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.
Cotton dilemma Prices spike but growers lack water
King of garlic Fresno celebrates its pungent vegetable
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Pages 13-15
www.cfbf.com • www.agalert.com MAY 18, 2022
Field Crops ® Vegetables ®
special reports
By Kevin Hecteman In recognition of the ongoing drought and weather extremes, the Sonoma County Farm Bureau took a deep dive into the world of water storage and regulation last week in search of ideas and solutions. Step one, for some people, was simply talking about it. “Agriculture here is so important to our community, our families, the stewards of the land, the generations,” dairy farmer Jennifer Beretta, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said in her opening remarks at the May 10-11 summit in Santa Rosa. “Without conversations about water, the future of those will not be here.” Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Department of Natural Resources, said California became the biggest farming state in the nation by building systems to capture and move water—systems that “worked re- ally well for upwards of a century.” “The way a lot of us put it is, we have 20th-century infrastructure for a 21st-cen- tury problem,” Crowfoot said, adding “our hydrology is getting less and less predict- able” amid changing climate and weather extremes. Warmer winters will mean more rainfall and less Sierra Nevada snowpack to be captured as snowmelt, he noted. “We have a big challenge on our hands, and that is we need to modernize our in- frastructure and our management to these new conditions,” Crowfoot said. A lack of water predictability is a con- cern for California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson, who addressed the sum- mit on its opening day May 10. “You’ll hear a lot of talk today about wa- ter security,” Johansson said. “You know how you have water security? When you have water predictability. And what are the ways that we can get water predictability? Storage. Groundwater recharge.” One Sonoma County grape grower is working to boost groundwater recharge, a hot topic of discussion at the summit. See WATER, Page 16 Water storage, recharge focus of Sonoma summit
State water officials say curtailments in water diversions are expected for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, shown here near Oakley in Contra Costa County. Curtailments are also in store for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds and the Russian River (see related story on Page 10).
Farmers across state face new water cuts
By Christine Souza With 60% of the state now in extreme drought conditions, state officials are warning water-right holders that they should expect more curtailments during peak irrigation season in June and July. In a statement last week, the state Division of Water Rights said “curtailments are expected to increase progressively through the spring and summer and con- tinue through the early fall until significant
precipitation occurs.” The warnings of curtailments could also include senior water-right holders. “Accordingly, water-right holders and claimants should plan for reduced sup- plies even if your water right or claim is not currently curtailed,” the Division of Water Rights said. Drought emergency curtailment regula- tions were issued last fall by the California State Water Resources Control Board for
certain watersheds in response to per- sistent dry conditions and spurred by a drought emergency declaration by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Curtailment orders adopted last year are effective for up to one year unless re- adopted. The state water board is now considering renewed curtailment orders to readopt—and extend—newly revised draft drought emergency regulations.
See CURTAILMENTS, Page 23
n e w s p a p e r
Comment.......................................2 Field Crops...................................7 Vegetables................................. 13 Classifieds........................... 21-23 Inside
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A creative approach can help Russian River, farmers
By Frost Pauli The Russian River, like most of California, is no stranger to low-water years. Now that 2022 is our third straight year of drought, necessity—as the saying goes—must be the mother of invention. With a reduced water supply, it has become obvious that there
off the experience to improve the applica- tion in future low-water years. As a farmer in Potter Valley and Ukiah Valley, I have looked at our water rights portfolio to determine how this water sharing program may be beneficial to our winegrape and pear operations over the summer months. Some locations have se- nior rights, some have junior rights, and some have access to alternative supplies such as recycled or irrigation district water. I envision the program could provide us with increased flexibility to perhaps transi- tion some water from our properties with senior rights to other locations that have more junior rights. There is language in the draft proposal that allows for this type of exchange, which may make the consid- eration of signing up more palatable for other farmers with similar situations. The State Water Resources Control Board continues to have the backstop to implement full curtailments on program participants if water supply levels drop beyond certain levels or if there are not enough water-sharing participants. The next step to move the water sharing program forward will be at the State Water Resources Control Board meeting on June 7, when the program will be discussed and hopefully approved by the board. I am hopeful that the water sharing program can be applied this year. It will be a learning curve for sure. But it is an important opportunity to demonstrate that a locally driven option to curtailment can be successful for managing limited water supplies. (Frost Pauli is a Mendocino County winegrape and pear grower and is chair of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau Water Committee. He may be contacted at fpauli@pauliranch.com.)
is the need for cre- ative, forward-look- ing solutions. On May 10, the California State Water Resources Control Board re- adopted an emer- gency regulation that stands to force 2,000 water-rights
Frost Pauli
The state adopted curtailments for the Russian River to protect water levels in Lake Mendocino, pictured in October. Farmers are seeking solutions to sustain the environment and agriculture.
holders to curtail water diversions for an- other year. (See related story on Page 10.) The emergency action is being used to make water available to senior diverters, minimum instream flows and minimum health and human safety needs. For farmers and ranchers in Mendocino County, the continuing drought means more sacrifices: fewer acres irrigated, herds reduced and farming output di- minished. Yet there are alternatives to across-the-board water curtailments. This is a sustainable solution we are working toward through the upper Russian River water-sharing program. In theory, the idea is simple. As an al- ternative to a full curtailment action being applied to a diverter, water-right holders in the upper watershed (north of Dry Creek in Sonoma County) can instead volun- tarily sign up to participate in the program to receive some lower percentage of their typical reported water use. This is a program we have been discuss- ing with the State Water Resources Control
Board in hopes of crafting an approach to apportion water to multiple uses while also sustaining our agricultural economy. There are complexities to resolve on what the participation levels in a volun- tary water-sharing program may be and what water supplies will ultimately be left to allocate. The supply question has most- ly been answered using models the State Water Resources Control Board staff has analyzed for the water year. A key unknown involves the water supply to be provided from the Potter Valley Project this summer if current diversion levels are further reduced. Reduced diversions into the East Fork Russian River equate to less flexibility to allocate an already limited supply in a voluntary program. As the draft program language has evolved, a key effort has centered on hon- oring the water rights priority system. In
calculating possible water allocation re- ductions for program participants, senior water-rights holders would see less of a reduction than more junior-rights holders. Because the upper Russian River has an extensive mix of water rights (pre-1914, ri- parian, appropriative, licensed underflow wells, project water, etc.) for agricultural and municipal uses, participation in the program would require a mix of senior and junior water-right holders. Senior rights holders would be reduced less, but their reduction is what allows water to be shared, in some percentage, with more junior right holders. The process of getting to the point of presenting a draft to the State Water Resources Control Board has taken months of work by a diverse group of stakeholders. Is it perfect? Probably not. However, if this program is successful in being implemented this year, we can build
VOL. 49, NO. 19
May 18, 2022
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2 Ag Alert May 18, 2022
Water shortage limits more cotton acres as price surges
year, as shoppers returned to stores and mills ramped up production, devouring cotton stocks. With a new crop on the horizon, Isom characterized the economic outlook for cotton as “cautiously optimistic.” If demand stays up and supplies remain short, he said, prices will hold strong. But he warned cotton prices are now at a point where merchants and mills are buying less and turning to synthet- ic fibers. The good news, he said, is the soaring oil market has increased the cost
of petroleum-based fibers such as poly- ester and rayon. For pima cotton at least, Isom said he thinks higher prices could hold through next season, though it will be “pretty tough” to sustain current pric- es. California still grows the majority of the world’s pima, and the slight bump in acreage this year won’t “make a big dent” in supply, he added. Other pro- ducers of extra-long staple cotton to watch include China, India and Pakistan
By Ching Lee Considering the red-hot price of cot- ton these days, California farmers say they would love to plant more of the field crop—if only they have the water. State cotton growers have increased plantings by a modest 10% more than last year, according to preliminary esti- mates by the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association. In its March prospective plantings report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated state cotton acreage at 142,000 this year, up more than 24%. “We should see wall-to-wall cotton out there, and it’s not,” said Roger Isom, asso- ciation president and CEO. The price of pima cotton, a higher-end type of cotton that dominates state pro- duction, has reached record levels at around $3.40 a pound compared $1.20 to $1.50 during the past two years, he not- ed. Upland cotton prices also remain at historic highs—rising to more than $1.20 a pound from the more-typical 75 to 85 cents in recent years. Given current prices, Isom said in- creased state acreage comes as no sur- prise. But he lamented another year of drought has limited the amount that got planted. Such was the case with Kern County farmer Matthew Cauzza, who for the past three years has had to leave one field unplanted due to lack of water. Because his family has been growing cotton since the 1930s, they’re set up to grow and harvest cotton, which he described as “a safer bet” because of its “consistent outcome” compared to other crops he’s grown. He pointed to cotton’s versatility, which allows him to rotate it in between vegetable crops such as tomatoes, onion and garlic. There’s also “nostalgia” about cotton, he said, recalling growing up in a region where “every field was just cotton.” “We want to hold on to that a little bit, as long as we can do it,” Cauzza said. “Water is the only thing that’s keeping us from growing more cotton.” California cotton acreage peaked at 1.4 million to 1.6 million during the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Today, with drought limiting water supplies to farms and more land transitioning to permanent crops such as tree nuts, cot- ton acreage has declined to about 10% of what it used to be. Because so few acres are being grown, Isom said there’s concern that low cot- ton volumes won’t be able to support the state’s remaining commercial cot- ton gins, which have dropped to about a handful. Also, growers who got out of growing cotton have sold their cot- ton-picking equipment, he noted. “If those go away, how do you pick your cotton and get it to the gin?” Isom said. “We’re definitely seeing that and are very
concerned on the infrastructure side of it.”
Besides water shortages, depressed cotton prices in recent years eroded grower interest in planting the crop. Demand for cotton plunged during the height of the pandemic, when textile mills shuttered and people were buying less apparel. The market roared back last
See COTTON, Page 17
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May 18, 2022 Ag Alert 3
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/Lori Eanes
Photo/Kevin Hecteman
Michael Vasey Tehama County prune and walnut grower
Charley Wolk San Diego County avocado grower
We assessed our (prune) crop and determined that we have a pretty good crop in spite of some of the frost events that happened earlier this spring. You could see a little bit (of frost damage), but it was not significant for us. There are others who are not as fortunate, but I don’t sense in the prunes that it was real widespread. But I don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the state. Almonds were in a more delicate situation. They got hurt worse, from what I hear locally. All of our prunes are in production. We decided we needed to do some thin- ning, so we thinned some of our orchards. After that, we’re doing some spring pruning in our prunes, getting some nitrogen out and getting irrigation going. Irrigation has been going for six weeks or so now. We’re also doing some weed control. With the walnuts, we’re starting to assess our crop. They’re all pollinated. It’s still early to fully assess the crop, but so far, it’s looking like we’ve got a decent crop of walnuts on the trees. They’re about the size of your pinky or index finger. I think we might have lost some in the wind, but no frost damage on the nuts themselves or on the trees. We’re doing nitrogen applications and irrigation. We had to do some blight sprays early this spring and also some sprays for scale. They’re not as much trouble as the prunes, it seems.
We’re having another challenge this year with the crop being smaller be- cause of the weather we had during the pollination last year. As a matter of fact, the (California Avocado) Commission just changed their estimate for the crop and reduced it. I believe, based on the ranches that I manage, we’ll run out of California fruit before we get to the end of the year. Down here in the south, in San Diego and Riverside counties, I think they’ll be finished before the end of June. All of the ranches I manage, I’m done—except for my own, because it keeps getting pushed off to do somebody else’s—but here we are in the middle of May, finished. My goal, in a normal year, is to be finished by the Fourth of July, which means I would be picking for another six weeks. And I’m finished. A number of properties I manage, we harvested noth- ing. I don’t mean it was a smaller harvest. I mean nothing, like in zero. We had the flower, but it didn’t get pollinated. The quality of the fruit was excellent. The size was small. Groves would peak on, if they were lucky, peak on 60s. A lot of them peaked on 70s. That’s two siz- es below size 48. Of course, the flip side of that is, the grower’s price per pound is up. But my old saying is, if the packinghouse is paying $5 a pound for your fruit, and you don’t have any fruit, you don’t make very much money at all. That’s where we are now.
Frank Fitzpatrick Orange County rancher
(Pasture) is dry. We’re in the middle of a drought. Things are hard. We’re running out of grass at every turn. We need more water, just like everybody else. I run about 700 head of cattle up in the Central Coast, and those are running out of feed, but they’re not out. I’ve been supplementing the cattle here in Orange County for about the last two months. They look great because I feed the hell out of them. But I’m getting $4 a pound live weight for my animals. If you can sell your meat at a premium price, you can afford to feed them. We have a current project right now with the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which (oversees) the toll roads in Orange County. We also have a program going with Double R Ranch, which is Orange County Rescue Mission. Basically, what we’re doing is holistic cattle grazing to modify fuel loads. We’re running cows like goats. The cows thrash down the brush. They put the brush into a soil stage, and you grow grass plants around the brush rather than having the brush shading out all the plants. We’re trying to get more projects. I was out filming a video this morning on holistic cat- tle grazing, and we’re going to ship the cattle to the councilmen in Irvine. We’re propos- ing a grazing project on Bommer Canyon right in downtown Irvine, 2,500 acres of a big park. I’ve also got another project started with Orange County Parks for 960 acres. A.G. Kawamura and I are trying to graze 170 acres in a great park that he’s going to farm part of. We’ve got a lot of other things going. We just don’t have anything done yet.
Photo/Rob Andrew
4 Ag Alert May 18, 2022
Joe Valente San Joaquin County winegrape and tree-crop farmer
We’ve had two patches of frost—one in the first part of April that did some damage to the area on winegrapes, and then little frost came through (the week of May 9), and it was minimal damage. It seems like everything’s been weather-related this year. As far as the crop size and the winegrapes, that’s really up in the air this year. A lot of what people are looking at is compliance with (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act), with the governor’s new executive order on drill- ing wells. The North San Joaquin Water Conservation District—which I’m a director of—we’re trying to work with San Joaquin County and come up with a solution for growers to be able to drill wells. Some of them already got stakes or trees and vines ordered and need to get a well in as soon as possible. So far, labor’s been OK. I think part of it’s contributed to not as much going on in the vineyards because of the frost damage. The other one is, the cherry crop seems to be down in size. Typically this time of year, everyone’s fighting for that la- bor. It’s been challenging for the growers but also challenging for the employees, because there’s not as much work available. With fertilizers, the cost is way up. It hasn’t been an issue getting the fertilizer; it’s just that when you get it and you look at the bill, it’s a shock. The pesticides, crop production products, the prices are high. It seems like the inventory’s start- ing to be a little bit more available, but again, the price of everything’s just ex- tremely expensive. Even tractor parts, there’s delays on it. Availability on any item that we’re dealing with in agriculture’s been a challenge.
Photo/Kevin Hecteman
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May 18, 2022 Ag Alert 5
State seeks to redirect food waste for livestock feed Californians dispose of some 6 million tons of food waste per year, with much of that organic material dumped into landfills across the state. stock feed. The tonnage tax for eligible human food byproducts is also reduced, the CDFA announced.
that seek to curb greenhouse gas emissions by diverting eligible food for animal feed. Food products that have been ground or processed with undesirable ingredients will not be recycled under the program, the CDFA said. In a news release, it said byproducts considered for recycling must retain nutritional value and be properly stored and handled. Examples of potentially eligible by- products are wet citrus pulp, tomato pomace, expired bakery products, wet
distillers grains, restaurant leftovers, and fruits and vegetables that don’t meet market expectations. Products not eligi- ble include yard and lawn clippings and material that is spoiled, moldy or other- wise contaminated. To assist companies with redirecting food byproducts and participating in the California livestock feed industry, new state regulations allow a reduced com- mercial feed license fee for firms diverting eligible human food byproducts to live-
For more information, visit the CDFA Commercial Feed Regulatory Program webpage at cdfa.ca.gov/ is/ffldrs/CommercialFeedReg.html and the Safe Animal Feed Education Program Human Food Waste Diversion site at cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/ SAFE_HumanFoodWasteDiversion.html.
Now a state effort seeks to redirect hu- man food byproducts to be processed into feed for a “healthy and nutritious diet for California livestock,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The CDFA Commercial Feed Regulatory Program has announced new regulations
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6 Ag Alert May 18, 2022
CALIFORNIA
Field Crops A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
®
Garrett Boudinot and Sophie Nasrallah of Cornell University sample soil amended with basalt rock dust in a corn field in Geneva, New York. The amendment may boost crop yields and capture carbon.
A common rock may be carbon solution for farming By Kathy Coatney
Some estimates suggest there is enough of the byproduct to cover the world’s agricultural land for several years, based on what’s already stockpiled, Boudinot said. “We find that with many of the crops we apply these amendments on, not only are we driving really high levels of carbon dioxide removal, but we’re also improving crop pro- ductivity,” Boudinot said. Aside from the calcium and magnesium that comes from the rocks, he said, there are lots of other plant macro- and micronutrients including potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, boron, iron and zinc. Bowles Farming Co. in Los Banos is participating in the trials. The diversified oper- ation grows extra-long staple cotton, alfalfa, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, herbs and nut crops. “We’re pretty involved in trialing all sorts of different things on the ranch, whether it’s regenerative ag practices, soil-health initiatives, biodiversity, even a native seed company,” said Derek Azevedo, executive vice president of Bowles Farming. He said the farm has a permitted compost site where it receives green waste from cities and make compost on the farm. Azevedo met with researcher Ben Houlton, who was then with UC Davis before mov- ing to Cornell University as a professor of ecology and biology. After an initial meeting
Research is being conducted on using pulverized basalt rock, which is high in calcium and magnesium, as a soil amendment to sequester carbon on farms. The studies are aimed at reducing carbon emissions and additionally improving soil health and crop yields. Carbon sequestering is a major component of the project, according to Garrett Boudinot, a research associate at the Atkinson Center for Sustainability at Cornell University. Boudinot is part of broad-based carbon studies involving multiple research entities, including the Working Lands Innovation Center at the University of California, Davis. In agricultural research, field tests using rock-dust applications to nourish soils are showing promise for capturing carbon and increasing yields for crops such as corn and alfalfa. Related studies, in California, New York, Illinois, Canada and Australia are testing the applications with soybeans, olive trees, sugarcane and hemp. “What this rock-dust amendment does is it converts the carbon dioxide into forms that aren’t going to turn back into carbon dioxide,” Boudinot said, adding the method would permanently remove the carbon dioxide. Basalt rocks are one of the most common rock types on the planet, Boudinot noted. “Basalt is present on every continent, so there’s lots of this to go around,” he said. “These basalts actually exist as already pulverized stockpiled reserves from byproducts of existing mining operations.”
See ROCK, Page 8
May 18, 2022 Ag Alert 7
Rock Continued from Page 7
Rock dust at Bowles Farming Co. in Los Banos, left, is being used in carbon sequestration tri- als for crops including corn and alfalfa. Below, Cornell University researchers inspect amended soil in a corn field in New York.
with Houlton, Azevedo was attracted to the project for two reasons. First, the project was reasonably low tech and would fit easily into modern ag- ricultural practices. “I don’t need any special equipment. I don’t need any special handling re- strictions,” Azevedo said. “The rock-dust amendment is similar to gypsum or potash or compost or chicken manure. All these other things that can be applied to the soil, worked in, and it’s not hazardous.” Second, the chemistry behind it looked to have a reasonably good probability for success, Azevedo said. The project started with 30 acres at Bowles Farming—a 15-acre block of corn and another 15-acre block of alfalfa. The row crop has been rotated with corn, then tomatoes, followed by winter cilan- tro, then back to tomatoes. This gives re- searchers an opportunity to measure the rock amendment on a wide range of crops, Azevedo explained. Houlton anticipated pretty significant carbon sequestration rates and 50% yield increases, Azevedo said. “If I got a 10% in- crease in yield, that’d be a big deal,” he said. Currently, it’s too early to tell on yield re- sults, Azevedo said. “One of the challenges with some of the crops like alfalfa is that it is a little bit difficult to measure yield, although they did see some increases. I
believe it was 15% or 20% increase in an alfalfa yield,” he said. The trials are also being conducted on permanent crops such as almonds and olives. “For some of them, we’re testing annual applications where we till it into the ground before planting. Some of them we’re testing where we maybe apply once every few years,” Boudinot said. With alfalfa, it may be applied once and then monitored to see how long the ben- efits last. With almonds, it’s applied a few times a year or annually.
Research is also being conducted on turf. “Turf is heavily managed and irri- gated, so they might aerate it, or in some cases, they even inject minerals into the subsurface for turf management on golf courses or parks,” Boudinot said. Boudinot is hopeful the rock amend- ment can reduce the need for nitrogen applications, and they’re finding the rock amendment may improve the retention of nitrogen fertilizer. Boudinot said researchers are also part- nering with some engineers to remove the toxic elements from industrial waste and develop ways to utilize useful elements such as magnesium and calcium. This is another waste byproduct that’s being pro- duced worldwide in enormous quantities, and with slight modification, it can be ap- plied to agriculture lands. “That’s something we’re developing, but it highlights that there are enormous opportunities to create or access amend- ments to drive this type of reaction,” Boudinot said. Rock amendments aren’t like incorpo- rating a synthetic fertilizer into the ground, where it’s taken up by the plants for the number of days, Azevedo said.
“Rock weathering is a slow process that just takes time, and soil temperatures factor into it. I think the chemistry is slow moving,” Azevedo said. “One of the cultur- al artifacts of farming is that some things just take time.” Overall, Azevedo said he is excited about the research. “I think every year that goes by is going to give us an answer to whether or not this is something that we can roll out in a larger scale,” he said. While costs will factor in, there is also the carbon sequestering component to consider, Azevedo continued. If growers see benefits to sequestering the carbon, the costs of the rock amendment could be offset. “It’s just too early to say, at a retail level, is it worth it or not. There’s just not enough data at this point,” Azevedo said. Bowles Farming supports the research, he said, because “we believe our consum- ers are expecting us and our partners to solve some of these bigger problems that are concerning to them.” (Kathy Coatney is a reporter in Bend, Oregon. She may be contacted at kacoatney@gmail.com.)
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8 Ag Alert May 18, 2022
Irrigation software to have data on cabbage, artichokes
UCCE irrigation farm advisor Michael Cahn has reported that carton yield of red cabbage was maximized with the 100% ET treatment. Cahn, who has written extensively on vegetable irrigation, reported that “total water applied to 100% ET treatment was 16 inches to carton harvest and 20 inches to bulk harvest. Yield and quality of cabbage can be optimized with drip irrigation.” He said the CropManage recommen- dations “optimized irrigation scheduling of red cabbage.” The bulk cabbage yield was also optimal at 100% of crop ET, according to UC stan- dards for cabbage. California growers harvest 15,000 acres of cabbage, most of it from fields in the southern areas of the Central Coast re- gion. The state also leads the nation in ar- The program offers four founding tracks: the Farm to School K-12 Procurement and Education Grant; the Farm to School Partnership Grant; the Farm to Early Care and Education Grant; and the Farm to School Producer Grant. To view the request for applications, access the online portal through which applications must be submitted. To regis- ter for informational webinars about each funding track, visit the program webpage
tichokes, with more than 7,000 acres con- centrated near the Castroville area. Artichoke irrigation standards were also evaluated by applying 50%, 75%, 100%, 125% and 150% of the water ET standard in two years of trials at Ocean Mist Farms and USDA fields. Yields were not significantly different the first year of the artichoke study, because rain near harvest time skewed the results, but the second year showed that 100% of crop ET led to the best crop. Researchers say the next step will be to evaluate CropManage recommendations in more commercial red cabbage and arti- choke fields before an updated CropManage model is released for public use. (Bob Johnson is a reporter in Monterey County. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.) at www.cdfa.ca.gov/caf2sgrant/. The California Budget Act of 2021 in- cluded a $60 million, one-time general fund allocation to sustain and expand the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, with $30 million allocated for fis- cal year 2021-22 and $30 million allocated for fiscal year 2022-23. For assistance and questions related to the Farm to School Incubator Grant Program process,emailcafarmtoschool@cdfa.ca.gov.
By Bob Johnson University of California Cooperative Extension researchers are adding cabbage and artichoke data to software that helps growers make more precise irrigation and fertilizer calculations. CropManage software allows growers, ranch managers or pest control advisors to register a field and enter information in the software on what was planted and when. They are also able to enter results of laboratory or field soil nitrogen tests. The program then adds soil information from the U.S. Geological Survey and weath- er details from the California Irrigation Management Information System. In addition, the program includes re- sults of University of California studies on how much water and nitrogen crops need at various stages of development. It offers recommendations on when and how much to irrigate and fertilize. More information may be found at cropmanage.ucanr.edu. CropManage was first developed for lettuce. It has since been expanded to also include broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, toma- toes, spinach, strawberries, raspberries, al- monds, walnuts, pistachios, alfalfa and corn. The process of adding cabbage and arti- chokes to that list follows trials conducted to confirm the reliability of UC standards
for how much water those crops use over the course of the season. This was done by applying 50%, 75%, 100%, 125% and 150% of the water evapo- transpiration standard in two years of red cabbage trials at Dole and U.S. Department of Agriculture fields in the Salinas area. Precise irrigation saves water and ener- gy needed to move it. It also reduces the amount of nitrogen leaching below the root zone. Irrigation is connected to nitro- gen management because microirrigation systems that predominate in Central Coast vegetables deliver seasonal nutrients through drip lines.
Applications open for incubator program California Department of Food and Agriculture is accepting applications for the 2022 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program.
The program will award competitive grants to support projects that cultivate eq- uity, nurture students, build climate resil- ience, and create scalable and sustainable change. Applicants may apply to multiple tracks based on eligibility and project type. The application deadline is 5 p.m. July 6.
May 18, 2022 Ag Alert 9
Board renews water curtailments for Russian River By Kevin Hecteman
The board’s next meetings are scheduled for May 24 and June 7, with the matter ex- pected to be discussed in the June session. “This program will give us some flexi- bility to try to allocate the limited resourc- es that are available to diverters who de- termine they want to participate in the program,” Boer said, noting the program has received substantial input from Farm Bureaus in Mendocino and Sonoma coun- ties, along with farmers in working groups. “We’re hopeful that we can move for- ward with that program and work with our membership to try it out,” Boer said. While there are still some unanswered questions, she added, “trying to get this program off the ground and using it as a template to move forward in future low-water years as an option to full-blanket curtailments will be beneficial.” Boer said the board considered con- cerns over how curtailments were handled last year. “Last year, there were declara- tions made they would make curtailments based on ‘unreasonable use,’” Boer said. “There were frustrations with that in terms of how that was applied.” This year, she said, the board modified its language. “They did this year take into consid- eration the water-rights priority system, which is very important to the water-right
H elle Farm Equipment, Inc. 1 4155 Route 136, Dyersville, IA 52040 h ttps://www.hellefarmequipment.com 5 55-555-5555 As of May 12, Lake Mendocino held 39% of its capacity and 58% of its historical av- erage, according to Department of Water Resources data. Lake Sonoma stood at 37% of capacity and 60% of average for the date. Pauli expects the effects on various Mendocino County crops to be varied. The winegrape crop is likely to be smaller, but “at least with winegrapes, we can get our crop ripe and get it harvested,” he noted. The voluntary process means “everyone stands to gain a little bit,” Pauli said. (See his commentary on Page 2.) “No one’s saying we don’t need the cur- tailments, or that there’s no drought,” Pauli said. “Everyone recognizes that there’s only so much water to go around. But the idea with the voluntary program is that if we can alleviate some of the hurt for folks vs. across-the-board 100% curtailments like we saw last year, then it would be to everyone’s benefit.” holders within the system,” Boer added. Frost Pauli, a Potter Valley winegrape and pear grower, said April rains were a help but will only postpone the inevitable: “We’re not kidding ourselves. We still fully expect curtailments at some point.” Pauli said the curtailments mean no wa- ter for junior or senior water-rights hold- ers. “The whole point of the voluntary cur- tailment process that we’ve been working on for the last few months,” he said, “is to try to deflect some of those curtailments so that it’s easier to stomach.”
Other crops may not be as fortunate. “For pear farmers, the curtailments could really be a hit because the pears, more so than grapes, without water cannot reach maturity,” Pauli said. “You can’t get a viable crop without good water all summer long, especially with the heat spikes that we’ve been seeing in these recent sum- mers. The pears simply stop growing and never get to full maturity to be harvested.” Ranchers with irrigated pasture have been hurting on account of dry spring weather, Pauli said, although April rains gave them a boost. Ranchers making con- tingency plans for their herds are likely to stick to them, he added. “I think most folks who were downsizing their herds, buying feed and the like are still moving forward with that plan despite the little bit of rain,” Pauli said. Pauli, who farms upstream and down- stream from Lake Mendocino, thinks the issue goes beyond mere lack of rainfall. “I think the frustrating thing for a lot of us is we have this incredible manmade wa- ter system that benefits an entire region in five counties, and we can’t fully use it because of manmade problems,” he said. “The drought, obviously, is a huge prob- lem, but it would be alleviated greatly if we were able to use the infrastructure that we have to its full benefit.” (Kevin Hecteman is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
Farmers with water rights along the Russian River in Mendocino and Sonoma counties may be subject to further cur- tailments of water diversions after the California State Water Resources Control Board readopted emergency actions from last year. This time, however, the way curtail- ments are administered may be changing, with a voluntary process replacing the one- size-fits-all approach of 2021. Under the regulation adopted at the board’s May 10 meeting, curtailment or- ders would be issued based on water sup- ply or when insufficient flows endanger fish in the lower Russian River watershed, the board said in a statement. About 2,000 water-rights holders are ex- pected to receive curtailment orders, ac- cording to the water board, although some holders won’t be directed to curtail diver- sions until later in the summer. Water-rights holders who may need to curtail diversions can get updates by going to waterboards. ca.gov/drought/russian_river/ and clicking on “Check Your Curtailment Status.” Devon Boer, executive director of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau, said the voluntary system still needs to be adopted.
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