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WEST COAST NUT<br />
SPECIAL SECTION:<br />
WHAT TO DO IN A<br />
NO-RAIN NOVEMBER<br />
SEE PAGE 32<br />
Your<br />
Connection to the Tree Nut Industry<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>2021</strong> ISSUE<br />
IN THIS ISSUE:<br />
PRECISION YIELD MONITORING<br />
SEE PAGE 6<br />
DORMANCY: WHAT YOUR<br />
TREES DO IN THE WINTER<br />
SEE PAGE 46<br />
BRIDGING THE AG TECH DIVIDE<br />
SEE PAGE 76<br />
PUBLICATION<br />
Photo by T. Chalstrom
Publisher: Jason Scott<br />
Email: jason@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
Editor: Marni Katz<br />
Email: marni@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
Associate Editor: Cecilia Parsons<br />
Email: cecilia@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
Production: design@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
Tel: 559.352.4456<br />
Fax: 559.472.3113<br />
Web: www.wcngg.com<br />
Contributing Writers & Industry Support<br />
Almond Board of California<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
American Pecan Council<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Vicky Boyd<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Ellen M. Bruno<br />
Asst. Cooperative Extension<br />
Specialist, Department of<br />
Agricultural and Resource<br />
Economics, UC Berkeley<br />
Danita Cahill<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
California Walnut Board<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Taylor Chalstrom<br />
Assistant Editor<br />
Brittney Goodrich<br />
Asst. Cooperative Extension<br />
Specialist, Department of<br />
Agricultural and Resource<br />
Economics, UC Davis<br />
UC Cooperative Extension Advisory Board<br />
Surendra K. Dara<br />
UCCE Entomology and<br />
Biologicals Advisor, San Luis<br />
Obispo and Santa Barbara<br />
Counties<br />
Kevin Day<br />
County Director/UCCE<br />
Pomology Farm Advisor,<br />
Tulare/Kings Counties<br />
Elizabeth Fichtner<br />
UCCE Farm Advisor,<br />
Tulare County<br />
Katherine Jarvis-Shean<br />
UCCE Area Orchard Systems<br />
Advisor, Yolo and Solano<br />
Seth Hansen<br />
CCA, Contributing Writer<br />
Julie R. Johnson<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Theresa Kiehn<br />
President and CEO, AgSafe<br />
Rich Kreps<br />
CCA, SSp., Contributing Writer<br />
Mitch Lies<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Michelle Rodriguez<br />
Safety/Food Safety Specialist,<br />
Western Agricultural<br />
Processors Association<br />
Richard J. Sexton<br />
Distinguished Professor,<br />
Department of Agricultural<br />
and Resource Economics,<br />
UC Davis<br />
Steven Koike<br />
Tri-Cal Diagnostics<br />
Jhalendra Rijal<br />
UCCE Integrated Pest<br />
Management Advisor,<br />
Stanislaus County<br />
Kris Tollerup<br />
UCCE Integrated Pest<br />
Management Advisor,<br />
Parlier<br />
Mohammad Yaghmour<br />
UCCE Area Orchard Systems<br />
Advisor, Kern County<br />
View our ePublication on the web at www.wcngg.com<br />
The articles, research, industry updates, company profiles, and advertisements<br />
in this publication are the professional opinions of writers and advertisers.<br />
West Coast Nut does not assume any responsibility for the opinions given in<br />
the publication.<br />
By the Industry, For the Industry<br />
IN THIS ISSUE<br />
6 New Off-Ground Harvest Research Incorporates Precision Yield<br />
Monitoring for Improved Orchard Management<br />
12 Five Things That Worked for Pest Control in <strong>2021</strong> — and a Few<br />
Things That Didn’t<br />
16 California Walnuts’ First-Ever National Snacking Retail Campaign<br />
18 Pacific Flatheaded Borer Emerges as Significant Pest of Walnuts,<br />
Hazelnuts<br />
22 New Kids on the Block: Almond Breeders Continue Focus on Self-<br />
Fertile Releases<br />
28 Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Protections Edging Toward Permanent<br />
Standard<br />
Special Section: No-Rain <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
32 Prevent Water Stress in the Central Valley and Set Trees Up for<br />
Bearing Next Year’s Crop<br />
36 Enhancing Winter Chill in Tree Nut Crops<br />
38 Northstate Nut Growers Consider the Hard Decisions if Drought<br />
Continues<br />
42 <strong>2021</strong> Recap Report of APC’s Marketing in the Health Professional<br />
Sphere<br />
46 Dormancy – What Your Trees Do in the Winter<br />
50 Personal Fall Arrest Systems in Nut Hulling/Processing Facilities<br />
54 The Outlook for California’s Almond Market<br />
58 IPM’s Role in Crop Quality<br />
62 Understanding How Nitrogen is Utilized Improves Nitrogen-Use<br />
Efficiency for Almond Growers<br />
68 Monitoring and Controlling Leafrollers in Hazelnuts<br />
70 The Practical Wisdom of Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices<br />
76 Bridging the Ag Tech Divide<br />
SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE: Precision Yield Monitoring<br />
New off-ground harvest research incorporates precision yield monitoring for improved orchard<br />
management.<br />
See page 6<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 3
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4 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 5
New Off-Ground Harvest Research<br />
Incorporates Precision Yield Monitoring<br />
for Improved Orchard Management<br />
By TAYLOR CHALSTROM | Assistant Editor<br />
New research uses off-ground harvesters as a “method” to measure individual tree yields across an orchard (all photos by T. Chalstrom.)<br />
Off-ground harvest is continuing to advance as a<br />
viable method for harvesting almonds in California,<br />
and a new UC Davis research project is using precision<br />
agriculture technologies to further capitalize on its benefits.<br />
The project, which includes researchers with UC Davis<br />
and USDA-ARS, and in partnership with Erick Nielsen<br />
Enterprises, Inc., was envisioned by UC Davis Plant Sciences<br />
Professor Patrick Brown. It uses the off-ground harvester<br />
as a “method” to measure individual trees’ yields across an<br />
orchard, according to UC Davis Professional Researcher and<br />
project collaborator Sat Darshan S. Khalsa. The purpose of<br />
measuring individual trees instead of taking an average of<br />
an orchard block, Khalsa said, is to highlight variabilities in<br />
their orchards.<br />
Making growers aware of variabilities will assist them<br />
in making more precise management decisions throughout<br />
their orchards.<br />
“If growers are still only looking at the average yields<br />
across blocks and managing those blocks as average units,<br />
it’s really hard to start talking about more precision agriculture,”<br />
Khalsa said.<br />
Precision Yield Monitoring<br />
A UC Davis team led by Stavros G. Vougioukas, professor<br />
in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,<br />
designed a weighing bin to precisely measure the yield<br />
coming off of each tree. As nuts are shaken from trees and<br />
collected in the harvester, they move along a conveyor belt<br />
and are captured in the weighing bin. The bin then commu-<br />
6 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
What we wanted to know<br />
is, ‘What is the wide range<br />
of variability of trees in the<br />
orchard and how are those trees<br />
differing in yield, but what are<br />
the drivers of those differences?<br />
– Sat Darshan S. Khalsa, UC Davis<br />
"<br />
The weighing bin, engineered by Development Engineer Dennis<br />
Sadowski, attaches to the side of the Erick Nielson Enterprises<br />
off-ground harvester and measures the yield of each individual tree<br />
after nuts are dropped.<br />
nicates to the driver when to drop the nuts in the windrow.<br />
The weighing bin itself, engineered by Development<br />
Engineer Dennis Sadowski, attaches to the side of the Erick<br />
Nielson Enterprises off-ground harvester. Post-doctoral Researcher<br />
Chen Peng designed the yield monitoring software<br />
as well as a GPS software that maps the yield of individual<br />
trees in the orchard. The GPS mapping allows growers to see<br />
how much specific trees in an orchard block are producing,<br />
Continued on Page 8<br />
The project is also looking at water management data on trees in<br />
blocks as it pertains to stress levels.<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 7
The project uses remote sensing technology that will assist with predicting yield earlier in the season so that growers can know how to adaptively<br />
manage their water and nutrients.<br />
Continued from Page 7<br />
which can be helpful for diagnosing<br />
water and/or nutrition issues more<br />
accurately within blocks.<br />
“What we wanted to know is, ‘What<br />
is the wide range of variability of trees<br />
in the orchard and how are those trees<br />
differing in yield, but what are the drivers<br />
of those differences?’” said Khalsa.<br />
“So what we did is we used satellite<br />
imagery to show the vegetative index of<br />
the existing orchards we were working<br />
in, and then randomly selected trees of<br />
all ranges of productivity and identified<br />
them as our data trees. Within those<br />
data trees, we’re then starting to take<br />
more intensive measurements around<br />
carbohydrate status, water status and<br />
nutrient status as well as counts on<br />
flowers and fruit set to understand<br />
what those yield drivers are.”<br />
The weighing bin is still in the<br />
first version of development, and the<br />
research collaborators have plans for<br />
improvement. Khalsa said the project<br />
is primarily focused on improving<br />
the efficiency of the weighing steps so<br />
that weight can be taken in real time<br />
instead of after all the nuts have passed<br />
through the bin.<br />
“That will allow the shaking to double<br />
in speed, and right now, we’re not<br />
quite there,” he said.<br />
Additionally, the current iteration<br />
of the weighing bin requires additional<br />
labor during harvest due to how the bin<br />
piles up nuts in windrows, but Khalsa<br />
said this is only temporary.<br />
“It hasn’t quite been designed in such<br />
a way with commercial machinery to<br />
Continued on Page 10<br />
8 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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Continued from Page 8<br />
optimize all operations of the harvest,”<br />
he said. “Certainly, what we want to see<br />
in the future is the ability to weigh the<br />
nuts and have some sort of broadcasting<br />
of those nuts gently onto the field so<br />
that they’re not building up in piles. So<br />
what our team was doing as a courtesy<br />
to the grower is we were following<br />
behind the harvester and raking those<br />
nuts out so that they dry effectively,<br />
but that’s not a practice we would ever<br />
propose for this type of work.”<br />
Khalsa said the project is looking<br />
for additional industry collaborators to<br />
help design different types of weighing<br />
bins for different types of harvesters,<br />
keeping in mind the goal of the operation<br />
which is to get the nuts in a windrow<br />
where they can dry and be picked<br />
up effectively. This process eliminates<br />
sweeping and marries with one of the<br />
Almond Board’s 2025 harvest goals of<br />
INFO@RST-CLEANTECH.COM<br />
"That’s ultimately what the growers<br />
are looking for. They see parts of their<br />
plots that are getting much higher<br />
yields than others and they want<br />
everything to reach whatever the<br />
maximum potential is in that area."<br />
– Andrew McElrone, USDA-ARS<br />
reducing harvest dust levels.<br />
"<br />
Remote Sensing and<br />
Satellite Imagery<br />
Another important goal of the project<br />
is yield prediction, which requires<br />
the ground-truthing data from the<br />
precision off-ground harvester for algorithm<br />
training and validation purpose.<br />
While the research project involves<br />
measuring yield indicators of individual<br />
trees to predict yield earlier in the<br />
season, this method is not feasible for<br />
the grower. Khalsa said that the project<br />
is using AI/machine learning technology<br />
paired with aerial imagery to get a<br />
bigger picture and make things easier.<br />
The remote sensing technology will<br />
assist with predicting yield earlier in<br />
the season so that growers can know<br />
how to adaptively manage their water<br />
and nutrients, Khalsa said. Additionally,<br />
ground-based sensor networks,<br />
much like those already being used by<br />
growers to measure soil water and tree<br />
water status, are being used in tandem<br />
with aerial remote sensing and tractor<br />
mounted imaging to further enhance<br />
the management scope. These groundbased<br />
sensor networks and tractor<br />
mounted imaging are currently being<br />
researched by UC Davis professors<br />
Isaya Kisekka and Mason Earles. Yufang<br />
Jin, professor in the Department<br />
of Air, Land and Water Resources at<br />
UC Davis, is heading the aerial remote<br />
sensing and yield prediction aspects of<br />
the project.<br />
Jin said that the remote sensing<br />
looks at bloom dynamics early in the<br />
season, including flower intensity and<br />
bloom timing overlap between rows,<br />
along with other phenological and<br />
physiological traits like canopy biomass<br />
and water stress. “We can monitor<br />
from space when the flowers start to<br />
come out and then track day-to-day dynamics<br />
as well as quantify intensity of<br />
10 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
peak bloom,” she said. “We can ingest<br />
all of that information into a final yield<br />
prediction statistical model.”<br />
Using this model, the researchers<br />
will be able to relate the yields in<br />
the weighing bin during off-ground<br />
harvesting to yield drivers within the<br />
orchard, with the hope of influencing<br />
growers to make more tailored management<br />
decisions.<br />
Water Management<br />
The project is also looking at water<br />
management data on trees in blocks as<br />
it pertains to stress levels. Similar to<br />
the yield prediction data, these data are<br />
compared with the precise yield measurements<br />
from the off-ground harvester<br />
to determine a more homogenized<br />
management pattern for the orchard.<br />
Also similar to the yield prediction data,<br />
the water management data is captured<br />
through remote sensing tools.<br />
Andrew McElrone, a research plant<br />
physiologist with USDA-ARS and adjunct<br />
faculty at UC Davis, said that water<br />
use is measured on the ground with<br />
lots of sensors, including a flux tower,<br />
which is used to ground truth remotely<br />
sensed measurements of water use. The<br />
remote sensing tools can be used to map<br />
the heterogeneity of a block, according<br />
to McElrone.<br />
“That’s ultimately what the growers<br />
are looking for,” he said. “They see parts<br />
of their plots that are getting much<br />
higher yields than others and they want<br />
everything to reach whatever the maximum<br />
potential is in that area. They’re<br />
trying to maximize uniformity because<br />
it helps improve harvest time as well.”<br />
Additionally, remote sensing makes<br />
it easier in general to survey the orchard.<br />
“What the remote sensing can do is<br />
allow you to cover a lot more acreage<br />
more rapidly without having to send<br />
armies of people into the field to do intensive<br />
measurements,” he said, noting<br />
that the cost is coming down for these<br />
tools as well.<br />
Remote sensing tools for estimating<br />
evapotranspiration will soon be more<br />
widely available through OpenET, a<br />
web application powered by Google<br />
Earth Engine that uses cutting edge<br />
models and publicly available satellite<br />
and weather station data to estimate<br />
field-level water consumption at<br />
potentially daily, monthly and yearly<br />
intervals.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 11
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in similar<br />
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Five Things That Worked for Pest<br />
Control in <strong>2021</strong> — and a Few Things<br />
That Didn’t<br />
By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor<br />
PCA Justin Nay said there really is no substitute for good orchard sanitation<br />
as it puts growers ahead of the pest numbers at the beginning<br />
of the growing season (all photos by Marni Katz.)<br />
PCAs interviewed at the <strong>2021</strong> Crop Consultant<br />
Conference and in the field emphasized nutrition,<br />
sanitation, tracking degree days and mating disruption<br />
as their major tools to keep crop damage low in tree<br />
nut crops this year.<br />
No surprise that navel orangeworm (NOW) and mite<br />
control were their two biggest challenges throughout<br />
a hot and dry summer, but they all had strategies that<br />
worked as well as some that worked less effectively.<br />
What Worked<br />
Their five most successful strategies for pest control in<br />
<strong>2021</strong> were:<br />
1. Sticking with a Plan<br />
“We had a good pest control plan,” said David Vieira,<br />
PCA for Gar Bennett who works in Tulare, Kings<br />
and Kern counties. “We took care of the things we can<br />
control.”<br />
Vieira said he kept track of degree days and pest<br />
thresholds throughout the growing season and that that<br />
maximized insecticide spray coverage. Using degree days<br />
to track NOW flights resulted in a return on investment<br />
in chemical control.<br />
There was nothing really different in insect pest control<br />
in tree nuts this year, Vieira said at the Crop Consultant<br />
Conference in September. Paying attention to trap<br />
counts and counting degree days helped keep the NOW<br />
Continued on Page 14<br />
David Vieira, PCA for Gar Bennett, said tracking degree days and pest<br />
thresholds kept the pest management plan on track.<br />
Making a plan and sticking to it, despite market fluctuations, is one<br />
key to successful pest management.<br />
12 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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Continued from Page 12<br />
populations suppressed in his orchards,<br />
which is key to preventing crop damage.<br />
“You can’t miss a step with permanent<br />
crops and you can’t stop farming<br />
when prices are low; you have to keep<br />
production,” Vieira said.<br />
2. Winter Sanitation<br />
“Obviously, sanitation is very important,”<br />
said Justin Nay, PCA with Integral<br />
Ag. “We really stuck to our guns<br />
with the growers, and after a dry winter<br />
and money spent on orchard sanitation,<br />
we saw the results.”<br />
Nay said there really is no substitute<br />
for good orchard sanitation as it puts<br />
them ahead of the pest numbers at<br />
the beginning of the growing season.<br />
Lower numbers of NOW in the orchard<br />
allow sprays to be more effective in<br />
controlling this pest.<br />
3. Watching Nutrition<br />
PCA Jim Pingrey said after shifting<br />
his attention to tree nutrition, he has<br />
been able to reduce chemical application<br />
for pest control.<br />
Pingrey, with Colusa County Farm<br />
Supply, said his sap analysis study<br />
over the last three years led him to<br />
fine-tune his orchard nutrition plans,<br />
aiming to balance tree needs. After<br />
recognizing that high chloride levels<br />
were triggering early mite pressure, he<br />
set about to correct that with calcium<br />
injection. By lowering the chloride<br />
levels, he was able to skip a mite spray<br />
and, as an added bonus, lowered Alternaria<br />
levels and hull rot infections in<br />
his orchards.<br />
“You can’t miss<br />
a step with<br />
permanent<br />
crops and you<br />
can’t stop<br />
farming when<br />
prices are low;<br />
you have to<br />
keep production.”<br />
–David Vieira, PCA,<br />
Gar Bennett<br />
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4. Mating Disruption<br />
Earlier NOW flights could have led<br />
to more generations over the season<br />
and more crop damage, but PCA Robert<br />
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disruption puffers in east side orchards<br />
worked well this year to reduce populations.<br />
Yes, he said there was lower<br />
NOW pressure on the east side, but in<br />
those pistachio orchards, he was able<br />
to get by with only a hull split spray.<br />
As for mites, he said pressure in his<br />
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he did not wait until July and instead<br />
sprayed with a less expensive product<br />
in May and achieved good control.<br />
5. Monitoring and<br />
Treatment Thresholds<br />
Good navel orangeworm control in<br />
almonds and pistachios can strain a<br />
management budget, said independent<br />
PCA Fred Strauss, but using traps and<br />
checking for thresholds can save some<br />
money. Traps are a good indicator of<br />
NOW pressure, Nay said, and they can<br />
14 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
mitigate a less-than-optimal sanitation<br />
program.<br />
What Didn’t Work<br />
1. Cutting Corners<br />
Not following the pest management<br />
plan developed by your PCA.<br />
Sometimes, growers need to trim their<br />
budget in a low-price year, but Strauss<br />
said it is frustrating when the grower<br />
isn’t following the plan. With permanent<br />
nut crops, pest control can’t be left<br />
behind due to low markets. Following<br />
the protocol for each season pays off<br />
in crop quality and yields. Getting the<br />
timing right for a spray application<br />
to prevent NOW populations from<br />
spiking at harvest is an important step,<br />
he said.<br />
2. Supply Chain<br />
“This was a tough hurdle this year,”<br />
Vieira said. Shipping delays of products<br />
and higher prices for plastics and<br />
pallets cost growers time.<br />
“Growers paid the price of not having<br />
the products they needed for their<br />
orchards.”<br />
3. Saving a Spray<br />
Taking a chance and skipping an<br />
insecticide spray without other mitigation<br />
measures can save money, Strauss<br />
said, but it also can cost in the form of<br />
crop quality. When it comes to husk<br />
fly in walnuts, he said it is important<br />
to identify location of the infestation<br />
and be sure to treat that area the next<br />
season to avoid crop damage.<br />
4. Spraying out NOW<br />
Relying exclusively on insecticides<br />
to control NOW is not an effective<br />
method of control, Nay said. Late<br />
damage and late harvest equaled more<br />
NOW infested nuts. Relying on insecticide<br />
sprays to reduce NOW populations<br />
in the orchard will not achieve a cleaner<br />
crop, he said.<br />
With earlier NOW flights, good control<br />
can’t be achieved and other control<br />
tools can’t be optimized. Not one single<br />
control method works for NOW, all<br />
PCAs interviewed said. The foundation<br />
is orchard sanitation, along with<br />
mating disruption, insecticide sprays,<br />
monitoring and traps that can all play<br />
a part in pest management. Integrating<br />
biological controls and understanding<br />
integrated pest management protocols<br />
can also increase efficacy of pest management<br />
plans.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 15
A WORD FROM THE BOARD: THE CALIFORNIA WALNUT BOARD<br />
CALIFORNIA WALNUTS’ FIRST-EVER NATIONAL<br />
SNACKING RETAIL CAMPAIGN DRIVES SUCCESS<br />
WITH AWARENESS AND SALES<br />
By CALIFORNIA WALNUT BOARD | Contributing Writer<br />
In an ongoing effort to change the<br />
way consumers think about walnuts,<br />
the California Walnut Board conducted<br />
its largest snacking campaign in May<br />
through August to encourage additional<br />
consumption of walnuts through snacking.<br />
The campaign found success with<br />
both consumer media coverage and a<br />
first-ever snacking-focused in-store retail<br />
program in July, resulting in strong<br />
year-over-year sales growth of walnuts<br />
for participating retailers. In online<br />
content, TV segments, advertising and<br />
promotions, consumers saw messaging<br />
about “Raising Your Nutrition IQ with<br />
California Walnuts” showing nutritious<br />
and tasty snack ideas, which drove<br />
awareness and product sales.<br />
The decision to run a campaign focused<br />
solely on snacking came directly<br />
from market research that showed continued<br />
growth in snacking as the top<br />
use of walnuts. California Walnuts also<br />
conducted a survey to assess current<br />
snacking trends going into the campaign<br />
period. Among other findings,<br />
the survey concluded that more Americans<br />
are looking to eat healthier snacks<br />
than last year, and 22% of snackers<br />
(approximately 53 million people) are<br />
looking for snacks that promote cognitive<br />
health.<br />
“The Board’s market research<br />
provided valuable insights to inform<br />
development of a strategic campaign to<br />
reach consumers with a new message<br />
to drive increased walnut consumption<br />
during a time of year when walnuts<br />
are not typically top-of-mind,” said<br />
Jennifer Olmstead, senior director of<br />
U.S. marketing and communications<br />
Retailers were pleased with walnut snacking campaign results (photo courtesy CWMB.)<br />
for the California Walnut Board. “We<br />
presented the opportunity to retailers<br />
and were pleased with the interest for<br />
this inaugural campaign.”<br />
Twenty-six retailers operating 7,400<br />
stores participated in the campaign,<br />
displaying walnuts and promotional<br />
signage. In select retailers, California<br />
Walnuts paired with the U.S. Highbush<br />
Blueberry Council or Bard Valley Natural<br />
Delights Dates for in-store promotions<br />
and recipe highlights.<br />
The snacking campaign also included<br />
regional TV station segments and<br />
Facebook Live recipe demonstrations<br />
hosted by the supermarket dietitians.<br />
Throughout the summer, media<br />
outreach led to 460 news articles and<br />
garnered 1.6 billion potential views,<br />
touting walnuts as a nutritious snack<br />
option and shared recipe ideas, including<br />
placements in major consumer<br />
outlets like Men’s Health, Eat This, Not<br />
That! and Real Simple.<br />
“The earned media, nutrition<br />
spokespeople, influencer partnerships<br />
and national retail program worked<br />
together to build excitement across the<br />
country around purchasing walnuts,”<br />
shared Olmstead.<br />
Retailers who executed well at the<br />
store level were extremely pleased with<br />
the results, especially when compared<br />
to the pandemic-fueled walnut sales<br />
during the summer of 2020. Nielsen<br />
data collected from a portion of the<br />
retailers showed that volume gains<br />
attributed to this program were above<br />
170% for two of the retailers and no less<br />
than 44% from the rest of the group.<br />
Olmstead added California Walnuts<br />
hopes to continue to build on the campaign<br />
success, especially as consumer<br />
demand for plant-forward and nutritious<br />
eating choices continues to rise.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
16 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 17
Pacific Flatheaded<br />
Borer Emerges as<br />
Significant Pest of<br />
Walnuts, Hazelnuts<br />
By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer<br />
In the summer of 2018, UCCE IPM Advisor Jhalendra Rijal<br />
had his first direct encounter with Pacific flatheaded borer.<br />
“Some growers were reporting damage in walnuts,” he<br />
said. “We went out there, found larvae and later figured out<br />
it was flatheaded borer.”<br />
While not new to California agriculture, the Pacific flatheaded<br />
borer today is a significant pest of walnuts, particularly,<br />
but not exclusively, to young walnut orchards. In some<br />
cases, damage from the pest has approached 100%, Rijal said.<br />
In one case, Rijal noted, a grower ended up cutting every<br />
tree in his one-year-old orchard beneath the infestation<br />
points and re-budding them because of damage from the<br />
pest. “So, you can imagine the cost,” Rijal said. “First, there<br />
is the money for labor and material investment, but the<br />
grower also was two years late coming into production.”<br />
The pest also has emerged in recent years as a significant<br />
issue in Oregon hazelnuts.<br />
“In 2016, we started seeing a lot of damage in young hazelnut<br />
orchards from the borer,” said Oregon State University<br />
Extension Hazelnut Specialist Nik Wiman. “Before then, it<br />
was pretty much unrecognized.”<br />
Wiman said the pest appears to have come into hazelnuts<br />
from outside of orchards in 2015 when drought stress<br />
exposed young trees to the pest. A year later, the damage<br />
started showing up.<br />
“It was pretty devastating in some orchards,” he said. “We<br />
saw losses topping 30% in certain orchards, and there was<br />
even a cherry orchard that was 100% damaged. They just<br />
ripped it out and had to replant it.<br />
“It can be really destructive,” Wiman said.<br />
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Pacific flatheaded borer is known to attack diseased or stressed walnut<br />
trees. Researchers recommend growers remove infected material in fall<br />
or winter months (all photos by J. Rijal.)<br />
Wide Host Range<br />
The Pacific flatheaded borer, Chrysobothris mali, affects<br />
multiple tree crops in the Western U.S., including several<br />
tree fruits and some tree nuts. The pest is known to attack<br />
diseased or stressed trees.<br />
“Drought, over-irrigation or poor soil conditions, all of<br />
those can be predisposing factors,” Rijal said.<br />
Flathead borer adults lay eggs in branches with cracks<br />
and wounds, and larvae slowly move into the wood by feeding<br />
on the cambium layer of the infested branch first, he said.<br />
The pest also likes branches exposed to sun. “They like<br />
the warmth of the branches and twigs and lay their eggs<br />
there,” Rijal said.<br />
Rijal noted that researchers don’t know why the pest has<br />
suddenly appeared as a significant problem in walnuts. He<br />
and others speculate that the dry conditions and drought<br />
that have permeated the Central Valley as of late is a contributing<br />
factor, as well as the increase in walnut acres.<br />
“Plus, I would say that growers are much more aware of<br />
this pest now and finding more because of that,” he said.<br />
Rijal added that in recent years, the pest appears to be<br />
attacking older, more mature trees, a divergence from its<br />
historical range, and another potential reason for why it has<br />
become more recognized as a pest of concern.<br />
“Not only are the young trees, first- and second-year<br />
trees infested on the trunk, but we are now seeing bigger<br />
limbs and smaller branches, even pencil-sized branches,<br />
that have flatheaded borer infestations,” he said. “And even<br />
healthy-looking trees, four, six, seven, even ten-year-old op-<br />
18 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
timally producing trees also are getting<br />
attacked now.”<br />
The increased pressure has led to<br />
two research projects, one funded by<br />
the Walnut Board of California in 2019<br />
and a new multi-state project started<br />
this summer that is funded by a USDA<br />
Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant<br />
and being led by Tennessee State University,<br />
where a similar flathead borer<br />
species is causing problems in nursery<br />
tree plants.<br />
Researchers from other Eastern<br />
states, including Florida, Georgia,<br />
North Carolina and South Carolina are<br />
part of the grant, as well as Rijal and<br />
Wiman, who are looking at walnuts and<br />
hazelnuts in California and Oregon.<br />
In the 2019 research project, Rijal<br />
was able to identify the species<br />
of flatheaded borer causing damage<br />
in walnuts, produce photographs of<br />
symptoms so growers know what to<br />
look for when scouting for the pest and<br />
get some preliminary data on the pest’s<br />
biology and behavior.<br />
“We were able to do the preliminary<br />
work looking at the adult beetle emergence<br />
timing in the summer to understand<br />
the pest biology better. This helps<br />
to ultimately develop pest monitoring<br />
and management,” he said.<br />
Monitoring Tools<br />
As part of the USDA’s Specialty<br />
Crop Research Initiative project titled<br />
Flatheaded Borer Management in Tree<br />
Specialty Crops, researchers are looking<br />
at different monitoring tools, or traps<br />
and attractants, attempting to pinpoint<br />
peak adult emergence and looking at<br />
different insecticides with the hope of<br />
developing control strategies.<br />
To date, preliminary research<br />
conducted in the northern San Joaquin<br />
Valley has shown peak adult emergence<br />
occurs in June. “Although emergence<br />
starts in May and can continue through<br />
July, we think that mid-June is the peak<br />
adult activity period, at least in the area<br />
where I am doing the work,” Rijal said.<br />
Knowing peak adult emergence may<br />
potentially help pinpoint the optimum<br />
window for targeting young larvae with<br />
Continued on Page 20<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 19
Pacific flatheaded borer feeding can increase the likelihood of<br />
branch breakage in walnuts. “Even simple, regular wind will break it,”<br />
said UCCE IPM Advisor Jhalendra Rijal.<br />
Researchers are analyzing the effectiveness of different traps as part<br />
of a multi-state Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant studying<br />
flatheaded borer.<br />
Continued from Page 19<br />
insecticides, he said.<br />
To date, researchers recommend growers become familiar<br />
with symptoms and remove infected tree parts in fall or<br />
winter as well as coat trunks of young trees with white paint<br />
before they are exposed to sunlight.<br />
Scouting in late summer/early fall will help growers<br />
identify damaged trees, Rijal said. “In the summer, you can<br />
see the brown frass at the infestation point on branches,” he<br />
said, “and at that point, you know that larva is inside because<br />
of that.”<br />
He added that removing infected branches may not<br />
provide 100% control of the pest in the first year. “It is more<br />
like a population-reduction method,” he said. “You probably<br />
won’t be able to remove all the infested branches depending<br />
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on the pressure, but it helps a lot, because you are essentially<br />
killing the larvae that are hiding inside the infested plant<br />
materials.”<br />
Left alone, infected branches may not die immediately, he<br />
said, but over time they will succumb to the pest, and an infestation<br />
increases the likelihood a branch will break. “Even<br />
simple, regular wind will break it,” Rijal said.<br />
Neonicotinoid insecticides, said as Imidacloprid, are effective<br />
at controlling the pest in hazelnuts, Wiman said. But<br />
those are under scrutiny by EPA and may not be available in<br />
future years.<br />
A relatively new class of insecticide, diamides, also has<br />
shown efficacy on the pest in hazelnuts, but at this point isn’t<br />
labeled for use against it, Wiman said.<br />
“Experimentally, we are showing it works,” he said. “So, if<br />
we lose the neonicotinoids, which we probably will eventually<br />
because they are already banned in Europe, at least we<br />
have some alternatives to go to.”<br />
Rijal noted that in some cases, growers may be getting<br />
some residual control of the flatheaded borer through codling<br />
moth or navel orangeworm sprays, but how much of an<br />
effect is in question.<br />
“The insecticides might have some impact on flatheaded<br />
borer, but we know that it is not enough because we are seeing<br />
infestations regardless of whether the grower had treated<br />
for codling moth or navel orangeworm,” he said.<br />
He emphasized that painting young trees with white latex<br />
paint is a must. “That is a must practice, especially with the<br />
Central Valley heat,” he said. “Get that latex paint on at least<br />
before sunburn risk.”<br />
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel<br />
free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
20 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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New Kids on the Block:<br />
Almond Breeders<br />
Continue Focus on<br />
Self-Fertile Releases<br />
By VICKY BOYD | Contributing Writer<br />
Pyrenees tree showing the heavy crop load (photo courtesy Burchell Nursery.)<br />
The trend toward self-fertile almond varieties continues<br />
as a handful of nurseries have new offerings that<br />
allow growers to reduce bees needed for pollination and<br />
manage orchards more efficiently.<br />
Following on the heels of the successful self-fertile Independence<br />
variety, Dave Wilson Nursery has introduced<br />
Liberty. Burchell Nursery has launched Pyrenees, the second<br />
release in its self-fruitful Summit Almond Series.<br />
And several businesses, including Duarte Nursery,<br />
Burchell Nursery, Sierra Gold Nurseries, Fowler Nurseries,<br />
Roos Tree Nursery, Tudor Trees Nursery and Agromillora<br />
Nursery, will offer Yorizane. From the breeding program of<br />
Dr. Craig Ledbetter with USDA-ARS, it is a public self-fertile<br />
variety without royalties.<br />
Burchell Nursery<br />
The second release in Burchell Nursery’s self-fruitful<br />
Summit Almond Series, Pyrenees matures about two weeks<br />
later than Nonpareil.<br />
“Pyrenees has good nut removal,” said Tom Burchell, owner<br />
and president. “The thing we like about it is it’s 10 days to<br />
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two weeks after Nonpareil. The nuts hang well, dry down on<br />
the trees and shake well.”<br />
The later maturity should allow growers to spread out<br />
their harvests, since Nonpareil, Shasta and Independence all<br />
come off at about the same time.<br />
The Pyrenees nuts also are easy to hull, and any mummies<br />
left come off readily during winter shaking.<br />
Like Shasta, Pyrenees is self-fruitful, meaning it doesn’t<br />
need pollen from another variety to produce a crop. But<br />
Burchell still recommended using beehives, albeit at a<br />
reduced number, to maximize the yield potential of either<br />
variety.<br />
Pyrenees produces a nut with a good seal and a semi-soft<br />
shell that can be cracked by hand. Depending on the handler,<br />
it could go for the in-shell market, he said. The kernel itself<br />
is in the medium-size range and is classified as a California<br />
type.<br />
In taste tests conducted by the Almond Board, Pyrenees<br />
was one of the top U.S. varieties, coming in just behind an<br />
Australian variety. Burchell said it has a mild amaretto flavor<br />
that the taste panel found pleasing.<br />
“Pyrenees just had a unique amaretto flavor where everything<br />
else we tasted that day was a bland almond,” Burchell<br />
said. “This one was different.<br />
“Right now, almonds aren’t sold by flavor. If you put chocolate<br />
on them, it doesn’t matter what they taste like.”<br />
But the unique flavor prompted him to name the variety<br />
after the Pyrenees mountain range in Europe. After<br />
all, marzipan, a paste made from almonds and sometimes<br />
augmented with amaretto flavoring, is popular in European<br />
confections.<br />
Pyrenees produces a medium-sized, somewhat spreading<br />
tree. Burchell said they like to put it on a peach-almond<br />
hybrid rootstock to improve tree vigor, which isn’t as strong<br />
as the Nonpareil.<br />
He also continues to evaluate test number P16.022, a yet-<br />
22 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
A Liberty tree is shaken, showing easy nut removal (photo courtesy<br />
Dave Wilson Nursery.)<br />
A close-up shows the Liberty crop after hull split (photo courtesy Dave<br />
Wilson Nursery.)<br />
to-be-released self-fertile variety that<br />
will be called Lassen. It matures from<br />
seven to 14 days later than Nonpareil.<br />
As growers begin to remove Butte-Padre<br />
orchards, Burchell said this variety<br />
could be a potential replacement if it’s<br />
released.<br />
Lassen produces a smallish, plump<br />
kernel similar to Ruby in shape, according<br />
to Blue Diamond grading information.<br />
In addition, Burchell has a few more<br />
experimental self-fertile varieties that<br />
Continued on Page 24<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 23
Yorizane nuts on the ground reflect the easy detachment from the tree (photo courtesy<br />
Duarte Nursery.)<br />
Continued from Page 23<br />
aren’t as far along as Lassen that he<br />
continues to assess.<br />
Dave Wilson Nursery<br />
Through an exclusive marketing<br />
agreement, Dave Wilson Nursery has<br />
begun offering Liberty, the second<br />
self-fertile almond variety from the<br />
breeding program of Zaiger Genetics.<br />
It appears to mature about 10 days<br />
to two weeks later than Independence<br />
and Nonpareil, said Jereme Fromme,<br />
Dave Wilson Nursery vice president<br />
of sales and marketing. It also blooms<br />
about five days later than Independence.<br />
“That’s obviously helpful in years<br />
where there’s a potential frost event,” he<br />
said. “The later the bloom is, the less<br />
likely you are to have a frost event, and<br />
that’s real critical.”<br />
But Fromme cautioned the timeframes<br />
are based on just a few plantings<br />
around Stanislaus County and what<br />
has been observed by the Zaigers over<br />
the past 10 years. As more orchards<br />
are put in the ground in different parts<br />
of the state under different environmental<br />
conditions, he said they should<br />
get a better idea of bloom and harvest<br />
timing.<br />
“I think what we’re going to find,<br />
and we find this with all varieties, is<br />
until you get critical mass, it’s kind of<br />
hard to say,” Fromme said. “Any given<br />
year and the growing practices could<br />
also change harvest windows.”<br />
If the later timing holds, he said it<br />
could allow growers and custom applicators<br />
to spread out harvest, making<br />
more efficient use of their equipment.<br />
Liberty produces a large, attractive<br />
kernel with a good shell seal. How it<br />
will be categorized by the industry<br />
remains to be seen.<br />
“There are several different factors,”<br />
Fromme said. “It really isn’t until you<br />
get mass quantities from different<br />
regions that you can put them in a<br />
category.”<br />
Unlike Independence, Liberty<br />
produces a more upright tree similar to<br />
Aldrich. Liberty trees are vigorous, and<br />
Dave Wilson will offer the new variety<br />
on all its commercial rootstocks. The<br />
nuts also shake cleanly from the trees,<br />
likely due to the more upright architecture,<br />
Fromme said.<br />
Liberty is self-fertile and can produce<br />
a crop without beehives, although<br />
some growers still put a reduced number<br />
of hives in their orchards, much<br />
like they do with Independence.<br />
Zaiger Genetics hasn’t stopped at<br />
Liberty for self-fertile varieties, From-<br />
Continued on Page 26<br />
24 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 25
Yorizane: Self-Fertile and Royalty Free<br />
In 1998, USDA-ARS geneticist<br />
Craig Ledbetter made the<br />
initial Yorizane cross between<br />
the European self-fertile<br />
hardshell variety Tuono<br />
and ARS advanced almond<br />
selection 74-48. As a result,<br />
Yorizane has a pure almond<br />
genetic background without<br />
any peach material, he said.<br />
USDA-ARS released the<br />
variety, previously trialed<br />
as Y116-161-99, in 2020.<br />
Based on six years of RVT trial<br />
data, Ledbetter said Yorizane<br />
tends to alternate bear<br />
slightly less than Nonpareil.<br />
The Yorizane kernel is classified<br />
as a California type, and shells<br />
have tight seals, reducing<br />
NOW damage. Kernels<br />
themselves have a goldish<br />
color and are slightly lighter<br />
colored than Nonpareil. But<br />
Ledbetter said they would<br />
not be considered blonde.<br />
Yorizane harvests about the<br />
same time as Nonpareil.<br />
Ledbetter named the variety<br />
after Ban and Tac Yorizane, who<br />
sold their 120-acre farm near<br />
Parlier to USDA-ARS in 1991.<br />
“We were previously in southeast<br />
Fresno,” he said. “Fresno<br />
grew around us and forced<br />
us to move down to Parlier.”<br />
Among the varieties he has in<br />
his breeding pipeline is Y117-<br />
91-03, a self-fertile almond<br />
with a Nonpareil-type kernel.<br />
Like Yorizane, this variety<br />
Yorizane trees at harvest. These trees<br />
are part of the Regional Variety Trial<br />
in Stanislaus County (photo courtesy<br />
Duarte Nursery.)<br />
will be royalty free when it’s<br />
released, Ledbetter said.<br />
“We want to make sure that<br />
everyone who does want<br />
to sell it can,” he said.<br />
Continued from Page 24<br />
me said. In the pipeline is one that<br />
harvests in early to mid-July.<br />
“With the compaction of harvest,<br />
we’re looking at how we can spread<br />
harvest out on the early side,” he said.<br />
“We can get product running through<br />
the huller a little earlier. If you can<br />
harvest by mid-July, you’re missing the<br />
next or maybe multiple NOW flights.”<br />
Sierra Gold Nurseries<br />
Trialed as Y-116-161-99, Yorizane is<br />
a public variety released in 2020 that<br />
has no royalties or other fees. And<br />
Sierra Gold Nurseries plans to offer it<br />
next fall, said Brent Burky, director of<br />
sales.<br />
“We’ve just been waiting to get the<br />
budwood supply built up,” he said.<br />
“We want to use the cleanest budwood<br />
possible and didn’t want to rush into<br />
it.”<br />
Nevertheless, Burky said he’s already<br />
received several inquiries about<br />
the new variety. Rootstock choice will<br />
depend on individual growing conditions<br />
and grower goals.<br />
“I know with Shasta and Independence,<br />
two popular self-fertile varieties,<br />
if the rootstock doesn’t have a<br />
lot of vigor, the trees stay small and<br />
compact,” Burky said.<br />
That leads many growers to put<br />
them on a more vigorous rootstock. It<br />
appears Yorizane may also produce<br />
slightly smaller trees.<br />
“If you want to have a tree that<br />
looks more like a typical Nonpareil,<br />
then I’d plant it on more vigorous<br />
rootstock,” he said. “But I think<br />
Yorizane will perform on just about<br />
anything. If you have sites with limitations,<br />
like heavy soil and you need<br />
to plant on Krymsk 86, I think it’s<br />
still going to perform well.”<br />
Duarte Nursery<br />
Duarte Nursery in Hughson is promoting<br />
Yorizane as “The Gold Nut,”<br />
which calls attention to its light gold<br />
kernel color. John Duarte, president<br />
of Duarte Nursery, said he’s impressed<br />
with Yorizane’s clean harvest,<br />
a crack-out equivalent to Nonpareil,<br />
fewer doubles than Nonpareil and a<br />
hull that comes off very easily.<br />
In addition, Yorizane as a good<br />
seal compared to Nonpareil, reducing<br />
navel orange worm infestations. But<br />
the shell itself is thin, making the<br />
variety a good candidate for brining<br />
and roasting.<br />
Yorizane matures about the same<br />
time as Nonpareil. Based on Almond<br />
Board crack-out data and kernel<br />
dimensions, Yorizane is considered a<br />
California variety.<br />
What really caught Duarte’s attention<br />
is its reduced hull rot strikes<br />
compared to other commercial varieties.<br />
This will enable growers to push<br />
irrigation and fertility to maximize<br />
the variety’s yield potential.<br />
“It’s a champ when you look at<br />
all the RVTs,” said Duarte, who has<br />
followed Yorizane’s performance<br />
for several seasons. “There’s nothing<br />
that’s in second place.”<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
26 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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<strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 27
Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Protections<br />
Edging Toward Permanent<br />
Standard<br />
By THERESA KIEHN | President and CEO, AgSafe<br />
As <strong>2021</strong> rapidly comes to an end, it<br />
has become quite apparent in<br />
recent months that COVID-19<br />
will continue to be a part of our lives<br />
as we march into 2022. Cal/OSHA also<br />
appears to agree with this assessment as<br />
they are preparing to create a permanent<br />
standard for COVID-19. This new<br />
permanent standard would most likely<br />
be adopted in spring 2022 by the Cal/<br />
OSHA Standards Board. In this article,<br />
we discuss elements of the proposed<br />
permanent standard and the differences<br />
between it and the current Emergency<br />
Temporary Standard (ETS).<br />
This September, the Cal/OSHA<br />
Standards Board convened a virtual<br />
advisory committee meeting to review<br />
the language of a proposed permanent<br />
standard. The public was also given an<br />
opportunity to view the meeting and<br />
submit written comments before the<br />
board begins the process of finalizing<br />
the standard. Although this standard is<br />
labeled as a permanent, it has built in a<br />
sunset clause which is currently set to<br />
expire after two years.<br />
Proposed Changes<br />
One of the biggest changes to the<br />
proposed regulation was the official incorporation<br />
of California Department<br />
of Public Heath (CDPH) guidance. This<br />
28 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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As currently written, the permanent standard would eliminate the option for<br />
employees to self-attest; only vaccinations records (digital or in print) would be an<br />
acceptable form of proof (photo by Hector Amezcua, UC Davis.)<br />
had been a point of contention with the<br />
current ETS because the standard was<br />
unable stay current with actual fluctuations<br />
of COVID-19 transmission. The<br />
incorporation of CDPH guidance is intended<br />
to add flexibility to the standard<br />
because, as we have learned, a one-sizefits-all<br />
regulation does not work when<br />
you are operating during the time of a<br />
global pandemic.<br />
Under the proposed permanent<br />
standard, employers would no longer<br />
need to have a separate COVID-19 Prevention<br />
Program. Employers will need<br />
to address COVID-19 prevention methods<br />
through their existing Injury and<br />
Illness Prevention Plan and COVID-19<br />
would be officially included as a workplace<br />
hazard. Therefore, employers<br />
would continue to follow their current<br />
practices of assessing and mitigating<br />
COVID-19 hazards in their workplace,<br />
provide training to employees, investigate<br />
cases and report to the appropriate<br />
regulatory agencies when required.<br />
Another change between the ETS<br />
and proposed permanent standard<br />
involves vaccination reporting. When<br />
verifying vaccination status, employers<br />
under the ETS could choose to have<br />
employees self-attest or require employees<br />
to provide a vaccination record.<br />
As currently written, the permanent<br />
standard would eliminate the option<br />
for employees to self-attest and only<br />
vaccinations records (digital or in print)<br />
would be an acceptable form of proof.<br />
Across industries, we are hearing that<br />
this could create issues for employers<br />
for a couple of reasons, which may include<br />
employees that may be unable to<br />
locate the vaccination documentation<br />
and the added administrative burden<br />
of company representatives to ask<br />
employees that have already provided<br />
self-attestation to now produce a document<br />
and tracking such information,<br />
including timeframes that must now be<br />
provided along with policies to address<br />
non-compliance.<br />
Testing under the proposed permanent<br />
standard would also be altered<br />
for those who have had close contact<br />
with someone who tested positive for<br />
COVID-19. Under the current ETS,<br />
those who have had close contact but<br />
have been vaccinated would not have<br />
to test (close contact is defined as being<br />
Continued on Page 30<br />
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progressivecrop.com/newsletter<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 29
Continued from Page 29<br />
within six feet of a COVID-19 case<br />
for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or<br />
greater in any 24-hour period within<br />
or overlapping with the “infectious<br />
period”, regardless of the use of face<br />
coverings.) However, the proposed<br />
permanent standards would require all<br />
people who have had close contact to be<br />
tested regardless of vaccination status.<br />
And finally, there are currently<br />
no provisions for exclusion pay in<br />
this version of the proposed permanent<br />
standard. Cal/OSHA has stated<br />
exclusion pay would be left for the<br />
Legislature to address on a permanent<br />
basis. As a reminder, the 80 hours of<br />
Supplement Paid Sick Leave expired<br />
on September 30, <strong>2021</strong>. However, it<br />
is imperative to note that employees<br />
must still be provided with information<br />
about legally mandated sick and vaccination<br />
leave, and, if applicable, workers’<br />
compensation law, local governmental<br />
requirements, the employer’s own<br />
leave policies and leave guaranteed by<br />
contracts. These benefits should be discussed<br />
during your employee training<br />
and if an employee must quarantine.<br />
These were just a few of the changes<br />
that have been proposed in the permanent<br />
standard. To review the proposed<br />
language or to watch the advisory<br />
committee meeting, please visit the<br />
Department of Industrial Relations<br />
website at dir.ca.gov/dosh/doshreg/<br />
covid-19-emergency-standards/ and<br />
select the Sept. 23, <strong>2021</strong> Advisory Committee<br />
Meeting.<br />
In the meantime, it is imperative<br />
that businesses continue to follow the<br />
current COVID-19 ETS. Ensure you<br />
have a COVID-19 Prevention Plan<br />
and your employees are continuing to<br />
receive regular training. Additionally, it<br />
is critical that you continue to perform<br />
daily health screenings to ensure employees<br />
are free of COVID symptoms<br />
prior to beginning their shift. If you<br />
need assistance with developing our<br />
COVID-19 Prevention Plan, providing<br />
training tools to your employees, or<br />
have specific questions regarding this<br />
topic, please contact AgSafe at 209-526-<br />
4400 or email safeinfo@agsafe.org. Additionally,<br />
AgSafe, in partnership with<br />
Western Center for Agricultural Heath<br />
and Safety, has several free resources<br />
available at agsafe.org or aghealth.<br />
ucdavis.edu.<br />
AgSafe is a 501c3 nonprofit providing<br />
training, education, outreach and<br />
tools in the areas of safety, labor relations,<br />
pesticide compliance and human<br />
resources for the agricultural community.<br />
Since 1991, AgSafe has educated<br />
over 100,000 employers, supervisors and<br />
workers about these critical issues.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
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This year, long-range weather forecasts from<br />
the National Weather Service call for above-normal<br />
temperatures for the southern half of the<br />
state and cooler temperatures to the north. As for<br />
rainfall, much of the Central Valley looks to have less<br />
than a 50% chance of precipitation in <strong>Nov</strong>ember.<br />
If this dry forecast proves to be correct, what<br />
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water stress and set their trees up for bearing next<br />
year’s crop?<br />
Keep Up with ET<br />
“They have to continue to stay in farming mode,<br />
keep up with irrigation to meet evapotranspiration<br />
demands,” said UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor<br />
Luke Milliron. Although he works with growers in<br />
the northern counties of Butte, Glenn and Tehama,<br />
Milliron said there is no guarantee there<br />
that rainfall alone will provide enough moisture<br />
for trees going into dormancy. During the<br />
sudden autumn freeze in <strong>Nov</strong>ember 2020 that<br />
severely damaged many California walnut orchards,<br />
Milliron and others noted that orchards<br />
with soil moisture from recent irrigation fared<br />
far better.<br />
Milliron said evapotranspiration rates for<br />
tree nut orchards are low during <strong>Nov</strong>ember and<br />
December, but those water needs should still be<br />
met to encourage photosynthesis and carbohydrate<br />
storage going into dormancy. Growers<br />
also should think ahead to the next irrigation<br />
season and understand they may have to start<br />
water earlier in the growing season to refill the<br />
soil profile if they do not apply water in the fall<br />
or if it does not rain a sufficient amount in <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
and December. Keeping trees hydrated<br />
later in the season also keeps leaves functioning<br />
longer and helps tree roots take up nutrients.<br />
Franz Niederholzer, UCCE orchard systems<br />
advisor in Colusa, Sutter and Yuba counties,<br />
said determining the level of tree stress in <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
with a pressure chamber helps determine<br />
irrigation needs. The worst time for water<br />
stress is August to September, but adequate<br />
moisture in the late fall contributes to longterm<br />
tree health.<br />
He said a good number to aim for in No-<br />
32 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor Phoebe Gordon said irrigating with<br />
salty groundwater or surface water will lead to problems next<br />
spring if leaching cannot be achieved during the winter months<br />
where it is necessary.<br />
Cover crops are normally seeded in the fall to take advantage of<br />
early winter rains for germination. Lacking rainfall, these crops can<br />
be irrigated up, but that would involve an irrigation system that<br />
wets the row middles.<br />
vember is -10 to -14 bars for almonds.<br />
Readings above -20 bars signal a critical<br />
need for water.<br />
Manage Salinity and Nutrients<br />
Salt management is another important<br />
consideration in drought conditions.<br />
UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor<br />
Phoebe Gordon said irrigating with<br />
salty groundwater or surface water will<br />
lead to problems next spring if leaching<br />
cannot be achieved during the winter<br />
months where it is necessary. Salts need<br />
to be removed from the active root<br />
zone. If possible, a leaching fraction<br />
should be added to the amount of water<br />
applied in the fall.<br />
Historically, orchards in the Sacramento<br />
Valley area have less of an issue<br />
with salt buildup, Milliron said, and<br />
rainfall usually pushes any salt buildup<br />
down blow the root zone. However,<br />
without adequate leaching during the<br />
2020-21 rainfall season, some Sacramento<br />
Valley orchards could be in big<br />
trouble if salts are not leached during<br />
the <strong>2021</strong>-22 rainfall season.<br />
Leaching salts below the root zone<br />
is often a priority in the central and<br />
southern San Joaquin Valley, Gordon<br />
said. In addition to knowing soil<br />
properties, it is important to know the<br />
quality of the water being applied.<br />
Decreasing water quality and<br />
limited supply in a drought year can<br />
intensify salinity problems. Recent<br />
UC research found salt affected soil<br />
resulted in lower yields but also lower<br />
water use.<br />
In a Growing the Valley podcast<br />
episode, UCCE Advisor Emeritus Allan<br />
Fulton noted that ET reports were given<br />
until mid-<strong>Nov</strong>ember in 2020, much later<br />
in the season than normal due to dry<br />
weather. Usually, Fulton said, October<br />
rains have exceeded the crop water<br />
demand in northern growing areas and<br />
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there is no need for the report. Water at<br />
that point is important as it encourages<br />
trees to photosynthesize and store food<br />
(energy) for spring bloom.<br />
Filling the soil profile in <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
is important as it eases the pressure on<br />
Continued on Page 34<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 33
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Continued from Page 33<br />
irrigation next year. Irrigation should be done to maintain moisture<br />
in the top foot of the soil. Fulton said that knowing the soils in your<br />
orchard will help determine how much rainfall plus irrigation will<br />
match the water holding capacity of the orchard.<br />
The goal for growers in drought conditions would be to have<br />
full soil moisture capacity at leaf-out in the spring. That is better<br />
achieved in the fall rather than spring as rain after a spring irrigation<br />
to fill the soil profile can saturate the soil when growing roots<br />
need aeration.<br />
Adequate soil moisture can affect nutrient uptake in the fall.<br />
Niederholzer said the most common fall nutrient applications are<br />
boron, zinc and potassium. Soil moisture is needed for nitrogen and<br />
potassium uptake, but research has shown that fall applied N does<br />
not achieve a return on investment. Foliar sprays of boron and zinc<br />
would be less effective if water stress caused defoliation.<br />
Potassium products need moisture to move into the root zone as<br />
they are normally banded down the microsprinkler lines.<br />
Other Considerations<br />
Other concerns with dry orchard soils due to lack of fall rainfall<br />
or irrigation include poor soil uptake of pre-emergent herbicides,<br />
loss of cover crop stands and potential for freeze damage to young<br />
trees.<br />
Sac Valley Orchard Source notes that most pre-emergent herbicides<br />
require between 0.25 to 0.75 inches of rain/irrigation for<br />
proper incorporation and effectiveness. Plantings that were made in<br />
fall can take advantage of winter and spring rains.<br />
Cover crops are normally seeded in the fall to take advantage of<br />
early winter rains for germination. Lacking rainfall, these crops can<br />
be irrigated up, but that would involve an irrigation system that wets<br />
the row middles.<br />
Adequate soil moisture is one of the most important protections<br />
for young walnut trees from freeze damage. If a freeze event is forecast,<br />
it is also important to irrigate two to three days ahead of the<br />
freeze, allowing the soil to accumulate heat.<br />
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to<br />
email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
34 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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Enhancing Winter<br />
Chill in Tree Nut Crops<br />
Keep the radiation effect to a minimum<br />
so trees can rest until spring.<br />
By RICH KREPS | CCA, SSp., Contributing Writer<br />
No-Rain <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
Hopefully this <strong>Nov</strong>ember we<br />
get rain in the valley, rain<br />
in the mountains and the<br />
temps turn cold. Our trees need<br />
it. Heck, our state needs it. If<br />
we don’t at least get our normal<br />
rainfall rates, we may be headed<br />
for a statewide disaster with all the<br />
water our government “officials”<br />
have released this year. No matter<br />
how brilliant we may think we are<br />
when creating nutrition plans for<br />
our growers to optimize our yields<br />
and orchard’s health, Mother<br />
Nature is still the most important<br />
part of our farming repertoire.<br />
Pardon my French… without water<br />
and adequate rest, we have to<br />
get very creative in our attempt to<br />
keep this farming dream of ours<br />
alive and sustainable.<br />
What really happens when<br />
things cool off? If you’ve read<br />
any of my previous articles, you<br />
know how much I love to create<br />
human analogies to our farming<br />
experience. Think about running<br />
outside in the snow on Christmas<br />
morning, in Tahoe, naked. You<br />
can’t last very long out there in<br />
your birthday suit. You start to<br />
shiver, your skin gets pretty red<br />
as blood attempts to warm you up<br />
and then it all turns around. All<br />
your blood pools towards your<br />
vital organs to keep you alive and<br />
all metabolic processes stop.<br />
That’s a bit extreme, but you<br />
get the point. The body is trying<br />
to survive. Let’s compare this to<br />
trees and get a little more detailed<br />
without taking it to catastrophic<br />
hypothermia in the buff. When<br />
it gets cold, similar metabolic<br />
processes slow way down. The<br />
carbohydrates created with photosynthesis<br />
in the leaves begin to<br />
pull into the inner network of the<br />
plant for winter storage. And the<br />
trees shed their shade, creating<br />
leaves. Phloem directional flow<br />
allows much of these carbohydrates<br />
to be stored all the way<br />
back down in the roots. If we are<br />
lucky enough to have produced<br />
enough, much of it will stay<br />
higher up in the plants as well in<br />
the spurs, buds and woody tissues<br />
where it serves a couple purposes.<br />
It’ll be more easily accessible in<br />
the spring when we need a huge<br />
flux of carbon for bloom, but it<br />
also takes the place of excess water.<br />
This works like an antifreeze<br />
for our buds. Excess carbon storage<br />
in spurs and buds is crucial<br />
for winter protection.<br />
Sunscreen for Trees<br />
Let’s look at it from a different<br />
perspective now. Let’s say its<br />
only 36 degrees F outside and we<br />
have clothes on (hopefully this is<br />
normally the case when running<br />
out in the snow in Tahoe. Your<br />
neighbors will appreciate it.)<br />
How many times have you seen<br />
pictures or even have personal<br />
experience skiing with ambient<br />
temps in the 30s and getting massive<br />
racoon eye sunburn marks<br />
because you forgot sunscreen?<br />
This is normally the case with<br />
both us and our trees.<br />
I have taken numerous temperature<br />
readings in orchards<br />
when ambient air temps outside<br />
are in the 40s with bark and bud<br />
temps in the 60s. The sun heats<br />
them up. Ambient temps aren’t<br />
always the best indicator. The<br />
same thing happens with the soil.<br />
Our soil is a great insulator and<br />
keeps our roots from freezing. We<br />
rarely see temps in the soil below<br />
50 degrees F at even eight inches<br />
in the winter. And if those temps<br />
stay higher, your roots are still<br />
foraging because the metabolic<br />
processes haven’t slowed down<br />
enough to rest. Think of this analogy:<br />
You are leaving for a long<br />
trip in the car on Monday. You fill<br />
up the tank on Friday but leave<br />
the car running all weekend in<br />
the driveway. You’re not getting<br />
very far on Monday. If we apply<br />
that to our trees, their engines<br />
run all winter and when the<br />
proverbial gas pedal is stomped in<br />
the spring, there is no N and P left<br />
for the bloom push. Let’s hedge<br />
our bet.<br />
There have been many trials<br />
36 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
HERBICIDE HERBICIDE EC EC<br />
FOR ORGANIC<br />
anyway, I guess no one will take offense and sunny outside, but it will save your<br />
to the reference.<br />
gas. Just remember to wear sunscreen.<br />
FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTION<br />
t’s important for us as farmers to ‘Many “white wash” products can<br />
not only watch the weather, plan for the reflect sunlight much like zinc oxide<br />
worst and make adjustments, but also would off our noses at the ski resort.’<br />
to do the research to actually promote<br />
the best possible outcomes with what<br />
God gives us. Streaking outside naked Comments about this article? We want<br />
to turn off the car you left running is to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
probably not the best idea if it’s bright article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
Many “white wash” products can reflect sunlight and<br />
keep the radiation effect to a minimum, decreasing<br />
the amount of carbon used throughout winter and A Fast & Effective Organic Herbicide<br />
allowing the entire tree to rest.<br />
You Can Trust<br />
EC<br />
lately to increase our winter chill by<br />
applying “sunscreen” to our trees after<br />
thanksgiving and through winter.<br />
By keeping the radiation effect to a<br />
FO<br />
minimum, we feel we can decrease the<br />
amount of carbon used throughout<br />
winter and allow the entire tree to rest.<br />
®<br />
Many “white wash” products can reflect<br />
sunlight much like zinc oxide would off<br />
our noses at the ski resort. I particu-<br />
HERBICIDE EC<br />
larly prefer to use a refracting material<br />
that actually disperses light in multiple<br />
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directions like a diamond to avoid even<br />
was the first effective herbicide to be approved for use on all certified organic<br />
a point source of heat from a normal<br />
reflection type, flat material.<br />
food crops. With years of grower-proven efficacy and university testing,<br />
There are some products that can<br />
SUPPRESS Herbicide consistently provides fast and effective broad spectrum<br />
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SUPPRESS ® Herbicide EC is a non-volatile, emulsifiable<br />
the orchard. Many times, we can’t go<br />
concentrate for post-emergent, non-selective weed control.<br />
through the orchard anyway if it has<br />
actually rained. I prefer to apply it from<br />
above whenever possible as the sun hits • Excellent tool in IPM programs<br />
from those angles. I feel it has greatly<br />
helped my growers increase their chill • Helps break chemical resistance<br />
portions the last few winters. Of course, • Great tank-mix partner to enhance conventional herbicide efficacy<br />
I am always adding nutrition whenever<br />
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nooks and crannies of the buds for the<br />
spring push. Again, running the risk of<br />
sounding like a degenerate gambler, I<br />
for Desiccation<br />
in Potatoes<br />
am always trying to hedge my bet on<br />
my own trees and those of the farmers<br />
I consult for. However, since farming is<br />
basically a legalized form of gambling<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 37
No-Rain <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
NORTHSTATE NUT<br />
GROWERS CONSIDER<br />
THE HARD DECISIONS<br />
IF DROUGHT<br />
CONTINUES<br />
EVEN AG WELLS DON’T<br />
GUARANTEE A WET FUTURE<br />
By JULIE R. JOHNSON | Contributing Writer<br />
UCCE Farm Advisor Franz Niederholzer said that as groundwater levels drop, even<br />
if adequate water is being pumped from ag wells, the quality of that water might<br />
need to be considered (photo by J.R. Johnson.)<br />
There is one thing nut growers<br />
know for certain, and that<br />
is the uncertainty of Mother<br />
Nature. And uncertainty is what<br />
lays on the horizon as the west<br />
continues to navigate through a<br />
historic drought that has prompted<br />
federal and state cutbacks in<br />
regulated water supplies.<br />
In early August, the Water<br />
Resource Control Board adopted<br />
an emergency resolution allowing<br />
regulators to halt diversions from<br />
two of California’s largest river<br />
systems: the Sacramento River<br />
and the San Joaquin River watersheds.<br />
The order could apply to<br />
around 86% of land owners who<br />
have legal rights to divert water<br />
from these two systems, with a<br />
possibility of the remaining 14%<br />
being impacted if conditions get<br />
worse.<br />
While this governmental<br />
action has potentially devastating<br />
impacts on the central and<br />
southern regions of the state,<br />
growers in Northern California<br />
are a bit better off as the majority<br />
of nut growers in the Upper<br />
Sacramento Valley receive their<br />
irrigation from privately-owned<br />
agriculture wells, not districts or<br />
agencies.<br />
Preparing for a Dry Future<br />
According to the Water<br />
Resource Control Board, the<br />
curtailment order is a necessity<br />
to protect the state’s water supply,<br />
especially if the drought continues<br />
into this next wet season.<br />
The possibility of another dry<br />
winter and spring all too real,<br />
said Franz Niederholzer, UCCE<br />
farm advisor in Colusa, Sutter<br />
and Yuba counties.<br />
The National Weather Service<br />
Climate Prediction Center (cpc.<br />
ncep.noaa.gov/) is forecasting<br />
a dry winter in much of California.<br />
Specifically, it says the<br />
El Niño-Southern Oscillation is<br />
predicted to be neutral through<br />
early fall, with La Niña potentially<br />
emerging during late fall<br />
and lasting through the <strong>2021</strong>-22<br />
winter. That forecast means a<br />
winter/spring of less than normal<br />
rainfall; in other words, continuing<br />
drought conditions.<br />
What if the forecast rings<br />
true and the winter and spring<br />
of <strong>2021</strong>-22 doles out insufficient<br />
amounts of rain to rescue the<br />
arid landscape, fill reservoirs and<br />
renew groundwater levels?<br />
What is a grower to do? How<br />
do you plan for such an unknown<br />
future while still fulfilling<br />
Continued on Page 40<br />
38 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
Continued from Page 38<br />
worldwide demand for produce<br />
and keeping the financial coffers<br />
steady?<br />
Los Molinos walnut grower<br />
Bruce Lindauer of Lindauer Farms<br />
says he completely understands<br />
this quandary, especially after his<br />
many years in the industry.<br />
“Growers wake up every day<br />
having to make such calls in the<br />
face of uncertainty,” he said. “Dry<br />
north winds, drought, too much<br />
rain, scorching heat, pests, disease,<br />
it is all a part of the daily path<br />
growers have to navigate.”<br />
The old saying, “plan for the<br />
worst and hope for the best,” is<br />
probably the advice most growers<br />
should be applying as they move<br />
into this uncharted territory, Niederholzer<br />
suggested.<br />
“Looking to the future and<br />
making decisions based on two<br />
When drought is on the horizon, growers need to start evaluating their orchards to see where possible outcomes, sufficient or insufficient<br />
water supply, is import-<br />
potential losses can be cut early on (photo by Marni Katz.)<br />
ant,” he added. “The hard decision<br />
of evaluating your orchards and<br />
deciding what to keep and what<br />
to walk away from has to be considered. It sounds<br />
extreme, but you have to have that conversation and<br />
assessment walk-through before the decision is right<br />
in front of you so you aren’t scrambling.”He suggests<br />
growers look to make those calls by Thanksgiving or<br />
at the latest the first of December as bee contracts are<br />
coming up, and if the decision is made to walk away<br />
from 25% of a grower’s acreage, bee contracts will need<br />
to be adjusted in line with that decision.<br />
“If it rains sufficiently, that’s great, but growers still<br />
need to consider what to do if it doesn’t,” Niederholzer<br />
adds.<br />
Ag Wells Aren’t Surefire<br />
Farm Manager D.C. Felciano of JJB Farms LP said<br />
the company had to plan ahead by selling off hundreds<br />
of acres in almonds in the Delta region due to water<br />
cutbacks.<br />
“Basically, it comes to this: no rain, no water, no<br />
produce and it’s a loss all around,” he said. “For our<br />
orchards in the Northstate, we are on agriculture wells<br />
and should be okay even if we have another dry winter<br />
and spring, but down south, it’s a whole different story.”<br />
For those on ag wells, the questions still needs to be<br />
asked: Where is the value in your farm going forward<br />
and where do you need to limit your losses and water<br />
use?<br />
Lindauer said as he plans for the future, his road<br />
40 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
map for a dry winter is to make sure his trees go dormant<br />
with plenty of moisture in the root zone area.<br />
“And then I will watch the weather during the winter<br />
months and see what happens,” he added. “I want to make<br />
sure the roots wake up, not saturated, but with enough<br />
moisture in the spring. I would move from point A to point<br />
B and plan accordingly. That is really the best I can do.”<br />
Niederholzer said if the state doesn’t get enough rain<br />
and snowpack in the mountains this winter and early<br />
spring, even growers on wells will need to be cautious.<br />
“As the groundwater levels drop, even if adequate water<br />
is being pumped from ag wells, the quality of that water<br />
might need to be considered,” he said.<br />
He explained that the salinity, chloride, selenium and<br />
boron levels could go way up and cause additional problems<br />
for nut trees.<br />
“And unfortunately, the best way to leach those toxic<br />
levels is to wash them out with good-quality water,”<br />
Niederholzer said. “This buildup of minerals can make it<br />
difficult for the plant to function and thrive.”<br />
Rationing Resources<br />
With the possibility of limited resources, Niederholzer<br />
suggests growers consider where best to use those resources,<br />
specifically water.<br />
“You have to look at which orchard blocks are bringing<br />
the best return, and then you have to make a decision on<br />
how to treat the remaining property. There are so many<br />
things to consider on the remaining orchards and their<br />
maintenance, such as age, variety, rootstock and site location,”<br />
he said. “If you’re looking at a young block, the possibility<br />
for bounce-back is likely; however, if you are looking<br />
at older orchards, the probability is that cutting back on<br />
irrigation will most likely shorten the trees’ lifespan and<br />
quality of future crops, and it might not be worth farming.”<br />
For instance, if the drought continues and a grower has<br />
an old, hard-shell variety block on older Marianna rootstock,<br />
that might be a block to retain as the rootstock deals<br />
well with high-salinity water in comparison to a block on<br />
another, less tolerant rootstock.<br />
“It isn’t a blanket statement on age as much as it is the<br />
productivity and long-term quality of the orchard, rootstock<br />
and variety,” Niederholzer said.<br />
In addition, planning for the future under these<br />
circumstance isn’t just a one-year outcome, but rather a<br />
two-year outlook, at least. The decisions on water supply<br />
and use made today directly impacts the flower, set and<br />
crop two years out.<br />
Lindauer says it is constantly a “what if this” or “what if<br />
that” in planning ahead.<br />
“But even for those of us on ag wells, it isn’t a sure<br />
thing,” he said. “You have to consider that even ag wells<br />
can face inadequate water supplies. And then you have to<br />
consider your electrical or power source for those wells; is<br />
it adequate or stable and even affordable? There are a lot of<br />
aspects to deal with under these conditions.”<br />
As if the drought isn’t causing growers enough of a<br />
headache, Lindauer laments the Pacific Gas and Electric<br />
Company’s (PG&E) new rate program that doesn’t allow<br />
irrigation well use between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.<br />
“How do you deal with this, how do you or your employees<br />
go out after 8 p.m. to check your lines and prepare to<br />
turn the irrigation back on? It’s dark. This is just crazy,” he<br />
said. “The public wants us, the growers, to be as sufficient<br />
as possible with every drop of water during this drought,<br />
but how can we do that when PG&E is making things even<br />
more difficult for us? How do you plan for the future, for<br />
continued drought conditions, around something like<br />
this?”<br />
Niederholzer said this next year has the possibility of<br />
creating conditions never seen before in the Sacramento<br />
Valley for nut growers.<br />
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘What is the future going to<br />
look like if we continue to receive inadequate amounts of<br />
rain?’ We may have to make extremely hard decisions under<br />
conditions never before seen in the state,” he said. “And<br />
those decisions aren’t going to affect only nut growers and<br />
other produce growers, but the ripple effects will be wide<br />
and deep, all the way down to the consumer and everywhere<br />
in between.”<br />
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel<br />
free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 41
A WORD FROM THE BOARD: AMERICAN PECAN COUNCIL<br />
<strong>2021</strong> Recap Report of APC’s Marketing<br />
in the Health Professional Sphere<br />
By AMERICAN PECAN COUNCIL | Contributing Writer<br />
Reaching the eyes and minds of<br />
health professionals is crucial to<br />
gaining a competitive advantage<br />
in the health and food marketplace.<br />
American Pecan Council<br />
(APC) contracted with Eat Well<br />
Global to help boost pecans in the<br />
health and nutrition arena. The strategic<br />
goal for APC’s marketing activities<br />
through Eat Well Global was,<br />
“To increase top-of-mind awareness<br />
of pecans among target credentialed<br />
health professionals,” and throughout<br />
<strong>2021</strong>, Eat Well Global executed<br />
against the following strategies:<br />
• Demonstrate pecans’ differentiating<br />
nutrition and flavor qualities<br />
compared to other nuts<br />
• Showcase pecans’ culinary<br />
versatility<br />
• Address barriers to pecan<br />
consumption<br />
In this article, we will discuss the<br />
<strong>2021</strong> activations that were implemented<br />
to help accomplish the<br />
strategic goal and the key success<br />
metrics that came from these programs.<br />
Intuitive Eating Webinar<br />
One of the first <strong>2021</strong> activations was<br />
the Intuitive Eating Registered Dietitian<br />
(RD) Webinar conducted in<br />
December 2020. We partnered with<br />
the Weight Inclusive Nutrition &<br />
Dietetics Practice Group (WIND) to<br />
host an engaging, 90-minute webinar<br />
Continued on Page 44<br />
Demonstrating pecans’ differentiating nutrition and flavor qualities compared<br />
to other nuts and showcasing pecans’ culinary versatility were two<br />
strategies that American Pecan Council contracted Eat Well Global to execute<br />
throughout <strong>2021</strong> (photos courtesy American Pecan Council.)<br />
42 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
®<br />
IMAGINATION<br />
INNOVATION<br />
SCIENCE IN ACTION
Continued from Page 42<br />
for intuitive eating RDs, a new target<br />
audience for the APC in FY<strong>2021</strong>. The<br />
webinar garnered a total reach of 183k+<br />
across all webinar promotions, which<br />
included the WIND community, speaker<br />
social handles and the Pecan Powerhouses<br />
Network. Following the event,<br />
nearly half of all post-webinar survey<br />
respondents indicated a more positive<br />
perception of pecans after attending<br />
the event, and 21% were more likely to<br />
recommend pecans.<br />
“<br />
…HEALTH MARKETING EFFORTS TO DATE<br />
HAVE SUCCESSFULLY PUT PECANS TOP-OF-<br />
MIND AS A NUT TO ENJOY AND RECOM-<br />
MEND, AND REVEALED PECANS’ UNIQUE<br />
TRIFECTA: SUPER TASTE, SATISFACTION<br />
AND NUTRITION.<br />
“<br />
Strategic Influencer Partnerships<br />
Another strong activation was the<br />
strategic influencer partnerships carried<br />
out during winter 2020 and summer<br />
<strong>2021</strong>. One of those influencers was<br />
acclaimed chef and culinary dietitian<br />
Sara Haas, RDN, LDN. We engaged<br />
with her for an inaugural Virtual<br />
Cooking Party, a 60-minute cooking<br />
and educational event featuring low<br />
FODMAP, gluten-free and lactose-free<br />
recipes. During the Virtual Cooking<br />
Party, Sara garnered live attendance of<br />
117 health professionals and a collective<br />
reach of 41k+ across Sara’s social media<br />
channels and the Pecan Powerhouses<br />
Network. We also collaborated with<br />
Sara on the development of two original<br />
savory pecan recipes, including Pecan<br />
Polenta with Crispy Kale and Smashed<br />
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans.<br />
Another high-profile RD influencer<br />
we partnered with was Vanessa Rissetto,<br />
MS, RD, to develop digital recipe<br />
content shared with Vanessa’s audience<br />
of 21k Instagram followers. Vanessa<br />
garnered 4.5k impressions and 3.7k<br />
reach across two recipe content pieces<br />
(Instagram posts and accompanying<br />
Instagram stories), highlighting Vanessa’s<br />
original recipes for a Pecan BLT and<br />
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Both of those<br />
influencer partnerships resulted in four<br />
original pecan recipes and garnered 50k<br />
impressions across Instagram posts and<br />
influencers’ mailing lists.<br />
44 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
Today’s Dietitian Symposium<br />
In May <strong>2021</strong>, APC sponsored Today’s<br />
Dietitian Virtual Spring Symposium<br />
(TDSS) <strong>2021</strong>, the nation’s second-largest<br />
dietitian conference. The return on this<br />
activation garnered enhanced visibility<br />
and opportunity for deeper engagement<br />
with RDs through a live virtual yoga<br />
event we sponsored. From TDSS <strong>2021</strong>,<br />
we reached Today’s Dietitian’s 77k+<br />
social media followers via sponsored<br />
Facebook posts and saw a 20% increase<br />
in the Pecan Powerhouse Network<br />
membership, APC’s database of health<br />
professionals. We will cover more on<br />
the Pecan Powerhouse Network (PPN)<br />
in an upcoming article.<br />
wellness. They advise people on what<br />
to eat in order to lead a healthy lifestyle<br />
or achieve a specific health-related goal.<br />
The activities listed above are just some<br />
of the activations APC has conducted<br />
for pecans to reach the minds of health<br />
professionals such as registered dietitians.<br />
We saw very successful results in<br />
only the second year. In an upcoming<br />
article, we will continue to touch on<br />
other RD marketing activations held<br />
in the 2020-21 year that brought major<br />
results for pecans.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
®<br />
New Handouts and Health<br />
Professional Survey<br />
On top of the activations listed<br />
above, Eat Well Global and APC also<br />
partnered with culinary dietitian<br />
Kristy Del Coro, co-founder of the<br />
Culinary Nutrition Collaborative, to<br />
develop two new client handouts showcasing<br />
seamless ways to include pecans<br />
in everyday meals and snacks. You can<br />
find these available for your use under<br />
the For Health Professionals>Resources<br />
tab on AmericanPecan.com.<br />
To measure and gauge marketing<br />
efforts geared towards RDs, we distributed<br />
Today’s Dietitian e-blast to 320<br />
non-clinical RDs originally surveyed<br />
in 2020 to assess year-over-year pecan<br />
knowledge and behavior change. The<br />
survey illuminated that health marketing<br />
efforts to date have successfully put<br />
pecans top-of-mind as a nut to enjoy<br />
and recommend, and revealed pecans’<br />
unique trifecta: super taste, satisfaction<br />
and nutrition. 15% of RDs surveyed are<br />
consuming and recommending pecans<br />
more frequently than last year, on par<br />
with walnuts and more regularly than<br />
pistachios.<br />
As previously mentioned, building<br />
top-of-mind awareness with health<br />
professionals is very important because<br />
they educate and engage with consumers<br />
as experts in health, nutrition and<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 45
DORMANCY:<br />
WHAT YOUR TREES DO<br />
IN THE WINTER<br />
By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor<br />
Research is looking at the role of stored carbohydrates in almond production (photos<br />
by C. Parsons.)<br />
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Trees don’t go out and buy pumpkin<br />
spice lattes when temperatures<br />
drop, but nut trees have another<br />
way of responding to cooler fall temperatures.<br />
Trees signal the visual start of<br />
their winter dormant period, dormancy,<br />
by dropping leaves as temperatures<br />
and sunlight hours decrease. During<br />
dormancy, growth is suspended even if<br />
growing conditions are ideal.<br />
Dormancy ends when growth resumes<br />
in the spring, but what happens<br />
during the ‘dormant season’ can have<br />
an effect on tree productivity.<br />
Although leafless during dormancy,<br />
deciduous trees are still functioning<br />
internally, sustained by carbohydrate<br />
reserves. Without leaves and green<br />
shoots, they are less vulnerable to<br />
damage during severe freeze events<br />
over the winter. Warmer temperatures<br />
in the spring are a signal to the trees<br />
to come out of dormancy. They use<br />
carbohydrate reserves to bloom and set<br />
a new crop.<br />
Winter Chill<br />
Walnut trees, pistachio trees and,<br />
to some extent, almond trees, need to<br />
experience cold temperatures during<br />
their winter dormant period, from leaf<br />
fall until growth resumes in the spring.<br />
UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor<br />
Katherine Jarvis-Shean said if orchards<br />
experience the right amount of winter<br />
chill and subsequent warmer temperatures<br />
in the spring, they come out of<br />
dormancy synchronized and prepared<br />
to bloom and set a crop. There are<br />
three ways this can go wrong in mature<br />
walnut and pistachio orchards during<br />
dormancy, she said, noting almond<br />
trees have less winter chill requirements<br />
during dormancy than walnut<br />
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Continued on Page 48<br />
46 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
Continued from Page 46<br />
UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor Katherine Jarvis-Shean said if orchards experience the right<br />
amount of winter chill and subsequent warmer temperatures in the spring, they come out of<br />
dormancy synchronized and prepared to bloom and set a crop.<br />
and pistachio trees.<br />
Pistachio trees that do not experience<br />
sufficient chill during dormancy<br />
will have asynchronized bloom; the<br />
female trees will have flowers open, but<br />
male trees have yet to produce pollen.<br />
This difference in timing, Jarvis-Shean<br />
said, is one reason that the new pollinizer<br />
Randy is favored over Peters,<br />
which has more need for chill. Walnut<br />
trees overcome this lack of overlap with<br />
more varieties that produce pollen at<br />
varying times.<br />
The second result of warm temperatures<br />
during dormancy is a longer<br />
duration of bud break. A larger window<br />
from the first to last bud break becomes<br />
problematic as harvest nears. This<br />
uneven maturity of the crop will mean<br />
that multiple shakes at harvest may be<br />
required. After two shakes, Jarvis-Shean<br />
said, it can become uneconomical<br />
to bring in equipment for a third shake<br />
and 10% to 15% of the crop may be left<br />
in the orchard. Finally, looking back on<br />
the infamous low chill year of 2014-15,<br />
lower yields in pistachio were the result<br />
as female trees produced far fewer flowers<br />
to be pollinated.<br />
In a research paper, UC Davis Plant<br />
Scientist Maciej Zwieniecki reports<br />
that temperature variability during the<br />
dormant period affects bloom. It is a<br />
common perception that warmer winters<br />
shorten the dormancy period and<br />
advance bloom, but they can also delay<br />
bloom and make it asynchronous or<br />
cause trees to leaf out early, which can<br />
affect yields at harvest. Winter temperatures,<br />
he noted, can either induce<br />
biological processes critical to endodormancy<br />
or activate bloom.<br />
Zwieniecki said that a tree’s nonstructural<br />
carbohydrate reserves at<br />
senescence are vital to sustaining their<br />
metabolism throughout dormancy.<br />
Trees need sufficient energy at the end<br />
of the dormant period for bud break<br />
and bloom.<br />
Non-Structural Carbohydrates<br />
Research being done at the UC<br />
Davis “Z Lab” is looking at what is happening<br />
in orchards during the dormant<br />
period, how trees prepare for winter<br />
and how they emerge from dormancy<br />
in the spring. This research, writes Jarvis-Shean<br />
in Sac Valley Orchard Source,<br />
will help explain how trees may be<br />
counting winter chill and spring heat,<br />
and the information developed can be<br />
used to create bloom prediction tools.<br />
One of the avenues of study is in<br />
non-structural carbohydrates (NSC),<br />
which are used by trees for energy<br />
and as signals for multiple physiological<br />
activities. Following the amount<br />
of NSC in a plant over time helps to<br />
understand how the trees are using<br />
carbohydrates.<br />
Jarvis-Shean explained that NSC<br />
are either sugars or starch. Starch is the<br />
storage form of carbohydrates. Starch<br />
can be broken down to provide sugars.<br />
When temperatures warm, trees<br />
turn sugars into starch and in colder<br />
temperatures, trees turn starch into<br />
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‘DORMANCY ENDS<br />
WHEN GROWTH<br />
RESUMES IN THE<br />
SPRING, BUT WHAT<br />
HAPPENS DURING<br />
THE ‘DORMANT<br />
SEASON’ CAN HAVE<br />
AN EFFECT ON TREE<br />
PRODUCTIVITY.’<br />
sugars. To keep sugars in the optimum<br />
range, trees adjust the concentration<br />
of enzymes that break down starches<br />
using gene expression machinery. Trees’<br />
effort in maintaining a balance likely<br />
plays a role in how trees count winter<br />
chill and emerge from dormancy.<br />
There are still many questions about<br />
tree physiology, carbohydrate use and<br />
effects of winter temperatures on carbohydrate<br />
storage.<br />
Zwieniecki’s ongoing research is<br />
looking at the interactions between<br />
winter temperatures, trees’ carbohydrate<br />
levels and production. He is looking<br />
for the most important elements<br />
of the interactions in order to guide<br />
management decisions.<br />
Nut trees evolved by storing NSC<br />
in the fall to use to survive winter. As<br />
temperatures warm in the spring, the<br />
carbohydrates move to locations near<br />
buds, and the trees use this energy<br />
to produce flowers. This complicated<br />
system is part of how trees adapt to<br />
climate, Zwieniecki said.<br />
Questions Zwieniecki is addressing<br />
in his research are if it is a good idea to<br />
fully load the trees with carbohydrates<br />
in the fall, if they will be wasted, and if<br />
high levels will drive high production.<br />
“There are different trade offs in<br />
these situations,” he said.<br />
His Carbohydrate Observatory<br />
research has found that, in the case of<br />
almond, the amount of carbohydrates<br />
a tree has in February is a good indicator<br />
of yields at harvest. What happens<br />
during other periods, including winter,<br />
also influences carbohydrate levels.<br />
Higher temperatures than normal<br />
increase respiration and use of NSC by<br />
trees. Winter temperature swings, he<br />
found, can cause the tree to redistribute<br />
carbohydrates, pulling them from<br />
twigs to roots. At that location, he said<br />
they are still stored, but not available<br />
for trees to push flowers at the end of<br />
dormancy.<br />
“Once we resolve the biology of the<br />
tree’s use of carbohydrates, then we<br />
will know how to guide management,”<br />
Zwieniecki said.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 49
Working at Heights<br />
Personal Fall Arrest Systems in Nut<br />
Hulling/Processing Facilities<br />
By MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ | Safety/Food Safety Specialist, Western<br />
Agricultural Processors Association<br />
As one of many post-agricultural<br />
harvest operations, the nut hulling<br />
and processing industry continues<br />
to flourish in the state of California. The<br />
demand for this commodity has been<br />
a driving force in the growth of nut<br />
farming as well as processing facilities<br />
in the past few years. The increase of<br />
nut hulling and processing operations<br />
is accompanied by the safety challenges<br />
these employers face to keep employees<br />
safe and comply with Cal/OSHA regulations.<br />
Like any other agriculture-related<br />
business, nut processing operations<br />
Be Brighter Off<br />
are seasonal. This characteristic brings<br />
forth the exposure to non-routine<br />
safety risks. Non-routine tasks are work<br />
tasks that are not performed on a daily<br />
or routine basis throughout the calendar<br />
year and take place during the “off<br />
season”. They occur one or two times<br />
a year and usually do not take a long<br />
period of time to complete.<br />
They include facility maintenance<br />
and repair-related tasks that can expose<br />
employees to possible falls from<br />
heights. A few of these tasks include<br />
entering confined spaces like deep<br />
receiving or pre-cleaner pits, climbing<br />
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up to baghouses located several feet<br />
above ground, and repair or adjusting<br />
of hard-to-reach parts on machinery<br />
located at above heights. In some cases,<br />
stacked bin fumigation practices may<br />
require the need for employees to climb<br />
the stacks to apply or adjust a tight-fitting<br />
tarp. Employees may access these<br />
areas through use of fixed ladders or<br />
operation of aerial lifts. These tasks<br />
may be performed infrequently (two or<br />
three times a year).<br />
Fall Hazard Assessment<br />
The types of safety measures or controls<br />
that will need to be implemented<br />
are determined after a fall hazard safety<br />
assessment of each area where employees<br />
are exposed to above heights. This<br />
assessment is completed for the purpose<br />
of developing a required written<br />
Fall Prevention Plan that will list the<br />
applicable Cal/OSHA requirements for<br />
use of fall protection controls, present<br />
fall prevention policies, use of required<br />
personal protective equipment and<br />
employee training.<br />
Although Cal/OSHA requires fall<br />
protection measures when employees<br />
are exposed to possible falls from 7.5<br />
feet, regulated height triggers should<br />
not be the only factor considered<br />
while completing an assessment of<br />
fall hazards. Situations with multiple<br />
possibilities for falls to occur can call<br />
for a combination of controls that may<br />
not be required through regulation, but<br />
will have a greater effect on preventing<br />
injuries or deaths due to falls.<br />
In situations where it is not possible<br />
to implement Fall Restraint systems<br />
(physical barriers impeding the<br />
employee from working or moving in<br />
close proximity to the edge of an above<br />
heights surface, such as guardrails,<br />
50 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
scaffolds, personal fall restraints, etc.)<br />
as control measures for fall prevention,<br />
Fall Arrest System controls must be<br />
implemented. The most common fall<br />
arrest system used in the nut hulling<br />
and processing industry is referred<br />
to as a Personal Fall Arrest System. It<br />
is comprised of a full body harness<br />
along with a lanyard, lifeline, rope grab<br />
and anchorage that can withstand a<br />
minimum weight of 5000lbs. The best<br />
way an employer can be confident that<br />
the selected parts of a personal fall<br />
arrest system will be effective in safely<br />
stopping a fall in its tracks is to fully<br />
understand each component of the<br />
system and how they work.<br />
As Easy as A-B-C<br />
Understanding each part and how it<br />
works can be as easy as A-B-C.<br />
Anchorage (tie off point) must be<br />
engineered to withstand at least 5,000<br />
lbs of dead weight and assigned a safety<br />
factor of 2. The selection and position<br />
of anchor points is crucial in the success<br />
of stopping a fall without creating<br />
additional hazards like a pendulum<br />
(swing) effect than can result in falling<br />
against adjacent structures. Another<br />
item to consider is how much time<br />
it would take for the employee to be<br />
rescued if he or she was hanging from<br />
a certain anchor point position. All<br />
anchorages must be equipped with an<br />
anchorage connector used to connect<br />
the remaining portion of the Personal<br />
Fall Arrest System.<br />
Body Wear refers to the full body<br />
harness. This harness must be engineered<br />
and designed to withstand a<br />
total of 1,800 lbs and distribute fall<br />
arrest force onto the pelvis, thighs and<br />
across the shoulders. The harness must<br />
be equipped with a D-ring located at<br />
the back of the harness to be positioned<br />
between the wearer’s shoulder blades.<br />
The D-ring itself must be engineered to<br />
withstand a minimum of 5000 lbs and<br />
will be used to connect the harness to<br />
the anchorage point.<br />
Connecting devices are used to<br />
connect the full body harness to the<br />
anchorage point. They can be one of<br />
the following:<br />
Energy (Shock) absorbing lanyards<br />
will activate at up to six feet of free fall<br />
and are a flexible line securing a fullbody<br />
harness to an anchorage point.<br />
They minimize the energy exerted on<br />
the wearer’s body and can provide<br />
decelerating distance from the moment<br />
the fall is initiated.<br />
Self-Retracting lifelines are another<br />
efficient connection device that usually<br />
activates after two feet of free fall and<br />
allow for more movement horizontally<br />
or vertically.<br />
Connection devices are equipped<br />
with snap hooks at each end, which<br />
allow for connection to the anchorage<br />
connector point and must also be<br />
engineered to withstand a minimum<br />
of 5,000 lbs. Although manufacturers<br />
of components for Personal Fall<br />
Arrest Systems may vary, they must be<br />
Continued on Page 52<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 51
Continued from Page 51<br />
compatible to work together and arrest<br />
a fall successfully. Specifications for<br />
Personal Fall Arrest components may<br />
vary with applicability of Cal/OSHA<br />
regulations depending on industry and<br />
purpose for use. All components of<br />
Personal Fall Arrest Systems must be<br />
ANSI standard approved.<br />
Do the Math<br />
Additional evaluation that will determine<br />
the type of Fall Arrest System<br />
equipment that will be needed is the<br />
calculation of the Total Fall Distance<br />
to ensure that if a fall occurs, there is<br />
enough clearance between the wearer’s<br />
feet and level ground (3.5 feet or more)<br />
at completion of fall arrest. The most<br />
common formula used for this calculation<br />
is defined as:<br />
TFD=FFD+DD+HEFF+VEL+SF<br />
Total Fall Distance (TDF)<br />
(FFD) Free Fall Distance: the distance<br />
traveled during a fall before the<br />
connecting devices, such as the shock<br />
absorbing lanyard or self-retracting<br />
lifeline, will activate and begin to arrest<br />
a fall.<br />
(DD) Deceleration Distance: the fall<br />
distance between the activation of the<br />
fall arrest system and fall arrest completion.<br />
Required to be 3.5 feet or less<br />
and is listed on the manufacturers label<br />
on shock absorbing capability.<br />
(HEFF) Harness Effect: harness<br />
stretch at fall arrest is usually one foot<br />
or less and obtained from manufactures<br />
label.<br />
(VEL) Vertical Elongation Capability:<br />
elongation of the chosen connective<br />
device at initiation of deceleration.<br />
(SF) Safety Factor: a chosen variable<br />
that should be at least one foot.<br />
Although the formula might seem<br />
long and complicated, knowing the<br />
definition of each variable will make<br />
it easier to understand. A competent<br />
administrator of this plan must ensure<br />
that this calculation is performed to<br />
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assure accuracy in the criteria that will<br />
determine the chosen fall protection<br />
equipment employees will use.<br />
Effective Employee Training<br />
Like any other type of personal protective<br />
equipment, if a Personal Fall Arrest<br />
System is not utilized in the correct<br />
manner (based on company policies,<br />
training and manufacture instructions),<br />
it will not provide the intended protection.<br />
This training must be provided<br />
previous to allowing the employee to<br />
use the equipment. Employee training<br />
on use of a Personal Fall Arrest System<br />
must include the following:<br />
Explain the purpose for use of a Personal<br />
Fall Arrest System, how it works<br />
and how it is part of the Fall Prevention<br />
Plan in place.<br />
Provide a full description of each<br />
component of the chosen Personal Fall<br />
Arrest System.<br />
Direction and demonstration on<br />
how to put the full body harness on,<br />
adjust the straps to fit adequately and<br />
ensure that connecting devices are<br />
secured onto the anchor points.<br />
Demonstrations of how the full<br />
body harness and connection devices<br />
are used in combination with any operated<br />
aerial lifting devices.<br />
How to maintain and inspect the<br />
equipment. Requirements call for frequent<br />
inspections and specifications on<br />
maintaining or replacing harnesses and<br />
connection devices.<br />
Follow all other fall prevention<br />
practices while accessing above heights<br />
areas, such as not overloading on tools<br />
while climbing up or down a fixed ladder<br />
and only exiting an aerial lift when<br />
it is absolutely necessary and additional<br />
training has been provided.<br />
The Emergency and Rescue Plan<br />
Procedures that include use of the suspension<br />
trauma relief straps typically<br />
equipped on the full body harness.<br />
Emergency Rescue<br />
A well-planned Personal Fall Arrest<br />
System must include an Emergency<br />
Rescue Plan to ensure that a fallen<br />
employee is rescued as soon as possible.<br />
This can reduce the risk of suspension<br />
trauma. Suspension trauma can lead<br />
52 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
to death from approximately 10 to 40<br />
minutes. It occurs from prolonged<br />
constriction of blood circulation in the<br />
legs cause by the harness straps as the<br />
employee hangs. An onsite rescue plan<br />
should include training activities with<br />
information on how to avoid post-rescue<br />
death that can occur as a result of<br />
suspension trauma, and ensuring that<br />
the fallen employee receives immediate<br />
emergency medical attention.<br />
Permit Required Confined Spaces<br />
Use of a Fall Arrest System can be<br />
part of the safety controls established<br />
for Permit Required Confined Spaces.<br />
This is usually the case in nut hulling or<br />
processing facilities depending on the<br />
tasks that will be completed by the employee<br />
while accessing confined spaces<br />
with exposure to possible falls. Practice<br />
of all other permit required confined<br />
space controls, such as Lock Out/Tag<br />
Out or Fire Prevention measures, must<br />
also be emphasized in training activities<br />
to ensure all Cal/OSHA requirements<br />
are met and employee safety is<br />
The types of safety measures or controls that will need to be implemented are determined<br />
after a fall hazard safety assessment of each area where employees are exposed<br />
to above heights.<br />
effective.<br />
Western Agricultural Processors<br />
Association has been assisting with<br />
development of safety plans for its<br />
members and is continuing to explore<br />
ways that it can contribute to the<br />
ongoing success of the nut industry in<br />
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on these services, visit our website at<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 53
The Outlook for California’s<br />
Almond Market<br />
Figure 2. Almond Imports, China and India, 2014-2019<br />
The California almond<br />
industry has seen remarkable<br />
growth over the past couple<br />
decades. Can additional growth and<br />
high prices be sustained? We discuss<br />
expected changes in demand and<br />
supply moving forward, with implications<br />
for the success of California’s<br />
almond industry.<br />
California produces nearly all<br />
of the almonds grown in the U.S.<br />
and is also the world’s dominant<br />
almond producer. The remarkable<br />
growth of the California<br />
almond industry represents<br />
perhaps the greatest success<br />
story in California agriculture<br />
in recent decades.<br />
California’s bearing almond<br />
acreage expanded from 418,000<br />
in 1995 to 1,250,000 in 2020.<br />
Production rose over this same<br />
period from 370 million pounds<br />
to a projected 2.8 billion pounds<br />
for the 2020-21 crop. With a farm<br />
production value of about $6.1<br />
billion for the 2019-20 crop,<br />
almonds have vaulted to third<br />
place among California<br />
agricultural commodities,<br />
trailing only the dairy and<br />
grape industries. Both<br />
domestic and international<br />
shipments of California<br />
almonds have grown steadily<br />
from 2014-15 onward, with<br />
about two-thirds of the crop<br />
designated for export sales. The<br />
U.S. share of world export sales,<br />
which is dominated by California,<br />
By ELLEN M. BRUNO | Asst. Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of<br />
Agricultural and Resource 100,000 Economics, UC Berkeley,<br />
BRITTNEY GOODRICH | Asst. Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of<br />
80,000<br />
Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis<br />
and RICHARD J. SEXTON 60,000 | Distinguished Professor, Department of Agricultural<br />
and Resource Economics, UC Davis<br />
40,000<br />
Imports (tonnes)<br />
20,000<br />
also increased over 2014-18, and now Prices dropped in 2020 to $1.83<br />
stands at about two-thirds.<br />
per pound, an outcome we regard as<br />
Such dramatic 0 growth in the supply<br />
of an agricultural<br />
an aberration due to multiple factors:<br />
2014<br />
product<br />
2015<br />
would 2016 trade disruptions<br />
2017 2018<br />
and reductions 2019 in<br />
normally cause precipitous price decreases,<br />
and, indeed, many analysts COVID-19 pandemic, trade disputes<br />
consumers’ incomes caused by the<br />
have erroneously forecasted this fate between the U.S. and key importing<br />
countries, as well as a for the almond industry. It has not<br />
record<br />
Figure 1. Real California Almond Prices, 2010-2020<br />
Price ($/lb)<br />
4<br />
3.5<br />
3<br />
2.5<br />
2<br />
1.5<br />
1<br />
2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020<br />
Year<br />
Source: Author’s calculations using USDA NASS data.<br />
Figure 1. The grower price per pound fluctuated considerably from 2010-2015, ranging<br />
from a low of $1.79 per pound in 2010 to a high of $4.00 in 2014. It then settled into a<br />
very stable range in the ensuing years, with the price fluctuating in a narrow band of<br />
$2.39 to $2.53 from 2016 to 2018.<br />
happened, however. The grower price<br />
per pound fluctuated considerably<br />
from 2010-2015, ranging from a low<br />
of $1.79 per pound in 2010 to a high<br />
of $4.00 in 2014. It then settled into<br />
a very stable range in the ensuing<br />
years, with the price fluctuating in a<br />
narrow band of $2.39 to $2.53 from<br />
2016 to 2018 (See Figure 1).<br />
supply of almonds in 2020 due to<br />
the highest per-acre yields since<br />
2011. Since the release of the USDA<br />
<strong>2021</strong> California Almond Objective<br />
Measurement Report, which projects<br />
a smaller crop than anticipated for<br />
<strong>2021</strong>, almond prices have rebounded<br />
to pre-2020 levels. According to<br />
Merlo Farming Group, Nonpareil<br />
54 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
in-shell prices increased roughly 19%<br />
from $2.33 to $2.75 per pound between<br />
July 13, <strong>2021</strong> and July 18, <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
[subhead] Growth in Demand<br />
Despite the dramatic expansion in<br />
supply, prices have been relatively stable<br />
because demand has grown as fast<br />
as or faster than supply. Both domestic<br />
and export markets have experienced<br />
significant demand growth. Domestic<br />
shipments increased from 639.4 million<br />
pounds in 2014-15 to 774.3 million in<br />
2019-20, an increase of 21.1%. Export<br />
sales expanded over this same period<br />
from 1,173 million pounds to 1,598<br />
million, an increase of 36.2%.<br />
Expanded sales in both China and<br />
India are key factors in international<br />
demand growth. Collectively, China<br />
and India account for about 35% of the<br />
world’s population, and each country<br />
has experienced very rapid economic<br />
growth. From 2010 to 2019, China’s<br />
annual GDP growth rate ranged from<br />
6.1% to 9.5%. India’s GDP growth rate<br />
in 2019 was 4.2%, but from 2010 to<br />
2018, its growth rate ranged from 6.1%<br />
to 10.3%. By comparison, GDP growth<br />
for the U.S. from 2010–2019 ranged<br />
from 1.6% to 2.9%.<br />
Figure 2. Almond Imports, China and India, 2014-2019<br />
Imports (tonnes)<br />
100,000<br />
The rapid economic growth of these<br />
high-population countries has had a<br />
dramatic effect on world food markets.<br />
Consumers in both countries have<br />
sought to diversify their food consumption<br />
and 4 include more proteins<br />
in their diets. Almonds have been a<br />
primary beneficiary 3.5 of these consumption<br />
trends as<br />
3<br />
illustrated in (Figure<br />
2.) While world imports of almonds<br />
(shelled plus 2.5in-shell) expanded at a<br />
significant 42% over the six-year period<br />
from 2014 to 2019 based on UN Food<br />
and Agriculture Organization (FAO)<br />
Figure 1. Real California Almond Prices, data, 2010-2020 almond imports to China and<br />
India (measured in shelled tonnes) expanded<br />
106.7% and 69.6%, respectively.<br />
However, despite the dramatic increase<br />
in almond consumption in these<br />
two countries, per capita consump-<br />
Price ($/lb)<br />
80,000<br />
60,000<br />
40,000<br />
20,000<br />
2<br />
0<br />
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019<br />
Figure 2. Almonds have been a primary beneficiary of changing consumption trends worldwide.<br />
Source: Author’s calculations using USDA NASS data.<br />
Continued on Page 56<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 55
Continued from Page 55<br />
tion in each (0.14 pounds in China and<br />
0.16 pounds in India) is only about 6%<br />
of per capita consumption in the U.S.<br />
(2.33 pounds). The Asia-Pacific market<br />
now accounts for 27% of California<br />
almond shipments. However, these<br />
consumption comparisons show that<br />
significant growth potential remains<br />
for almonds in these major markets as<br />
well as for other emerging economies<br />
as incomes grow and people seek to<br />
diversify their consumption beyond<br />
traditional staples.<br />
Although the domestic (U.S.) and<br />
Western European markets, which have<br />
been the traditional leading markets<br />
for almond exports, are mature markets,<br />
there is also evidence of growth<br />
in these markets in recent years and<br />
potential for more growth in future<br />
years. As noted, domestic shipments<br />
of almonds expanded 21.1% over the<br />
last five years. The two leading Western<br />
European importers are Spain and<br />
Germany. Spanish almond imports<br />
expanded 32.5% in the past five years,<br />
while German demand growth has<br />
been much slower, 3.5% over the past<br />
five years. Spain has historically been a<br />
major almond producer and developed<br />
a substantial manufacturing industry<br />
for almond products. As Spain’s own<br />
production has waned, it has been<br />
necessary to import almonds to sustain<br />
these industries. Thus, growth in Spanish<br />
imports is both demand-based and<br />
also reflective of the decline in Spain’s<br />
own production.<br />
In addition, the almond industry<br />
benefits from the recent popularity of<br />
plant-based proteins as an alternative<br />
to traditional meat and dairy products.<br />
The Plant-Based Foods Association<br />
claims $7 billion in sales in the past<br />
Domestic shipments of almonds expanded 21.1% over the last five years (photo by Cathy Merlo.)<br />
year and 27% year-over-year growth in<br />
2020. One market research firm, Grand<br />
View Research, predicts a compounded<br />
annual growth rate (CAGR) for almond<br />
milk of 14.3% through 2025 (https://bit.<br />
ly/36QC7nt).<br />
Changes in Supply<br />
Given the rapid growth that we<br />
anticipate in almond demand moving<br />
forward, fueled by economic growth in<br />
high-population, emerging economies<br />
and by new product uses for almonds,<br />
the remaining piece of the puzzle is to<br />
understand how supply is likely to respond<br />
moving forward. There are three<br />
essential components to consider: 1)<br />
acres of almond production in California;<br />
2) California almond yields; and 3)<br />
almond production and exports from<br />
competing countries.<br />
The USDA projects California bearing<br />
almond acreage to be 1,330,000 in<br />
<strong>2021</strong>, an all-time high. However, signs<br />
indicate that the rapid growth in the<br />
California industry is abating. New<br />
plantings of almonds have decreased in<br />
magnitude each year since 2015 when<br />
42,824 acres were planted to almonds,<br />
with only 14,808 acres planted in 2020.<br />
A common assumption in the industry<br />
is that an almond orchard has a life of<br />
25 to 30 years, meaning orchards planted<br />
in the early to mid-1990s are nearing<br />
the end of their productive lives. The<br />
rapid expansion of the industry began<br />
during this period, with almond<br />
plantings from 1994 to 1999 averaging<br />
25,316 annually.<br />
The rate of new plantings experienced<br />
in 2019 (22,142 acres) and 2020<br />
(14,808 acres), if representative of<br />
future trends, would not compensate<br />
for the acres that will be removed at the<br />
end of their productive lives, meaning<br />
that growth in California’s almond<br />
acreage may soon be ending. Many<br />
factors could explain the decline in<br />
planting despite the industry’s continued<br />
profitability, including concerns<br />
about access to irrigation water, a heavy<br />
reliance on the U.S. beekeeping industry<br />
for pollination services, and limited<br />
availability of lands suitable for planting<br />
almonds. California’s Sustainable<br />
Groundwater Management Act of 2014<br />
augurs likely cutbacks in groundwater<br />
availability for huge swathes of California’s<br />
agricultural lands. Almonds<br />
are an especially “thirsty” crop and are<br />
likely to be impacted by these cutbacks.<br />
Almond yields in California expanded<br />
dramatically in the 1990s,<br />
fueling the supply growth along with<br />
expanded acreage. Although yields<br />
have been variable, they continued, on<br />
average, to expand through the early<br />
2000s, reaching a maximum of 2,540<br />
pounds per acre in 2011. Since then,<br />
however, yields have stabilized and<br />
even may have trended slightly downwards.<br />
Declining yields are likely in<br />
part a result of a higher proportion of<br />
young orchards due to rapid acreage<br />
expansion from 2012 to 2015. Other<br />
potential contributors include changes<br />
to the growing-season climate and the<br />
planting of new acreage on land less<br />
suitable for almonds. Data for 2019 and<br />
2020 indicate yields of 2,170 and 2,490<br />
pounds per acre, 370 and 50 pounds<br />
less, respectively, than at the 2011 peak.<br />
Exports of almonds from countries<br />
other than the U.S. have been<br />
stable over the past five years, with no<br />
apparent trend, and, in total, represent
Yields have plateaued in recent years as growers turn to more<br />
marginal land for planting new orchards (photo courtesy USDA ARS.)<br />
only about half of what the U.S. exports. Traditional almond<br />
producers and exporters such as Spain, Iran, Morocco, Syria,<br />
Turkey and Italy have aging, low-yielding trees and show<br />
little potential for expanded production. Today, production<br />
in these countries mainly serves their domestic markets.<br />
The one country where almond acreage and production<br />
is expanding is Australia. The Almond Board of Australia<br />
(ABA) reports 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) planted to almonds,<br />
with 2020 production totaling 111 thousand tonnes,<br />
the largest harvest to date. The ABA forecasts that Australian<br />
almond production could reach 175 thousand tonnes (385.8<br />
million pounds) by 2026, approximately 13% of the 2020<br />
California production.<br />
Australia’s almonds are mainly grown in the Murray-Darling<br />
Basin region, and over half of Australia’s almond<br />
exports are to China and Hong Kong (which is a significant<br />
re-exporter). The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s major<br />
agricultural region, but it faces many challenges due to a lack<br />
of water resources. Australia’s Almond Board indicates that<br />
almond orchard expansion has slowed, and almond growers<br />
in the basin have called for a moratorium on further almond<br />
plantings in the basin due to fears of water shortages. Australia<br />
represents one of the only threats to California’s hegemony<br />
in the market, but this threat is muted by water issues in<br />
the Murray-Darling Basin.<br />
Concluding Remarks<br />
Although market conditions for almonds deteriorated beginning<br />
in June 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, trade<br />
disputes between the U.S. and key almond-importing countries,<br />
and the exceptionally large 2020 California harvest, we<br />
do not regard any of these developments as reflecting a longterm<br />
trend. Normal yields and normal market conditions<br />
should cause prices to return to pre-pandemic levels; in fact,<br />
this seems to have occurred with recent rebounds in market<br />
prices.<br />
In summary, market conditions are likely to remain<br />
strong for almonds moving forward. We anticipate continued<br />
significant growth in export sales driven by China, India,<br />
Vietnam and other fast-growing emerging economies. The<br />
domestic market also has potential for solid growth based on<br />
the health benefits associated with eating almonds and the<br />
rapidly growing market for plant-based alternatives to meat<br />
and dairy.<br />
We expect the growth in California’s production to slow<br />
moving forward. Plantings have slowed to the point where,<br />
at the present pace, they are unlikely to match removals as<br />
trees planted in the early to mid-1990s reach the end of their<br />
useful lives. The main threat for emergent competition in the<br />
export market is from Australia, but it appears that Australia’s<br />
ability to expand production is limited due to water<br />
scarcity issues.<br />
This article first appeared in ARE Update. The authors of this<br />
article can be reached at ebruno@berkeley.edu, bkgoodrich@<br />
ucdavis.edu, and rich@primal.ucdavis.edu, respectively.<br />
Additional Information<br />
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural<br />
Statistics Service. <strong>2021</strong>. 2020 California Almond Acreage<br />
Report. Available at: https://bit.ly/3wUXK0x .<br />
Davies, Anne. 2019. “Tough Nut to Crack: The Almond<br />
Boom and Its Drain on the Murray-Darling.” The Guardian.<br />
Available at: https://bit.ly/3hWPdpm .<br />
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel<br />
free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
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IPM’s Role in Crop Quality<br />
Cost-effective pest management is the<br />
key to maximizing return per acre.<br />
By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor<br />
Quality expectations are high,<br />
market competition is intense and<br />
production costs are up. “Where<br />
does that leave tree nut growers and<br />
their pest control advisors?” asks UCCE<br />
Farm Advisor Franz Niederholzer.<br />
In a Yuba-Sutter counties webinar<br />
series, Niederholzer noted that while<br />
markets are generally strong, maximizing<br />
net returns per acre is especially<br />
critical to economic sustainability in<br />
the almond industry.<br />
Cost-effective pest management,<br />
Niederholzer stressed, is the key to<br />
maximizing return per acre.<br />
Insect pests that can cause economic<br />
damage in tree nuts fall into<br />
two categories: mobile and immobile.<br />
Leading the way on the mobile list of<br />
annual pests is, to no surprise, navel<br />
orangeworm (NOW). Codling moth (in<br />
walnuts), peach twig borer and Oriental<br />
fruit moth round out the annual list.<br />
Stink bugs are listed as occasional pests<br />
in tree nuts. The immobile list of pests<br />
includes protein ants, web spinning<br />
mites and scale.<br />
Mobile Insect Pests<br />
In Niederholzer’s hierarchy of tree<br />
crop insect and mite pests, NOW and<br />
codling moth are listed as difficult and<br />
challenging in terms of management.<br />
Biological control opportunities for<br />
Pheromone traps and damaged nuts are used to track codling moth (photo by<br />
Jack Kelly Clark, UC Statewide IPM Program.)<br />
Good sanitation in the fall or early<br />
winter sets the stage for reducing<br />
orchard NOW populations and gives<br />
other control measures a better chance<br />
of being effective (photo courtesy Joel<br />
Siegel, USDA-ARS.)<br />
NOW and codling moth are limited.<br />
NOW’s ability to affect crop quality<br />
and cause market loss makes this pest’s<br />
control critical.<br />
Multiple approaches for monitoring<br />
NOW are important to accurately<br />
track pressure in an orchard. Mummy<br />
counts, egg traps, pheromone traps, evidence<br />
of damage and harvest samples<br />
are all methods of determining NOW<br />
populations. Pheromone traps and<br />
damaged nuts are used to track codling<br />
moth. Peach twig borer can be monitored<br />
by looking for emerging larvae at<br />
bloom, pheromone traps and harvest<br />
samples. Understanding the life cycle<br />
of worm pests helps with targeting<br />
management methods, Niederholzer<br />
said. NOW infests almonds at hull<br />
split. Their prime overwintering sites<br />
are mummy nuts on the tree or ground.<br />
Codling moth infests nuts early in the<br />
season, peach twig borer infests later in<br />
the season.<br />
Niederholzer notes that there are<br />
many NOW control practices used or<br />
in development. Control from each<br />
is not equal, and one practice cannot<br />
make up for deficiencies in another.<br />
Orchard sanitation, timely harvest,<br />
hull split sprays, spring sprays, mating<br />
disruption and traps and combinations<br />
of these are used to keep crop damage<br />
at low levels. Harvest samples from<br />
windrowed nuts can give growers and<br />
PCAs an idea of how well the year’s<br />
control program worked.<br />
58 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
Orchard sanitation and timely<br />
harvest are the two NOW management<br />
practices that are vital to preventing<br />
crop damage. Good sanitation in the<br />
fall or early winter sets the stage for reducing<br />
orchard NOW populations and<br />
gives other control measures a better<br />
chance of being effective. Niederholzer<br />
said cost per acre for orchard sanitation<br />
is about $235, while timely harvest<br />
adds no additional production costs.<br />
Early harvest plays a part in reducing<br />
the amount of damage from NOW and<br />
protein ants.<br />
Hull split sprays can help reduce<br />
NOW numbers, but won’t eliminate<br />
this pest in the orchard. Sprays in June<br />
and July add $35 to $86 per acre in<br />
production costs. Due to NOW’s high<br />
mobility and the chances of NOW<br />
flying in from other orchards, reduction<br />
in populations will be 50% at best.<br />
In addition, Niederholzer said that<br />
broad-spectrum materials, which are<br />
less costly, cut down on predators for<br />
biological control of other insect pests.<br />
Softer materials are more expensive,<br />
but biological control of other pests<br />
remains an option.<br />
‘<br />
Hull split sprays can help reduce<br />
NOW numbers, but won’t eliminate<br />
this pest in the orchard.<br />
’<br />
Immobile Insect Pests<br />
Immobile pests, such as ants, mites<br />
and scale, can be annual or occasional<br />
pests. Scale and mites are good<br />
candidates for biological control if<br />
orchards are managed without use<br />
of broad-spectrum insecticides. This<br />
allows populations of beneficial insects<br />
that prey on scale or mites to increase<br />
in the orchard.<br />
Niederholzer said the management<br />
of immobile orchard pests should focus<br />
on monitoring for population levels<br />
followed by pesticide selection and<br />
delivery.<br />
In the case of protein feeding ants,<br />
the percent of almond damage depends<br />
on the ant population and how long<br />
the nuts are on the orchard floor after<br />
shaking. In a graph, the number of ant<br />
colony entrances in a 5,000-squarefoot<br />
section of the orchard and the<br />
number of days the nuts are left on the<br />
ground can estimate crop damage. If<br />
45 colony entrances are identified, the<br />
Continued on Page 61<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 59
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Scale and mites are good candidates for biological control if orchards are managed<br />
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Statewide IPM Program.)<br />
Continued from Page 59<br />
crop damage can go from 1.4% in four<br />
days on the ground to 7% if nuts are<br />
on the ground for 21 days. Concerning<br />
economic damage, lost crop per acre,<br />
given a 2,500-pound crop at $2.50 a<br />
pound, goes from $87 in the four-day<br />
time frame to $437 in the 21-day time<br />
frame in the 45-colony scenario.<br />
Crop damage due to ants can go<br />
undetected in the orchard unless a<br />
harvest sample is taken before nuts are<br />
picked up.<br />
Ant bait is a good IPM practice, Niederholzer<br />
said, but it must be used correctly<br />
to achieve ant control. It should<br />
be applied to dry soil, and irrigation<br />
should not be done for at least 48 hours<br />
after bait is distributed. Baits also lose<br />
their attractiveness to ants over time<br />
and should not be stored. Weed management<br />
to minimize seed production<br />
removes another food source for ants,<br />
making baits more effective in control.<br />
Hull split sprays and irrigation in<br />
the summer can take precedence over<br />
ant control, Niederholzer warned.<br />
Esteem, Clinch and Extinguish baits all<br />
need to be applied at least four weeks<br />
pre-harvest.<br />
Beneficial insects and mites can<br />
provide biological control of spider<br />
mites. Web spinning mites are an<br />
annual concern in almond production.<br />
Management practices include monitoring<br />
to track mite populations as well<br />
as predator mite populations. Dry and<br />
dusty orchard edges are the most likely<br />
areas for mite infestations. Niederholzer<br />
said to wait until UC thresholds<br />
are reached to begin miticide sprays. A<br />
two-spray program is $80 to $100 per<br />
acre including spray costs.<br />
When it comes to decisions on spider<br />
mite control, UCCE IPM Advisor<br />
David Haviland said that predator trap<br />
cards can assist in monitoring for predator<br />
numbers. Finding three six-spotted<br />
thrips on the predator cards in a week<br />
means mite populations will remain at<br />
the current level or go down, allowing a<br />
savings on a pesticide application.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 61
UNDERSTANDING HOW NITROGEN IS UTILIZED<br />
IMPROVES NITROGEN-USE EFFICIENCY FOR<br />
ALMOND GROWERS<br />
By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer<br />
California almond growers are<br />
embracing opportunities to improve<br />
nitrogen use efficiency and<br />
should be applauded for doing so, according<br />
to Patrick H. Brown, a professor<br />
in the Department of Plant Sciences<br />
at UC Davis. But, he said, more can be<br />
done, and only through recognition of<br />
how nitrogen is utilized by the tree can<br />
growers reach 100% efficiency.<br />
The biggest key to realizing optimum<br />
performance and minimum<br />
loss, Brown said, is a recognition that<br />
nitrogen uptake in trees is directly<br />
correspondent to yield. That concept<br />
was discussed in a research paper that<br />
Brown, fellow UC Davis Plant Sciences<br />
Professor Emilio Laca and three graduate<br />
students published in 2012, and<br />
it has been widely adopted by almond<br />
growers.<br />
In the paper, the researchers documented<br />
that in a typical orchard, for<br />
every 1,000 pounds of kernel yield, 68<br />
pounds of nitrogen is required. “Add<br />
to that some allowance for tree growth<br />
and apply it efficiently and you have a<br />
recipe for great productivity and minimum<br />
N loss,” Brown said.<br />
The paper, which has been widely<br />
circulated over the last decade, also<br />
brought forward the concept of sampling<br />
leaf tissue in April as opposed to<br />
the standard sampling timing of July or<br />
August, another change that has found<br />
advocates.<br />
Unlike when sampling in August,<br />
April sampling enables growers to<br />
adjust nitrogen programs based on<br />
projected yields, Brown said. “It enables<br />
a grower to say, ‘I am just coming into<br />
Pulling leaf samples in April, rather than in July or August, allows a grower to adjust their<br />
nitrogen budget for the current season (all photos by Andres Olivos and Sebastian Saa.)<br />
spring, I can see it is a bumper crop<br />
this year, my leaf tissue suggests I have<br />
marginal nitrogen, so I better increase<br />
my nitrogen a little bit to compensate<br />
for that,’ or the same in reverse,” Brown<br />
said.<br />
When sampling in August, it typically<br />
is too late for growers to adjust<br />
a nitrogen budget for the current year,<br />
Brown said, as growers have already<br />
applied nearly all of the nitrogen they<br />
are going to apply for that year’s crop.<br />
“And, frankly,” Brown said, “it is too<br />
early to give information about the next<br />
year, because you can’t predict next<br />
year’s nutrition demand, because that is<br />
going to depend on how many nuts get<br />
set on the tree. And you cannot know<br />
in August of 2020 how many nuts you<br />
are going to have in the tree in August<br />
of <strong>2021</strong>.”<br />
Brown added that in cases where<br />
leaf tissue analysis shows a nitrogen<br />
deficiency, adding nitrogen may not<br />
always be the solution.<br />
Nitrogen Budget<br />
If your leaf is short of nitrogen, you<br />
should first look at your N budget. And<br />
if your budget shows you have given<br />
the tree plenty of nitrogen, then what<br />
you need to do is find out where it went.<br />
And if it is being lost, improve your<br />
application methods, your uniformity<br />
and increase your efficiency, rather<br />
than put on more nitrogen,” Brown<br />
said. “Try to work out where did I go<br />
wrong? How come my trees are yellow<br />
even though I followed the N budget<br />
properly?<br />
“A grower should never look at a<br />
leaf-tissue analysis and say, ‘Oh, I need<br />
more nitrogen,’” Brown said. “They<br />
should first say, ‘Well, let me have a<br />
62 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
“<br />
You are much<br />
better off<br />
putting on<br />
multiple<br />
applications.<br />
– Patrick H. Brown, UC Davis<br />
”<br />
look at my budget. Was I under budget?<br />
And if I am not underbudgeted, why are<br />
these leaves yellow? Let’s look at my efficiency.’<br />
That is the thought process and<br />
it is the only way we are going to get<br />
around nitrate pollution of the groundwater<br />
and all of the problems that that<br />
is causing us.”<br />
Brown added that overapplying<br />
nitrogen serves no benefit. “Growers<br />
cannot enhance productivity by overapplying<br />
nitrogen,” he said. “Like chickens<br />
in an egg farm, you feed them what<br />
they need, and you aren’t going to get<br />
more eggs by feeding them more than<br />
what they need.”<br />
Brown characterized the almond<br />
industry’s embrace of nitrogen use efficiency<br />
in recent years as a “wonderful<br />
development.”<br />
“If you go back 20 years and ask an<br />
average almond grower what they do,<br />
they would say they apply 250 to 275<br />
pounds of nitrogen,” Brown said. “And<br />
if you said, ‘But you have a five-year-old<br />
orchard and a 15-year-old orchard, one<br />
yielding 3,000 pounds and one 1,500<br />
pounds. Should they both get the same?’<br />
And they would say, ‘Maybe not, but<br />
it’s not easy to know for sure and it is<br />
Continued on Page 64<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 63
When testing leaf samples for nitrogen, it is important for growers to follow the correct sampling strategy as outlined in the Almond Board<br />
of California publication titled ‘Nitrogen Best Management Practices’.<br />
Continued from Page 63<br />
easier to avoid loss by erring on the<br />
high side.’<br />
“Now they are thinking and saying,<br />
‘Okay, this is only the fifth leaf. It is<br />
only 1,500 pounds, and I’m only going<br />
to give it this much nitrogen. Or it is a<br />
19-year-old orchard and it is on its<br />
way out, so I am going to give it less,’”<br />
Brown said. “Many growers have done<br />
that.”<br />
When determining a nitrogen budget,<br />
Brown said growers should factor<br />
in the residual nitrogen in a system,<br />
primarily the nitrogen found in irrigation<br />
water.<br />
“Nitrogen in irrigation water is<br />
an excellent and free N fertilizer and<br />
should be included in your total annual<br />
N budget,” the researchers wrote in the<br />
2012 paper.<br />
Proper timing of nitrogen applications<br />
is another key to achieving<br />
maximum results from your nitrogen<br />
budget, Brown said, with the first application<br />
optimally going on no earlier<br />
than 50% leaf-out.<br />
“Trees don’t start using nitrogen<br />
from the soil until their leaves are 50%<br />
expanded,” Brown said. “Prior to that,<br />
they are growing off the nitrogen they<br />
stored the prior year.”<br />
When sampling leaves, Brown said<br />
it is important for growers to pull multiple<br />
samples. The 2012 research paper<br />
recommends growers take 18 to 20<br />
samples from trees at least 30 feet apart<br />
in any one orchard.<br />
“That gives you a statistically valid<br />
average for that portion of the orchard,”<br />
Brown said.<br />
Further information on sampling<br />
techniques can be found in the Almond<br />
Board of California publication<br />
titled ‘Nitrogen Best Management<br />
Practices’ at almonds.com/sites/default/<br />
files/2020-12/ABC_Nitrogen_8.5x11_<br />
vmags.pdf.<br />
Continued on Page 66<br />
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April sampling enables growers to adjust nitrogen programs based on projected yields.<br />
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“<br />
Growers cannot<br />
enhance<br />
productivity<br />
by overapplying<br />
nitrogen.<br />
– Patrick H. Brown, UC Davis<br />
Continued from Page 64<br />
”<br />
The 2012 UC Davis research paper<br />
also advised growers to apply nitrogen<br />
in several small doses during the<br />
season rather than in one shot, another<br />
concept that has been embraced by<br />
growers in recent years and one that<br />
Brown believes is another key to optimizing<br />
nitrogen performance.<br />
“If you’ve got an orchard that needs<br />
200 pounds of nitrogen and you put<br />
200 pounds on the ground in January,<br />
on paper, that might look balanced,”<br />
Brown said. “In reality, much of that<br />
200 pounds is going to be pushed below<br />
the rootzone before the tree needs it in<br />
June or July.<br />
“You are much better off putting on<br />
multiple applications,” he said.<br />
Brown, who was awarded the<br />
Dennis R. Hoagland Award from the<br />
American Society for Plant Biology and<br />
the Leo M. Walsh Soil Fertility Distinguished<br />
Lectureship from Soil Science<br />
of America last May, said that orchard<br />
variability can make it difficult for<br />
growers to maximize nitrogen benefits<br />
in a way that minimizes losses. But, he<br />
said, “It can be done.”<br />
“It is going to take more work than<br />
just throwing it all on the ground and<br />
hoping for the best,” Brown said. “But<br />
absolutely, a grower can achieve great<br />
productivity and high efficiencies of nitrogen<br />
in drip irrigation or microsprinkler<br />
systems.”<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
66 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 67
Monitoring and Controlling Leafrollers in Hazelnuts<br />
By DANITA CAHILL | Contributing Writer<br />
The European leafroller, archips<br />
rosana, is an evasive species known<br />
in Oregon as the filbert leafroller, or<br />
the hazelnut-filbert leafroller. The telltale<br />
sign of an infestation of leafrollers<br />
in a hazelnut orchard is tightly rolled<br />
leaves, but unfortunately, after the larvae<br />
have rolled the leaves, the damage<br />
has already been done.<br />
An adult leafroller is a 1/2-inch to<br />
3/4-inch-long moth. It’s dark brown in<br />
color with darker lines across the wings.<br />
Females lay flat, irregular masses of eggs<br />
on bark or branches in July. By springtime,<br />
the egg masses turn grayish in<br />
color. The larvae hatch in early spring.<br />
The larvae, or worms, of the hazelnut-filbert<br />
leafroller begin chewing on<br />
the leaves and buds of hazelnut trees<br />
immediately after hatch. The green<br />
worms with brown heads feed on the<br />
new growth for four to six weeks. Their<br />
last feeding site is also where the worms<br />
pupate. They roll up leaves with sticky<br />
silk and pupate inside.<br />
Hazelnut-filbert leafrollers also damage<br />
fruit trees. Leaf damage isn’t so much<br />
a problem, but flower and fruit damage<br />
in apple and pear crops can cause serious<br />
commercial damage.<br />
Monitoring for Leafrollers<br />
According to the Pacific Northwest<br />
Pest Management Handbook compiled<br />
by Oregon State University Extension<br />
Service, Washington State University<br />
Extension and University of Idaho<br />
Extension, hazelnut growers should start<br />
monitoring for leafrollers in mid-March.<br />
Check three terminals and three leaf<br />
clusters per terminal. Consider each terminal<br />
a sampling unit. Look for feeding<br />
damage on tender new growth. Also start<br />
checking for tightly rolled leaves. Treat<br />
for larvae when infestation count shows<br />
up on 20% to 25% of sampling units.<br />
To check for adult moths, start in<br />
mid-May using one pheromone trap for<br />
each five acres of orchard. Place traps six<br />
feet up in the tree canopy. Treat for adult<br />
moths when the traps catch 40 moths per<br />
week.<br />
Biological Control<br />
Biological control includes encouraging<br />
beneficial insects, such as parasitic<br />
wasps, spiders and brown lacewings.<br />
Lacewings, order Neuroptera, can be<br />
recognized by the complex vein pattern<br />
of spots and specks on their otherwise<br />
see-through wings, making them somewhat<br />
resemble lace. Their wings are held<br />
roof-like over their bodies. Lacewing<br />
adults and their larvae eat soft-bodied<br />
insects and mites.<br />
Lacewing larvae are 1/3 of an inch or<br />
less and look almost like tiny alligators<br />
with a long neck and bodies tapering at<br />
the tail. Lacewing larvae are cream colored<br />
or gray with two brown or reddish<br />
stripes or rows of spots running down<br />
the top of their body.<br />
Cold temperatures help control leafrollers.<br />
Winters with low temps keep the<br />
insect numbers down.<br />
Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki<br />
can be used as a biological control with<br />
results ranging from poor to satisfactory.<br />
Often, biological control is enough<br />
to manage leafrollers. Chemical control<br />
may not even be necessary.<br />
Chemical Control<br />
If using chemical control, apply in the<br />
early spring when hazelnut leaves are 3/4<br />
of an inch to one inch long. Pesticide is<br />
more effective if applied when the worms<br />
are still small. There are many different<br />
chemical controls to consider, but several<br />
are extremely toxic to fish and aquatic<br />
habitat. Also, several have restricted use<br />
in Oregon.<br />
Jason Whitehead and his family farm<br />
2,300 acres in Scio and Lacomb, Ore.<br />
in the Mid-Willamette Valley. Their<br />
operation, JRW Farms, is largely grass<br />
seed, but currently includes 400 acres of<br />
hazelnuts. Whitehead also grows his own<br />
hazelnut nursery stock.<br />
“We’re harvesting something from<br />
June until <strong>Nov</strong>ember 1,” Whitehead said.<br />
He’s looking to cut back and has plans to<br />
soon cut out the grass seed completely<br />
and cut back his hazelnuts to about 130<br />
acres.<br />
Begin monitoring for leafrollers in mid-<br />
March (all photos by D. Cahill.)<br />
Young hazelnut trees suffer more damage<br />
from leafrollers than older trees.<br />
Before buying his first 86-acre chunk<br />
of land in 2005, Whitehead worked for<br />
other farmers. A farmer that employed<br />
him when Whitehead was in high school<br />
grew hazelnuts. Whitehead enjoyed<br />
working in the hazelnut orchards. He<br />
found driving the tractor through the<br />
trees peaceful.<br />
As far as leafroller issues in hazelnuts<br />
go, “They’re more of a problem in young<br />
trees,” Whitehead said. For control, he<br />
follows chemical labels.<br />
“I don’t target them in big trees,”<br />
Whitehead said, adding that for older<br />
trees, he targets sprays more for hazelnut-Filbertworm<br />
moth and brown<br />
marmorated stink bug.<br />
Filbert Leafroller Moth or<br />
a Filbertworm Moth?<br />
How do you tell the difference between<br />
hazelnut-filbert leafroller moths<br />
and the hazelnut-Filbertworm moth?<br />
68 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
Hazelnut-filbert<br />
Leafroller Lifecycle<br />
Jason Whitehead, wife Rachael and their<br />
cattle dogs.<br />
The leafroller moth is brown with darker<br />
brown strips and stripes across its wings,<br />
while the hazelnut-Filbertworm moth<br />
can range in color from reddish to gray.<br />
The biggest clue to spotting a hazelnut-Filbertworm<br />
moth is to look for the<br />
telltale metallic golden bands across each<br />
forewing.<br />
The larvae of the hazelnut-Filbertworm<br />
pupate in the spring and the adults<br />
emerge from early summer through midfall,<br />
usually mid-June through October,<br />
so the two species have some overlapping<br />
time as adult moths during summertime<br />
in the orchard.<br />
According to the Pacific Northwest<br />
Pest Management Handbook, growers<br />
Rolled leaves show damage from the<br />
hazelnut-filbert leafroller.<br />
should start hanging pheromone traps<br />
for hazelnut-Filbertworm moths in mid-<br />
May to catch the first of the emerging<br />
moths. Hang four traps for the first 10<br />
acres and one trap after that for each<br />
additional four acres. Hang the traps in<br />
the upper third of the canopy. Hanging<br />
traps high is important for best results<br />
because pheromone is heavier than air,<br />
so it moves downward. Take control action<br />
when two or three moths are caught<br />
per trap, or five moths are caught in any<br />
one trap.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
One generation of<br />
leafrollers per season.<br />
Larvae hatch and begin<br />
feeding on tender leaves<br />
and buds in early spring.<br />
The worms feed for<br />
four to six weeks.<br />
Worms pupate in rolled leaves<br />
at their final feeding spot.<br />
In early summer the larvae<br />
emerge as moths.<br />
Adult female moths lay eggs<br />
on bark or branches in July.<br />
Eggs overwinter to<br />
hatch in early spring.<br />
PLANBEFOREPLANTING.COM<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 69
A WORD FROM THE BOARD: THE ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA<br />
THE PRACTICAL WISDOM OF CLIMATE-<br />
SMART AGRICULTURE PRACTICES<br />
By ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA | Contributing Writer<br />
”<br />
Climate-smart agriculture.”<br />
While not common parlance<br />
under the tree canopy yet, many<br />
growers are increasingly adopting<br />
practices recognized as climate-smart<br />
because they make sense for improving<br />
soil quality or efficiency. Plus, there are<br />
more economic incentives to implement<br />
them today than ever before.<br />
So, what is climate-smart agriculture?<br />
Basically, it’s any management<br />
practice that reduces greenhouse gas<br />
emissions or keeps them out of the atmosphere,<br />
also known as sequestration.<br />
This includes practices that use water<br />
and nitrogen efficiently, improvements<br />
to energy efficiency, and using renewable<br />
fuel or contributing to biofuels<br />
with co-products. However, most of<br />
the excitement is around sequestering<br />
carbon in the soil; that is, practices that<br />
build up and maintain higher levels of<br />
organic matter.<br />
“If we had this conversation 30<br />
years ago, I think people would agree<br />
on these practices; they’re just meant<br />
to be,” said Ben King, a Colusa-based<br />
almond grower, managing principal<br />
of Pacific Gold Agriculture, LLC and a<br />
member of the Almond Board of California’s<br />
(ABC) Bee Health and Pollination<br />
Workgroup. “Sustainability and<br />
climate-smart ag is about keeping your<br />
ground fertile for future generations. I<br />
don’t think we’re that far off between<br />
what we do and what’s being discussed.”<br />
Agriculture as Part of the<br />
Climate Solution<br />
With nearly 900 million acres of<br />
working lands across the U.S., agriculture<br />
is uniquely positioned to assist<br />
various initiatives aimed at curbing<br />
greenhouse gas emissions. This is due<br />
partly to the ability to sequester carbon<br />
in soil.<br />
“A lot of food companies have<br />
figured out that climate change is a<br />
real risk to their business and they are<br />
stepping in, setting voluntary goals<br />
to reduce emissions from their operations,”<br />
said Gabriele Ludwig, ABC’s<br />
director of Sustainability and Environmental<br />
Affairs.<br />
In 2020, General Mills announced it<br />
would reduce greenhouse gas emissions<br />
by 30% across its value chain over the<br />
next decade, while Hershey’s recently<br />
announced it would seek a 25% reduction<br />
by 2030. Nestlé aims for a 20%<br />
emissions reduction by 2025 and a 50%<br />
reduction by 2030, followed by achieving<br />
net-zero emissions by 2050.<br />
“For food companies to meet their<br />
aggressive climate goals, they need<br />
help both upstream and downstream<br />
in their value chain,” Ludwig said.<br />
“Upstream would be from growers and<br />
downstream would be from things like<br />
food waste and recycling or reusing<br />
Whole-orchard recycling supports two of the industry’s Almond Orchard 2025<br />
Goals, achieving zero waste and increasing water holding capacity (photo<br />
courtesy Brent Holtz, UCCE.)<br />
packaging.”<br />
So, what does upstream help look<br />
like when it comes to climate-smart<br />
agriculture practices?<br />
“The thinking is if there’s a focus<br />
on soil quality improvements through<br />
Continued on Page 72<br />
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Continued from Page 70<br />
organic matter inputs, it not only benefits the environment,<br />
but also helps the grower,” Ludwig said. “The tangible<br />
agronomic benefits may be better water infiltration and/or<br />
increased water holding capacity in soils. Companies like<br />
these practices because they often provide co-benefits such<br />
as reduced erosion or movement of nitrogen.”<br />
Examples of organic matter inputs in orchards include<br />
cover crops, composted manure or green-waste applications,<br />
chipping of prunings and whole orchard recycling. Recently<br />
completed research into whole orchard recycling from UC<br />
Davis showed an improvement in water holding capacity, the<br />
addition of nitrogen in the soil over time and a 19% cumulative<br />
nut yield increase over five years.<br />
Other UC research has been looking at the impact of<br />
composted manure and green-waste to soils. Depending on<br />
the source of the compost, growers may be able to reduce<br />
applications of synthetic nitrogen by up to 20% due to<br />
increased water holding capacity. This helps keep nitrogen<br />
where roots have a greater chance to take it up, making nitrogen<br />
less likely to leach into groundwater.<br />
Cover Crops: Climate-Smart Practice<br />
with Multiple Benefits<br />
In Colusa, King has been a long-time advocate for the<br />
use of cover crops in and around almond orchards. He says<br />
their strategic use adds organic material to the soil, with the<br />
License No. 251698<br />
Whole-orchard recycling offers a variety of environmental<br />
benefits (photo courtesy Almond Board of California.)<br />
added benefit of providing much-needed habitat for wild and<br />
managed pollinators.<br />
King planted cover crops in all 350 acres of his almond<br />
orchards this past year to reap the soil and pollinator benefits<br />
offered by the practice. As the cover crops grow, King<br />
welcomes all pollinators into his orchard, noting that “what’s<br />
good for a bumble bee is good for a honey bee; there’s not<br />
a bad pollinator.” After the cover crops have done their job<br />
of feeding pollinators, and soil microbes from their roots, it<br />
is mowed in the spring, where it will breakdown to return<br />
organic matter to the soil.<br />
“We planted what’s called a soil builder, which has some<br />
mustard, legumes and some barley,” King said. “The stuff<br />
we planted earlier turned out pretty good, without much<br />
precipitation. Going into May, we had a stand that was about<br />
four feet high from just rain. I see the difference in the water<br />
holding capacity of my soils where I’ve had cover crops more<br />
regularly from year to year.”<br />
To help with the cost of planting his cover crops, King<br />
leveraged the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s<br />
(CDFA) Healthy Soils Program, which provides financial<br />
incentives to farmers to implement various practices that<br />
sequester carbon. Since 2017, more than $9 million dollars<br />
has been awarded to almond-specific projects.<br />
“The Healthy Soils Program covered my seed costs and<br />
some of the costs to plant it,” King said. “We need this kind<br />
of program at a much larger scale.”<br />
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Climate-Smart Ag: More than Organic Matter<br />
According to an ABC-funded lifecycle assessment of<br />
California almonds, nitrogen and water use are the top two<br />
contributors to the almond industry’s carbon footprint (all of<br />
agriculture in California accounts for 8% of greenhouse gas<br />
emissions in the state.)<br />
When synthetic nitrogen fertilizer arrives for use in an<br />
orchard, it brings with it a carbon footprint due to the fossil-fuel<br />
based energy used in its production. ABC’s Ludwig<br />
noted that growers have little control over that process;<br />
72 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
"<br />
"The thinking is if there’s<br />
a focus on soil quality<br />
improvements through<br />
organic matter inputs,<br />
it not only benefits the<br />
environment, but also<br />
helps the grower.”<br />
– Gabriele Ludwig, Almond<br />
Board of California<br />
however, some fertilizer companies are working to decarbonize<br />
the energy used to produce nitrogen fertilizer, which may<br />
allow growers to choose lower carbon footprint fertilizers in<br />
the future.<br />
Once applied, nitrogen can be converted by soil microbes<br />
to nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with a global warming<br />
potential nearly 300 times greater than carbon dioxide. However,<br />
practices that improve nitrogen use efficiency can also<br />
help reduce nitrous oxide emissions. For almonds, such practices<br />
include matching the amount of nitrogen applied (from<br />
both synthetic and organic sources) to projected yield, using<br />
April leaf sampling, applying nitrogen in more frequent and<br />
smaller amounts, and making sure the irrigation system is<br />
functioning as advertised to avoid over- or under-irrigation.<br />
According to the almond lifecycle assessment, greenhouse<br />
gases associated with water are from the energy it takes for<br />
pumping it. That includes moving it around the state and<br />
into the orchard, pumping groundwater and/or pressurizing<br />
the water for microirrigation systems. Thus, efforts to ensure<br />
that pumps and irrigation systems are functioning efficiently<br />
are also climate-smart practices.<br />
Another aspect is the form of energy used for pumping<br />
and pressurizing. Moving from diesel to electric motors<br />
reduces greenhouse gas emissions both by avoiding the use<br />
of fossil fuels and because the electricity used to run these<br />
pumps has a declining carbon footprint as a result of California’s<br />
implementation of its Renewables Portfolio Standard<br />
Program (SB 1078). This program mandates that 60% of the<br />
state’s electricity be generated from renewable sources by<br />
2030. And some growers are even producing their own energy<br />
with solar panels.<br />
Furthermore, there is a link between practices that increase<br />
soil organic matter and the energy used for irrigation.<br />
Research has indicated that increasing soil organic matter by<br />
1% can increase soil-available water holding capacity by 3.7%.<br />
That increased water holding capacity can provide more flexibility<br />
as to when a grower irrigates, such as timing irrigation<br />
to match lower electrical rate schedules or when energy is<br />
supplied onsite by solar or wind. And in heavier soils, practices<br />
that improve water infiltration can help avoid runoff or<br />
needing to irrigate more frequently for short periods of time.<br />
Getting Credit Where Credit is Due<br />
The California Almond Sustainability Program (Casp) enters<br />
its 11 th year of helping individual growers, handlers and<br />
the broader industry track and improve practices. Dr. Dan<br />
Sonke, Director of Sustainability at Blue Diamond Growers,<br />
is deeply familiar with CASP, having worked on the development<br />
of the program’s first five modules as a consultant at<br />
the program’s inception.<br />
“CASP aligns very well with climate-smart ag practices,”<br />
said Sonke, who is also a member of the ABC Sustainability<br />
Workgroup. “There’s an interconnectedness you see in the<br />
CASP modules. When growers are asked about energy use,<br />
there are also questions about pesticide use because it takes<br />
energy to make pesticides. If you’re using integrated pest<br />
management practices to reduce pesticides, you’re reducing<br />
energy use, which has climate implications. CASP was<br />
designed to highlight the system-wide thinking that cli-<br />
T5<br />
Continued on Page 74<br />
100-PTO-horsepower<br />
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<strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong> www.wcngg.com 73
Continued from Page 73<br />
It’s been a long harvest.<br />
Your trees just ran a marathon, and so did you.<br />
mate-smart agriculture requires.”<br />
Handlers such as Blue Diamond Growers report that buyers<br />
increasingly ask about, and make decisions based on, environmental<br />
and sustainability issues. An important change<br />
in recent years is the request for data, rather than anecdotal<br />
accounts, to verify sustainability claims. Sonke says this is<br />
where CASP is critically important for the almond industry<br />
to stay relevant and ahead of the curve.<br />
“To remain a nutritious ingredient or snack of choice, we<br />
want to have the data to prove the good story we have as an<br />
industry,” Sonke said. “We know we have a good story. We<br />
just need the data to document it so we can remind customers<br />
and consumers as to the goodness of almonds, not just<br />
from a nutrition and taste standpoint, but also a sustainability<br />
standpoint.”<br />
Sonke shared that since CASP is such an integral tool to<br />
communicate the progress of its growers to its customers,<br />
Blue Diamond Growers made the recent announcement that<br />
it will provide financial incentives to growers to participate<br />
in the program. More information about CASP is available at<br />
SustainableAlmondGrowing.org.<br />
Later this year, ABC will begin a pilot project with Ecosystem<br />
Services Market Consortium (ESMC), a non-profit<br />
that is developing carbon markets to link companies and<br />
growers. In addition to state and federal incentive programs,<br />
private partnerships will pay growers directly for implementing<br />
climate-smart practices such as using compost, whole<br />
orchard recycling, and/or cover crops. Growers interested in<br />
participating in the ABC-ESMC pilot project should contact<br />
ABC’s Gabriele Ludwig at GLudwig@almondboard.com.<br />
Last, but not least, growing trees is climate smart! However,<br />
agricultural trees do not get credit for their greenhouse<br />
gas reductions for several reasons. One is that the inputs<br />
previously discussed (water and nitrogen) often have emissions<br />
associated with them. And for actual carbon markets,<br />
one of the key criteria is that practices must be “additional”<br />
for payment eligibility.<br />
“It comes down to if trees are grown for a business benefit,<br />
society or companies will not pay a grower for that because<br />
that’s business as usual,” Ludwig said. “Practices that are<br />
credited or rewarded monetarily must be something above<br />
and beyond what a grower would normally do.”<br />
References<br />
UC Davis Whole Orchard Recycling, Biomass recycling for sustainability<br />
and resilience of almond production: https://orchardrecycling.<br />
ucdavis.edu/<br />
Effect of Partial Fertilizer Substitution with Organic Matter Amendments<br />
on Nutrient Cycling,” Almond Board of California 2020 Research<br />
Update: https://www.almonds.com/sites/default/files/2020-12/<br />
ResearchUpdate_121620202.pdf#page=26<br />
See California Pollinator Coalition article in this edition of How We<br />
Grow.<br />
“Greenhouse Gas and Energy Footprint of California Almond Production”<br />
Kendall A, et al. (2015) J. of Industrial Ecology: https://sarep.<br />
ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk5751/files/inline-files/kendall-lifecycleassessment-ghgemissionsforalmondp.pdf<br />
Growers can use the free Nitrogen Calculator in the California<br />
Almond Sustainability Program (CASP): https://www.sustainablealmondgrowing.org/Home/ToolsBenefits/tabid/220/Default.aspx<br />
“Nitrogen Best Management Practices” Almond Board of California<br />
(2020): https://www.almonds.com/almond-industry/orchard-management/soil-health-and-nutrients/nutrient-management<br />
Enhance dormancy this season and<br />
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“Effects of Implementation of Soil Health Management Practices on<br />
Infiltration, Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K sat<br />
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Smith C, et al. (2015): https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/PA_NRCS-<br />
Consumption/download?cid=nrcseprd1289235&ext=pdf<br />
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74 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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Bridging the Ag Tech Divide<br />
Setting Business Goals to Guide<br />
Your Ag Tech Investments<br />
By SETH HANSEN | CCA, Contributing Writer<br />
Do you sometimes feel like we are<br />
living in two alternate realities<br />
when it comes to ag technology?<br />
Does it seem hard to reconcile your daily<br />
experiences with the advanced vision<br />
of farming portrayed in commercials<br />
and trade shows? On the tech-enabled<br />
farm, every employee is recording helpful<br />
observations on their smartphone for<br />
later analysis. Automated equipment is<br />
precisely applying biological pesticides,<br />
and irrigation schedules have been calculated<br />
and executed to perfectly match<br />
crop demand. Obviously, this results in<br />
ever-increasing yields and profitability.<br />
The reality you encounter each day<br />
out on the ranch, however, is much different.<br />
You step out of the pickup and<br />
walk into a chronically underperforming<br />
field. You can tell the yield is off<br />
again this season, but there is no data<br />
readily available to compare what you<br />
did this season to whatever produced<br />
your high yield three years ago.<br />
Your workforce is stretched thin and<br />
spray applications are rarely completed<br />
on time, so you increase rates and<br />
add materials or follow-up sprays to<br />
compensate for poor performance.<br />
Irrigation scheduling in your world is<br />
frantically trying to complete a round<br />
of watering fast enough to start again<br />
before the leaves begin wilting. In the<br />
end, you usually eke out a modest profit,<br />
but you aren’t setting any records and<br />
are worried about rising water costs<br />
and having enough capital to redevelop<br />
aging orchards.<br />
At this point, the three most relevant<br />
questions a grower must ask are:<br />
▶ What areas of my operation should<br />
I focus on?<br />
▶ Which ag tech tools will get me<br />
there?<br />
If You’re Not Moving Forward,<br />
You’re Falling Behind<br />
As you evaluate the current state of<br />
ag tech, you will no doubt encounter a<br />
lot of hype. Each year, venture capital<br />
▶<br />
Do I really need to improve my<br />
operation?<br />
The staggering number and diversity of ag tech providers can be challenging to navigate without<br />
a 1: clear The staggering plan and set number of requirements and diversity (photo of agtech courtesy providers A. Magenheim.) can be challenging to navigate without<br />
Image<br />
a clear plan and set of requirements. Photo courtesy of Aaron Magenheim.<br />
76 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
funds and investors, often with little<br />
knowledge of the agriculture industry,<br />
dump billions of dollars into ag tech<br />
startups. Some of these technologies<br />
and companies will not become commercially<br />
viable, and examples of these<br />
are abundant.<br />
But many are proving successful,<br />
and growers, even internationally in<br />
competitive markets, are leveraging<br />
technology to their advantage. Aaron<br />
Magenheim, CEO and co-founder of<br />
Growers Insight, regularly consults<br />
with tree nut growers on technology<br />
planning and implementation, and<br />
keeps a close eye on the ag tech “ecosystem”<br />
and commodity markets<br />
around the globe. He feels strongly that<br />
American growers must recognize the<br />
increasing market pressure from international<br />
competitors and continue to<br />
invest in technology and infrastructure.<br />
“In other countries, governments<br />
work a lot closer with their private<br />
sector, and that includes investing in<br />
technology and trade,” he said.<br />
As international governments<br />
and private companies cooperatively<br />
invest in ag tech, they become stronger<br />
competitors in the global market. Do<br />
not let past success or familiar practices<br />
lull you into complacency in a shifting<br />
global economy. Continuously look for<br />
opportunities to improve and the right<br />
technologies to assist in that process in<br />
order to remain competitive.<br />
a budget for the initial and ongoing<br />
investment.<br />
This kind of long-term planning can<br />
be challenging. There may be attainable<br />
goals for your business that you don’t<br />
even realize are possible. Perhaps you<br />
need to look outside of your business to<br />
see other opportunities for change.<br />
“The big challenge is that people<br />
don’t take the time to understand the<br />
possibilities that are out there, how other<br />
people have solved similar problems,<br />
and then what their operation looks<br />
like in the future,” Magenheim said.<br />
Your goals should be specific and<br />
achievable, but avoid aiming too small<br />
when you set them. Try visiting other<br />
regions or countries with similar crops,<br />
or ask a technology consultant for help.<br />
It is alright that you don’t have all the<br />
answers. If you are committed to being<br />
in business for the long haul, then taking<br />
the time to investigate, dream and<br />
set realistic goals and implementation<br />
plans for your business is worth it.<br />
Hitting the Mark<br />
Finally, and only after you are<br />
convinced your operation needs to<br />
advance, after you set an ambitious but<br />
achievable goal and develop a stepwise<br />
implementation plan should you now<br />
invest in technology to help you get<br />
there. Even this stage of the process<br />
can be daunting, but use your plan to<br />
guide you to the right technology and<br />
partners. Magenheim compares the<br />
process to trying to navigate to a distant<br />
location without using a map.<br />
“If you don’t have a plan showing<br />
the two best ways to get there, you’re<br />
going to take 15 different backroads<br />
that dump you out into the middle<br />
of nowhere, run into dead ends and<br />
backtrack.” If you have a set of goals,<br />
an implementation plan with basic<br />
technology requirements and a budget,<br />
it will help you navigate the plethora of<br />
technology options.<br />
Furthermore, just because your<br />
Continued on Page 78<br />
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Setting a Target<br />
If you believe there is a need for improvement<br />
on your farm, before investing<br />
in any technology, you must begin<br />
with setting some goals. The key to this<br />
process is first starting with the longterm<br />
goals of your business. Where do<br />
you need to be in terms of profitability<br />
and what level of total production is<br />
required, considering the range of nut<br />
prices in recent years? What hurdles<br />
could prevent you from reaching those<br />
goals? Are your major issues rising<br />
labor and input costs? What changes<br />
would you have to make to manage<br />
those and achieve your goals? Make the<br />
goals as clear as possible so that you<br />
can develop a step-by-step implementation<br />
plan to meet that goal. If you identify<br />
the types of technology you need<br />
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long-term business goals and technology<br />
requirements are ambitious, it does<br />
not mean that you cannot start small.<br />
Sometimes, it is best to walk before<br />
you run, which in ag tech can prevent<br />
you from overwhelming your employees<br />
and making investments you later<br />
regret.<br />
Take, for example, finding basic<br />
software to accurately and easily track<br />
costs on a field-by-field basis. You and<br />
each employee can quickly jot a digital<br />
note to record every spray, irrigation<br />
event, tree training or cultivation that<br />
happens. Although it may not appear<br />
to revolutionize your operation, it may<br />
actually help you identify problems you<br />
were unaware of and opportunities for<br />
improvement.<br />
Magenheim often observes that,<br />
“Few growers try to figure out budgets<br />
versus actuals. So, as long as they are<br />
relatively close at the end of the year<br />
on the whole budget, it doesn’t matter<br />
if they spent double what they thought<br />
on this field and half on that field. But<br />
what is the point of putting a budget<br />
together and how do you know where<br />
to improve?” An annual spend of a<br />
couple hundred dollars for activity<br />
and cost-tracking software could help<br />
you identify thousands being lost by<br />
equipment downtime, employee performance<br />
disparities, irrigation scheduling<br />
problems or product procurement<br />
issues.<br />
Building on Success<br />
This kind of technology can add<br />
further value as it guides you to and<br />
helps you evaluate the performance of<br />
subsequent ag tech investments. The<br />
newly implemented technology and<br />
practices can be measured against your<br />
previous methods because you have<br />
baseline financial data for comparison.<br />
As the management consultant Peter<br />
Drucker famously stated, “If you can’t<br />
measure it, you can’t improve it.”<br />
By setting ambitious business<br />
goals, stepwise plans to achieve them,<br />
and starting with small, manageable<br />
technology steps toward those goals,<br />
you will be able to achieve successes<br />
and build upon them. A few successful<br />
implementations under your belt will<br />
give you greater clarity and confidence<br />
that your business goals and technology<br />
roadmap are leading you in the<br />
right direction. Before long, you may<br />
find that your farm is that “farm of the<br />
future” that seemed so far from reality.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
78 West Coast Nut <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>2021</strong>
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