West Coast Nut - August 2021

WEST COAST NUT Your

Connection to the Tree Nut Industry

SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE:

MANAGING STOCKPILES FOR BETTER RETURNS SEE PAGE 52

AUGUST 2021 ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE: SPECIAL COVERAGE:

WAPA ANNUAL MEETING SEE PAGES 22-27

POSTHARVEST NUTRITION SEE PAGE 6

NEW FOES OF ALMOND AT HULL SPLIT SEE PAGE 38

September 16-17, 2021 - Visalia, California Register at progressivecrop.com/conference SEE PAGE 78-79 FOR MORE INFORMATION

PUBLICATION

Photo courtesy Almond Board of California

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Publisher: Jason Scott Email: jason@jcsmarketinginc.com Editor: Marni Katz Email: marni@jcsmarketinginc.com Associate Editor: Cecilia Parsons Email: cecilia@jcsmarketinginc.com Production: design@jcsmarketinginc.com Tel: 559.352.4456 Fax: 559.472.3113 Web: www.wcngg.com

By the Industry, For the Industry

IN THIS ISSUE 6

Postharvest Nutrition of Nut Crops: When and When Not to Fertilize

Contributing Writers & Industry Support

10

Making the Transition to Off-Ground Almond Harvest

Almond Board of California Contributing Writer

Theresa Kiehn President and CEO, AgSafe

14

Biological Control of Navel Orangeworm in Tree Nut Orchards

Mitch Lies Contributing Writer

18

Farm Equipment Shortages

Catherine Merlo Contributing Writer

22

Western Ag Processors Association Meeting Highlights Top Issues for the Nut Handling Industry

26

Tree Nut Handlers Deal with High Energy Prices

28

Walnuts, Navel Orangeworm and Ethephon for 2021

32

Bob Klein Makes a Career of Helping the Pistachio Industry Meet Challenges

38

New Foes of Almonds at Hull Split Stage

44

Water Budgeting and Management for Pistachio in a Drought Year: What are the Options?

48

Cover Crops in Walnut Orchards

52

Almond Stockpiles: High Moisture Content Delivers Lower Returns, Greater Damage

56

Drought Drives Water Management Strategies in California Almonds

62

Balancing Nutrient Needs after Whole Orchard Recycling

64

Cautionary Tale from Top 10 Pesticide Violations of 2020

68

Solar on California Working Lands: Share Your Perspective!

70

Cal/OSHA Readopts Revisions to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard

74

Will Adequate Labor Arrive for This Year’s Harvest?

Nicole B. Biggs Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences Elda Brueggemann Western Agricultural Processors Association Taylor Chalstrom Assistant Editor Kathy Coatney Contributing Writer Kent M. Daane UCCE Specialist, UC Berkeley Phoebe Gordon UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor, Madera and Merced Counties David R. Haviland UCCE Entomology Farm Advisor, Kern County

Themis Michailides UC Davis, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center Florent Trouillas UC Davis, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center Mario Viveros UCCE Farm Advisor Emeritus, Kern County Houston Wilson UCCE Assistant Specialist, UC Riverside Mohammad Yaghmour UCCE Farm Advisor, Kern County

UC Cooperative Extension Advisory Board Surendra K. Dara UCCE Entomology and Biologicals Advisor, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties Kevin Day County Director/UCCE Pomology Farm Advisor, Tulare/Kings Counties Elizabeth Fichtner UCCE Farm Advisor, Tulare County Katherine Jarvis-Shean UCCE Area Orchard Systems Advisor, Yolo and Solano

Steven Koike Tri-Cal Diagnostics Jhalendra Rijal UCCE Integrated Pest Management Advisor, Stanislaus County Kris Tollerup UCCE Integrated Pest Management Advisor, Parlier Mohammad Yaghmour UCCE Area Orchard Systems Advisor, Kern County

View our ePublication on the web at www.wcngg.com

The articles, research, industry updates, company profiles, and advertisements in this publication are the professional opinions of writers and advertisers.

West Coast Nut does not assume any responsibility for the opinions given in the publication.

SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE: Managing Stockpiles for Better Returns High moisture content of harvested almonds impacts returns and nut quality. Growers play a role in improving stockpile management.

See page 52

August 2021

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3

PISTACHIOS HAVE B-VITAMINS, PROTEIN

SHOW AND NOW THEY EVEN HAVE A

Friday Fuel-Up is a monthly Facebook Live series hosted by Dr. Mike Roussell, author and nutrition expert, that welcomes top athletes, adventurers and thought leaders from around the world for amazing conversations about what fuels their goals mentally and physically.

4

West Coast Nut

August 2021

DR. MIKE ROUSSELL

TUNE IN TO FUEL-UP WITH: LUKE COUTINHO

BRYAN SNYDER, RD

With 3 bestsellers and named one of 500 “most influential people in Asia” by the NY Press Agency, Luke joins us from his home in India. He is a holistic lifestyle coach globally known for his approach to Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine. Learn the 4 pillars of wellbeing that blend Eastern and Western thoughts and practices.

Friday, August 6, 2021 10:00 am PDT / 7:00 pm CEST 6:00 pm BST / 10:30 pm IST

Go on a rare behind the scenes tour at state-of-the art Broncos Training Facility, led by the Director of Nutrition for the Denver Broncos. With past experience in consulting multiple pro sports teams, he reveals the effects of sleep deprivation in athletes and how to fuel up for specific sports.

Friday, December 3, 2021 10:00 am PST / 7:00 pm CET 6:00 pm GMT / 11:30 pm IST

DALLAS SEAVEY

SCOTT M. SMITH, PhD

2021 Iditarod champion and one of only two athletes to win five times (along with a team of canine athletes). In a grueling race that braves blizzards, whiteouts and wind chills as low as -70°C, Seavey explains why every second and every calorie counts.

Friday, January 7, 2022 10:00 am PST / 7:00 pm CET 6:00 pm GMT / 11:30 pm IST

Nutritionist, Manager for Nutritional Biochemistry at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Determining the specific nutritional needs for space exploration, Dr. Smith is one of the few people on the planet whose work ranges from Antarctica to Outer Space.

Friday, September 3, 2021 10:00 am PDT / 7:00 pm CEST 6:00 pm BST / 10:30 pm IST

For you to cut out and keep!

JEREMY JONES

VICKY LOSADA

Big Mountain Snowboarder, Filmmaker, Climate Advocate, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and dad, Jones recounts his most daring adventures and his passion to encourage action on climate change.

Friday, October 1, 2021 10:00 am PDT / 7:00 pm CEST 6:00 pm BST / 10:30 pm IST

International soccer star, she led her team to 2021 UEFA Champions League title, played two World Cups and two European Cups. A leading advocate for women & girls in sports, she fuels her strength on a largely plant-based diet.

Friday, February 4, 2022 10:00 am PST / 7:00 pm CET 6:00 pm GMT / 11:30 pm IST

ALISTAIR BROWNLEE

JOSH ALLEN

History-making Gold medalist, Alistair Brownlee is half of the duo that‘s a British brotherly legend. Now he‘s on to new challenges, chasing Iron.

Friday, November 5, 2021 10:00 am PDT / 6:00 pm CET 5:00 pm GMT / 10:30 pm IST

As one of the most exciting pro Quarterbacks today, this football hero hails from one of the smallest farming towns in California and takes us on his journey to the pros. But he hasn’t completely left the farm, join us as he talks about his new venture in his hometown.

Friday, March 4, 2022 10:00 am PST / 7:00 pm CET 6:00 pm GMT / 11:30 pm IST

Always on the first Friday of every month @ 10:00 am PST, the show is LIVE at Facebook.com/AmericanPistachios, with recorded episodes on IG and YouTube.

August 2021

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5

POSTHARVEST NUTRITION OF NUT CROPS: WHEN AND WHEN NOT TO FERTILIZE

By PHOEBE GORDON | UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor, Madera and Merced Counties

Heavy banding of potassium on the side of a tree row is a traditional way of supplying this nutrient to the tree, where winter rains will dissolve your chosen product and move it into the soil (photo courtesy Franz Niederholzer, UCCE.)

W

ith harvest on the horizon, it’s important to keep in mind that some orchards will need a bit of extra care once the nuts are gone. Not all nut crops need postharvest nutrition, however. In this article, I discuss the four big nutrients (nitrogen, potassium, zinc and boron) in almonds, pistachios and walnuts, and whether you should be doing some post-harvest fertilization.

Potassium

Potassium is the first nutrient that I think about in nut crop postharvest nutrient management. Heavy banding of potassium on the side of a tree row is a traditional way of supplying this nutrient to the tree, where winter rains will dissolve your chosen product and move it into the soil. Once the fertilizer is dissolved and moved into the soil solution, the potassium will loosely bind to clay and soil organic matter, which protects the nutrient from leaching from soil over the winter. The ability of soils to bind onto positively charged ions (cations) is generated by clay and organic matter particles and called the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC).

Banding works in sands, loams and clays as well as potassium-fixing soils, which are found on the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley. Potassium-fixing soils contain clays that expand when wet and have the ability to trap small cations, such as potassium and ammonium, between them. This potassium may become available in the future; however, it is often in a longer time frame and effectively makes potassium unavailable for uptake. Heavy potassium bands will saturate the fixation capacity of a small zone of soil, and the remaining potassium as well as any future applications will be completely available for uptake.

Products like potassium sulfate and potassium chloride are typically used for banding, though potassium chloride (KCl) should not be used in orchards that get less than eight inches of annual rainfall or with wells that are already high in salts.

Chloride is toxic to salt-sensitive almonds and walnuts. Even in areas that have at least that much average annual rainfall, dry winters (like our last two winters) can cause issues that erase any savings you may gain from choosing KCl. When banding potassium, make sure to apply bands in the 6

West Coast Nut

August 2021

‘Postharvest nitrogen in almonds is likely not necessary, except in the case of deficient almond orchards.

’

wetted zone of whatever irrigation system you have. Roots in microirrigated orchards are concentrated in the wetted zone, and this is the only area where water and nutrient uptake will occur during the growing season (for the most part). Any potassium that falls outside will be inaccessible to the trees.

Another way to fertilize your orchards is via fertigation.

Fertigating with potassium delivers this nutrient directly, and only, to the area of nutrient uptake, and in contrast to banding, mass flow delivery of potassium will result in the lateral movement of this critical nutrient (Table 1, see page 8). While the solubility of potassium products is not an issue in fall-applied bands, fertilizer solubility may be something to consider when fertigating. In general, potassium fertilizers are not very soluble; the lower the solubility, the more water you need to dissolve it. Another way to think of it: the lower the solubility, the less potassium you deliver in an acre-inch of water. Keep in mind that as soon as the potassium enters the soil, potassium acts the same, regardless of fertilizer source.

Fertigation also side-steps potassium-fixing soils, but only as long as the soil does not completely dry out. Once that happens, potassium becomes fixed. If this does happen, additional potassium applications will ensure the trees have continual supplies for uptake.

As with nitrogen, potassium application rates should reflect export rates, and it is best to manage both nutrients in the same way: yearly applications to replace what has been exported with harvest. Table 2, see page 8, provides export rates for the major tree nut crops. Orchards that are deficient in

Continued on Page 8

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August 2021

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7

Table 1. Movement of potassium after surface application or fertigation. Adapted from: Uriu, K., R.M. Carlson, D.W. Henderson, H. Schulbach, and T.M. Aldrich. 1980. Potassium fertilization of prune trees under drip irrigation. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 105:508–510.

Continued from Page 6 potassium may need heavier applications of 100 to 200 pounds K2O (more may be needed in soils with high clay content) in addition to annual needs to allow trees to build up depleted reserves.

Boron

PPM potassium of soils after 2.5 lbs K had been ‘broadcast’ under the emitter or fertigated 0 feet from emitter

1 foot from emitter

Soil depth

Broadcast

Fertigated

Control

Broadcast

Fertigated

Control

0-6” 6-12” 12-18” 18-24” 24-30” 30-36”

2131 2714 3284 3288 1634 176

520 414 332 230 100 66

270 141 113 74 70 90

164 137 109 78 74 86

512 395 258 407 228 90

250 137 102 70 66 82

Boron is an interesting nutrient. On the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and in the Yolo County area, it is in excess, yet on the eastern side of the county, particularly in light-textured soils, it can be deficient. All three nut crops need it, Table 2. Potassium requirement for bearing nut trees in California. though pistachios are particularly boron-hungry. Boron is weakly mobile in Crop Lbs K2O Removed Harvest Unit soils and is exported with the harvested Almonds 85-95 1000 lbs kernel weight crop; almonds that have adequate boron Pistachios 29 1000 lbs marketable yield levels will export between 3.5 and 5.5 ounces of boron per 1000 kernel pounds, Walnuts 151 1 ton harvested nuts for example. Export rates are not avail1 Walnut hulls contain a considerable amount of potassium; if hulls are not returned to the orchard, 40 to 50 lbs K2O will be able for walnut and pistachio; however, needed to replace the exported potassium sufficiency values are available for all three crops (Table 3) and should be used Table 3. Sufficiency standards for the major nut crops in California. when deciding whether to apply boron. It Excess would be harmful to an orchard to apply Crop Deficient Sufficient boron in order to replace what has been Almond Hulls <80 ppm 100-150 ppm >200 ppm exported if it is already at toxic levels.

Pistachio leaves <90 ppm 150-250 ppm Unknown* When to time foliar boron applicaDeficient Sufficient Excess tions is dependent on the crop. This is Walnut leaves <20 ppm 36-200 ppm >300 ppm because boron is mobile in almonds and Hulls <80toppm 100-150 ppm >200 ppmwere reduced as salinity increased, *pistachio responses boron are not fully understood; in Kerman trees, leaf toxicity symptoms other Prunus species and is immobile despite leaf boron concentrations being similar. Additionally, leaves with high boron concentrations will exhibit marginal necrosis but will not fall off the tree. in walnuts and pistachios. Therefore, only almonds can remobilize and store Table 4. Leaf critical values for zinc in the major nut crops grown in California. fall-applied foliar boron. Soil boron applications should be made during the Crop Deficient Sufficient range growing season and likely won’t affect Almonds <15 ppm tree boron status until the following year.

10-15 ppm Pistachio <7 ppm Deficient Sufficient Excess Boron is best applied to almonds <18 ppm leaves in the fall just after harvest. Low Hulls Walnut <80 ppm 100-150 ppm >200 ppm rates should be applied; only one or two pounds of a 20%-boron-containsugar that almonds make and transport Zinc ing product per 100 gallons of water is in the phloem: sorbitol. Because of this, Zinc is a nutrient that is primarily needed. Spring applications to trees are boron is transported with sugars in the deficient because of the high pH found also acceptable but should be applied at phloem and will end up in the location in most Central Valley soils; above a pH pink bud as later sprays may interfere that sugars end up in, which is the fruit. of 7, as every pH unit increases by 1, zinc with pollination. Research suggests Boron levels in leaves will rise and fall availability is reduced 100-fold. Because that fall foliar sprays should be done in with plant boron status, but monitoring of this, soil applications are typically not almonds unless a hull analysis indicates leaves is not as sensitive as monitoring used, though work done in Arizona and the orchard is at toxic levels. hulls.

New Mexico suggests that soil applicaWhy do we use hulls to determine Applying a foliar boron spray to tions of chelated zinc may be adequate to boron levels in almonds, while leaves are pistachios and walnuts is best done in supply zinc needs to young pecan trees acceptable for all other nutrients (and spring. While fall soil applications are in high-pH soils. In California, foliar to determine boron nutritional status in acceptable, they will likely not be taken applications are standard. Fall applicapistachios and walnuts?) Boron will form up until the following spring. tions can supply much of the zinc needs an association with a particular kind of for Prunus species; however, work done 8

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Nitrogen accumulation in nuts

35 30

Lbs N/ton

25 20 15 10 5 0

May

June

July

August

Harvest

Figure 1. Nitrogen accumulation in walnuts (courtesy of K. Jarvis-Shean.)

in walnuts and pistachios shows that foliar applications should be done in the spring. Table 4, see page 8, shows leaf critical values for zinc.

In the past, heavy foliar zinc applications (20 lbs. zinc sulfate per acre) were applied late in the fall, which would defoliate the trees. Work done by UCCE’s Franz Niederholzer has shown that lower rates (5 lbs. zinc sulfate) applied earlier in the fall were as effective at supplying trees with zinc while keeping leaves on the tree and allowing for photosynthesis to occur for as long as possible.

Nitrogen

Why did I place nitrogen at the end of the list when it’s the nutrient that almost everyone thinks about the most? First, there’s no evidence that postharvest fertilization in pistachios and walnuts is necessary. Work done by UCCE’s Katherine Jarvis-Shean shows that nitrogen uptake in walnuts stops after August long before harvest (Figure 1). It has been well documented that nitrogen uptake follows demand, and after harvest, there is no vegetative or reproductive growth; the trees spend their time continuing to build carbohydrate reserves, which does not directly require nitrogen.

Work done on Kerman pistachios has shown much the same as in walnuts; there’s little to no nitrogen uptake after harvest, though in an ON year, we recommend that you apply your last 20% of annual nitrogen when the nuts have reached maturity, or just after harvest if for some reason you cannot apply it earlier. It is possible that postharvest nitrogen dynamics may be different in the earlier harvesting Golden Hills and Lost Hills, and work funded by the California Pistachio Research Board, led by UCCE’s Doug Amaral and in which I am a col-

Fertigation delivers nutrients like potassium directly to the area of nutrient uptake (photo by Vicky Boyd.)

laborator, will seek to examine this.

Our suggestions for almond postharvest nutrition have been changing as more research has been done. Work done by Patrick Brown and Saiful Muhammad has shown that there is very little nitrogen uptake after harvest, which amounts to a measly 8% of the total annual needs. However, in the past, we’ve typically recommended that you apply 25% of the remaining nitrogen budget to make up for any additional nitrogen that may have been needed after nitrogen applications cease in June to reduce hull rot risk. But work that examined the connection between nitrogen and hull rot has shown that later applications of nitrogen aren’t the problem; rather, it is high nitrogen content in the tree (possibly from heavy early-season applications). Additionally, work done by Niederholzer at the Nickels Soil Laboratory in Arbuckle, Calif. has shown that there was no benefit to postharvest nitrogen applications in almonds. So, what should you do?

It’s important to take a few things into account when you’re deciding what to do. First, what did your July leaf tissue analysis show? If it was deficient, and/or you had a much-higher-than-predicted yield, and you have an earlier harvesting variety like Nonpareil, it may be a good idea to do a small nitrogen application right after harvest. If you have a later harvesting variety, such as Winters or Monterey, or your orchard looks ex-

tremely stressed from harvest (yellowing and senescent leaves, obvious and severe water stress during the harvest period), your trees are likely not in a state to take up nitrogen and may even be starting the dormancy process.

UC Davis’ Patrick Brown has suggested that if you spoon-feed nitrogen (apply small amounts of nitrogen every irrigation or every other irrigation from 70% leaf expansion through harvest while not exceeding annual tree nitrogen demands), there will be no need for postharvest nitrogen applications, and the risk of hull rot will be low. As far as I’m aware, this has not actually been evaluated in a commercial orchard, but it is biologically sound and worth considering. This practice has been used in Australia. If you have already been doing it, send me an email (pegordon@ ucanr.edu) as I’d like to hear about your experiences.

In conclusion: postharvest nitrogen in almonds is likely not necessary, except in the case of deficient almond orchards.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

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August 2021

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9

Making the Transition to Off-Ground Almond Harvest

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

W

hen it comes to advancement of off-ground almond harvest, a multitude of advantages have been presented for the state’s 1.6 million acres of almonds in California.

Dust reduction, improved product quality due to less insect damage, flexibility in irrigation scheduling, less orchard floor management and cleaner product delivered to processors are a some of the “pros” listed by proponents of off-ground almond harvest.

But are the state’s almond growers, custom harvesters and equipment manufacturers ready for such a monumental change?

“We’re marching toward it. We will see what the transitional period looks like,” said Turlock-area almond grower Brian Wahlbrink.

Wahlbrink is chairman of the Almond Board of California’s (ABC) harvest workgroup and moderated a panel discussion on off-ground almond harvest at last year’s virtual Almond Conference. The ABC workgroup consists of almond growers and equipment manufacturers who are exploring alternative harvest methods and their cultural and economic realities.

Wahlbrink said he is excited about the possibilities of off-ground almond harvest but acknowledges that there are many components to this system that must be taken into consideration by the almond industry.

“A lot of things must happen for this to become realization.”

10

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Tenias USA harvesting equipment was on display during a demonstration of off-ground harvesting in an almond orchard (photos courtesy Almond Board of California.)

Obstacles to Overcome

Drying a greener crop appears to be the main obstacle to a mass move to off-ground harvest. Nuts would be shaken at a higher moisture level and would need to be dried prior to processing or stockpiling. Two options are mechanical drying or moving harvested nuts to an off-site lot to dry.

Energy costs for mechanical drying and capacity to handle tonnage that increases every year are often cited as challenging for the almond industry.

Growers, farm managers and custom harvesters voiced concerns about adopting off-ground harvest in the short term, but acknowledge that labor saving could be an attractive incentive.

Over the last decade, innovations in almond harvesting equipment design have contributed to dust reduction. Use of conditioners have helped shorten drying times of windrowed nuts in the orchard and produced a cleaner product delivered to the processor. Improved orchard floor management and irrigation management are also playing a part in the industry’s quest for dust reduction.

If the next step for the almond industry is shake-and-catch and alternative drying options, growers and harvest operators have questions on feasibility and affordability of a new harvest method.

What the almond industry can do approaching transition, Wahlbrink said, is to understand the path to off-

ground won’t be a straight or short line.

Drying a greener crop, tree heights, orchard design, different maturity dates for different varieties in the same orchard, equipment availability and cost are all challenges to be overcome in the harvests ahead.

Almond growers and custom harvest operators point out that costs of new machinery would be a deterrent in the short term. There would need to be enough acres of orchards that could be harvested off-ground to justify the costs.

Corey Edwards, an almond grower and custom almond harvester in the San Joaquin Valley, said a constant con-

Almond harvest could begin earlier with off-ground equipment, possibly saving growers pest control costs with late navel orangeworm sprays.

'

Catch frame used for off-ground harvest demonstrations (photo by ENE Inc.)

cern is the life span of his equipment as more environmental mandates are made.

“Will it be good for five years, or just two to three?” he asks.

On the ‘pro’ side, Edwards said that if the current labor situation persists, off-ground harvest operations, which will need fewer machine operators, could be a driver for offground harvest adoption.

Edwards harvests almonds for Riverdale grower Mark Borba, who said the expense of new harvest machinery would be weighed against lower labor costs. Most growers do not want to take on higher expenses for new machinery and would have to have the acreage to justify it. The drive for him would be labor costs, he said, but there are economic realities with nut prices and new machinery investment.

Billy Schuh, an almond grower who also harvests 3,000 acres of almonds annually, said from an environmental perspective, using the sun to dry almonds in the orchard remains the best option.

“Moving the nuts to the middles where the most sun hits them is using clean energy,” he said. “There is no cost to that.”

Where he harvests in the Central Valley, Schuh said sweepers are about six hours behind the shakers and conditioners run the next day. Their slow fans take out leaves, dirt and other debris, leaving a cleaner windrow for harvest machines.

The issue of mechanical drying versus allowing nuts to dry on the ground raises questions about costs and capacity. Wahlbrink said until the mechanical drying issue can be resolved, one alternative being explored involves shake-and-catch, but dropping the nuts in a windrow on

a barrier that keeps them from touching the ground. There, the nuts can dry until they are picked up. If this proves to work, he said it might bring more growers on board with offground harvest.

Limited drying capacity by processors is a major challenge to off-ground harvest adoption. Wahlbrink said he is not a fan of mechanical drying, and that issue has to be

Continued on Page 12

August 2021

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11

"

Moving the nuts to the middles where the most sun hits them is using clean energy. There is no cost to that.”

– Billy Schuh, almond grower

Continued from Page 11

Almond grower Billy Schuh said from an environmental perspective, using the sun to dry almonds in the orchard remains the best option (photo by ENE Inc.)

Post-harvest recovery starts at harvest.

Set your trees up for success after a long, hot summer.

Call your UG Crop Advisor for more info.

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Early Harvest Benefits

Almond harvest could begin earlier with off-ground equipment, possibly saving growers pest control costs with late navel orangeworm sprays. Research has shown an earlier harvest could limit hull rot infections. Wahlbrink said shaking trees two weeks prior to normal harvest would cut down on navel orangeworm damage. Concerns about losing windfall nuts prior to harvest could be mitigated with earlier harvest.

Timing will be critical with off-ground harvest, said retired farm manager Robert Gulack. While working for Olam Orchards in Australia, Gulack became familiar with off-ground almond harvest, noting it was used on the company’s 30,000 acres to prevent damage in rainy conditions.

Gulack said if there is more than one variety in the orchard, harvest timing for the earliest maturing variety could leave later maturing nuts still on the tree, negating the advantage of one-pass harvest. Going later could mean some loss of early crop nuts to windfall.

High-moisture nuts had to be stockpiled, he said, and that presented kernel quality issues. Gulack said they used forced air under the tarps in an attempt to prevent degradation, but quality issues remained.

“There are a few challenges to off-ground, but there is interest,” he said.

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resolved for grower buy-in.

There will be other innovations accompanying off ground harvest, he predicted.

Tree height in current orchards will be a challenge for harvest equipment, Wahlbrink said. First scaffolds in many orchards are too low for harvest equipment to reach under.

Scaffolds will need to be in the 26- to 28-inch range for off-ground harvest. Edwards said tree size could also make it difficult to catch all the nuts at shaking. Growers would need to prune, much like pistachio growers, to adapt for catch frames. With almond orchards cycling out at 20 to 25 years, those challenges could eventually be overcome, he said.

Manufacturers of harvest equipment are engaged in the process, but it will take enough acres in the ground and grower interest for significant investment. Almond Board, Wahlbrink said, is conducting research on costs and benefits to incentivize further equipment design.

August 2021

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF NAVEL ORANGEWORM IN TREE NUT ORCHARDS

By KENT M. DAANE | UCCE Specialist, UC Berkeley HOUSTON WILSON | UCCE Assistant Specialist, UC Riverside and DAVID R. HAVILAND| UCCE Entomology Farm Advisor, Kern County

U

niversity of California researchers have been evaluating the role of biological control of navel orangeworm (NOW) in California for nearly five decades. This includes efforts since the 1970s to document the impacts of native predators and parasitoids on NOW control, and to find new parasitoid species to import and introduce. In general, biological control for NOW has had a secondary role in IPM programs, with cultural and chemical controls, including mating disruption, taking the lead. However, as broad-spectrum insecticides become more and more obsolete within almond and walnut production systems, and as producers of all nut crops embrace reduced-risk technologies like mating disruption, opportunities for biological control to play a role in integrated pest management programs are on the rise.

Early Research

Two UC researchers were key in the initial development of NOW biological control in the 1970s: Dr. Leo Caltagirone at UC Berkeley and, later, Dr. Fred Legner at UC Riverside. Both Caltagirone and Legner worked closely with UCCE farm advisors and staff and students at the former Division/Center of Biological Control (UC Berkeley) and Department/Division of Biological Control (UC Riverside).

Caltagirone’s initial efforts were to document the natural enemies already present in California that attacked NOW and the closely related carob moth (Ectomyelois ceratoniae). The egg parasitoid Trichogramma californicum was found as well as a number of larval parasitoids including the bethylid 14

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Figure 1. A green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea, larvae with its mouthparts in a navel orangeworm larvae that already has been parasitized by Goniozus legneri, with the adult wasp about to attack the lacewing larvae to protect her recently deposited eggs (circled here in red) (all photos courtesy K. Daane.)

Parasierola breviceps, the braconids thresholds.

Habrobracon hebetor and Phanerotoma, Caltagirone reported that NOW the ichneumonids Venturia canescens seems to be native to Central and South and Mesostenus gracilis, and the chalci- America; his surveys in the late 1960s did Spilochalcis leptis. Caltagirone also to 1970s found it widespread in northdocumented a number of predators, ern Mexico, and NOW was reported including green (Figure 1) and brown as far south as Peru, central Argentina lacewings and lady beetles attacking and Uruguay. Today, it has extended the moth’s larvae, and predaceous its distribution to the southern U.S., mites and the mirids Phytocoris relaacross the south from California to the tivus and P. californicus attacking the east coast and as far north as North moth’s eggs. Unfortunately, all of these Carolina. The first damaging infestaparasitoids and predators attacked tions in almond and walnut crops were a wide range of prey, and none were encountered in the 1950s, but through specialized enough on NOW to serithe 1960s, damage was relatively mild, ously drive down populations. As such, typically <2%, until the late 1970s when NOW persisted as a pest, and a classical damage of untreated populations was biological control program was initi~10% of Nonpareil almonds. ated with the goal of discovering more Caltagirone focused his exploration specialized natural enemies that had efforts in southern Texas and northern more closely coevolved with this pest Mexico, where he discovered the enin its native range, and therefore better cyrtid Copidosoma (=Pentalitomastix) adapted to naturally maintain NOW plethorica, which had never before been at densities below economic injury described (Figure 2). This parasitoid

has a very interesting biology in that the adult wasp puts an egg into the NOW egg, but the parasitoids emerge from the last stage of the moth larvae; in fact, hundreds of parasitoids emerge from a singly parasitized NOW larva.

This wasp is ‘polyembryonic’ where the parasitoid egg hatches and forms a ‘polygerm’ of genetically identical embryos from a single egg through clonal division, basically like identical twins but hundreds of them. Following this discovery, in the 1960s and 1970s, the UC Berkeley laboratory produced millions of these wasps and released them throughout the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. The parasitoid established in California and is still found today, but is more common in the Sacramento Valley than in the San Joaquin Valley.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Fred Legner focused his efforts to find a parasitoid in Uruguay and central Argentina as well as supplemental collections in southern Texas. Working with regional entomologists, he discovered another previously unidentified parasitoid, the bethylid Goniozus legneri (named after Legner) in Uruguay, and also imported the closely related G. emigratus from Texas. These bethylids also have a unique biology as described in Figure 3. Goniozus legneri is perhaps the most commonly found NOW parasitoid in California today.

Other natural enemies imported during the 1970s and 1980s include the egg parasitoid Trichogammatoidea annulata from Argentina, which in augmentation studies reached parasitism levels of 20%. The larval parasitoids Phanerotoma flavitestacea from Israel and Diadigma sp. from Australia were also imported and released, and while they reached parasitism levels up to 25% during the release trials, they did not overwinter well in California and are rarely found attacking NOW today.

Figure 2. Copidosoma plethorica is a ‘polyembryonic’ parasitoid, meaning that one egg in the navel orangeworm host (inserted in the moth egg as shown in the upper left insert) will divide into hundreds of identical offspring. The wasp was imported from Mexico in the 1960s to help control navel orangeworm.

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Evolving Biologies

While these natural enemies and others are still working in California’s tree nut crops, they still do not singularly or collectively provide control levels acceptable to most growers. Part of the issue is their biologies that may have

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Continued from Page 15 evolved to satisfy their own survival rather than the control levels needed by modern growers, especially in the face of strict aflatoxin regulations. For example, the two most important imported natural enemies, C. plethorica and G. legneri, have biologies that allow them to make the most use out of a single host rather than search and kill many hosts.

Copidosoma plethorica is polyembryonic, so finding and parasitizing a single moth egg can lead to up to 800 offspring, but it is still only killing one moth egg.

This species is easy to rear in the laboratory, but in the orchard, it is dependent on the ready presence of moth eggs to continue to reproduce, and in periods without eggs present or at low host densities when the adult wasps cannot find an egg, their numbers decrease.

Similarly, G. legneri puts many eggs on a single host larva, but the adult wasp has a behavior called ‘brood guarding’ where she will not attack and deposit eggs on a host and then go out

Figure 3. The Goniozus legneri adult female (A) approaches the moth larva, usually from the back or side, and then (B) mounts the larvae as it wiggles to free itself and moves towards the larva’s head where it injects a venom to paralyze the moth. It then walks up and down the host larvae (C) to ‘measure’ its size to determine how many eggs to attach, often biting the moth larva to ensure it is paralyzed (to the left of the wasp is an egg and there are five other eggs visible on the moth larvae.) The wasp larvae then develop as an external parasitoid (D) on the moth larvae, feeding there until they pupate and leaving nothing but the moth head capsule.

and search for an anther host; rather, she will stay by her eggs and protect them from other G. legneri (that will

kill her eggs and deposit their eggs on a host – or fight off other predators like green lacewings as seen in Figure 3.) For

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this reason, G. legneri does well when the NOW density is high, say 20% nut infestation, and you might have 20% to 40% parasitism levels in October after harvest. This is because the high pest population presents a target-rich environment where a female G. legneri can find and guard many NOW that are close together, but as the pest density lowers, parasitism levels seem to drop as well, and at current thresholds of <2%, it is often difficult to find a G. legneri in the orchard. Legner had suggested one practice might be to leave some nuts on the tree during the winter, but research in the 1990s showed that this leads to more NOW than G. legneri because the parasitoid overwinters as an adult and, as a result, does not need to have the mummy left in the orchard.

As mentioned, if you have NOW in your orchard, then these natural enemies are probably in your orchard at some level. Researchers are currently looking at ways to improve sustainable NOW control through manipulating ground cover management that may protect pollinators and enhance these natural enemy populations. While cover crops can be useful in some cropping systems, the addition of ground covers in tree nut orchards may not necessarily address the key bottlenecks currently limiting the impacts of natural enemies on NOW. Surprisingly, one of the most overlooked of these predators, the common resident green and brown lacewings, might be the most stable and persistent of the resident and imported natural enemies. The green lacewing is commonly one of the more resistant natural enemies to different pesticides, and because they are generalist they are often found in the orchard at low or high NOW densities. Moreover, reported populations of NOW in Argentina and Chile never seem to reach damaging populations, and this does open the possibility to some other control agent out there that has yet to be discovered.

In California tree nuts, a great deal of effort has been made to identify and evaluate potential biological control agents for NOW, but up to this point, the role of biocontrol has been sec-

ondary to the use of winter sanitation, insecticides, timely harvest and mating disruption as the primary components of an IPM program. However, as growers shift away from broad-spectrum insecticides and embrace reduced-risk, selective chemical control programs for NOW, husk fly, scale, aphid and mealybug pests, it is anticipated that biological control organisms will have increased opportunities to become established and assist with NOW management

programs. Information regarding the short- and long-term impacts of chemical control pests for almond, pistachio and walnut pests can be found within the ‘Relative Toxicities of Pesticides to Natural Enemies and Honey Bees’ tables in the corresponding UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for each commodity at ucipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture.

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Farm Equipment Shortages, Backlogs Put Pressure on Machinery Dealers and Growers

The Competition is On for New and Used Equipment

By CATHERINE MERLO | Contributing Writer

A

t Berchtold Equipment Company in Bakersfield, Calif., Michael Arriola is practicing patience like never before.

“Typically, on a retail order, it would take a month for a new tractor to show up on our yard,” said Arriola, assistant general manager for the 100-yearold company that sells New Holland, Kubota, Bobcat and other equipment brands. “Now it’s taking four to six months. Inventory all over the country is way down.”

Like other equipment dealers across the U.S., Arriola is seeing shortages of new farm machinery, including tractors, forklifts and harvesting equipment. Even parts and materials can be hard to find and are getting more expensive.

“If Berchtold hadn’t over-inventoried last year, we would be facing a definite inventory crisis,” Arriola said. “Some dealers are losing customers because they don’t have the equipment. It’s tough for everybody.”

Inventory has been tightening since 2020’s COVID-19 lockdowns forced manufacturing shutdowns and supply-chain disruptions. Now, as the pandemic eases in the U.S. and restrictions lift, demand is surging for all kinds of goods. But factories can’t ramp up quickly enough, making it harder to source equipment. Steel, computer 18

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Steel shortages are adding to the pricing increases on orders for tractors and other farm equipment (all photos

by C. Merlo.)

chips, tires and plastics, all needed to make things like cars, smartphones and tractors, remain in short supply.

Labor shortages and shipping delays aren’t helping.

“We ordered $1 million worth of tractors in June 2020,” said Brian Agnetti, president of San Joaquin Tractor Company in Bakersfield. “We’re just getting them a year later.”

Agnetti still has more than a dozen tractors on order for customers. “People were patient in the beginning, then not so much,” he said. “I got three angry calls today from people who are waiting for their orders.”

Record Equipment Demand

The shortages come as demand for agricultural machinery soars. Improved commodity prices and low interest rates have spurred farmers to make more capital investments in equipment.

“The equipment business has seen three to four years of straight growth,” Arriola said. “From May 2020 to April 2021, the market for this sector rose 23.8% over year-earlier levels.”

That growth includes tractors in the 25- to 700-horsepower range and among all manufacturers, including New Holland, CASE, Massey Ferguson and John Deere.

The largest demand increase,

however, is among tractors under 40 horsepower, Arriola noted. That compact-equipment market is especially popular with hobby farmers and labor contractors as are skip loaders, skid steers, mini excavators and back hoes.

White-hot demand in the real-estate market and increasing construction activity is helping raise the demand for equipment and pushing prices higher.

Some Los Angeles equipment dealers are getting 5% to 10% over suggested list prices, said Arriola.

“I’ve been told it will take a year and a half to get back to normalcy. Many dealers have increased orders for over a 12-month supply of products, based on the assumption that availability will be a long-term issue.”

– Bill Garton, Garton Tractor

Buy now or wait? (Left to right) Curtis Tobias, Seth Pierucci, Allen Pierucci and Brian Agnetti discuss a new tractor at San Joaquin Tractor in Bakersfield.

“Those construction guys have jobs lined up and will pay what they’ve got to pay to get the equipment,” he said. “It all trickles down to our industry. The competition is on for the equipment.”

Generally, all machinery products are in short supply, said Bill Garton, president of Garton Tractor, which has 10 locations across California. The shortage has meant lower sales for dealers and contributed to climbing equipment prices.

“I’ve seen some manufacturers increase prices several times this year, plus add steel surcharges to the invoices,” Garton said.

Those steel pricing add-ons are the result of shortages in that industry as well. Like Garton, Agnetti is seeing the effect of that too. In mid-June, the San Joaquin Tractor owner ordered four gypsum spreaders for his dealership.

There was a $2,600 steel surcharge on the order.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Agnetti said.

Allen Pierucci and his son, Seth, were lucky enough to take delivery of a new orchard sprayer in June. They farm 800 acres of pistachios, cotton and pomegranates near Buttonwillow, Calif.

“But if that sprayer hadn’t been in stock and we’d had to order it, the cost would have been $7,000 higher than what we paid,” said Allen Pierucci.

Dealing with Shortages

ner at San Joaquin Tractor. “People are afraid it won’t be there later.”

Dan Kramer, store manager for Kuckenbecker Tractor Company in

The lack of availability has created a buyer’s rush of sorts on tractors and other field equipment.

“Everything sells right away,” said Curtis Tobias, Agnetti’s business part-

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Pistachio grower Allen Pierucci tries to decide whether to purchase a new tractor at the San Joaquin Tractor dealership in Bakersfield.

A backlog of machinery orders has tightened availability among farm equipment dealers.

Continued from Page 19 Fresno, Calif., is seeing the same thing. “We’ve got quite a few tractors coming in over the next three to four months,” Kramer said. “A lot are already spoken for.”

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Used equipment is also hard to get, and it’s expensive.

“Prior to COVID, high used-equipment inventories were an issue,” said Joani Woelfel, president and CEO of Far West Equipment Dealers Association. “But, by January 2021, used equipment inventory fell to new lows, and prices rose dramatically.”

Repairing existing equipment has become increasingly important, too, even as dealers wait for parts to come in.

“Servicing is key right now,” Arriola said. “People are extending the life of their equipment to get by. If a tractor has several thousand hours on it, we’re working to keep it going.”

But even those efforts can come with delays. “If I have to order replacement parts, it’s a two-month wait,” said Seth Pierucci.

In the meantime, farm equipment dealers are working with friendly competitors to transfer inventory to each other or help out where they can.

“We’re all trying to juggle equipment among locations to be there for our customers,” Arriola said.

Long-Term Issue?

The wait to replenish equipment inventories and end the backlogs could stretch into late 2022.

“I’ve been told it will take a year and a half to get back to normalcy,” said Garton. “Many dealers have increased orders for over a 12-month supply of products, based on the assumption that availability will be a long-term issue.”

For Kuckenbecker’s Kramer, another concern has emerged as the equipment shortage sorts itself out and dealers rev up their ordering.

“Sales will continue to be brisk to the end of 2021,” Kramer said. “But I worry that next year, equipment dealers could be sitting on too much inventory.”

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WAPA Annual Meeting

WAPA 2021 ANNUAL MEETING

22

Western Ag Processors Association Meeting Highlights Top Issues for the Nut Handling Industry

By MARNI KATZ | Editor

T

he Western Agricultural Processors Association held its annual meeting in June, providing one of the first opportunities for nut industry leaders to gather in person for two days of networking, business, trading and learning. Held in partnership between West Coast Nut magazine and WAPA, the annual meeting in Monterey including two days of talks and business for some 300 handler/processor members and associated exhibitors.

“It’s been great to see people in person again,” said WAPA President and CEO Roger Isom.

“We had some new faces and some familiar faces. The ag industry is based on communication; whether it’s at the coffee shop or out in the field in the pick-up, we like to talk face to face.”

For many of the speakers at this year’s convention, the operative word was fight. From issues surrounding air permits, food safety, trucking and labor, WAPA members heard how the association advocates for its nut industry members on the regulatory and legislative front every day.

“We fight for our members on the front end to help [handlers] implement their programs, and then we fight for them on the back end to help them with appeals when there are issues,” Isom said.

WAPA also invests significant resources following and helping craft policy that makes common sense for the industry and brings

West Coast Nut

August 2021

California to some sort of parity with other states.

“We can either give up and move to Texas or we can fight,” Isom said.

“WAPA has the time to be there in the regulatory office or in the state capitol,” said Kirk Squire, grower relations manager for Horizon Nut Company and a member of the WAPA board of directors. “Being part of WAPA affords us that talking ground we would not have time for as a company.”

Industry Issues

Chris McGlothlin, director of technical services for WAPA, reported on the association’s efforts to get incentive funding for ag tractor replacement rules set to go into effect in 2024 and its engagement with Sacramento over funding to implement the ag burning rule, which will phase out agricultural burning by 2025 in the Central Valley.

To illustrate WAPA’s efforts to engage legislators, state assembly members Autumn Burke and Heath Flora discussed their bipartisan efforts to understand and represent each other’s districts.

While Burke is a democrat representing Los Angeles and Flora is a Republican representing the San Joaquin Valley, the two work together in a bipartisan way to find common grand and common-sense action that impacts California nut handlers, includ-

ing legislation around cap and trade, pesticide mill tax increases, trucking and water.

Dan Walters, a political reporter who writes for CALmatters.org, a non-profit devoted to California public policy issues, said during his guest talk that this type of bipartisanship is rare in politics today but essential for moving the state forward. Particularly for agriculture, which has lost clout over the last few decades, engaging legislators will be critical.

“Not only has ag lost clout in in the mind of many legislators, ag is the enemy,” Walters said. “You’ve got to get that seat at the table or you will be on the menu.”

Several handlers in attendance shared their top concerns facing the industry. From supply chain issues brought on by COVID, to water, hulling capacity, labor, trucking shortages and more, handlers universally said there are a number of hot-button issues handlers and processors are up against as they prepare to handle this year’s nut crops.

Supply Chain

Dan Pronsolino, general manager of Cortino Hulling Group, which includes Dunnigan Hills Hulling & Shelling and two other huller/shellers, serves as secretary/ treasurer on the WAPA board of directors.

He said supply chain constraints throughout all levels of

(From left) Michael Kelly, president of Central California Almond Growers Association, Bill Lewis of Compeer Financial, and George Gough of Bayer US Crop Science, pause for a conversation during a break in the annual meeting (all photos by M. Katz.)

the growing and handling process are creating hardships for handlers as they gear up for harvest. Parts and supplies they are used to having on the shelf are in short supply. And like consumers trying to buy replacement parts for a faulty refrigerator, or a new car or appliance, they are having to adapt to a shortage created by supply chain disruptions.

“We had a couple color sorters coming in that took 40 days from the day they arrived at the Port of Oakland to get to our facility,” Pronsolino said. Rubber products, such as belts, are just being delivered that were ordered last October.

Handlers are coping by ordering ahead to anticipate their parts needs and have spare parts already on the shelf. Here, too WAPA has helped direct its members to suppliers and manufacturers.

Horizon has put advance orders in for basics like shovels and rakes and parts for the water truck or tractor.

“These are all items that are showstoppers so you’ve got to have them here when you need them,” Squire said.

Water

Handlers agreed that lack of water is a serious threat, and although the ag industry in California has lived with drought for more than 20 years, the system is at a breaking point for the state’s ag industry.

“The way we say it in our board room is, ‘We own a couple thousand acres of some of the best farmland in the world, but without water, it’s just dirt,” said Don Barton of Gold River Orchards.

While growers are making it through this year through deficit irrigation and rationing what water they do have, Ali Amin, president of Primex, said if the drought continues into next year it will create a lot of uncertainty.

He said while pistachio growers continue to plant, he is concerned about the impacts to the industry 5 to 10 years down the road if climate trends continue. Deficit irrigation also leads to production issues, including a higher percentage

Outgoing WAPA Chairman Butch Coburn of Hughson Nut, addresses the 2021 WAPA annual meeting audience.

of closed shells, which impacts yield and revenue.

Already this year’s crop is impacted and if there is no water for post-harvest refill, next year’s will be as well.

“If we don’t have a wet winter this year we are going to

Continued on Page 24

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WAPA Annual Meeting

More than 30 exhibitors took advantage of one of the first in-person events in more than a year for the nut industry to reach current and potential clients.

Continued from Page 23 have a major issue on our hands,” Pronsolino said.

Labor

Handlers agreed that the labor supply issue has been a serious problem this year.

“Were having a horrible time finding labor out there and the

buzz is that nobody wants to work,” Squire said. “Is that true or does nobody want to work in ag anymore?”

Many handlers/processors are paying signing bonuses and wages above prevailing scale for both skilled and unskilled positions to have the staff on hand to process this year’s harvest. As minimum wage increases, Amin said it puts

pressure on labor costs across the board, from sanitation line operators to forklift drivers and mechanics.

And that is when they can find workers.

“The vast majority of seasonal people who would usually be available are quite happy to stay at home,” Pronsolino added.

Many handlers are turning even more to automation where possible, from robotic palletizing to electronic sorting, to reduce their labor reliance where possible.

Squire said handlers will always need labor but the incentives to automate are ramped up by the labor shortage.

“A piece of equipment might cost $300,000 but it doesn’t call in sick,” he said.

Amin said Primex is also turning to automation, refiguring its processing area with new electronic sorters, to slowly reduce labor. The processor works to build long-term relationships with its work force to encourage them to return year after year, but acknowledged that a tighter pool could lead to more breakdowns and quality issues if they are not careful.

Hulling Capacity

In the almond industry in particular, handlers said 24

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Coburn passes the gavel to incoming chairwoman Kim Keyawa-Musselman of Keyawa Orchards, who presents Coburn with a plaque of appreciation in return.

bumper crops continue to push the industry beyond hulling capacity. At the same time, many handlers are pausing expansion plans to see what the weather will bring in terms of water supply.

Many growers are debating letting older less productive orchards go and many have halted plans to plant new acreage as they wait to see the outcome of next year’s snowpack.

Pronsolino estimated there are about 180 million pounds worth of planted almond acres beyond hulling capacity, and another 10 to 12 plants will be needed to handle that acreage throughout the state. Cortino Hulling Group plans to increase its capacity by 10 to 20 percent at each of its plants.

The facility already runs 24-7 during the season, so it is looking to larger equipment to process more nuts per hour.

Amin said Primex, the state’s third largest pistachio processor, plans to add four hullers for 2022 and an additional two facilities in the near term to in-

crease its capacity from 90-100 million pounds to 130-140 million pounds. He said three growers are also putting up their own processing facilities to handle industry growth in the near future. He said handlers will find a way to process larger crops.

“If you grow them, we will figure out how to process them,” he said.

Shipping and Logistics

Truck driver shortages have also been a significant issue throughout the nut industry. WAPA is working to move regulations that would increase the load capacity to allow more product to be moved in a single load.

Handlers are faced with having to pay more for trucking or build added storage to give them more hauling flexibility. Ultimately, all these additional costs put a squeeze on grower returns.

“Trucking is usually paid directly by the grower, and as it gets tighter, they get squeezed and ultimately, although we try to absorb what we can, it finds

its way to the grower return,” Pronsolino said.

At the same time, COVID lockdowns led to significant congestion at ports, as reported in previous issues of West Coast Nut, and that has disrupted the flow of nuts to market.

With containers returning empty to key export markets before they can be loaded, and uncertainty around shipping dates, handlers have worked extra hard to get their logistics organized for an orderly flow of California nuts to market.

Squire said Horizon like other handlers last year was weeks or months behind on shipments, just due to the difficulty to get containers or get loads on a ship. As with many of these issues, WAPA is working with maritime agencies and others to try and alleviate the impacts of these issues on the industry.

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TREE NUT HANDLERS DEAL WITH HIGH ENERGY PRICES

WAPA Annual Meeting

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

C

alifornia nut processors are facing soaring energy rates with no relief in sight.

Costs for electricity to operate machinery and light buildings, natural gas or propane for drying nuts and fuel to operate vehicles are assuming a larger share of their operating expenses.

Michael Boccadoro with the Ag Energy Consumers Association told Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA) members and guests at the association’s annual meeting what many already knew: commercial and industrial energy rates are twice the national average and rising faster than the national inflation rate. He predicted the trend would continue.

Between 2011 and 2017, Boccadoro said, electricity prices in California rose five times more than the rest of the U.S. California commercial and industrial rate payers are being charged 14.28 cents per Kwh, while in Arizona and Nevada, the rate is less than six cents.

“This puts us [agriculture] in a difficult situation,” Boccadoro said, “but the PUC is focusing more on residential rates.”

Current Struggles

Renewable energy goals and expanding climate policies are two of the drivers of the skyrocketing energy prices. Moving to net zero emissions will be costly, and there is a sense of urgency from the government. An ambitious ‘decarbonization’ plan for California will also impact energy costs, he added.

The Public Utilities Commission is not interested in bringing down costs, he said, but is focused more on shifting solutions to air quality goals. Drought conditions in the state and lack of cheap hydroelectricity are making the problem worse.

26

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Utility mismanagement and perverse incentives have also had a huge impact on energy prices, Boccadoro said. PG&E has saved money by doing less system maintenance, but now rate payers are bearing the burden of higher costs as they upgrade systems. Wildfire mitigation and legislative mandates are two more drivers of higher energy costs.

Boccadoro’s presentation showed 10-year compound annual growth rates (nominal) for energy prices.

PG&E electricity is 3.2%, natural gas at 6% and gasoline at 5.4%. Edison and SoCalGas is 3% for electricity, 6.2% for natural gas and 5.4% for gasoline.

Proposed solutions are problematic and pending legislation will exacerbate the problem, he said.

Legislative mandates include using off-shore wind energy, but Boccadoro said that solution is not going to be cost-competitive.

Energy-Saving Strategies

There are some emerging opportunities for agriculture, Boccadoro reported. There is increased funding for energy efficiency and self-generation as well as a food production investment program. The agriculture industry has lost much of its clout in this state, he added, but regulators need to be reminded that if agriculture fails, the state fails.

Among nut processors attending the WAPA meeting, strategies for energy conservation abound.

Use of solar to offset electricity costs has been a major investment for most processors.

At Horizon Nut in Tulare, a grower-owned processing facility, natural gas is used for roasting.

At the facilities in Firebaugh and Lost Hill, it runs the dryers. August through November is the high

USE OF SOLAR TO OFFSET ELECTRICITY COSTS HAS BEEN A MAJOR INVESTMENT FOR MOST PROCESSORS.

“

energy use period.

Kirk Squire, grower relations manager at Horizon, said even with the larger pistachio harvests, the company has been able to cut their total annual energy use.

“Energy bills are huge during hulling,” Squire said.

As many other nut processing plants have done, Horizon turned to solar energy. In 2017, the company’s Firebaugh plant began using solar energy that can be transformed into heat and used in drying, steam pasteurization and cleaning.

Other energy savings come from turning off cold boxes during the winter, use of skylights for natural light and motion sensor lighting.

At Olam-owned Hughson Nut Inc., almond processing consumes the largest share of energy costs.

Outgoing WAPA Chairman Butch Coburn and Hughson Nut plant manager said similar energy saving strategies are used at all three of Hughson Nut facilities.

The Hughson plants are in the Turlock Irrigation District, which supplies power at lower rates than major suppliers, Coburn said. One of the Hughson plants, Verduga, uses solar power.

Huller and sheller Central California Almond Growers Association (CCAGA) has invested heavily in solar power to supply energy needs at their facilities. The price of energy is increasing, said CCAGA President and CEO Mike Kelley, but those costs are being mitigated by conservation measures.

Five years ago, he said, energy costs consumed 12% of their operating ex-

penses. Today, that figure is 9% due to but as energy demand has increased at conservation and use of solar. The plant the plant, the percent is lower. has also invested in new technologies Primex would install more solar to for vehicles used at the plant. In the meet energy demand at the plant, Amin future, Kelley said they would look at said, but more ground space is needed. converting forklifts to battery power.

Pistachio processor Primex was one of the first plants to adopt solar power Comments about this article? We want to meet energy demand in 2010, said to hear from you. Feel free to email us at CEO Ali Amin. Their solar installation generated 40% of the power at that time, article@jcsmarketinginc.com

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August 2021

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27

Walnuts, Navel Orangeworm and Ethephon for 2021 Growers Should Pay Close Attention to Third Flight to Assess Damage Risks

N

avel orangeworm (NOW) continues to be problematic for California walnut growers. Jhalendra Rijal, UCCE area IPM advisor for Northern San Joaquin Valley, said NOW pressure varies among orchards, but with the drier winter and spring in 2021, as expected there has been increased activity with NOW in walnuts and almonds.

“From a walnut perspective, if you think about navel orangeworm right now (June), the flight may or may not matter too much unless there are blighted or codling moth-damaged nuts in the orchard,” Rijal said, noting that the third and/or fourth flight is a greater concern for walnuts at husk split.

Higher Pressures

Mummy nuts on walnut orchard floor. UCCE’s Jhalendra Rijal said that if navel orangeworm cannot find mummy nuts or damaged nuts to lay their eggs, they lay eggs on nuts that are still on the ground (photo courtesy J. Rijal.)

By KATHY COATNEY | Contributing Writer

28

West Coast Nut

August 2021

“I would say that overall, the numbers and then the pressure are higher, but sometimes it may not mean too much,” he said, adding growers just need to wait, and watch, and see how that will relate in terms of the husk split timing.

The dry conditions in 2021 are certainly more favorable for survival of the NOW overwintering larvae whether the walnuts are on the tree or the ground, Rijal said, adding drier conditions probably play a role in overall NOW survival.

“We know navel orangeworm will overwinter in mummy nuts, whether it’s almonds, or walnuts, or pistachios,” Rijal said, adding rain in the wintertime likely has some impacts on NOW mortality.

Codling moth and blight damage in walnuts can leave openings for NOW for the first and second flights. An important management aspect of navel orangeworm in walnuts is to stay on top of these diseases and pests, Rijal said.

Nuts that have been damaged by

“WITH THE GLOBAL WARMING AND THE EXPECTED INCREASE IN

TEMPERATURE, WE’RE EXPECTING TO HAVE A CONSISTENT FIFTH FLIGHT IN SOME OF THE SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY COUNTIES AS EARLY AS 2040 BASED ON A RECENT STUDY." – JHALENDRA RIJAL, UCCE

walnut blight, sunburn, codling moth or have been mechanically injured are the nuts that the first and second flight rely on to build their populations, Rijal said.

“That is definitely the critical factor in terms of building navel orangeworm populations going into that third flight,” Rijal said.

inexpensive materials.

Cultural Control

control option at this point for managing NOW. Going into the season with a

Winter sanitation is the best cultural

Continued on Page 30

Wait to Treat

For walnuts, the first two flights are not as significant as the third flight and the fourth flight for late season walnuts, Rijal said.

The third flight is of most concern, Rijal said, and timing of the flight and husk split is critical, which is why it’s important to track NOW flights.

If there are almonds or pistachios nearby, this can increase the pressure as all of them are hosts for NOW. “They (NOW) can move from one host to another host when they have the opportunity,” he said. “If you have an almond orchard next to a walnut orchard you’ll likely have more navel orangeworm flying around in the area compared to not having that.”

“It is not recommended to apply insecticides against navel orangeworm for the first and second flights,” Rijal said, adding these flights aren’t damaging to healthy walnuts.

“I would say that it’s not worth the money or effort to do an insecticide spray before that third flight,” he said, unless the grower has had consistent NOW pressure and damage in previous years.

Using chemical applications when needed is an important part of preventing resistance from building in all nuts as very limited insecticide active ingredients are available to use, Rijal said.

“We want to save those materials for the late-season window when the walnuts are susceptible,” Rijal said, plus it’s more economical, too, as these aren’t August 2021

www.wcngg.com

29

Continued from Page 29 clean orchard means there will be less NOW pressure at the start of the season and less in-season, too, Rijal said.

It’s not just the nuts on the tree, but also the nuts on the ground that need to be removed, Rijal said.

“If navel orangeworm could not find mummy nuts or damaged nuts to lay their eggs, they lay eggs on the nuts that are still on the ground,” he said.

“Early harvest is also a very good tool, especially when there is late season harvest and harvest is dragged out for a longer time,” he continued, adding an earlier harvest could protect the nuts from later generations of NOW damage.

For early harvest, Ethephon can be used in walnuts to advance and synchronize the harvest, and it should be helpful when NOW populations are high. Ethephon should be applied at the right stage of the walnut maturity. UC IPM Guidelines recommend applying 10 to 14 days before normal harvest for one shake walnuts (www2. ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/walnut/Using-Ethephon/).

An earlier harvest can potentially prevent damage from the third and fourth flights of NOW, Rijal said.

“Ethephon may not be for everybody,” Rijal cautioned, adding if the trees are stressed and are in poor health, or if the variety itself has a synchronized split, then an Ethephon application may not be necessary.

30

West Coast Nut

August 2021

Mating Disruption

Mating disruption is also part of NOW management. Rijal and David Haviland, UCCE entomology farm advisor in Kern County, did research on mating disruption in almonds up and down the San Joaquin Valley.

This has helped increase mating disruption adoption in almonds and pistachios, Rijal said.

“We have not seen that level of adoption in walnuts,” he said, adding there could be other factors like price or the fact that walnut trees vary in size and variety, relatively smaller blocks, etc., but mating disruption is an important tool for the integrated management of NOW in walnuts, too.

Sterile insect release is another potential tool that growers might be able to use as a part of their NOW program.

All nut crops are investing in research to look at the sterile insect release technique as part of an IPM tool for NOW management. However, it may take several years to develop these kinds of techniques and apply them to a real field scenario.

It’s been said time and time again, but there is no silver bullet to manage and control NOW, Rijal said, and he doesn’t see a single solution for management.

“It still will be part of the integrated pest management,” he said.

With over 2 million acres of almonds, pistachios and walnuts, plus other hosts, and multiple generations

“I WOULD SAY

THAT IT’S NOT WORTH THE MONEY OR EFFORT TO DO AN INSECTICIDE SPRAY BEFORE THAT THIRD FLIGHT."

– JHALENDRA RIJAL, UCCE of NOW throughout California, we all know this pest is a challenging one, Rijal said.

“With the global warming and the expected increase in temperature, we’re expecting to have a consistent fifth flight in some of the southern San Joaquin Valley counties as early as 2040 based on a recent study.”

For more information, go to sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0048969720361866.

“We all want a sustainable, longterm industry. The objective of the industry is to keep it sustainable for a long time, and for that, we need to adopt tools and techniques in a combined system so we don’t rely on one tool,” Rijal said.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

®

IMAGINATION

INNOVATION

SCIENCE IN ACTION

Career of Helping the Pistachio Industry Meet Challenges With Retirement on the Horizon, Bob Klein Reflects on His Time in the Industry

By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer

I

n 1999, while looking at professional opportunities to follow his work as a plant pathologist at Washington State University, Bob Klein was drawn to a job posting for research director of the California Pistachio Commission. Today, after seventeen years as manager of the Administrative Committee for Pistachios (ACP) and 14 as manager of the California Pistachio Research Board, Klein still remembers his thoughts.

“I looked at the job description and I said, ‘Well, I do that, I do that, I do that.’ So, I applied,” Klein said. “For me, it was an excellent career and family move.”

From his work first as research director of the long-dissolved California Pistachio Commission to his many years as an administrator for the industry, Klein has been a vital player in helping the industry overcome production issues, trade issues and regulatory hurdles. And he has seen the industry reshape its administrative organizations.

The reformations started eight years after Klein joined the California Pistachio Commission when growers voted against reauthorizing the commission. Fortunately for the industry, three years earlier, the industry had formed the Administrative Committee for Pistachios (ACP), so the industry had a group in place during the interim 32

West Coast Nut

August 2021

From his work first as research director of the long-dissolved California Pistachio Commission to his many years as an administrator for the industry, Bob Klein has been a vital player in helping the industry overcome production issues, trade issues and regulatory hurdles (all photos by M. Lies.)

“

“There are certain things where I might say, ‘We need this project because the information we are going to get from this applies to this and this and this.’ But I more inform than lead.”

- Bob Klein, ACP and California Pistachio Research Board between the dissolution of the commission and the launch of the Pistachio Research Board.

“If we hadn’t had it in place, when the commission failed the reauthorization vote, there wouldn’t have been any group of the industry to work around,” Klein said. “So, it was fortuitous at that point. Even as the commission closed in June of 2007, we were already meeting and putting into place a state marketing order to help fund production research to address many different growing issues.”

Expanded Role

The ACP, originally formed solely for the purpose of testing aflatoxin levels in domestically produced pistachios, eventually taking on additional responsibilities, including providing statistical reporting in the form of monthly inventory and shipping reports and providing acreage reports by county.

”

Through the years, the ACP also has served as a hub where issues with food safety can be addressed on an industry-wide level, which has helped keep pistachios flowing during food-safety scares.

The California Pistachio Research Board, meanwhile, has been integral to helping the industry overcome production issues by funding research into issues with Botryosphaeria blight and navel orangeworm, among others.

“When I came on, the biggest concern was a new fungal disease, Botryosphaeria blight,” Klein said. “The industry got together, raised assessments and put up $1 million dollars to do research on it, looking at both cultural and fungicidal control, and Botryosphaeria tends to be not much of a problem now.

“Right now, the navel orangeworm (NOW) is our principal insect pest,” he said. “It is an ongoing issue involving cultural control, management aspects

“There is almost no dissent on the board. Most of our votes are unanimous, and I can’t say that was always true on the [Pistachio] Commission.”

- Tom Coleman, ACP and California Pistachio Research Board

for harvest, insecticides, and now we have mating disruption and we are looking at sterile insect technology. So, we hope to have a more broad-based control for NOW in the near future.”

Board funding also has helped finetune both nitrogen and irrigation needs for pistachio production and has helped inform state regulators when setting regulations. And, he said, the board has and continues to fund research into maintaining salt tolerance among pistachio varieties, ensuring that new varieties are equally or more salt tolerant than current varieties.

MAKE EVERY DR P COUNT WITH VAPOR GARD® Forms a soft film over the leaf surface that reduces the loss of water vapor, minimizing the effects of drought stress on tree nuts

Inform Rather than Lead

Klein said his approach to working with boards was shaped while witnessing different ways commission administrators dealt with their boards during his time as a plant pathologist at Washington State University. The hands-off approach appealed to him and seemed more effective.

“There are certain things where I might say, ‘We need this project because the information we are going to get from this applies to this and this and this,’” he said. “But I more inform than lead.

“The growers may not know, for example, what pressures the EU is putting on us in a regulatory sense, so I try to make sure they understand where things sit in different contexts,” he said.

He added that he views himself as more a facilitator than a leader.

“I think you really have to

Continued on Page 34

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August 2021

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33

Pistachio industry administrator Bob Klein and his long-time assistant Juanita Owens look over documents at the Pistachio Research Board office in Fresno.

Continued from Page 33 look at it as it is a service organization that is created by the growers,” he said, “and you really need to serve the growers.

“Nobody is ever going to tell you that I am not an egotistical person,” he added. “We all have healthy egos. But you need to be able to set your ego aside. And there is no question we can reap benefits from that, but you have to make sure that it is not about you.”

Brian Blackwell, who worked with Klein for many years dating back to when Klein was hired as research director for the California Pistachio Commission, said he has always appreciated Klein’s approach. “He had a great leadership style as far as I was concerned,” said Blackwell, a former chair of the ACP. “I was always very happy that he was the manager of any organization I was involved in, and I depended a lot on him and his expertise.

“He is a very thoughtful, very meticulous, very science-based professional,” Blackwell said.

“He seems to know whether the research projects are going in the right direction or not,” said Tom Coleman, chair of the ACP and the Research Board. “And he seems to always be willing to look at new areas, new technology, new possibilities. He is very open minded. And he does a good job of

34

West Coast Nut

August 2021

being patient with those of us who are they are coming from.” not scientific in our thinking. And he is very competent at steering us in the Transition Plan right direction.

Klein and the ACP and the Califor“Maybe there is a research projnia Pistachio Research Board currently ect that he thinks is important, but are looking at a transition plan for him somebody objects to the cost or the and his long-time assistant Juanita Owduration. He’ll come up with an idea ens, both of whom are looking to retire like, ‘How about if we ask them to just over the next three years. do this and at that point we’ll see if we “It isn’t clear what we are going to want to continue?’ There is almost no do,” he said. “But we know that Juanita dissent on the board. Most of our votes is going to retire before me, so we will are unanimous, and I can’t say that was bring somebody in and have them job always true on the [Pistachio] Commis- shadow her for probably six months.” sion,” Coleman said.

Klein said he plans to retire when he Klein, who grew up in the Los Anturns 70, which will be in April of 2024. geles area, received his undergraduate “My transition will probably involve degree from the University of Colorado me being available to help when needand his doctorate from Colorado State ed,” he said. “For example, if we need University in plant pathology. He beto go to the EU, I’ll probably go over lieves his education and training have with my successor the first time so I served him well, both with the ACP can introduce the new person and also and the Research Board. make sure the new person knows who “Plant pathologists tend to have a they are talking to.” broad training,” he said. “They tend to In the meantime, look for Klein to know agronomy because many viral take a hands-off approach in helping diseases end up causing chlorosis of position the industry for success. plants, and they learn entomology, be“This job is not about me,” he said. cause insect damage can cause diseases “It is about what needs to get done for or transmit viruses. And when I look at the growers so they can maintain their the aflatoxin issues we have, I can bring operations, their families, their role in my statistics experience to bear. It is the community.” something that doesn’t scare me. And I Comments about this article? We want can go talk to any plant pathologist or to hear from you. Feel free to email us at entomologist or agronomist and have article@jcsmarketinginc.com some sort of understanding of where

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Hull Split N.O.W. Applications – A Increase Yield And Improve Yield Zinc

80

b

20

0

7 DAT (8/31/17)

b

1.75 Baseline

0.23 b Baseline

7 DAT (8/31/17)

10325

450

10150

300

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

9800

b

Baseline

7 DAT (8/31/17)

Phosphorus

600

a

9975

Baseline

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

PPM

PPM

0.45

0

7 DAT (8/31/17)

Potassium

10500 a

0.68

3.5

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

Moly

0.9

PPM

b

12.5 Baseline

a

5.25

25

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

0

a

PPM

40

Copper

7

37.5 PPM

PPM

60

0

Manganese

50

a

7 DAT (8/31/17)

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

a

b

150 0

Baseline

7 DAT (8/31/17)

n Untreated n Agro-K Treated

Data by Bisabri Ag Research Foliar nutrients applied with your Hull Split Navel Orangeworm (NOW) sprays provide a win-win opportunity to increase this year’s nut size, splits and yield and set the stage for higher yields next season. However, many conventional foliar nutrient formulations do not penetrate well and are largely ineffective from mid-summer onward once the pistachio leaf has hardened off and developed a thick waxy cuticle.

But Agro-K’s Sysstem® and Dextro-Lac® foliar product lines are not only designed to rapidly and completely move through even the oldest, toughest, hardened off and waxy pistachio leaf, they are also research-proven to do so.

In a replicated trial conducted in late-August, a mix of Agro-K nutrients, both micro and macro, were applied to ‘Golden Hills’ pistachio trees and analyzed for nutrient uptake. The results, as determined via leaf sap analysis and displayed in the above charts, demonstrate statistically significant changes in the levels of “free” or immediately plant available nutrients within the leaf sap for six

different nutrients 7 days after application. Leaf sap levels for zinc, manganese, copper, molybdenum, potassium and phosphorus were significantly increased compared to the control as measured the week after application. For more on leaf sap analysis, see the text box below.

Leaf Sap Analysis This sample extraction protocol and analysis quantifies only those nutrients found in the leaf sap. Since this extraction protocol does not grind the leaf tissue or rupture the cell structure, the results only represent “free” nutrients that are immediately available for plant use. In contrast, conventional tissue testing methods grind and analyze whole dried leaves measuring not only the nutrients found in the sap, but also nutrients already bound within the leaf tissues, and those nutrients found on or imbedded in the leaf cuticle. Nutrients within the leaf structure, on the leaf surface, or in the cuticle are mostly—if not completely—immobile and unavailable for immediate plant use. Measuring sap nutrient levels effectively detects recent nutrient changes and excludes structurallybound and other immobile plant nutrients.

Win-Win Opportunity To Consistency Year Over Year.

3 Year Trial Increases Yields 350 lbs Annually Bisabri Ag Research - ‘Golden Hills’ Pistachio - 2017-2019

6000

Reported lbs/acre

5000 4065

4000 3719

3000 2000

Soil Program and a Agro-K Foliar Program n Average Annual Yield per acre over 3 years

Soil Program Only

Agro-K’s Science-Driven NutritionSM starts with the 5-R’s of plant nutrition, using and applying: • the Right nutrients, • at the Right time, • in the Right form, • in the Right mix, • targeting the Right place in the plant.

year’s budbreak. Agro-K’s Sysstem®-LeafMax—with zinc and manganese in rapidly absorbed and systemic phosphite forms—also contains magnesium, iron, copper, molybdenum, sulfur and nickel to provide eight key nutrients required for vascular development and complete chlorophyll production and function. Along with other materials like Agrobest ® 0-20-26 and Top-Set D.L., Agro-K’s products are specifically designed to help growers meet the specific needs their crops demand.

This approach results in effective, penetrating applications that make measurable differences in plant available nutrients. For pistachios this means larger nuts, more splits and increased returns per acre this year. Likewise, the right foliar nutrients when added to Hull Split NOW sprays will also increase set, nut size, kernel weight, and yield consistency for next year’s crop.

So even while this year’s crop continues to mature on the tree, growers can influence next year’s flowers and early leaves that are already developing in the wood through proper nutrition.

Building nutrient levels in your pistachios now sends trees and buds into winter with larger carbohydrate reserves and more stored nutrients for a stronger, more uniform bloom next spring.

By increasing carbohydrate and nutrient reserves within the wood and buds through the addition of foliar nutrients with Hull Split NOW applications, growers can increase next season’s set and reduce the number of “blanks” at harvest, increasing per acre yield. Contact your Agro-K distributor and PCA today to discover how Agro-K’s Science-Driven NutritionSM can make your pistachio orchard more profitable.

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Science-Driven Nutrition ™

New Foes of Almonds at Hull Split Stage

I

By THEMIS MICHAILIDES | UC Davis, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center FLORENT TROUILLAS | UC Davis, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center MOHAMMAD YAGHMOUR | UCCE Farm Advisor, Kern County PHOEBE GORDON | UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor, Madera and Merced Counties and MARIO VIVEROS | UCCE Farm Advisor Emeritus, Kern County

n California, infection of almond by diseases starts at bloom time and continues with infections of the young green fruit and the fruit at the hull split stage. Wet conditions in late winter/spring favor infection of almond blossoms by brown rot fungi, such as brown rot (Monilinia fructicola), anthracnose (Colletotrichum acutatum) and gray mold (Botrytis cinerea). Also, bacterial diseases, such as bacterial blast (Pseudomonas syringae) and bacterial spot (Xanthomonas arboricola pav. pruni) can infect blossoms and leaves of almond. The young green fruit, if weather conditions are favorable, can be infected by pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Collectorichum acutatum, Fusicladium carpophilum and Alternaria alternata. The third stage of susceptibility is when almond hulls split and the fungi that infect the hulls cause hull rot.

Hull Rot

Hull rot is not a new disease of almond. This disease has been reported several times in the past and it has become an annual and serious problem in almond orchards in recent years. The causal agents initially were determined as two fungi, mainly the bread mold fungus (Rhizopus stolonifer) and the brown rot fungus (Monilinia fructicola). Previous studies showed that hull rot in almonds grown in the Sacramento Valley had high incidence of Monilinia, while hull rot in the rest of the state was mainly caused by Rhizopus stolonifer and occasionally by Monilinia. There were also cases where both fungal pathogens could be found in the same orchard causing hull rot. With changes in cultural practices and the denser plantings of almonds, vigorous rootstocks that boost the growth and the general vigor of almond cultivars, intense fertilization and sufficient irrigation to satisfy the crop’s requirements, hull rot has become a major disease that is very difficult to control, and the almond industry has put forth tremendous efforts and supports research to find ways to manage it. In addition to the difficulties in controlling hull rot, we are finding new fungal foes attacking almonds and causing hull rot.

In the last several years, almond growers, farm advisors and PCAs noticed that the incidence of hull rot has increased to very high levels, resulting in major economic losses, and this is because a) the nuts with hull rot do not shake easily (stick tights) and frequently they will require a second shake; and b) large numbers of nuts can remain on the trees during the winter months as mummies serving as sites for the overwintering of navel orangeworm (NOW). Thus, to achieve a successful sanitation as recommended for reducing NOW damage, extra efforts by the grower and greater costs are required.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Hull rot of almonds caused by: left nut, Rhizopus stolonifer; middle Figure 2 nut, Aspergillus niger; and right nuts, Neoscytalidium dimitiatum.

A

38

West Coast Nut

August 2021

B

Table 1. An example of 2018 samples of almonds with hull rot showing the Incidence of Rhizopus stolonifer or Aspergillus niger. Determination of the pathogens was done with a dissecting microscope (10 to 20 magnification).

County

Aspergillus niger (%)

Rhizopus stolonifer (%)

Fresno

89 (1)*

11

Fresno

100 (2)

0

Stanislaus

55 (1)

--

Fresno

100 (3)

0

Madera

54 (1)

0

Fresno

42 (4)**

68

Glenn

20 (1)

0

Glenn

20 (2)

0

Glenn

100 (3)

50

Stanislaus

90 (2)

100

Stanislaus 70 (3) * Number in parentheses show serial number of sample per county.

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0

** Sum of % of A. niger and R. stolonifer greater than 100%, suggesting the presence of both hull rot pathogens in the same fruit.

The unusually high levels of hull rot prompted growers, farm advisors and PCAs to start submitting to our lab (Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier) an unusually high number of samples with hull rot and requesting whether we were dealing with more fungal pathogens in addition to the usual mentioned above as the cause of hull rot.

The suspicions of farm advisors and growers were proven to be founded. In diagnosing hull rot, one can examine the inner surface of the hulls after they have split and determine the mycelia and sporulation structures the pathogens develop.

For instance, if there were whitish cottony mycelia with black peppery structures giving the appearance of gray cottony fussy mass, these would be the mycelia and sporulation of Rhizopus stolonifer (Figure 1, see left). If there were buff color sporulation in a defined area (lesion) internally corresponding to a beige color lesion on the outside of the hull, this would suggest infection by the brown rot pathogen, Monilinia fructicola.

Lately, though, examination of almonds with hull rot symptoms using a hand lens and/or a dissecting microspore in the laboratory showed another type of sporulation between the hulls and shell.

This sporulation was black and shiny in color and did not show the gray appearance that characterized hull rot caused by

Rhizopus stolonifer. This black and shiny sporulation belongs to Aspergillus niger (Figure 1, see left), a fungus that is very common in soils of nut tree orchards. In fact, analyses of many samples indicated that, depending on the particular orchard, there were cases in which samples had very high levels of A. niger, alone or in combination with R. stolonifer in the same fruit (Table 1).

Similar survey results were found in samples collected in 2016, 2017, 2019 and some in 2020.

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Case #1: Kern County

In December 2014, farm advisor emeritus for Kern County Mario Viveros presented a severe case of hull rot associated also with excessive shoot and branch dieback that developed unusually large gum galls. Nuts still hanging on the trees (stick tights) were taken from four varieties: Nonpareil, Independence, Fritz and Monterey. Independence had the most and Monterey the least “gummy” nuts at the peduncle. Fritz and Nonpareil were between the two extremes in appearance of gummy nuts. Gummy nuts are the ones that show gum between nut and peduncle which results in sticktights, making harvest expensive (shaking trees twice) and difficult. Arrangements were made to collect and analyze some of the

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Continued on Page 40 August 2021

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Figure 2. Shoot branches collected from the field showing large gum gall (A) and typical invasion of branch by the pathogen via shoot (B) that was blighted due to hull rot nuts. Fruit inoculated Figure 2 with Neoscytalidium dimitiatum, four days (C) and 10 days (D) after inoculation.

Continued from Page 39 sticktights and also shoots that showed the discoloration with the large-sized gum galls (Figure 2A). It was apparent the infections from the fruit moved via the peduncle to the spur and then to last year’s shoot down to older shoots (Figure 2B). Results of isolation incidence from those samples are presented in Table 2.

The results from these first analyses were very surprising because a new plant pathogen was isolated from the fruit, shoots and peduncles. The pathogen consistently isolated at very high levels from all of these tissues and branches was a member of the fungal family Botryosphaeriaceae, now called Neoscytalidium dimitiatum. This fungus was reported with the name Hendersonula toruloidea in California in about the middle of the 19th century as the cause of a branch wilt disease of walnut. Taxonomists for some time changed the name from H. toluloidea to Nattrassia mangifera, and in recent years to Neoscytalidium dimitiatum.

As soon as we isolated the fungus, we inoculated detached fruit and almond shoots. Following these inoculations, we inoculated fruit on trees to determine whether hull rot will develop leading to spur and shoot killing. All the detached fruit were infected with lesion formation three to four days after inoculation and were covered with dark greenish sporulation of N. dimitiatum 10 days after inoculation (Figure 2).

Arrangements were made with the help of PCA Chris Cucuk to visit these orchards where the mummy nuts and the shoots with gum galls were collected in the new growing season (2015). A visit in July was worthwhile because old and new severe symptoms were apparent, and the damage was characterized as severe. Interestingly, the abundant nuts with hull rot showed a black sporulation inside the hulls (Figure 1) that had a greenish hue and looked very different from the sporulation of the bread mold fungus or the dark shiny black sporulation, characteristic of that caused by Aspergillus niger. Up to 10 shoots were collected from four representative trees of each Nonpareil and Independence that showed severe 40

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A

B

C

D

Table 2. Fungi recovered from mummy almond fruit and putative infected shoots of four almond cultivars in 2014 and 2015 in Kern County.

Fruit, shoot and Neoscytalidium Variety peduncle samples dimitiatum (%)* Fruit, shoots, peduncles Nonpareil 60, 85, 54 Fruit Monterey 40 Fruit, peduncles Fritz 80, 36 Fruit, shoots Independence 78, 93 * The numbers in the third column represent the incidence of the pathogen of plated tissues shown in the second column, respectively.

symptoms, with the large gum galls still on the shoots.

The shoots were cut crosswise and the bark was scraped to reveal the discolored internal tissues (Figure 2B).

Isolations were performed by cutting the discolored tissues to pieces of 4 x 5 x 4 mm and cutting the peduncle in half, and the surface sterilized in a 10% chlorine (bleach) solution and plated on acidified potato-dextrose agar media. Results revealed high levels of N. dimitiatum from both the peduncles and the cankered tissues (Table 2).

By scrapping the shoots and branches, it was apparent that infections from the nut moved through the spur down to last year’s shoot and from the shoot to older wood. The fungus was isolated from all these cankers, and about four inches below the lower margin of cankered tissues (Figure 3, see page 42).

Although this was an extreme situation of very high incidence of infection of almond fruit with N. dimitiatum, it became apparent that when inoculum was abundant in the area and the almond fruit were at a developmental stage very susceptible to this pathogen (early hull split and even earlier stages), N. dimitiaum can cause hull rot and, furthermore, can kill spurs and shoots with devastating results during the current and next production years.

Case #2: Madera County

In 2019, Phoebe Gordon, UCCE farm advisor in Madera and Merced counties, had a grower in Madera with very severe hull rot in his almond orchard, and he needed help to figure out why there was so much shoot killing (Figure 4). Indeed, a

Continued on Page 42

Figure 3

Figure 4. Almonds severely damaged by hull rot caused by Neoscytalidium dimitiatum in Madera County in July 2019.

Figure 4

Continued from Page 40 Figure 5

visit to the orchard revealed a very high incidence of blighted shoots with blighted leaves attached to the killed spurs and shoots. The blighted spurs with the attached leaves were very similar with the hull rot symptoms caused by R. stolonifer; however, no characteristic gray mycelia and sporulation of Rhizopus were present under the hulls (Figure 5). Instead, there Figure 3. Upper-left: Infection of shoot initiated from a nut with Neoscytalidium was white mycelia growing on top of the shell. It was hull rot entering the sustaining shoot. Upper-right: infection of two-year old wood apparent that the killing (blighting) of the shoots from killed shoot bearing nuts with Neoscytalidium hull rot. Lower-right: infection was advancing from the fruit to peduncle, spurs and of last year’s shoot initiated from killed spurs. Lower-left: infection from last year’s shoots, resulting in blighting of large sections of shoot entering the two-year-old wood’s shoot (arrow).

Figure 5 shoots. Therefore, samples were collected for isolation of the fungus occurring in the nuts, and blighted shoots for dissection, observation and isolation.

Isolations from the nuts showed 56% Neoscytalidium on its own while of the fruit had Neoscytalidium and Rhizopus, and a very small percentage (<10%) had only Rhizopus. On the northeast side of the almond orchard, there was a large fig orchard. Some of the trees had obvious symptoms of limb dieback.

Limb dieback of fig is caused by Neoscytalidium dimitiatum (see Progressive Crop Consultant, March/ April 2021, pp. 24-29). Once we found out that the Figure 5. Almond nuts with hull rot caused by Neoscytalidium dimitiatum in almond orchard was loaded with hull rot caused by N. Madera County (2019). dimitiatum, we tried to find out where this inoculum was coming from. We questioned the grower who admitted that a couple of weeks before we observed the severe with the severe hull rot revealed high levels of N. dimitiatum, Neoscytalidium hull rot symptoms, he had pruned the dead similar to the one isolated from the almonds. Therefore, this limbs due to limb dieback and then all the prunings on the situation resembles the one at Kern County where the severe ground were shredded. This is an ideal situation for spreadinfection of almonds, which were at the right hull split stage, ing inoculum of N. dimitiatum because this fungus after was the result of severe infection due to abundant inoculum infection of limbs converts all its mycelia upon maturation formed after grinding trees of a walnut orchard to open the to dark, minute spores which formed between the woody ground for building a superstore. tissues and the bark.

As the bark separates from the woody tissues, the shredPathogenicity Studies ding of prunings liberates the spores that then can easily In plant pathology, when we isolate a putative pathogen become airborne (Figure 6, see page 43). Isolations from the to make sure that the isolated microorganism is the actual figs next to the almonds in Madera County produced almost culprit causing the disease, we inoculate the healthy host to 100% N. dimitiatum, which morphologically looked the same reproduce the symptoms. In this case in 2019, we wanted as the one isolated from the almonds. Although, at the time to reproduce again what we observed in the field. A spore the almonds were collected, the mycelia were white inside, suspension of 50,000 spores/ml were prepared, and 10 spurs and after keeping these nuts for a couple of weeks in the (three to four fruit) of almonds were inoculated by placlaboratory, the white mycelia turned to greenish/black, very ing each a drop of 50 µl per fruit or a drop of 100 µl of the typical of the fungus N. dimitiatum. Also, isolations from inoculum per fruit between the hulls and the shell. Most of figs with limb dieback in this orchard next to the almonds the fruit were at the “b3” hull split stage (which is at the deep 42

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Neoscytalidium dimidiatum (2-D57) 100

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V split stage, but the nut pops when squeezed.) The nuts of spurs in the 10 shoots that were inoculated with either 50 µl or 100 µl of spore inoculum per fruit showed wilting and blighting of leaves in about one week after inoculation.

Final recording was done 11 days after inoculation when 100% of shoots of inoculated almonds with either 50 or 100 µl/ml of N. dimitiatum were blighted, while the water-inoculated control had 10% blighted and 90% healthy. Re-isolation from the infected fruit produced 100% N. dimitiatum, thus confirming the Koch’s postulates that N. dimitiatum is the pathogen causing this severe hull rot and shoot blight.

Cutting the shoots longitudinally one could observe the dark discoloration inside the tissues.

e

e

e

20

Figure 6. Neoscytalidium dimitiatum on a branch of walnut showing Figure 7 the development of spores (arthrospores) that become airborne upon the bark peeling of the infected branch (photo by Beth Teviotdale).

a

b

Fungicides

Figure 7. Radial growth of Neoscytalidium dimitiatum in agar media amended with fungicides at 1 and 10 ppm. Bars topped with different letters indicate significant mean differences according to an LSD test at P <0.05.

crops (such as branch wilt of walnut, fig limb dieback and canker, and other wilts and cankers in other trees) and avoid pruning or disturbing the infected tissues, thus avoiding spreading airborne spores of this pathogen in almond orchards.

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Disease Management

Although no specific studies to control hull rot caused by N. dimitiatum were performed yet, at least we know that the laboratory inhibition studies identified some fungicides that are very effective and should be the first choice for trials in the field. These fungicides included Inspire Super (difenoconazol +cyprodinil, FRAC 3/9), Quadris Top (difenoconazole + azoxustrobin, FRAC 3/11), Orbit (propiconazole, FRAC 3), Quash (metconazole, FRAC3), Luna Experience (flupyram + tebuconazole, FRAC 3/7), Pristine (pyraclostrobin+boscalid, FRAC 7/11), Luna Sensation (fluopyram+ trifloxystobin, FRAC 7/11) and Merivon (pyraclostrocin + fluxopyroxad, FRAC 7/11) (Figure 7).

The fungicides Quash, Orbit and Luna Experience at 10 ppm worked very well in inhibiting the growth of a second strain of N. dimitiatum. The triazole fungicides are also very effective against Aspergillus niger.

Another way to manage hull rot caused

by A. niger and/or R. stolonifer is to avoid creation of dust during the time the nuts start the hull splitting process. Both of these fungi live in the soil, and the creation of dust brings them in high numbers in the almond nuts. Furthermore, growers need to be aware of the diseases N. dimitiatum causes on other

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43

WATER BUDGETING AND MANAGEMENT FOR PISTACHIO IN A DROUGHT YEAR: WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?

By TAYLOR CHALSTROM | Assistant Editor

While pistachios are known for their ability to withstand drought, enough water stress can still cause high percentages of blanks, low shell splitting percentages and reductions in overall yield (photo courtesy Nichols Farms.)

L

ow precipitation over the last year in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and long-term drought are forcing pistachio growers to make tough decisions for their irrigation management.

While pistachios are known for their ability to withstand drought, enough water stress can still cause high percentages of blanks, low shell splitting percentages and reductions in overall yield.

To mitigate these issues, UC experts recommend pistachio growers employ water budgeting strategies, monitor tree water stress levels and implement drought management techniques, such as proportional decreases in water application throughout the season or regulated deficit irrigation at different

stages in crop development.

Water Budgeting

Water budgeting, along with soil moisture monitoring, helps to keep track of water depletion and eventually minimize water stress damage to tree health, growth and nut quality during normal years and drought. Daniele Zaccaria, UCCE agricultural water management specialist, said in a June 2021 UCCE In a Nutshell newsletter article co-authored by UCCE Farm Advisor Mae Culumber that a water budget considers the amount of irrigation needed to replace water losses from transpiration by trees and vegetative cover and evaporation from the soil surface, known in combination as crop evapotranspiration (ETc).

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pretty optimal. This is in a normal year,” said Zaccaria in an interview. “This year is not normal. They try to supply an adequate amount of water in the most sensitive stages and then reduce the applications in stages that are less or not sensitive to water stress.”

Under constrained water supplies during drought years such as this one, growers need to be strategic with their on-farm water allocation, and it has been shown that regulated deficit irrigation can result in improved water use efficiency without significant reduction in nut yields, according to Isaya Kisekka, associate professor of agro-hydrology and irrigation at UC Davis.

In pistachio, multiple UC studies have found that regulated deficit irrigation is effective in saving water without stressing the tree enough to adversely affect yields at harvest. “[In pistachio], there are sensitive and less sensitive stages,” Zaccaria said.

Sensitive stages for pistachio include shell expansion (Stage I), which occurs during the first two weeks of May, and nut fill (Stage III) beginning around late June, according to Zaccaria and Culumber. Pistachio trees can be moderately stressed through deficit irrigation during the shell hardening (Stage

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II), which occurs from mid-May to late June, and during postharvest without adversely impacting the final nut yield.

Zaccaria explained that this is possible because pistachio yield is already defined on the tree.

“The yield is defined already in terms of the number of nuts on the trees, so it’s a matter of navigating and carrying that number of nuts up to the harvest with the largest possible kernel weight to obtain profitable yield,” he said, noting that improper deficit irrigation can lead to blanks, small nuts and/or dropped nuts.

Soil moisture monitoring also factors into water budgeting by letting growers know how much water can be depleted from the soil before water stress levels become dangerous as well as the amount of water infiltrating the soil root zone during and after an irrigation. The goal is to maintain water levels at all times between field capacity (where irrigation isn’t needed) and the management allowable depletion, which is the maximum amount of water that could be depleted at any given time without creating water stress conditions to plants that can adversely impact vegetative growth and yield (for

nut orchards, the MAD is about 40% to 50% total soil available water.)

Water budgeting also requires knowledge of a site’s soil characteristics.

Kisekka said that growers should know the water holding capacity of their soils by layer. The depth of soil considered for a water budget changes depending on the ‘effective rooting depth’, the portion of soil from which trees extract most of their water and nutrients. For pistachios grown with microirrigation, UC notes this is generally the top three feet of soil.

Depletion in the top three feet of soil should be tracked for pistachios as part of water budgeting. Kisekka recommends developing a checkbook spreadsheet to track water inputs (irrigation in summer months) and outputs (ET), and soil water sensors can also be installed to track soil water depletion.

“It is important to note that there is no sensor that directly measures soil moisture; they all measure a surrogate variable (e.g., the permittivity of the soil) and correlate that to soil moisture,” Kisekka said.

He said a useful technique could be to benchmark full and refill points for the variable the sensor is directly

measuring without the need to do the conversion to soil moisture. “[In other words], determine the permittivity value after irrigation or rainfall to set the full point and do the same thing to determine the permittivity value when the soil water is depleted and irrigation needs to occur,” Kisekka said.

Zaccaria said that when looking at soil-water interactions in the orchard, growers should also be aware of critical areas where water may move differently than others due to differences in soil texture. Paying attention to these variations, he said, can be beneficial to accurate water budgeting.

“You can optimize irrigation applications and probably save a little bit of water if you adjust the frequency of water applications to account and buffer for differences in soil texture [in critical areas],” Zaccaria said, noting that placing soil moisture sensors in critical areas of orchards will help with optimizing irrigation applications.

In a Nutshell, the range of SWP for pistachio is between -6.0 and -20.0 bars, with pistachios in moist soil at field capacity having tree mid-day SWP values between -9 and -11 bars. Values more negative than -14 bars point to moisture stress that reduces growth and yield; however, UC research suggests the threshold for stress tolerance under regulated deficit irrigation may be between -15 and -18 bars at different stages of crop development.

Additional information about deficit

irrigation and other mitigation strategies for drought in pistachio can be found in the June 2021 In a Nutshell newsletter for Tulare and Kings counties at cetulare.ucanr.edu/newsletters/ In_a_Nutshell89801.pdf, and on the UC Drought Management webpage at ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop_Irrigation_Strategies/ Pistachios/.

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P l a n t- B a s e d Fa r m i n g

Understanding Tree Stress

Irrigating according to a water budget and soil moisture monitoring does not provide information about how orchard trees respond to the applied water schedule, according to Zaccaria and Culumber. Older tools (pressure chambers) and newer tools (cosmic-ray neutron probes and automated osmometers) for measuring stem-water potential (SWP) offer a plant-based approach to understand if plant stress is within acceptable levels and when to trigger irrigation.

Kisekka and other UC researchers have recently found success with newer tools for measuring SWP over a broader area in the orchard. “Our recent research shows that you can use osmometers or micro-tensiometers successfully in some tree crops like almonds,” he said, noting that the technology is still being researched in other tree crops like walnuts and pistachios. “Also, other technologies that measure soil moisture of the entire orchard appear promising, and the orchard level soil moisture is correlated to SWP.” SWP is measured in bars of negative pressure, which is compared to known values for water stress. According to

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47

Cover Crops in Walnut Orchards

Acreage on the rise as growers reap the benefits and learn to manage the challenges of a planted cover crop.

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

A

ICE HIL N E

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steady rise in intentionally planted cover crops in walnut orchards has been noted by UCCE Advisor Emeritus Joe Grant, who now serves as production research director for the California Walnut Board.

“There has been a steady increase each year of growers who start, intentionally, to have cover crops in their orchards.” Grant said. “There has been more promotion of this practice recently.”

Just allowing a crop of winter weeds to germinate and grow in the orchard won’t provide equal benefits to a chosen and planted cover crop. Large weeds can become problematic by spreading into tree rows.

Young walnut orchards can benefit from a planted cover crop due to its value as a green manure. A big driver of increased cover crop use, Grant said, is the goal of improving water penetration in the orchard. Cover crop decomposition adds organic matter to the soil, aiding water infiltration and water holding capacity. Cover crops can help prevent soil crusting by protecting the soil surface from the impact of sprinkler droplets and help improve traction and reduce compaction from machinery used in the orchard, especially

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August 2021

in the winter.

Depending on the species in the cover crop mix, the plants can extract nitrogen not taken up by the tree and convert it to more stable organic forms. Cover crops can take up excess water from winter rains. Cover crops can also reduce erosion on slopes and areas subject to flooding and remove excess soil from winter rains in the spring when it can increase the risk of soilborne disease problems.

Cover crops can help with dust control, improving soil structure and protecting soil from wind.

Even with all the promoted benefits of a cover crop in a walnut orchard, Grant said that establishing fall-planted cover crops can be challenging and requires pre-planning.

“These cover crops need to be planted right after harvest, and the later varieties of walnuts like Chandler bump right up against cover crop planting time,” Grant said.

In mature orchards, lack of sunlight and leaf litter on the orchard floor can interfere with stand establishment. If the orchard floor is dry at planting and no rain is in the forecast, irrigation may be required for germination.

Water use by a cover crop will increase the total orchard water requirement. In the spring, cover crops deplete stored soil moisture from winter rains. A UCCE cover crop guide for walnuts notes that a typical 5,000-pound-per-acre (dry weight) cool-season green manure cover crop can consume as much as about 180,000 gallons, or 6.5 acre-inches, of water.

There is also a risk of spring frost damage to young trees when a cover crop is grown in the orchard. A bare orchard floor absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night, but a cover crop reduces this heat absorption. This risk can be mitigated by mowing the cover crop well in advance if a severe frost event is forecast.

Cover crops can also interfere with spring orchard sanitation and orchard pruning operations. Destroying mummy nuts on the orchard floor to control navel orangeworm

Triticale green manure cover crop in late March. Many walnut growers report improvements in orchard water infiltration after planting this cover crop (photo by J. Grant.)

may require mowing the cover crop and decreasing its ultimate biomass production.

In orchards with pocket gophers or voles, cover crops may aid in increasing their populations as gopher mounds can become hidden from site and vole runways can be sheltered.

Population dynamics of three nematode species that attack walnut, ring nematode, root knot nematode and root lesion nematode may be affected by planting cover crops. Research shows that nematodes are less active in cooler months, and mowing or disking a cover crop by mid-May could limit their potential for harm. Sampling soil for nematodes pre-plant can help with cover crop planting decisions.

This annual reseeding brome cover crop in a Sacramento Valley walnut orchard is a system used in non-cultivated orchards (photo by Janine Hasey, UCCE Emeritus.)

the soil. If there is adequate soil moisture in the fall, this system may not need additional irrigation for germination and growth.

Annual reseeding legumes, including common vetch, subterranean or

crimson clover, bur medic or grasses (Blando brome) are planted in the fall and managed during spring and early

Continued on Page 50

Choosing a System

Three cover crop systems have been used successfully in walnut orchards.

These systems all have potential benefits as well as drawbacks to consider when choosing cover crops to meet needs in different orchard situations.

The first is a winter green manure crop that usually consists of large-seeded cereal grains and one or more nitrogen-fixing legumes. This crop is newly seeded each year in the fall and mowed or disked in the spring. This system fits especially well in cultivated orchards as the fertility benefits are maximized with the crop residue incorporated in

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Perennial rye and fescue mix improve orchard access by equipment in winter and reduce dust but require full-coverage or nearly full-coverage irrigation and at least some direct sunlight during the day in order to persist for multiple years (photo by J. Grant.)

Continued from Page 49 summer for seed production to allow for reestablishment in the fall. This system can only be maintained in

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non-cultivated orchards. It may also need irrigation if fall and winter rains have not provided adequate moisture for good growth.

Perennial sods include grasses such

as perennial ryegrass and various fescues and/or legumes. The species are planted in fall through spring and mowed to maintain a year-round orchard floor covering. Irrigation beyond

what is needed by trees is needed to maintain good growth.

Grant said there is an additional spring-planted cover crop strategy that includes warm-season species, such as sudan and cowpea. These species are helpful in increasing soil organic matter and improving tilth and water holding capacity, particularly in sandy soils. Their main drawback is increased water use and potential to contribute to nematode populations.

Planting, Management Strategies

To maximize their benefit, cover crops should be planted in as wide a strip as possible.

To maximize efficiency, the width of the planted strips usually matched the width of cultivating, seeding and mowing equipment advised. Planting with a no-till seed drill helps minimize disturbance on the orchard floor.

Drilling seed also involves less ground preparation that broadcast seeding and is a more precise operation.

Removal of green manure cover crops is done by disking in cultivated orchards. A heavy crop can be mowed prior to disking. Flail or rotary mowers are used in non-cultivated orchards.

Annual reseeding cover crops should be mowed to a half inch to one inch in height to reduce competition from winter weeds. The grasses in this type of cover crop do not tolerate the short mowing as well as the clovers. A second and final mowing is done in early to mid-June once seed has fully matured to ensure satisfactory reestablishment of the cover crop the following winter.

A successful stand can be reestablished if half or more of plants in the cover crop produce mature seed before they are removed by mowing or disking.

Mowing more frequently delays flowering and seed development by most annual reseeding species. Mowed residue left on the soil surface helps suppress summer weeds and will decompose by harvest.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

'

To maximize their benefit, cover crops should be planted in as wide a strip as possible.

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51

A WORD FROM THE BOARD: THE ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA

High Moisture Content Delivers Lower Returns, Greater Damage

Growers can play a significant role in managing stockpile moisture.

By ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA | Contributing Writer

D

ave Phippen has been growing and processing almonds for decades in the Central Valley, an experience that has given him a frontrow seat to many of the challenges confronting the industry.

And while water shortages, increasing regulations around pesticide use and other vexing issues often grab the headlines, one recurring problem, which is almost entirely within a grower’s control, is moisture management come harvest time.

Delivering almond kernels with a moisture content greater than 6% to a huller/sheller or processor can create a cascading series of difficulties that affect not only the “wet” nuts but also the nuts around those with high moisture content in stockpiles or even in loads shipped overseas.

“Unfortunately, many times growers know that their product has high moisture content and are just looking for a way to quickly get it out of the field so that they can move on to address other orchard management practices,” said Phippen, a partner at grower and processor Travaille and Phippen, based in Manteca. “They tell me, ‘Just put it in a stockpile. We know the almonds are not dry enough for good hulling/ shelling.’ But as we dive deeper into just how moist the nuts are, it becomes evident that they are well beyond the critical 6% moisture threshold. At that point, the blame or loss exposure 52

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Growers have to deliver dry product. It has got to dry in the fields. If you don’t dry it in the field, a lot of hullers won’t be able to handle those nuts.

– Brad Craven, Processor

“

is transferred from the grower to the huller/sheller.”

Almonds that are too wet when delivered to processors have a higher risk of developing aflatoxins created

by Aspergillus spp., the fungal molds that produce aflatoxins. As with most molds, the most significant factor in the growth of Aspergillus is moisture content.

Aflatoxin is one of the primary reasons shipments of almonds are rejected after testing is conducted at ports overseas.

Nuts whose moisture content is too high also have a higher incidence of concealed damage, a condition in which off-flavors and off-colors are revealed after roasting. Concealed damage can significantly impact quality and reduce grower returns, especially in years with late harvests and/or early rains.

“

Sample in windrows to make sure moisture content of the almonds is where it needs to be. Managing wet nuts adds costs, time and stress to the processor (all photos courtesy Almond Board of California.)

Wetter nuts also are more susceptible to having cracked shells embedded in the kernel during hulling/shelling process.

Brad Craven, who retired two years ago after a long career in the processing industry, said California’s ever-expanding almond production may be inadvertently contributing to the problem of wetter nuts.

“In my last few years, I saw an increasing trend in growers delivering wetter nuts,” he said. “With increasing almond volume throughout the state, there may not be enough harvesting capacity to get through that crop before a rain comes. Growers are starting to harvest as early as they can to get things done.”

Importance of Moisture Sampling

The first step to effectively managing Aspergillus growth and concealed dam-

Stockpiles at an almond huller and sheller. Clear tarps allow the greatest temperature fluctuations, but can be used on dry, in-hull almonds that are well below the moisture threshold.

age is to ensure moisture content of the almonds does not exceed allowable levels. The Almond Board of California (ABC), based on findings from research in this area, created the Stockpile Management Best Practices, which not only detail the allowable levels but also educate growers and the broader industry on how to prevent aflatoxin and minimize the formation of concealed damage.

To accurately determine moisture levels in almonds, it is important to take a good sample of nuts before sweeping.

“Most hullers have a moisture check machine available for grower samples,” Phippen said. “Growers should make sure their sample is representative of the whole orchard, or, even better, representative of the wettest area in the orchard.”

Phippen recommended sampling early in the day to capture the morning dew that may occur. Research also has shown that nuts on the north side of the canopy next to the tree trunk can have moisture readings as much as 2 percentage points higher than in other areas of the orchard.

Growers should recognize that there is variability when drying on the orchard floor versus drying in windrows.

Sampling should take this variability into account; within the windrow, moisture tends to accumulate on the bottom layers of almonds, so samples

should be taken from that bottom layer.

Understanding Moisture Levels

Once an accurate sample has been taken, growers should determine the overall moisture level of their crop.

Before stockpiling, moisture content for almonds should be below 6% for in-shell kernel, or less than 9% for total fruit (in-hull almonds), or less than 12% moisture content for hulls.

As a practical guideline, nuts should not be stockpiled if either their hull moisture content exceeds 12% or their kernel moisture content exceeds 6%.

“A savvy huller/sheller requires a sample before placing the product into a stockpile,” Phippen said. “Once the damp almonds are picked up from the field and placed into a field hopper, the problem gets big. That’s why it’s important for all parties involved to know, as close as possible, the product’s true and actual moisture content prior to picking it up out of the field.”

Phippen also offered this advice to growers worried about moisture levels in nuts.

“If you know that you are on the risky side and picking up anyhow, wait until later in the day after the morn-

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Continued from Page 53 ing moisture has had a chance to burn off before beginning pick-up operations,” he said. “Even if the operations need to continue into the early evening to complete the field, that is preferable to picking up first thing in the morning.”

Growers who shake nuts from trees too early also run the risk of higher moisture levels in windrows. Shaking early also leaves more nuts on trees. Conditioning to remove debris prior to windrowing will speed up the drying process and deliver cleaner product to the huller/sheller. Growers are encouraged to assess their operation and determine if using a conditioner may work for them.

Managing Stockpiles

When considering where to place stockpiles, it is recommended that industry members choose an area where the bottom of the pile is raised or sloped. This encourages any moisture to drain away from the stockpile, further limiting mold growth.

The positioning and shape of stockpiles also contributes to moisture control and helps reduce mold growth. An even, flat top is best for stockpiles to minimize areas where condensation can build up on the underside of the tarp, further limiting the opportunity for moisture.

Finally, stockpiles are best oriented with the long side on a north-south axis. In cases where the stockpiles are oriented

with a long east-west axis, condensation and mold growth typically are worse on the north end of the pile.

Tips for Using Tarps

While tarps are a necessary part of the stockpile equation, they can increase humidity levels among the stockpiled nuts, heightening the chances of mold growth or concealed damage. Hullers and shellers are advised to keep these factors in mind when selecting a tarp to use: A white-on-black tarp best minimizes temperature fluctuations, which lead to condensation and eventual mold growth.

Clear tarps allow the greatest temperature fluctuations, but can be used on dry, in-hull almonds that are well below the moisture threshold.

White tarps fall between white-on-black and clear tarps in terms of temperature fluctuations.

Controlling the relative humidity (rH) in a stockpile is also critical to maintain food safety; rH greater than 65% within a stockpile is the maximum allowed for almond storage. In situations when moisture levels become too high in a stockpile, hullers/shellers should open up the tarps in the daytime to allow moisture to escape and then close them at night. They should also monitor the outside of the piles where large changes in temperature and condensation can increase moisture levels.

For more information on how to manage stockpiles, from tips on what kind of tarp to use and monitoring for pests to controlling the rH, hullers and shellers should reference pages 5 and 6 of ABC’s Stockpile Management Best Practices for Hullers/Shellers (almonds.com/sites/default/files/ grower_stockpile_management_best_practices_from_abc_2014%5B1%5D.pdf).

Don’t Pass the Buck to Processors

Delivering wet nuts to the processor is a headache for everyone, said Phippen, as it requires added cost, time and stress to manage wet nuts that may have been fine if they had a few more days in the field.

“If the product was in a pile that experienced excess moisture for an extended time, concealed damage is always a possibility. And, if for some reason the product slipped past inspection, it could become moldy and fail inspection at the point of sale,” said Phippen. “What’s more, aflatoxin contamination is also likely with wet or damp product, and high aflatoxin levels render product unsalable or in need of costly further processing. And when aflatoxin rejections do occur at the ports, this has the potential to damage the reputation of our whole industry.”

For Craven, the solution is simple.

“Growers have to deliver dry product,” he said. “It has got to dry in the fields. If you don’t dry it in the field, a lot of hullers won’t be able to handle those nuts. It’s important to provide the best product to ensure the greatest, most efficient outputs across the industry.”

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August 2021

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By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

‘If drought conditions and water curtailments continue, yields will be reduced until the second season after full irrigation requirements have been met.’

If normal irrigation scheduling takes place next growing season, it would still take two years of full irrigation to return to the orchard’s production potential (all photos courtesy Almond Board of California.)

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M

any of California’s almond growers faced some tough decisions this year when it came to water availability for their orchards.

And, it isn’t likely that any two had the exact same decision to make given the wide variability in management, growing regions, soils and water.

“Strategies are radically different depending on where you are located,” said Tom Devol, Almond Board of California’s senior manager of field outreach and education.

Some growers knew what their surface deliveries would be and if they could be stretched across the entire growing season. Some, who depend solely on groundwater, lost all water when wells went dry. Some bought high-priced water to protect their crop

and others decided to cut losses and let trees go.

In mid-July, growers who had used their surface water allotment were moving to groundwater to finish the season. Others lost all water availability.

And, in some Modesto-Turlock areas, growers maintained water supply until harvest.

Devol said some growers, mostly in the southern growing areas, anticipated severe water shortages and pulled out marginal or older orchards to direct scarce supplies to better blocks.

“Not a huge volume, and trees come out normally every year, but this is more than usual. If they are looking at the impact of drought this year and its effect on next year’s crop and it’s a 20-year-old orchard, they made that decision to pull,” Devol said.

During his travels to different almond growing areas throughout the Central Valley, Devol said he observed orchards on the west side of the valley that defoliated mid-summer due to water stress.

Effects on Kernels, Production

The Almond Doctor, former UCCE Farm Advisor David Doll, in a 2021 drought update, noted that water-stressed trees have less energy for kernel development. This can lead to reduced kernel size and weight and increase the percent of shriveled nuts in the current crop. Next year, due to current moderate to severe deficits, yields will be affected. This loss is due to reduced spur positions from the

Continued on Page 58

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Continued from Page 57 lack of growth and reduced carbohydrate reserves going into floral bud development. Less fruit will be set. Nut weight and size will only be affected when trees are water stressed again.

Doll said if normal irrigation scheduling takes place next growing season, it would still take two years of full irrigation to return to the orchard’s production potential. If drought conditions and water curtailments continue, yields will be reduced until the second season after full irrigation requirements have been met.

Devol said this scenario would present a challenge to almond growers across the state as there is no clear answer or best practice advice as circumstances vary so greatly.

Growers who know ahead of time that they will not have enough water to finish the growing season should, if they are able, parcel out the water, not shock the trees by abruptly ending irrigation.

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Irrigation management strategies were radically different depending on location.

“There are some growers who could not avoid that,” Devol noted.

UC Drought Management recommends applying water as a proportion of availability, in order to stretch irrigation resources.

Doll said that the best strategy when

managing limited water supplies is to apply the available water as a proportion of water use. This means that whatever percentage of water is available, the orchard should be irrigated at

Continued on Page 60

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In some locations, including Modesto and Turlock, almond growers maintained water supply until harvest.

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that percentage of the crop’s ET for the entire season.

The effect of water deficits postharvest will depend on deficits pre-harvest and the quantity of water use over the remainder of the season. Bud differentiation can continue through mid-September. UC Drought Management reports that moderate stress during the postharvest season will have little effect on next year’s yields, but severe stress can reduce fruit set.

Type of irrigation system used can influence tree response to postharvest stress. UC Drought Management guidelines note that low-volume systems with limited soil water reserves can result in severe water deficits soon after irrigation is cut off. Postharvest irrigation is necessary in southern San Joaquin Valley growing areas, especially with drought-sensitive varieties.

Deep-rooted trees that are

flood irrigated may have enough deep moisture to carry them through bud differentiation.

tonnage and paying higher prices for water are the ones who are pulling out trees, he said.

Grower Reports

Chowchilla-area almond grower Steve Massaro said the limited supply of surface water ran out early and he is finishing the irrigation season with groundwater. His automated orchard irrigation system is set up for shorter,

Almond grower Christine Gemperle, who has orchards in two different irrigation districts, said previous short water years helped her learn just how far to cut back on water while keeping trees healthy.

Understanding there was not going to be enough water for one 92-acre block, she said the decision was made to only run water in the checks with good production and let the rest go dry.

That way, she said, kernel quality would be assured.

"

Postharvest irrigation is necessary in southern San Joaquin Valley growing areas, especially with drought-sensitive varieties.

more frequent sets, but the trees were still shorted.

“We’re just squeaking by with water this year,” Massaro said. The high mid-summer temperatures added to the difficulty of retaining soil moisture.

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Recycled city water delivered by the Del Puerto Irrigation District has provided a ‘cushion’ this year.

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Balancing Nutrient Needs after Whole Orchard Recycling

By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer

S

cientists are finding that applying five ounces of nitrogen per almond tree for the first year after whole orchard recycling (WOR), or two ounces over commonly recommended rates for young trees, is sufficient to overcome the high carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio that the practice creates in soil.

Further, during West Coast Nut’s virtual Almond Day 2021 presentation on June 15, Mae Culumber, nut crops farm advisor for Fresno County, said researchers are recommending that growers spoon-feed the nitrogen in doses of no more than an ounce at a time and, when possible, sprinkle granular nitrogen around trees.

The findings show that growers can resume typical nitrogen application rates in year two, Culumber said.

Culumber, UCCE Pomology Farm Advisor for San Joaquin County Brent Holtz and other researchers have been refining nitrogen application rate recommendations after WOR for several years, essentially since growers started noticing stunting in some almond orchards after WOR. Experiments have involved adding up to three times the recommended rate for early tree growth, and then scaling that down.

“We ended up applying 100 pounds per acre, or nearly 10 ounces per tree,” Holtz said of one experiment. “That is where we started working backward and found that we can get away with 62

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Researchers have found that the size of wood chips can influence persistence of wood decay inoculum, with the inoculum not recoverable within two months after orchard recycling in smaller wood chips (all photos courtesy B. Holtz.)

Adding wood chips to soil improves the physical and biological properties in soil that influence water retention and the permeability of water through soil.

five ounces per tree to get the growth we want.”

In recent experiments, including in a trial established at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in 2019, researchers are actually seeing better first-year growth in WOR trees than in trees planted under conventional conditions, according to Culumber.

“We have other trial sites throughout the state where, similarly, we are finding the same or better growth in whole orchard recycled trees when we’ve applied that triple-15 granularly

application early on,” Culumber said.

Despite high costs and some preliminary issues with stunted trees, WOR has emerged as a viable alternative to tree removal when replanting almond orchards. Holtz noted that about 400 growers have recycled about 40,000 acres under the practice to date.

In her Almond Day presentation, Culumber addressed the most common questions she gets about WOR: Will the practice benefit soil? The answer, she said, is yes.

“We are seeing increased infiltration,

increased water-holding capacity and increased microbial activity in soils from recycled orchards,” she said.

Adding organic matter, such as wood chips, to soil improves the physical and biological properties in soil that influence water retention and the permeability of water through soil, which helps with drainage, aeration and soil structure. Further, adding organic matter provides a source of energy for microorganisms to begin decomposition and produces substrates that act as a sort of glue for soil particles, giving soil the kind of structure and porosity that scientists associate with a better environment for tree roots.

“In some research that I’ve done and in trials where we compared different organic amendments, we saw much higher levels of microbial activity in plots where we amended with wood chips compared to control or just fumigated soil,” she said.

Increased Soil Permeability

She added that researchers are seeing increased permeability in WOR plots, which allows water to penetrate deeper into soil, allowing it to reach more of an almond root system.

And researchers have found better moisture retention in WOR plots. “Coming out of dormancy in a year like this year where we didn’t get much rain, that can make a big difference,” Culumber said.

Another question Culumber addressed is whether a grower should precondition chips with a manure fertilizer before incorporating them into soil. The question has merit, she said, given that researchers estimate in a mature recycled orchard that as much as 45,000 tons of carbon can be added per acre, and only a small portion of that is nitrogen. Adding dairy manure can help reduce the imbalance in carbon to nitrogen, she said.

“Even just adding eight tons of dairy manure, you are going to really drastically reduce that C:N ratio, maybe as much as half,” she said. “But as far as adding inorganic fertilizers, that might be a little more complicated calculation. Applying large amounts of inorganic fertilizer is not necessarily going to be beneficial for tree growth.

“Our recommendation is that probably fallowing for one to two years is going to be the best in promoting that turnover prior to planting,” she said, “but for a lot of people, we realize that is not an option.”

The good news here, she said, is researchers are finding a rapid decline in the C:N ratio under normal irrigation and fertigation conditions, so bumping up the nitrogen application rate for the first year should be all that is necessary.

“In some preliminary results from trials, we are finding that you can return to those normal fertilization guidelines as soon as the second leaf,” she said.

Culumber added that it is important for growers to come in early with their first shot of nitrogen. “We recommend doing that first dose of fertilizer several weeks after the tree put out leaves,” she said, adding that no more than one ounce at a time is recommended.

Targeting fertilizer to the root zone of trees through

well-placed granular applications can improve performance, Culumber said, given that when applied through irrigation it can be difficult to get nitrogen to the smaller root diameter of young trees.

Wood Decay

Culumber also addressed the potential for wood decay diseases to persist in soil under WOR. In addressing this, she referred to research conducted by UC Davis Plant Pathologist David Rizzo and graduate student Bob Johnson that measured the persistence of Ganoderma inoculum over time in a recycled orchard. At the start, the research showed that 100% of the Ganoderma pathogen was present in the wood chips.

Seven weeks later, researchers were still recovering about 50% of the inoculum in the largest of the wood chips, but the inoculum was not recoverable in the smaller sized chips.

“This preliminary evidence suggests that if an orchard has a history of disease, maybe fallowing for a year or two is going to be your best bet to ensure you don’t have problems with it in the future. But to alleviate your concerns about the disease, the size of the wood chips after grinding are generally much smaller than the size of the chips where the disease was still recovered,” Culumber said. “That is just not the size of wood chips that we are seeing with the screens that are used on these manure spreaders now.”

Culumber also addressed questions regarding whether wood chips would interfere with harvest. To address that, Culumber presented sampling she did last year where she analyzed material going into a conveyor belt from an orchard that had undergone WOR. She found that only 2.73% of debris in the conveyor belt was wood chips, while 91% was almond hulls and shells.

“We are finding that where people use some of these compacting tillers, there is good success with prepping that orchard,” she said. “And harvest doesn’t come until three years after you’ve planted, so you’ve got a couple of years of decomposition and settling of some of those wood chips.”

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TOP

PESTICIDE VIOLATIONS OF 2020

By THERESA KIEHN | President and CEO, AgSafe

O

n an annual basis, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) releases their top 10 pesticide violations of 2020. This information is incredibly valuable in determining the agency’s priorities and where agricultural operations should direct their efforts. It is no surprise that the top 10 list over the years has not fluctuated by much as the industry continues to struggle with the pain points.

With that being said, this is an excellent opportunity to assess if your business is meeting regulatory standards, and if not, take the time to fix the issues before CDPR comes knocking at your door.

FAC §12973 | Labeling and Permit Conditions

Common violations under FAC §12973 include: • Not following the application requirements listed on the pesticide product label.

• Applying a pesticide to a site or crop not listed on the pesticide product label.

For the safety of your employees, it is critical that correct PPE is worn and it fits properly (photo courtesy AgSafe.)

The use of a pesticide shall not conflict with the registered labeling delivered with the pesticide, or any conditions of a restricted material permit issued by the commissioner.

All pesticides registered with U.S. EPA have the phrase, “It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.”

In other words, the label is the law!

3 CCR §6738 | Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Common violations under 3 CCR §6738 include:

Sept.

16-17, 2021 WestINFORMATION Coast Nut SEE PAGE64 78-79 FOR MORE

• Not using PPE correctly and for its intended purpose.

August 2021

• Using damaged or contaminated PPE. The employer is required to provide all PPE that is required on the pesticide labeling, regulation and restricted material permit condition. The employer must provide for its daily inspection and cleaning, and repair or replace any worn, damaged or heavily contaminated PPE. Additionally, assure that all PPE not in use is kept separate from personal clothing and in a clean, pesticide-free designated area.

3 CCR §6726 | Emergency Medical Care

Common violations under 3 CCR §6726 include:

'THIS IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO ASSESS IF YOUR BUSINESS IS MEETING REGULATORY STANDARDS, AND IF NOT, TAKE THE TIME TO FIX THE ISSUES BEFORE CDPR COMES KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR.' • Not taking employees suspected of a pesticide illness to a medical care facility IMMEDIATELY. • Emergency medical care information is not posted at the work site or work vehicle, or is missing

information.

If the employer suspects that an employee could have a pesticide related illness or exposure, the employee must be taken to medical care immediately.

Be prepared to provide medical professionals with the following: • The SDS(s) • Product name(s) • U.S. EPA registration number(s), and active ingredient(s) •

Circumstances of application or use that may have resulted in exposure

The information is critical in determining the proper treatment for your employees. Ensure this information is readily available to be provided in an emergency.

FAC §11732 | Registration in County

Common violation under FAC §11732 include:

• Performing pest control activities in a county before registering with the County Agricultural Commissioner.

• Anyone who intends to advertise, solicit or operate as a pest control business in California must be registered annually with the County Agricultural Commissioner (CAC) in each county they provide business services.

3 CCR §6678 | Service Container Labeling

Common violations under 3 CCR §6678 include: • Not including the signal word on

Continued on Page 66

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§6761 include: Not updating medical information within 24 hours of the change.

Grower not informing employees of the location of the pesticide use records before they enter the treated fields.

3 CCR §6761.1 | ApplicationSpecific Information for Fieldworkers

Common violations under 3 CCR §6761.1 include: •

Not retaining the ApplicationSpecific Information (ASI) for the last two years.

•

ASI displayed with missing information (e.g., Restricted Entry Interval (REI) or active ingredients).

3 CCR §6724 (b-e) | Handler Training

Common violations under 3 CCR §6724 (b-e) include:

Continued from Page 65 the service container label.

• Not including the name of the company or person responsible for the container on the label.

• All service containers are required to contain a label with the following: • Name and address of the person or company responsible for the container.

3 CCR §6734 | Handler Decontamination Facilities

Common violations under 3 CCR §6734 include: • Handlers using wet towelettes in place of soap and single-use towels.

• Not having a decontamination site at the mixing and loading site and within 0.25 miles from other handlers.

3 CCR §6602 Availability of Labeling at Use Site

• The identity of the pesticide in the container.

Common violations under 3 CCR §6602 include:

• The signal word “Danger,” “Warning” or “Caution” that corresponds with the precautionary statement on the original container.

• Not having a copy of the registered pesticide labeling covering the use at the use site of each pesticide application.

• Farmers on their own property are exempt from this requirement, unless they travel on public rights-of-way.

• Not having the special local need (SLN) section 24(c) labeling when using the pesticide according to supplemental instructions.

The following round out the rest of the top 10 list.

3 CCR §6761| Hazard Communication for Fieldworkers

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Common violations under 3 CCR

• Employer not including all pesticides to be handled in the training.

• Employer not having records of trainings that occurred within the last two years.

If you should have specific questions regarding your pesticide compliance program, policies or best practices, please contact the AgSafe team at 209526-4400 or email safeinfo@agsafe.org.

The information in the top 10 pesticide violations was provided by the CDPR. To view the CDPR presentation in its entirety, please visit cdpr.ca.gov/ docs/license/pdf/pesticide_use_violation_2020.pdf.

AgSafe is a 501c3 nonprofit providing training, education, outreach and tools in the areas of safety, labor relations, food safety and human resources for the food and farming industries. Since 1991, AgSafe has educated over 85,000 employers, supervisors and workers about these critical issues.

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67

SOLAR ON CALIFORNIA WORKING LANDS: SHARE YOUR PERSPECTIVE!

By NICOLE BUCKLEY BIGGS | Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences

A

team of researchers at Stanford University is interviewing farmers and ranchers in the San Joaquin Valley about the opportunities and concerns surrounding solar energy production on their lands. While state and regional planning studies have mapped out where solar arrays should be developed based on transmission lines and avoiding prime farmland or wildlife habitat, little research has been done that captures the perspectives and priorities of California’s farmers, even though most solar energy is developed on privately owned farms and rangeland.

To include the voices of farmers in the discussion, this Stanford research team would like to hear your opinions through a phone interview. They are interested in understanding what solar 68

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August 2021

Researchers want to hear from growers about their perspectives on implementing solar on the farm (photo courtesy UC Davis College of Engineering.)

income could mean for your operation, what types of solar contracts are attractive and landowners’ concerns about solar.

If you are a producer in the San Joaquin Valley and are willing to participate in this study, please email Estefania Acuna Lacarieri (at eacuna@ stanford.edu or by phone at 650-460-

0304) to schedule a time to share your thoughts. Your contribution to this work is important and will be kept confidential.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

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Cal/OSHA Readopts Revisions to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard

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August 2021

Employers must provide unvaccinated employees with approved respirators for voluntary use when working indoors.

J

ust as the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be winding down and the state of California is opening up, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted on June 17, 2021 to readopt revisions to the COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) on vaccination availability, removal of physical distancing requirements and guidance on face coverings to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

These revisions take effect immediately by executive orders signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, which apply to most workers in California.

This ETS process moved fast and furious through Cal/OSHA’s rulemaking process. A petition was filed in May 2020 for an emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 to protect workers in California.

In July 2020, it was placed on the Standards Board calendar for review after several public meetings and substantial public comments from employers. Concerns ranged from Cal/OSHA’s jurisdiction for imposed requirements to continue benefits to workers excluded from the workplace due to COVID-19 related reasons; requirements of providing COVID-19 testing at no cost to potentially exposed employees; and the requirements on employer-provided housing and transportation to separate beds by eight feet and require three feet of separation in employer-provided vehicles.

During the November 17, 2020 meeting, Cal/OSHA adopted the emergency temporary rules to strengthen COVID-19 protections for workers and it became effective November 30. These proposed regulations include a written COVID-19 Prevention Plan (CPP), procedures for outbreak requirements, procedures for major outbreak requirements, employer-provided housing and employer provided transportation.

As we headed into 2021, the Standards Board held several meetings to hear public comments on the proposed ETS language for re-adoption, with three public meetings held in June alone. On June 3, the Standards Board held a special meeting to vote on the revised COVID-19 ETS, and after a long nine-hour meeting, the Board initially voted to reject any changes to the current ETS. After the Board deliberated for over an hour, they realized that rejecting would mean the current regulation would have stayed in effect. Therefore, the

Continued on Page 72

Nothing in the revised ETS prevents an employer from requiring all employees to wear a face covering instead of having a documentation process.

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Continued from Page 71 Board voted to approve the current ETS regulation requiring masks to be worn at all times indoors as well as outdoor less than 6 feet away from others, employers to provide and encourage unvaccinated workers to wear respiratory protection (N95s).

This meant it was headed to the OAL for review and approval, to be effective June 15. But a few days later, CDPH published guidance on June 7 to align the face coverings with the guidance from CDC. Then, Cal/OSHA submitted additional revisions to the ETS, and employer groups continued to ask the Board to consider changes of the proposed requirements for employers to provide N95 respirators for voluntary use to unvaccinated employees and clarification of the record-

Employers are to develop and implement an effective COVID-19 Prevention Program. Be sure your plan includes these updated revisions. keeping requirement for vaccination status. The Board proposed updated ETS from division staff at the June 17 meeting, and the current ETS has removed some of the initial requirements.

Below is a summary of the current requirements:

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Vaccines Employers may allow fully vaccinated employees not to wear face coverings indoors, but must document their vaccination status.

The revised ETS does not specify a particular method but the employer must record the vaccination status for any employee not wearing a face covering indoors, and this record must be kept confidential.

Acceptable options include: Employees provide proof of vaccination (vaccine card, image of vaccine card or health care document showing vaccination status) and employer

maintains a copy.

Employees provide proof of vaccination. The employer maintains a record of the employees who presented proof, but not the vaccine record itself.

Employees self-attest to vaccination status and employer maintains a record of who self-attests.

Nothing in the revised ETS prevents an employer from requiring all employees to wear a face covering instead of having a documentation process.

Face Coverings/Respirators Employers must provide unvaccinated employees with approved respirators for voluntary use when working indoors or in a vehicle with others, upon request. Employers may not retaliate against employees for wearing face coverings. Exceptions for unvaccinated persons: When alone in a room or vehicle; When eating and drinking; When an accommodation is required; and When job duties make a face covering infeasible or create a hazard.

Physical Distancing Elimination of physical distancing or barrier requirements regardless of vaccination status with the following exceptions: ▶ Employers must continue to assess workplace hazards and implement controls to prevent transmission of the disease. There may be certain circumstances when physical distancing and barriers are necessary in the workplace.

▶ Employers must evaluate whether it is necessary to implement physical distancing and barriers during an outbreak (three or more cases in an exposed group of employees.) ▶ Employers must implement physical distancing and barriers during a major outbreak (20 or more cases in an exposed group of employees.)

coverings are used during screening by both screeners and employees who are not fully vaccinated and, if temperatures are measured, that non-contact thermometers are used.

Employers are to develop and implement an effective COVID-19 Prevention Program. Be sure your plan

includes these updated revisions. Cal/ OSHA will move forward with the formal rulemaking process for a permanent regulation.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

▶ Where all employees are vaccinated in employer-provided housing and transportation, employers are exempt from those regulations.

®

Ventilation Employers must evaluate ventilation systems to maximize outdoor air and increase filtrations efficiency, and evaluate the use of additional air cleaning systems.

There are requirements that remain in place from the November 2020 ETS, and those are: Written COVID-19 Prevention Plan; Effective training and instructions on the employer’s prevention plan and employee rights under the ETS; Notification of outbreaks to local public health departments; Notification to employees of exposure and close contacts; Procedures for responding to COVID-19 cases and outbreaks; Offer testing after potential exposures; Implement exclusion pay requirements; and Employer-provided housing and transportation prevention requirements.

In addition, the employer shall develop and implement a process for screening employees for and responding to employees with COVID-19 symptoms. The employer may ask employees to evaluate their own symptoms before reporting to work. If the employer conducts screening indoors at the workplace, the employer shall ensure that face

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Plants are bracing for a tighter labor market and higher labor costs this year (photo courtesy M. Kelley.)

Hullers and shellers as well as processors of valuement and manage incoming loads (photo courtesy

WILL ADEQUATE LABOR ARRIVE FOR THIS YEAR’S HARVEST?

HANDLERS OFFER THEIR THOUGHTS ABOUT MANAGING HARVEST IN A TIGHT LABOR MARKET

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

O License No. 251698

perators of almond and pistachio processing plants are cautiously optimistic their labor force will be adequate in August to handle this year’s crops.

Hullers and shellers as well as processors of value-added products rely on skilled workers to operate equipment and manage incoming loads. There are also numerous unskilled jobs that need to be filled to keep the plants operating at optimum efficiency.

Even though most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in June, the U.S. Department of Labor reported approximately two million people were still receiving unemployment benefits in California. The California Workforce Association reported in June that fewer job seekers are contacting their office about employment.

As in other industries, nut handlers report challenges staffing their work force. Some plants are offering worker bonuses for referrals, competitive pay and other incentives to attract skilled and unskilled workers this year.

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Ali Amin CEO of Primex, detailed some of the hurdles encountered in processing the 2020 crop and how the pistachio processor would meet labor needs this year.

added products rely on skilled workers to operate equipM. Kelley.)

Primex did have a COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, and the plant had to reconsider operations quickly to protect workers, Amin said.

“We are emphasizing education, and we would like to incentivize all employees to be vaccinated.”

This year, Amin said, the plant is bracing for a tighter labor market and higher labor costs. Primex works with employment agencies and has relationships with farm labor contractors to meet labor needs.

They are reviewing salary ranges to attract workers, but negotiating higher salaries for skilled and unskilled workers will eventually affect the growers’ bottom line.

“We can squeeze our margins, but eventually it will go to the grower.

Higher nut prices will help this,” Amin said.

Unskilled labor at Primex does not always remain unskilled, he added.

Seasonal workers recognized for their skills and work ethic can become permanent employees, and Primex strives for those long-term relationships with employees.

The reality of a tight labor market is that the plant operations can be maintained at 20% below optimal labor levels, but it can create delays.

“It is a challenge, but it can be done, “Amin said.

Some plants are offering worker bonuses for referrals, competitive pay and other incentives to attract skilled and unskilled workers this year (photo by C. Parsons.)

Kirk Squire, grower relations manager at Tulare-based Horizon Nut, said labor contractors are reporting that workers aren’t out there this year.

He said the labor shortage couldn’t entirely be blamed on the pandemic, but on continuing struggles with

Continued on Page 76

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“A lot of talent is required of our workers.

Harvest is fastpaced, and we can’t just put anyone on a machine. If an operator doesn’t show up, we can’t put just anyone in their place.”

– Mike Kelley, CCAGA

Continued from Page 75 drought in the San Joaquin Valley. future as technology improves.

Both year-round and seasonal Sorting is the main area in workers moved away from the processing where automation is area during the last drought and becoming more common as the haven’t returned, he said. Compe- cost for hand sorting and need for tition with other nut processing high labor numbers is on the rise. plants for labor has increased the “We have been at the tipping cost of labor, Squire added. point for years with human verTrucking companies that consus automation,” Squire said. tract to deliver nuts to the plants With planned plant expanhave also been experiencing a sions at their three facilities, shortage of drivers. An effort sup- Horizon is looking at processing ported by Western Ag Processors 120 million pounds of pistachios Association is increasing truck in the future. Automation can’t weight limits, which would cut cover all their labor needs and down on load numbers and the there will be job opportunities, he need for more drivers. added.

Looking ahead, Squire said Mike Kelley, president and that automation in many areas of CEO of Central California Horizon’s plants would be needed Almond Growers Association to process pistachio crops in the said he is optimistic that the four

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facilities operated by CCAGA will have the necessary workforce in place for this year’s harvest.

“We are down now, but optimistic that numbers will improve in the next two months,” Kelley said.

With a nod to the multiple-plant workforce that powered through the 2020 harvest, Kelley thanked the shellermen, plant operators, stockpile workers, loader drivers, sanitation and office staff who kept the plant in operation.

Labor is the biggest operating cost at the CCAGA plants, the largest huller and sheller of almonds in the world.

Kelley said labor accounts for around 50% of their operating costs, up from 40% just five years ago.

The plant depends on skilled workers to operate machinery and manage stockpiles from August through the end of the year.

“A lot of talent is required of our

workers. Harvest is fast-paced, and we As the technology advances, more can’t just put anyone on a machine. If nut processors are turning to automaan operator doesn’t show up, we can’t tion and not just in the sorting lines, put just anyone in their place.” said Mike Durrant of MPA solutions.

Worker safety is a serious issue with As plant capacities increase, the need CCAGA, and trained personnel are for labor will also increase. Product needed for machinery operation. Staffquality is also important for processors, ing has to be adequate or the plant can’t he said. operate, Kelley said.

Durrant noted that automation Butch Coburn, plant manager at in processing plants is not just about Hughson Nut Inc., said various avenues replacing workers with machines or to attract workers have been explored. filling in labor gaps, but it can assist Hughson Nut operates three value-add- with providing the data to assist with ed plants and needs a sufficient labor management decisions. force to maintain production. In June, he said they had held job fairs and are offering workers bonuses if they can bring in a new employee.

Comments about this article? We want Critical needs are forklift drivers to hear from you. Feel free to email us at and machinery operators. Like other article@jcsmarketinginc.com processors, Coburn said that where possible, they are turning to automation.

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