WCN Dec e

Grower-Cooperators a Vital Cog in Research
Growers provide an invaluable service for university and USDA
researchers as well as for their respective industries.
By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer
Cliff Beumel of Agromillora Nursery spreads chips in a walnut orchard as part of a whole orchard recycling trial at the farm of Sutter County
grower-cooperator Mat Conant. Grower-cooperators like Conant are vital to the success of research, according to UCCE Farm Advisor
Luke Milliron (photo by L. Milliron.)
For the past three years, walnut harvest has taken a
little longer on one block of Jerry Moore’s Visalia, Calif.
farm. There are no weather issues or equipment malfunctions
slowing harvest. Moore has volunteered the block to
UCCE for research into solving a nematode problem that has
plagued walnut growers for decades.
Moore receives no compensation for the extra time it takes
as UCCE researchers test and weigh walnuts after each row is
harvested. But he rests easy knowing that he is helping growers
across the state who have lost yield to nematodes.
“What I get out of it is the gratification of knowing we are
helping the industry,” Moore said. “If they can come up with
something to solve the nematode problem, it will be a big help
to the industry.”
According to researchers, growers like Moore provide an
invaluable service for university and USDA researchers as well
as for their respective industries.
“We could not be successful farm advisors without grower-cooperators,”
said Luke Milliron, UCCE farm advisor
for Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties. “There is just no way
around it.”
Milliron added that he is fortunate to be centered near a research
farm, in his case the Chico State University Farm, where
he can conduct certain projects. “But you really need to do
this research on different types of ground, with different pests
and disease pressure,” he said, “and the only way to find those
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types of situations is to have these grower-cooperators that are
willing to put up with inconvenience and potential loss in some
profits by letting you have rootstock blocks and test different
materials in their orchards.”
Joe Grant, research director for the California Walnut
Board and UCCE farm advisor emeritus, said in many cases,
research has to be conducted on-campus or on university field
stations. Spraying unregistered pesticides, for example, can’t be
conducted on a commercial farm without having to destroy the
treated crop. And some research, like evaluating the performance
of new varieties and rootstocks, isn’t generally conducive
to a grower-cooperator situation.
“No grower is going to want to put up with devoting a lot of
space to wait 10 to 12 years for a variety to get evaluated,” he
said.
Conversely, Grant said, many research projects can and, in
some cases, need to be done in the field.
Pat Brown, UC Davis walnut breeder, noted, for example,
that much of his initial breeding work takes place on campus.
“But,” he said, “once we are pretty sure that something looks
good, we need growers across the state to trial it before we
release it. That is a key step in putting out new varieties.”
Grant agreed. “It allows researchers to test things in a much
broader variety of settings and management styles than we
could ever do on campus. So, that is very valuable. It is a quicker
route to ultimate successful adoption when you can get a new
technique or new variety or new rootstock looked at across a
broad range of conditions.”
Give and Take
Grower-cooperators typically reap some benefit from
participating in research, according to growers and researchers.
Many like being on the cutting edge of new advances and
seeing them at work on their farm, Grant said. But they also
encounter inconveniences in working with researchers, and it
can be a financial burden.
“The grower usually ends up sacrificing something, whether
it be yield, profit, convenience or time,” Grant said. “But I think
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64 West Coast Nut December 2021