. Middle-aged adults also showed increased health concerns around alcohol consumption.
See WINE, Page 8
6 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
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found that consuming one drink per day slightly increased the risk of tubercu- losis and breast cancer, while it slight- ly decreased risk of diabetes and heart disease. The data for “all attributable causes” of mortality showed almost no discernable risk related to consuming one drink per day. In the study’s findings, the authors wrote, “The level of consumption that minimizes health loss due to alcohol use
is zero.” And they advised governments to revise public health policies to “lower population-level consumption.” For decades, wine enjoyed a reputation for having positive health benefits when consumed in moderation. Now, wine- makers and industry leaders fear they are losing the war around health messaging. “It is the No. 1 issue facing the wine busi- ness globally,” Fredricks said. “We’ve got to coordinate efforts against this anti-alcohol
force and this narrative.” Brager echoed that message. “It’s really critical that our industry fights back at an industry level effectively and with urgen- cy, ensuring that findings are transparent, they’re fair, unbiased and they’re based on sound science,” he said. Health concerns around alcohol have combined with demographic shifts, in- flation, cannabis legalization and other factors to create a challenging market for winemakers. The reduced demand and excess inven- tory impact California winegrape growers. In 2023, wineries placed smaller or- ders from vineyards and waited until later in the season to purchase grapes on the spot market, according to indus- try experts. As long as supply exceeds demand, “growers are going to see increased pres- sure on price, increased quality standards, all the while we’ve got to deal with de- creased margins from the last few years,” Fredricks said. To remedy the situation—and to combat the negative health narrative around alco- hol—winemakers are looking to market wine more successfully to younger con- sumers and are working to develop new products, including low-alcohol and non- alcoholic wines. Meanwhile, industry leaders have en- couraged growers to reduce the winegrape supply. “We have unwanted production that’s out there in the ground,” Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, said at the symposium. Bitter advised growers to tear out tens of thousands of acres of winegrapes state- wide. He estimated it would take three years of vineyard removals to achieve market balance. “The reality is that we’ve got declining demand,” Bitter said. “The wholesaler has got too much inventory and the retailer has too much inventory, so everything gets pushed back.” (Caleb Hampton is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at champton@cfbf.com.)
“Unfortunately, the science of wine and health is nuanced and complex and doesn’t fit the same sound bites as the anti-alcohol forces,” Steve Fredricks, president of Turrentine Brokerage, said at the symposium. Critics of the 2018 study—and of the public health response to it—argue that its authors overstated the risks associ- ated with moderate drinking. The study
Avoid Capital Gains Tax When Selling Your Real Estate
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Consider a charitable remainder trust (CRT) with City of Hope® if you would like to:
• Sell your property and bypass capital gains tax on the transfer. • Receive lifetime income for yourself and/or other beneficiaries. • Receive a charitable income tax deduction.
• Explore an alternative to a 1031 exchange. • Convert a nonincome producing property, such as a parcel of land or second home, into a lifetime income stream. • Have the peace of mind of no longer managing your property.
A CRT trust can be established with appreciated real estate, such as agricultural, residential, vacation, commercial and multifamily properties, and is an investment vehicle that is approved by the IRS.
EXAMPLE: CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST VS. OUTRIGHT SALE COMPARISON
OUTRIGHT SALE
CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST
Sales Price
$4,000,000 ($200,000) $3,800,000 ($983,970)* $2,816,030**
$4,000,000 ($200,000) $3,800,000
Sales Cost (5%) Net Proceeds
Estimated Capital Gains Tax
-
www.californiabountiful.com LOCAL STATIONS KOTR/My11 Salinas/Monterey Sat. 5 p.m. KSBY/6 Santa Barbara/ Sat. 6:30 p.m. San Luis Obispo KVPT/18 Fresno/Visalia Sun. 11:30 a.m. SATELLITE TV RFD-TV: Dish Ch. 231, DirecTV Ch. 345 Sun. 8 a.m.* A Farm Bureau Production
Sale Proceeds
$3,800,000
Charitable Income Tax Deduction
$1,225,480***
- -
Net Annual Income
$190,000****
*Estimated blended Federal/CA Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Rate of 33.93%. Estimated cost basis is $900,000 with an estimated capital gains tax of $983,970. **The estimated proceeds from the outright sale are net of the estimated $983,970 capital gains tax liability incurred by the outright sale. ***The charitable deduction is based on the appraised value at the time of the transfer into a CRT and may be used to offset tax liability in the year of the gift. Any unused portion can be carried forward for up to five years. ****Estimated first full year’s income, based on a fixed rate of 5% of the CRT’s annual fair market value The figures contained herein are for illustration purposes only and should not be considered legal, accounting or professional advice. Your actual benefits will vary depending on several factors, such as age, timing of gift and value of your property.
To learn more, contact Michael Rorman or another member of our team at 800-232-3314 or plannedgiving@coh.org . City of Hope’s expert Planned Giving team has helped many people create charitable trusts and generate significant tax savings and income benefits.
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8 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
Storms add concerns about pathogen threat to almonds
University of California researchers are warning almond growers to be on the look- out for a rare disease that can cause severe damage to their orchards. Phytophthora, soil-borne microorgan- isms described as “water molds” because of their dependence on water, can cause root and crown rot at the base of trees. The pathogens can also be carried through the air and attack upper branches. With heavy storms hitting California last week and more in the forecast this month, one species—phytophthora syringae— was drawing renewed attention. Last year, researchers said there was an unprecedented outbreak of the disease, fueled by the series of atmospheric river storm events that pounded California. According to a report this month from researchers at UC Davis and UC Riverside, the disease was discovered in Fresno County almond orchards last February and spread across the state by early summer. “It was found statewide, meaning in ev- ery almond-producing county, and dis- ease incidence in orchards ranged from 10% of the trees infected to 75%,” Florent Trouillas, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in fruit and nut pathology, said in a statement.
Trouillas, UC Riverside plant patholo- gy professor Jim Adaskaveg and UC Davis graduate student Alejandro Hernandez published findings from research tracking the spread of the pathogen. Their report said almond orchards with severe outbreaks had numerous trees with branch dieback and cankers with profuse gumming in the upper scaffold branches. Infections often started on lateral shoots and progressed into major limbs or scaf- fold branches, where the abundant gum- ming was produced. Although the disease does not kill the tree, it causes branch dieback that requires significant additional work and expense for almond growers. During last year’s outbreak, researchers observed phytophthora syringae, known to attack the cuts caused by pruning. Researchers reported it was directly in- fecting the young shoots on almond trees without any wounds. Outbreaks of the pathogen have been associated with wet El Niño years, said Trouillas, who warned that growers state- wide should be on high alert for additional breakouts following rainstorms. He said almond growers who prune during winter months should aim to do
Gold, amber and burgundy gum balls on almond trees may be the result of phytophthora syringae. The pathogen spread widely during 2023 storms, and researchers warn growers to be on alert.
so in 10- to 14-day periods of dry weather. “If growers were to prune around a rain event—before, during or shortly after— this increases the likelihood of infection because this pathogen moves around with water,” Trouillas said. Starting around bloom time in mid-Feb- ruary, he said, growers should monitor
pruning wounds and young shoots on their trees. Gum balls, ranging from gold and amber to dark burgundy to bright red, could indicate infection. Trouilla added, “There are many oth- er diseases that can cause gumming on the tree.” He urged growers to contact their local Cooperative Extension advi- sor for confirmation.
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February 7, 2024 Ag Alert 9
Quarantines Continued from Page 1 “It’s shocking the amount of fruits and vegetables and meats taken away from passengers going through customs,” said Michelle Thom, deputy agricultural com- missioner in Santa Clara County. “I’ve been there for just one day, and they had a mountain of fruit—and that’s just the stuff that they caught and took away.” With the recent spike in pest detections, Thom said she thinks there may be other factors such as shipments coming through the mail that are purposely misidentified to evade inspection. Last year, two women from San Jose were charged with illegally importing the tropical fruit langsat that was heavily infested with fruit flies. Historically, California pest quarantines have tended to occur more frequently in residential areas, and the current ones are no different. But the location and scope of the quarantine, type of pest, number of detections and time of year could impact farms and crops differently. In Northern California, many crops that can host fruit flies are not yet in season. Fruit flies do damage by laying eggs in the fruit. The emerging larvae then feed on the fruit, making it inedible. Thom said the Santa Clara County quar- antine is in an urban area centered around the city of Santa Clara, and larger growers “thankfully didn’t get caught.” Likewise, there are no commercial farms involved in the Sacramento County quarantine, said Kevin Martyn, the county’s deputy agricul- tural commissioner. For host crops inside the quarantine zone, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires growers to treat them through the entire life cycle of the pest, or 30 to 130 days depending on the time of year. The warm- er the weather, the faster the flies move through their life cycle. Growers outside the quarantine could choose to start treatments preemptively in case more flies are found and the quar- antine expands. Agricultural commission- ers in the affected counties said there have
At a farmers market in Thousand Oaks, which is at the center of a quarantine for the Queensland fruit fly, produce that can host the invasive pest must be covered with netting to prevent potential spread.
been few farmers who have opted to start pre-quarantine treatments. Bryan Gresser, who operates Santa Maria-based Central West Produce, a ber- ry grower, shipper and marketer, has been trying to work through impacts of the quar- antine in Ventura County, where he has strawberries and blueberries. On his strawberries, Gresser said he had started treatments before harvest, so he easily met the 30-day requirement and has been able to ship his crop to market. But the treatment duration had grown to more than 90 days by the time his blueber- ries were ready for picking. His only option now is to send the fruit to the freezer mar- ket—which pays 90 cents a pound com- pared to $9 a pound as fresh organic or $5 a pound as fresh conventional. He said he expects to lose more than $2.5 million in revenue and won’t be able to sell into the fresh market until sometime in March, missing the most
lucrative early season. “This is the best the market has been in a long time (for blueberries),” he said. Ventura County blueberry grower Josh Waters, who’s also in the quarantine zone, said he can’t afford to send his fruit to the freezer because of the high cost of hand picking his crop, which is about two months behind this year. That means he was able to treat early enough before he started picking, and he’s been allowed to send his crop to market. He said other affected growers have not been able to ship product and could po- tentially go bankrupt due to the quarantine protocols. He expressed concern for the unpicked fruit left in the field, which could attract more flies. “The last thing you want to do if you’re trying to eradicate something is have mil- lions of pounds of rotting berries on the ground,” Waters said. USDA has dedicated an additional $103.5 million to fund invasive fruit fly pro- grams in California and elsewhere. But that money is for eradication, management, operational and outreach efforts, not for quarantine-related crop loss, according to Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “CDFA will be working with the indus- try to help determine what resources may be available to growers in the quarantine areas,” he said. The quarantines have also affected ven- dors and shoppers at farmers markets. Erik Downs, deputy agricultural commissioner in Riverside County, said markets inside the quarantine can remain open if all host products are sourced from outside the quarantine and safeguarded while inside the quarantine zone. Karen Wetzel Schott, Ventura County Certified Farmers Market operations man- ager, runs two markets inside the quaran- tine. She said the quarantine protocols have been “less impactful than I expected,” noting that customers have been “surpris- ingly supportive.” The markets post signs explaining why some sellers have netting
covering their produce or entire booths. Markets in Northern California quaran- tines are no longer required to use netting. “We’re lucky that it’s kind of a limited season,” Wetzel Schott said. “We’re very grateful that (farmers) are still able to sell their products.” At 554 square miles, the Oriental fruit fly quarantine encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties represents one of the largest in state history, Downs said. The region has detected nearly 700 flies to date, though he said only 26 of those were found in Riverside County. The quarantine zone is largely residen- tial, but it’s also in what’s known as the “historic Green Belt area,” with some 200 confirmed commercial farms and nurs- eries, he said. The county’s four packing- houses all fall inside the quarantine, and “there are no available export markets for them currently,” he said. Impacted crops are largely citrus fruit at this point, with about 20% of the county’s citrus grown within the quarantine. In San Bernardino County, more than 2,100 acres are affected by the quaran- tine, with 2,000 of those acres in citrus, according to Sarah Mellor, the coun- ty’s deputy agricultural commissioner. Other impacted crops include avocados, persimmons, stone fruit and tomatoes. There are also six certified farmers mar- kets within the quarantine, and she said customers at those markets are experi- encing reduced options. Because California is known as the main bread basket for the United States, com- missioner Thom in Santa Clara County said quarantines protect the source of most of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. “That’s the reason why we have these quarantines and take these things so seri- ously—because it would affect growers all over the state if the entire state is put under quarantine,” she said. “That would be just a huge economic blow, and there would be ripple effects.” (Ching Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)
10 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
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High-tech developers and investors say they hope robotics will assist or replace labor-intensive tasks such as clipping strawberry runners and harvesting.
Automation remains elusive for strawberry farming By Caitlin Fillmore During the strawberry growth cycle, the plant expends unnecessary energy growing thin tendrils, called runners or stolons.
fewer can do it at the economics required for grower adoption,” he said. Brycen Ikeda manages 600 acres of strawberries across 10 different ranches in northern Santa Barbara and southern San Luis Obispo counties, producing 4 million packages for Santa Maria-based Central West Produce. Ikeda maintains a manual runner-cutting op- eration for his 180 acres of fall berries and 420 acres of summer berries. “(Runner cutting) is something that must happen early in the season. If you don’t keep up on it, it will really affect yields and hurt you all season,” Ikeda said. Ikeda’s team uses hand-held garden shears to individually cut every runner. Some of the varieties require up to seven passes. “Runners are the most tedious and labor-intensive task we have,” he said. While Ikeda does not currently use any automated tools for his strawberry crop, he said he has stayed informed about the machines on the market and would be interested in adopting them if they penciled out. Runner cutting costs about $1,800 per acre for Ikeda’s fall crop and rises to $5,000 per acre for summer plants. Labor costs for harvesting can reach $20,000 per acre, Ikeda said. “We pick year-round. Every week I am picking,” Ikeda said. “That’s why the emphasis is on the harvest side of labor. I don’t know if runner cutting is being underappreciated or neglected, but it’s definitely not getting the attention of developers.” While automated strawberry harvests have been slow to take hold, Duflock of Western Growers said investors may see opportunity in targeted robotics that can cut down on labor
Growers employ hand labor to clip the runners, keeping the plant in its fruiting phase instead of the reproductive phase. Cutting runners helps strawberry growers maintain a proper canopy for the plant and encourages more fruit. Yet runner cutting is often skipped because of the expensive labor it requires. Mojtaba Ahmadi, a senior production automation engineer at the California Strawberry Commission, said the time is ripe for developing an automated solution. But at the mo- ment, he said the technologies attracting the most attention don’t address all the straw- berry growth cycles needed to produce maximum labor savings. “We’re not connecting dots between automation investments across the life cycle of the plant,” said Ahmadi, who in 2020 began advocating for automated tools for runner cutting. To date, ongoing technological development to bring automated solutions into California strawberry fields has focused on autonomous vehicles that can use robotics in harvesting. Walt Duflock, senior vice president of innovation at Western Growers, said the strawber- ry producer Driscoll’s “sent a clear message” to investors in 2011 with its investment in a robotic harvester, Agrobot, a berry-picking prototype tested in a strawberry field in Davis. Overall, robots employed in California’s $2 billion strawberry industry remain few. Robotics to assist weeding, thinning, planting and harvest are gaining some traction, but fully automated harvesting remains “far away,” Duflock said. “So far, very few robots can pick with the accuracy of a human harvest crew, and even
See STRAWBERRIES, Page 13
12 Ag Alert February 7, 2024
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