West Coast Nut - October 2022

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

Almond Board of California Contributing Writer

American Pecan Council

Contributing Writer

Vicky Boyd

Contributing Writer

Jeff Bowman

Grimbleby Coleman CPAs

Taylor Chalstrom Digital Content Editor

Kathy Coatney Contributing Writer

Mae Culumber

UCCE Farm Advisor, Fresno County

Roger A. Isom President/CEO, Western Agricultural ProcessorsAssociation

Theresa Kiehn

President and CEO, AgSafe

Rich Kreps

CCA, SSp., Contributing Writer

Mitch Lies Contributing Writer

Catherine Merlo Contributing Writer

Rebecca Scott J.D., Partner, JWAGronomics, LLC

Award Winning Editorial By the Industry, For the Industry

IN THIS ISSUE

Surendra K. Dara

North Willamette Research and Extension Center

Day County Director/UCCE

Farm Advisor, Tulare/Kings Counties

Fichtner

Farm Advisor, Tulare County

Jarvis-Shean

Area Orchard Systems Advisor, Yolo and Solano

Steven Koike Tri-Cal Diagnostics

Jhalendra Rijal

UCCE Integrated Pest Management Advisor, Stanislaus County

Mohammad Yaghmour

UCCE Area Orchard Systems Advisor, Kern County

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

SPOTLIGHTARTICLE:Soil-Plant-WaterRelationsforPistachio

Mae Culumber, UCCE Farm Advisor for Fresno County, writes about these important relations for pistachio in normal and stress conditions.

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Long-lasting pre-emergence control – up to six months – of the toughest broadleaves, including fleabane, marestail, filaree and malva. Plus, post-emergence activity on many winter and summer annual broadleaves, including fleabane and marestail.

Fit: Excellent for “residual” programs that minimize the number of contact herbicide applications needed for clean-up sprays. Often tank mixed with Matrix® SG or Alion.

Fit: Ideal for new plantings. A pre-emergence herbicide providing four+ months of weed control. 92 broadleaf weeds on the label, including marestail, fleabane, malva, clover, morningglory and willowherb. Non-volatile and will not lift off the soil (i.e. volatilize) to injure plants. As a non-systemic herbicide, it will not translocate into plant roots. It can be applied as soon as the crop has been planted and the soil has “settled” around the base of the plants.

Post-emergence herbicide containing an innovative choline formulation of 2,4-D with near-zero volatility. It can be used in most tree nut crops, stone fruit, apples and pears, and controls numerous broadleaf annual, biennial and perennial weeds. Systemic action helps provide a thorough kill of weeds. Fit: In tree nuts, excellent in dormant, “in-season” and “post-harvest” clean-up sprays and as a tank mix in “residual” programs in late fall and early winter.

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Soil-Plant-Water Relations for Pistachio in Normal and Stress Conditions

By MAE CULUMBER | UCCE Farm Advisor, Fresno County

Pistachios are known for their drought adaptations and suitabil ity for the hot, arid climate found throughout the Central Valley. However, even drought-tolerant pistachios need adequate water for growth and optimal production. Remarkably, pistachios, like other trees and vascular plants, retain only a small portion of the water they absorb from the soil. Roughly 90% passes through the tree and out the leaves into the atmosphere through a process called transpiration.

Water Loss Necessary for Plant Growth

Water (H2O) is not simply ‘lost’ by transpiration; it is a process that keeps canopy leaves cool during hot summer days and supports the ability of plants to perform their most vital function: photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is how plants make energy to support vegetative growth, and in the case of pistachios, nut production. Along with water, the process requires carbon di oxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and energy from sunlight. Plants absorb CO2 and lose water through the same small pores called ‘stomata’ (Figure 1) located on the upper and lower sides of leaves. However, much more H2O (nearly 400 molecules) is transpired for every one molecule of CO2 absorbed. This high rate of water loss is what cre ates the pull of water from the soil to the roots and through the xylem tissue within the trunk, canopy and leaves, and finally to the atmosphere (Figure 2, see page 8). The xylem tissue is a continuous system of long tube-like structures that maintain turgor and the continuous flow of water from the roots to all parts of the plant.

Trees Are Under Pressure

In any circumstance, water move ment from one place to another always depends on a difference in potential energy, a measure expressed in units of pressure (‘bars’ or megapascals ‘MPa’) representing the amount of energy per unit volume of pure water. Within a tree, the potential energy of water containing solutes is always a negative number relative to pure water with a value of zero. That is not to say pure distilled water does not have energy. Pure water has the highest number of H2O molecules to move freely com pared to H2O in the tree that has higher concentrations of solutes.

Water always moves spontaneously on a gradient from high water poten tial (less negative value) to low water

potential (more negative value.) In an orchard, the moist soil has a higher water potential than the roots, which is greater than the trunk, scaffold, leaves and air surrounding the tree (Figure 2). Researchers have used the pres sure chamber to identify the range of ‘baseline’ water potential values for a mature well-watered tree at midday, the warmest part of the day when trees are under the most water stress (anrcatalog. ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8503# FullDescription).

Midday stem water potential (MSWP) provides the status of the trunk xylem, considered the most consistent measure of water status within the tree. From an irriga tion standpoint, understanding the

Figure 1. Cross section of a leaf showing the leaf stomata CO2 and H2O gas exchange. The xylem tissue are tubelike structures that conduct water from the tree roots, through the trunk and canopy branches, and finally to the leaves where a portion is utilized by the mesophyll chloroplasts for photosynthesis, and the majority transpired through the stomata.

THE FORECAST CALLS FOR RAIN BIRD

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Location

Air above tree Air near leaf Air in leaf

Soil

Figure 2. Water potential in the soil is high, close to zero and decreases as water moves into the roots, through the stem, into the canopy and out to the atmosphere. As the tree or soil becomes drier, it has a lower water status, meaning the value becomes more negative (lower).

MSWP for an orchard with reference to the ‘baseline’ can provide a means to determine when to apply water and when to hold off. For pistachio, trees in moist non-saline soil may have tree MSWP values between -9 and -12 bars. As the soil dries, mild stress develops between -12 and -15 bars, and values more negative than -18 bars risk severe stress. The baseline for trees in saline growing conditions will usually have more negative baseline values for which the range is currently under study by researchers.

How Water Stress Conditions Develop

Increasing air temperature, low atmospheric relative humidity and reduced soil water availability increase the tension gradient that drives the flow of water through trees. Plant water stress begins to develop when the rate

of water uptake from the soil is less than the rate of water loss from the tree to the atmosphere. As soil dries, water potential decreases throughout the whole tree, with the most severe reduction in the canopy leaves. At exceptionally low water potential, the cells that regulate the stomatal pore opening in the leaves cannot maintain turgor and will partially close. The stomatal closure reduces water losses in the short term; however, closure for prolonged periods of time can increase leaf temperature, decrease gas exchange for photosynthesis and impair cellular

function. Pistachios have thicker waxy cuticles and a higher density of smaller stomata at the leaf surface than other plant species. These adaptations allow them to reduce water loss while main taining photosynthesis at exceptionally low water potential and high salinity levels.

High salt levels have a similar im pact on trees as drought stress. When salts, primarily sodium (Na+), accu mulate in the rootzone, water potential between the soil water and the root sap decreases, making water uptake more difficult. Pistachio’s salt tolerance

Xylem in leaf

Xylem in sca old

Xylem in trunk

Xylem in root

Despite their adaptations, an estimated 25% of pistachio acreage is saltaffected at levels that will decrease viability of production in the long term.

allows trees to compartmentalize salt ions in their cellular tissue to maintain osmotic potential and water move ment from roots to transpiring leaves. Despite their adaptations, an estimated 25% of pistachio acreage is salt-affected at levels that will decrease viability of production in the long term. Prolonged periods of drought along with degrad ing water quality intensify salt accu mulation to levels that exceed roots’ exclusion capabilities. UC research has found salt-affected soil greater than 6 dS/m resulted in lower MSWP ~33% lower water use during kernel fill and postharvest, and lower yields. As salt loads build, an increasing concen tration of solutes in the xylem tissue further reduces water potential and decreases uptake, compounding stress within the tree. Additionally, accu mulations of Na+ can interfere with the absorption of K+ and Ca 2 + and other essential nutrients. Potassium is a critical nutrient for maintaining stomatal turgor to regulate CO2 and H2O gas exchange and the transport of sugars to developing fruits. Severe K+ deficiency will induce the production of reactive oxygen species and phyto hormones that will damage leaf tissues, further reduce photosynthesis and decrease yield.

Due to lower water use and a ten dency for poor drainage in saline areas, irrigation managers should consider site specific information about soil texture, salt levels, soil moisture and tree water stress to adjust irrigation management accordingly. Despite the lower water requirements during the growing season, salt-affected orchards will require additional water to leach salts from the rootzone during dor mancy. Contact your local UCCE farm advisor for more resources to imple ment water-saving techniques during drought in saline growing areas.

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Pistachio leaf necrosis resulting from specific ion toxicity in a saline-sodic orchard (photo courtesy M. Culumber.)

WALNUT INDUSTRY LOOKS TO INFRARED FOR DRYING

By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer

A researcher measures walnut temperature after the nuts are run through an infrared dryer as part of a project looking into using infrared in drying walnuts (all photos by Z. Pan.)

walnut drying technique that uses infrared to remove moisture from the shell holds promise as the industry looks for ways to reduce energy use in the

“We found that if we use sequential infrared and hot-air drying, we can save around 20% of the energy use, and it is roughly 20% faster to dry,” said UC Davis Adjunct Professor in Biology and Agriculture Engineering Zhongli Pan, who developed the technique.

Pan’s method involves pre-drying walnut shells by ex posing them to infrared, or electromagnetic radiation, after washing and prior to depositing walnuts into dryer bins.

Pan said he developed the method under the premise that newly harvested walnut shells have a much higher moisture content than kernels and can restrict the drying rate.

“Also, they need to be washed, so that means the surface has a lot of water,” he said. “I thought, okay, why don’t we use the infrared, or use high temperature at the beginning to quickly remove the moisture and still maintain relatively low moisture in the kernel, which is beneficial for the quality of

Exposing walnut shells to high air temperatures early in the process, which is feasible in almonds because they are more heat tolerant, was not an option in walnuts, Pan said. Infrared technology, however, offered an alternative.

Pan, who also worked for USDA, said he first discovered

the benefits of infrared while working with rice and vegetables. “We found this was very effective,’’ he said. “It heated the produce really quickly and it was energy efficient and reduced

In walnuts, Pan again found that infrared “can provide a timely solution to reduce drying time and energy usage and cost,” he wrote in a research paper he and others developed after exper imenting with the process. The paper characterized existing walnut drying practices as “energy intensive” and stated that product losses of up to 3% can occur when walnuts are dried by heated air after harvesting and washing.

Roger Isom, President and CEO of the Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA), said that WAPA has been looking to improve conven tional drying processes in walnuts since its formation in 2009, both to improve efficiencies and to get ahead of potential air pollution regulation issues.

“We are getting pressure that contin ues to grow as the regulators get down to smaller and smaller sources, where we may have to install what they call low-NOx, or low-emissions burners on our dryers,” Isom said.

“Every time we build a new walnut

huller or expand it, that issue comes up,” he said. “And, for the most part, it is not cost-effective to install a lowNOx burner. Typically, those burners cost as much as two-times the cost of a conventional burner. And typically, they have a separate combustion air fan from the main fan, so there are addi tional electrical costs as well.

“So, getting away from that combus tion-type drying is going to be helpful,” Isom said.

In addition, Isom said there are quality reasons for pursuing improved drying techniques.

“In conventional drying, where we put the walnuts into stadium dryer bins, we blow hot air from the bottom up through the top of bin,” Isom said. “So, what happens is you get really dry walnuts on the bottom and not so dry on the top. So, if you dry long enough to where you get the top ones to the point you want them, you’ve proba bly overdried the ones on the bottom, which can affect the quality of walnuts.

“It is not an even, throughout-thebin drying process,” Isom said.

Isom said another option, and one being studied by researchers at USDA-ARS, could be to add outlets throughout the drying bin to obtain a more even drying process, a technique that also could reduce the drying time, another goal of WAPA.

“If you are reducing the drying time,

you are burning less fuel and you are getting the walnuts dried faster and saving money,” he said.

“As the industry deals with low pric es, finding ways to cut costs becomes challenging, but if I can cut fuel costs and labor costs in the sense that I can get them dried faster and get them out of there, making my process more efficient, then I am going to be saving some money that way,” Isom said.

No Ill Effects

As part of his research, Pan said he looked at whether using infrared to pre-dry walnuts would adversely affect cracking characteristics or kernel qual ity. His findings showed no ill effects on either characteristic.

“Removing the surface layer of water did not affect the cracking and it did not affect kernel quality,” Pan said. The method can, in fact, improve nut qual ity in cases where moisture content is excessive by preventing moisture from moving into the walnut, he said. And it

who at times will over-dry walnuts to avoid issues with mold when moisture levels are high.

Pan believes that adopting the system will involve only minor adjust ments to existing drying systems and could be done at a relatively low cost. The main expense in bringing on the system, he said, is the cost of the infra red heating equipment.

Still, the industry has been slow to adopt the technology. “We fully demonstrated the benefits,” he said, “however, we need the industry to take a step and to use the technology.

“I know people are interested,” he added.

With the volume of walnuts coming into hullers increasing annually and concerns over air pollution hanging over the industry, Isom, for one, be lieves the system could have a place in the industry. “The thing I would like to see is how they can do it in real time on a commercial scale dehydrator,” he said.

“But, if I can reduce the time that

hours down to 22, or if I can go from 24 hours down to 20, and I can get those out quicker, then that is going to help. It is reducing fuel, and I’m getting them out of there and bringing in the next ones,” Isom said.

“Especially when the Chandlers are coming in. They are all coming off at the same time. We are just over whelmed. You want to turn and burn, if you will,” he said.

“Any process that we can look at, whether that is infrared or something else, where we can reduce that drying time or do a better job of drying, I think that is going to be something we are going to shoot for,” he said.

“The results I’ve seen seem to indicate that it works,” Isom said of the infrared technology. “So, if this process can do it quicker, I think that is defi nitely where we want to go.”

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Finding the Off-On Switch for NBF

Researchers seek genetic-related causes of almond non-infectious bud failure.

By VICKY BOYD | Contributing Writer

Researchers have essentially ruled out disease as the cause of non-infectious bud failure (NBF) in almonds, instead hypothesizing genetics are at the root of the malady. Although they have yet to pinpoint the exact cause, more recent research sug gests epigenetic factors may be involved in NBF expression. Epigenetics deal with how genes work, including their communication and whether they’re turned on or off.

In addition, researchers believe increased clonal age may play a role in NBF. Tom Gradziel, a UC Davis plant science professor, said other unknown genetic and chemical interactions also may be in play because technology hasn’t yet advanced to the stage to detect them.

The researchers’ next step is to iden tify where methylation, which involves a methyl chemical group that attaches to DNA, blocking gene communication and essentially turning it off, occurs within the genome. They hope to pinpoint potentially affected gene or gene features. This project is led by Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramirez, an Ohio State University assistant pro fessor of plant breeding and genetics.

Although some growers be lieve stress is responsible for NBF, Gradziel pointed to potential genetic causes and genes that deal with winter and summer dormancy. But he said stressors, such as hot weath er and irrigation cutbacks during specific parts of the growing season, may speed symptom expression.

“The bud failure is there and will show up,” Gradziel said. “If you put a lot of stress on the trees, it will just show up earlier than it typically would.”

The malady isn’t limited to Cal ifornia orchards and also has been

identified in Australia, Spain and Israel, to name a few countries.

NBF Symptoms

Non-infectious bud failure was first observed in the early 1900s but wasn’t formally described until 1944. At the time, it was thought to be a viral dis ease, but no study has identified an in fectious agent. As a result, it is thought to be genetic.

In trees with NBF, vegetative buds formed in the previous season die in stead of emerging in the spring. Affect ed buds tend to occur on shoots formed in warmer temperatures later in the growing season.

Terminal buds typically exhibit greater mortality than basal buds in NBF shoots. When unaffected buds break dormancy in the spring, lateral shoots grow to create a witch’s broomlike branching pattern, hence the nickname “crazy top.” Rough bark also has been associated with affected trees in the first five years of a tree’s life.

Nut set isn’t affected the first year of NBF symptoms. But growth and flower bud development are reduced in subsequent years, causing yield losses up to 50%, according to research by UC Davis Pomology Professors Dale Kester and Warren Micke.

NBF severity varies among cultivars, with Carmel being the most widely af fected. The malady has become increas ingly common in Nonpareil as well.

Epigenetics Enlisted

With advancements in genetic research, scientists in the past few years have focused on epigenetics to help answer the NBF problem.

Although it may sound like a term relegated to the laboratory, Gradziel said it occurs all around us. Take humans who have brown hair when they’re young, for example.

The hair coloring is due to a gene, a DNA segment that contains instruc tions for, in this case, pigmentation. As

people age, their hair eventually turns gray.

The gene for brown hair remains in the same position within the genome, an organism’s entire genetic library, as it always has. What has changed is a chemical group has turned off the brown hair gene’s communication.

Gradziel said researchers hypoth esize a similar process is occurring in almond cultivars with NBF because they see it appear much earlier in trees grafted with budwood of increased clonal age.

The original Carmel tree is still alive in Kern County, and he said basal epi cormic meristems, or budwood closest to the original tree bud, will produce offspring where NBF is suppressed, and symptoms are delayed for about 10 years.

But varieties, and particularly Car mel, propagated with budwood several generations removed from the mother tree will show NBF symptoms much

earlier in their life.

“In some sense, the message with repeated cycles gets distorted,” Gradziel said. “It no longer gives the proper communications. We could go back to the original Carmel tree and we get the original message.”

Going Back in Time

Bill Bright, owner of Bright’s Nurs ery in Le Grand, Calif., did just that and went back to the Carmel mother tree he maintains. He used basal epicormic meristem propagation to develop budwood trees only a genera tion removed.

The result was Carmel O.S., or Orig inal Source, which Bright licensed to Yuba City-based Sierra Gold Nurseries to propagate second-generation trees, said Sierra Gold CEO Reid Robinson.

With non-infectious bud failure, Robinson said it’s not if the malady will show up but when. In marketing the Carmel O.S. selection, he said they hoped it would significantly delay the onset of symptoms.

young tree shows signs

severe

“With varieties that are susceptible, and primarily Carmel, you always are trying to play this game with how far back in time can I go to get this mate rial to propagate,” he said. “You can do all that, and you can produce a tree that has less of a chance of getting bud fail ure. But bud failure genes also depend on where the tree is grown, the type of drought stress it has been through and other climactic conditions.”

For several years, Robinson said the new line showed very little NBF with 7to 8-year-oldtrees having 1% or less.

“We got really excited with this O.S. source and it worked out really well for a long time,” he said. But in the past three years, growers with Carmel O.S. are reporting slightly more NBF. Rob inson pointed to the ongoing drought, higher summer temperatures, warmer winters and even unknown factors as possible reasons for the uptick.

Carmel Still Has Value

Despite the black eye Carmel has received because of NBF, Gradziel said the variety still has value because of its desirable kernel and bloom overlap with Nonpareil. As a smaller tree, Car mel also doesn’t compete as much for sunlight with Nonpareil as some of the other taller pollinizer varieties do.

Robinson agreed, saying they still have customers who want Carmel.

“There are certain growers who really like Carmel with Nonpareil,” he said. The nursery requires growers purchasing the cultivar to sign a waiv er acknowledging they understand the risks tied to NBF.

“When we sell Carmel O.S., the chance of bud failure is still out there,” he said. “But compared to another Carmel, there’s a better chance that your trees will have a lower percentage of bud failure and it will happen later in a tree’s life.”

To Leave a Tree or Replace?

Should growers plant Carmel and begin to see NBF, Gradziel said the de cision to keep or remove trees depends on their age.

“If NBF occurs when the tree is fair ly well established, say in year seven or eight, and that tree is well developed with major scaffolding and a lot of branches, it’s sort of self-pruning,” he said. “You’re better off economically leaving it in the orchard.”

But if trees are younger and don’t have an established scaffolding, Gradziel said they’ll never develop the strong secondary architecture on which the crop grows. In this case, he recommended removing them.

And detecting the problem early is

critical in reducing the time to a breakeven yield, according to a Sacramento Valley Orchard Source newsletter article by UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor Luke Milliron and Farm Advisor Emer itus Joe Connell.

“The first opportunity to observe NBF in a new orchard is the spring of the second leaf,” Gradziel said. “Ob servations must be made in March or April when symptoms are clearly visible since new growth from the surviving

buds can mask NBF later in the season.

“If trees are long-pruned in the first dormant season, the symptoms will be more obvious in the second leaf. Short pruning tends to mask the symptoms until pruning is reduced in the second or third dormant season.”

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View from the Top

By CATHERINE MERLO | Contributing Writer

Before 2017, Justin Morehead had never heard of a Certified B Cor poration.

But over the next three years, the Harris Woolf Almonds CEO would not only learn what that was but would lead the almond processor to join major companies like Danone and Patagonia in becoming a Certified B Corporation.

Based in Coalinga, Harris Woolf Almonds handles up to 80 million pounds of the tree nuts each year, mak ing it one of California’s largest almond processors. It operates a hulling/shell ing and processing plant at Coalinga and a value-added processing facility in Ballico near Turlock. The company is co-owned by two long-time west Fres no County farming families: Harris Farms and Woolf Farming.

The pathway to becoming a Cer tified B Corporation began with an

in-depth, year-long evaluation to deter mine whether Harris Woolf Almonds met the requirements for certification. Morehead and his team learned that a Certified B Corporation holds itself to the highest standards of social and en vironmental performance, public trans parency and legal accountability. There are more than 4,000 B Corps around the globe, but few are within California

agriculture.

The year-long evaluation effort earned Harris Woolf Almonds a score of 87.8 from the nonprofit organiza tion B Lab . The minimum score for certification is 80; the median score is 50.9 for businesses that complete the assessment.

Harris Woolf Almonds Is Serious about Sustainability

Under CEO Justin Morehead, the almond processor earns global certification and commits to ambitious environmental goals.

Justin Morehead has been CEO of Harris Woolf Almonds since 2018 (all photos courtesy Harris Woolf Almonds.)

“A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THAT WHEN YOU FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY, IT COMES AT THE EXPENSE OF THE BOTTOM LINE. BUT WHAT WE’VE LEARNED IS THAT A LOT OF THESE THINGS WORK IN TANDEM." – JUSTIN MOREHEAD, HARRIS WOOLF ALMONDS

Post Harvest Recovery

Providing Potassium For Next Seasons Trees

Morehead and key employees then set about benchmarking Harris Woolf’s practices and establishing sustainabili ty goals . In January 2022, the processor released its Inaugural Impact Report. The 22-page report (found at harris woolfalmonds.com/sustainability/) explains the ambitious goals Harris Woolf Almonds expects to reach by 2025.

Morehead, CEO of the company since 2018, shared with West Coast Nut the journey his company is taking to make a positive impact and become a role model for sustainability in the almond industry.

Q. How did you learn about becoming a Certified B Corporation?

It’s a designation that was intro duced to us by one of our customers. It’s bestowed on those businesses that pass the rigorous B Impact Assessment

We took a look at what it entailed. The focus is really on evaluating how our company interacts with our stakehold ers. It doesn’t just include our owners. It’s our community, our employees, our suppliers, our customers, the environ ment.

You go through a process of answer ing literally hundreds of questions on your company and providing support ing evidence to your answers to be able to score in those various aspects. And through that, you earn points that show your engagement within all of those

areas. It is a true certification process.

Q. How long did it take Harris Woolf Almonds to get certified? Who was involved?

It probably took us about 12 months. It was done through our leadership team, so it really was a top-down process for our company. It was a great experience for us because it helped us understand what we’re good at in engaging with our stakeholders and where we’ve got some room to grow.

Harris Woolf Almonds’ processing plants will derive 50% of their energy needs from renewable sources by 2025.

“WE ALL KNOW SOLAR PROJECTS ARE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY AND PROVIDE A GREAT ECONOMIC RETURN. BUT THERE ARE ALSO ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO SHARING THE STORY OF SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN." – JUSTIN MOREHEAD, HARRIS WOOLF ALMONDS

Q. What did you learn from the process?

Based on the assessment, we scored very well on corpo rate governance, engaging our community and working with our employees. It was clear that our biggest opportunity to improve was on environmental impact. So, we chose to do our first environmental impact study, which we did through a third-party consultant. Because if we wanted to improve in this area, we had to start measuring. It’s really not something that our industry has done, at least that I’ve heard of, so we’re kind of breaking new ground on doing this. We didn’t really have any defined metrics at that point. We took a look at our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and essentially bench marked some of the practices within our facilities against industry standards.

What came out of that study was developing an inaugural impact report for the company. Once we realized, “OK, now we have something that we’re assessing ourselves against, how do we hold ourselves accountable to actually make some change?” No one asked us to create that impact report. That was something that was really self-driven for us to be able to recognize if we want to move forward, we need to put some goals out there.

Q. What goals did you set?

We have established four goals related to

we aim to achieve by 2025:

WALNUTS & ALMONDS

facilities

Harris

Supply chain engagement: 75% of the total acreage of our grower

come from growers who

California Almond Stewardship

Energy efficiency: 50% of facility energy use will derive from renew able sources;

Carbon footprint: 25% reduction in absolute GHG emissions from facilities.

the first two goals, the fact that Harris Woolf Almonds is owned by two owner-growers is very helpful because we can work with our owners who are growers themselves to figure out what programs

work well to try to improve engagement with our own supply base.

Helping

4,000

We commissioned a baseline carbon footprint assessment in 2021 to get a better understanding of where we could improve on GHG emissions. We knew that, based upon the study, there were some things we could do, like solar en ergy, that would create a huge impact, both in renewable energy increase and in GHG reduction. We were able to set metrics and establish plans associated with those metrics. It’s about meeting those goals, but economically it makes a lot of sense.

Q. Why is this certification so important?

Right, why do we do this? It’s important to the end consumer. And it aligns with the values of Harris Woolf. Harris Woolf has always been run with other stakeholders in mind. It’s never been just about the bottom line. We’re affecting growers. We’re affecting our employees who often come from socio-economically disadvantaged communities. We’re impacting those communities in how we give back.

When I shared this with our board and with our co-founders, John Harris and Stuart Woolf, they looked at it and said, “Well, really, this is how we’ve always looked at the business. So why wouldn’t we test ourselves against this?” In fact, Woolf Farming has also become a Certified B Corporation, which means from our growers to our

company to one of our top customers, we participate in an end-to-end B Corp supply chain.

A lot of people think that when you focus on sustainability, it comes

at the expense of the bottom line. But what we’ve learned is that a lot of these things work in tandem. We all know solar projects are environmentally friendly and provide a great economic return. But there are also economic benefits to sharing the story of sustain ability within our supply chain. I think consumer demand for supply chain transparency is strong enough that we will actually be able to command a pre mium for growers who are committed to these values. It allows us as a proces sor to develop deeper connections with our customers that benefit the grower through consistent, long-term demand.

We’re not trying to say we’ve got it all figured out. We clearly don’t. We see this as a journey, and the very begin ning of a journey, not a destination, by any means. Because going through this process has opened up our eyes to areas that we really need to focus on.

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GET TO THE FINISH LINE WITH POSTHARVEST NUTRITION

By RICH KREPS | CCA, SSP., Contributing Writer

Rehydrate with a good slug of water immediately after the last nut leaves the field, followed by a smaller shot approach (all photos by T. Chalstrom.)

It’s

that time of the year, when I start posting my concern to my grow ers to get their postharvest nutrition as dialed in after harvest as possible. So, guess what this article is posting about. Get it done. Imagine you just ran hard for six months. You fed yourself every ounce of carbohydrates you could consume to grow leaves, make fruit and create new growth for next year’s buds. You have one opportunity to store car bohydrates for winter. That time is from the day those trees stop taking care of this year’s crop and the nuts come off. Now that we are in October, I hope the feed part of giving your trees what they need to do just that is well underway.

Huge Slugs Won’t Cut It

For years, growers thought of postharvest as a good slug of nitrogen and soil amendments. But often there are detriments to that approach. One would be applying much more than the trees can take up in a week or two.

We’ve talked in the past of your trees being able to take up about 10 units N per week. If you use 70% as the efficien cy factor, you’d be applying 14 units to get that 10. So, let’s break down a typical 10-gallon application of UAN32. UAN-32 weighs 11.06 pounds per gallon, so 10 gallons is going to be just shy of 111 pounds. Multiply that by 32% and you get over 35 units N in that application. That’s two and a half weeks’ worth of nitrogen if the trees take up all 70% of what’s applied.

Now taking into account long sets that push water to two or three feet in

’

the soil profile. If you push the nitrate, the leachable portion of that N through the roots before it can be absorbed, you didn’t get 70% efficiency. Now let’s think about the ammoniacal and urea portion of the “U.A.N.” Some ammo niacal N can be absorbed, but that is limited. The rest of the urea and amine form has to oxidize to convert to nitrite and then nitrate to be absorbed. That’s a biological process. When it’s warm in the summer and early fall, as this happens and we turn the water back on, we are pushing that leachable N further through the profile in the next

‘

If you’re behind on your postharvest plan, huge slugs aren’t going to cut it and you’ll most likely be wasting money.

set. If the soil is staying wet for long periods of time, we are knocking back our biology with anaerobic conditions, further slowing down the process. Less efficiency. And with N (basically all fertilizer as well) prices these days, we need all the efficiency we can get.

Consider the Biology

Now throw phosphorus into the mix. Our trees take up P in the orthophosphate form. Many of our fertilizers have P in the polyphosphate form. Here’s some good news: when it’s warm, the conversion can happen quickly (in days, not weeks) if the soil isn’t too wet for too long. We need biology to make P more efficient. If we knock back the biology with long periods of wet soil conditions, that will be less efficient as well. Now let’s throw potassium into the mix. K is a smaller element with a single charge. It leaches very quickly. Here we go again, push ing more expensive nutrition past the

Take some October tissue samples and see what is being taken up. Compare that to sam ples in July or August and see how they’ve changed.

active feeder root zone. The majority of all things nutrition happens in the top eight inches of soil. That’s where the biology happens to be most active. All those tiny white root hairs that try

to create that mesh of straws exchang ing nutrients are in the top of the soil profile.

Strategic Approach

So, let’s get to the finish line. Get those trees rehydrated with a good slug of water immediately after the last nut leaves the field. Then let’s create a smaller shot approach both with our water and our nutrition. If you have run some soil CO2 tests to see how much bi ology is actually still active in your soil and it’s low, add some active biological inoculants to your fertilizer program.

Instead of a 48-hour set, humor me and run (five) eight-hour sets for five nights in a row. You will save eight hours off your power bill, 40 hours of savings being off peak, and water your

trees at night when they recover and experience far less evaporation. Win, win, win. Now break up your fertiga tion of those nutrients with injections on nights one, three and five. Watch how quickly those trees respond to a more strategic approach. Take some October tissue samples and see what is being taken up. Compare that to your July or August samples and see how they’ve changed.

Now make a plan to level off the rest of the deficient nutrients in the next weeks irrigation in those smaller shots.

It will make it easier to catch up a bit in this critical time of need. This is the

only time your trees can produce and store carbohydrates in the root zone that aren’t all going to making fruit and more tree mass. This is your winter feed that fuels recovery and production in the spring. If you’re behind on your postharvest plan, huge slugs aren’t going to cut it and you’ll most likely be wasting money. Getting it right will allow you to post bigger numbers in your bank deposits.

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

State Has Plan to Solve Our Water Woes, but You Might Want to Take a Closer Look

By ROGER A. ISOM | President/CEO, Western Agricultural Processors Association

This past month, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the release of the California Water Supply Strategy: Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future. In making the announce ment, the Governor also committed an additional $2.8 billion in drought relief, water conservation, environ mental protection for fish and wildlife, and long-term projects to permanently strengthen drought resilience.

Sounds good right? Not so fast. The plan lacked sufficient detail on how it gets done, and then includes four pages on the state’s desire to “modernize” the water rights system. While it doesn’t specifically say they are going to take away anyone’s existing water rights, comments in the strategy that discuss “making improvements to the water rights system to align with current pub lic values and needs” cause many water rights holders plenty of concern.

For now, let’s take a closer look at the plan itself. Of the utmost interest is the proposed investment in water supply. While specific project details were somewhat lacking, the Governor’s strategy included:

1) Creating an additional four mil lion acre-feet of water storage space to capture water in wet years, that would be achieved by the following:

• Expand average annual groundwater recharge by 500,000 acre-feet

• Complete the seven Proposition

State plan includes language about making improvements to the water rights system to align with current public values and need, which should cause many water rights holders plenty of concern (photo by Marni Katz.)

1-supported projects and consider funding additional viable surface storage projects

• Expand San Luis Reservoir by 135,000 acre-feet

• Rehabilitate dams to regain storage capacity

• Support local stormwater capture projects to increase annual supply capacity by 250,000 acre-feet by 2030 and 500,000 acre-feet by 2040

2) Recycle and reuse at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030, and 1.8 million acre-feet by 2040, by imple menting the following:

• Reduce annual water demand in towns and cities by 500,000 acre-feet by 2030

• Fully implement SGMA to reduce agricultural groundwater pumping

Power up with american pecans

‘The plan was necessary given the state of the water supply situation in the state and the implementation of SGMA now fully underway. However, as is always the case in California, the “devil is in the details.”’

funding and support for this project to get through permitting and built is extremely important. Another project of particular interest is raising San Luis Reservoir by 135,000 acre-feet. This is a critical project at a very critical water storage facility and could go a long way in helping the state.

Other projects include creating stormwater capture projects in cities and reducing demand through in creasing conservation programs and transitioning landscapes at homes and businesses. These efforts are smaller and tougher to accomplish; only time will demonstrate their success.

“Modernizing the Water Rights System”

In the last part of the plan, it dis cusses “modernizing the water rights system”, which can mean a lot of things, most of which are very concerning. Certainly, drought and the implemen tation of SGMA have changed the land scape of California but changing “water rights” is a whole other challenge. The plan itself calls for “modernizing water rights administration for equity, access, flexibility and transparency.” That is a very scary statement to some who believe this somehow means a “redis tribution of water rights” in California.

Current water rights holders should be concerned, especially when the docu ment later states “improvements are a necessary predicate to modernize our water rights system in a manner that re spects water rights priorities and aligns with current public values and needs.”

The plan was necessary given the state of the water supply situation in the state and the implementation of SGMA now fully underway. However,

as is always the case in California, the “devil is in the details.” This is an issue that begs all Californians to be engaged in and to monitor very closely. Make no mistake, your future, and that of every Californian, is at stake here.

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Chill Concerns Have Pistachio Growers Evaluating New Tool

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

The prospect of less chill accumu lation during dormancy is becom ing a concern of pistachio growers, particularly in warmer growing regions in California.

Pistachio trees require a cumulative

amount of chilling to exit dormancy in the spring.

UCCE Farm Advisor Elizabeth Fichtner explained that the chilling requirement is a physiological mecha nism that protects buds from the winter

cold. In the absence of adequate chill, budbreak could occur earlier and leave buds, flowers and new shoots exposed to cold conditions.

In addition, lack of adequate chill during dormancy may delay bud break or result in irregular bud break, leaving multiple stages of fruit growth on trees. Flower morphology can be affected and fruit set reduced. Pollination rate may be reduced due to asynchronous bloom of male and female trees. Lower fruit set is also associated with an increase blank nut percentage, decrease in split percent age and uneven maturation.

Fichtner noted in the UC publi cation San Joaquin Valley Trees and Vines that studies conducted by UC scientists determined that Peters males have a higher chilling require ment than their ‘Kerman’ female counterpart. Peters males require at least 900 hours below 45 degrees C to achieve 50% bloom. The Kerman female requires 700 hours below 45 degrees C to achieve 44% bloom (Ferguson et al. 2002). The chilling requirements for newer varieties such as Golden Hills and Lost Hills have yet to be assessed.

Facilitate Uniform Bud Break

With the 2021 California regis tration of Dormex, a synthesized hydrogen cyanamide product, pista chio growers gained access to a new tool to facilitate uniform bud break as pistachio trees came out of dor mancy. Almonds are also on the label. Alzchem GmbH, the manufacturer of Dormex, has an EPA approval for application in walnuts, but state regis tration is pending.

Already in use in grape vineyards and cherry tree orchards, Dormex was used to trigger bud break in pistachio

by Marni Katz.)

Dormex

Wake UpYour Buds!

Dormex® helps leaf and flower buds open more consistently. Consistent bud break helps make your crop easier to manage, more productive, and easier to harvest.

You’ll see the difference throughout the season. Trees and vines start with more advanced and uniform growth after a single Dormex® application. Apical dominance is reduced and replaced with excellent lateral development. Pollination is synchronized. And crop maturity happens

tighter window.

and almond orchards starting in 2022. Alzchem representative John Meyer explained that a single Dormex appli cation 30 days prior to estimated bud break stimulates a pathway to turn tree carbohydrates into glucose. When

winter chill in orchards has been inad equate, he said Dormex helps achieve a more uniform bud break. It cannot overcome inadequate tree carbohydrate reserves and other management issues.

UCCE Pomology Specialist Louise

Ferguson said Dormex could help growers avoid second and third shakes at harvest caused by uneven maturity of pistachio crops. There is also better synchronization of male and female trees.

“It precipitates an earlier and stronger bloom,” Ferguson said. She noted that she was involved in use of a hydrogen cyanamide product in Aus tralia 25 years ago. She said it reliably brought bud break in mature trees two to three weeks earlier with a compact ed bloom.

How It Works

Spray applications of Dormex are absorbed by buds and twigs, initiating bud development by interacting with the catalase enzyme. After applications, at the expected bud break time for the trees, flower and leaf buds break at the same time. The number of lateral buds can be increased, improving yield potential. Low chill winters typically result in trees that exhibit predomi nantly terminal bud breaks that give a ‘poodle tail’ appearance to the trees.

By activating buds that would otherwise remain dormant or be slow to emerge, the pollination potential is increased. This can lead to a more uniformly mature crop at harvest. It also can help even out the impact of alternate bearing crops.

Grape and cherry growers are more familiar with the use of Dormex on their crops, Meyer said, and have experienced earlier harvests after use. If they have diversified into almonds and pistachios, he said those growers are more likely to use the product based on their experience.

Worker Safety Demands

Justin Nay, PCA with Integral Ag, confirmed that cherry growers use the product and pistachio growers have been asking him about its efficacy. They have voiced concerns about application safety requirements, he said, because it is labeled with a danger signal word.

Ferguson said she believes that worker safety concerns were keeping pistachio growers from adopting the use of Dormex.

Meyer acknowledged the safety re

quirements for Dormex as a restricted use product. Since the product is an eye and skin irritant, the label requires full personal protection equipment (PPE), including a NIOSH respirator, and a certified applicator along with other protocols for use. It has a closed-system fill requirement to minimize exposure. But recent EPA-approved labels also have included a shorter re-entry win dow and smaller setbacks.

A recent report EPA noted high toxicity to aquatic life and an incident where a spray application made in adverse weather conditions resulted in defoliation of a nearby lemon grove.

The report also noted it is not per sistent in soil or water and degrades into plant nutrients including urea. Meyer said the Dormex breaks down quickly after application into urea and Dicydianamide (DCD). DCD is a nitri fication inhibitor which, combined with urea, creates a stabilized or slow-release nitrogen source within the plant.

In spite of worker safety demands, Meyer said he believes pistachio growers will find the benefits of using Dormex in their orchards will out weigh the extra precautions. Although the PPE requirements are restrictive, application is not difficult. A single application of Dormex by ground rig in pistachios and almonds at a rate of 4 gallons per acre is required.

Under proper application condi tions, Dormex is absorbed quickly into the twigs and buds and is rain-fast in as little as four hours.

Timing of application is 30 days or more prior to anticipated bud break of the earliest variety. Meyer said it is im portant that a non-ionic surfactant be used to carry the product and ensure good coverage. If oil has been applied, it will prevent the proper absorption of Dormex.

For safety, Alzchem adds a bright blue dye into the Dormex formulation, making it easier to see, so spills, leaks in the spray system or product residue are evident immediately. Meyer also stressed that Alzchem adds a unique dual-stabilizer technology to improve the quality, storage and handling of the product.

There are some warnings about ap plication timing. If Dormex is applied

ALREADY IN USE IN GRAPE VINEYARDS AND CHERRY TREE ORCHARDS, DORMEX WAS USED TO TRIGGER BUD BREAK IN PISTACHIO AND ALMOND ORCHARDS STARTING IN 2022.

less than four weeks prior to natural bud break, yields may be reduced. Take proper precautions to prevent spray drift onto non-target crops.

Low-vigor or low-capacity trees should receive applications earlier than 30 days prior to anticipated normal bud break. Some yellowing may occur on the first leaves, but the developing growth will be normal.

Dormex is not a cure-all. Growers

still need to manage tree health and ir rigations. But with increasingly warmer winters, Dormex does appear to be a potential yield-enhancing tool to help pistachio growers manage crops more effectively.

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

BOARD: AMERICAN PECAN COUNCIL

By AMERICAN PECAN COUNCIL | Contributing Writer

The formation of APC as a resource dedicated to marketing American Pecans in the U.S. and internation ally was a huge step forward for the industry, but con sumer research confirmed there was much work to be done; familiarity with and purchase of pecans was lower than that of almost all other nuts. In fact, research showed that many people thought of pecans as a baking ingredient, rather than a nut. The challenge was clear; demand would not increase if consumers only thought of pecans for holiday pies. To dra matically grow demand for pecans meant we must first drive awareness of pecans and reframe the way today’s consumers think about them. Much more than a seasonal pie ingredient, pecans must become a healthy and convenient cooking and snacking staple.

To do this, we knew we needed to double down on mar keting the health benefits of pecans. We needed to accelerate nutrition research to expand messaging of pecan-specific health benefits. Four clinical trials on pecans and heart health

had been published. Two studies examined the impact of a pecan-enriched diet on blood cholesterol levels, and two stud ies were conducted to explore the relation of eating pecans on blood gamma-tocopherols levels and oxidation of LDL “bad” cholesterol. While these studies provided insights into the potential relationship between pecan-rich diets and choles terol levels, the results were unique to the study design. Since evidence was limited, more research was needed to under stand how compounds in pecans may play a role in support ing normal cholesterol and blood lipids.

Request for Proposals

In 2019, we put out an RFP in Nutrition Research to further investigate the health benefits of this delicious nut. As part of this initiative, we worked with Johnson Nutrition Solutions to conduct one-on-one interviews with five leaders in the research community to solicit their opinions on the research areas of greatest potential benefit. Two areas that rose to the top for initial studies were cardiovascular health and weight management.

Cardiovascular Health

APC solicited proposals that examined the effect of pecans on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Priority was given to proposals that included measures of peripheral vascular health (including endothelial function) and less commonly measured CVD risk factors such as circulating epoxide concentration, platelet function and reactivity as well as LDL susceptibility to oxidation. Such factors were of particular interest due to the high flavonoid content of pecans. Both acute and non-acute studies were considered although proposals that began with an acute pilot study phase were particularly attractive. The inclusion of secondary endpoints related to cognitive performance, changes in the microbiome,

inflammatory markers and/or more conventional CVD risk factors (e.g., lipids, blood pressure, fasting blood glu cose/insulin) were desirable if they were compatible with the protocol.

Weight Management

Acute and/or short-term studies that examined the ability of pecans to con tribute to weight management were also a priority for APC. At a minimum, such studies were asked to measure hunger/

satiety and spontaneous energy intake after a pecan-based meal. Studies that examined the role of pecans as healthy snacks were of particular interest. Both

[Researchers] expect to observe improvements in several CVD and other chronic disease risk factors from pre- to post-pecan diet intervention with no changes in the control group.

‘

acute and non-acute proposals were considered, although proposals that began with an acute pilot study followed by short-term, non-acute experiments (e.g., two weeks) were particularly attractive. The inclusion of secondary endpoints (especially cognitive measures) as well as CVD risk factors or changes in the microbiome were desirable if they were com

patible with the protocol. Proposals for long-term studies that examined the effect of pecan-containing diets on body weight loss and/or maintenance were not desired at this time.

APC’s Current Research Studies

From the RFP, three proposals rose to the top that APC chose to fund. Below, we’ll provide a brief overview of these three studies. Due to COVID-19 delays, all three studies are currently underway, so we will provide anticipated results:

The Ability of Pecan Consumption to Improve Vascular Function and Reduce Chronic Disease Risk in Aging Adults

Study headed up by Dr. Jamie Cooper at the University of Georgia

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., which is influenced in large part by elevated blood lipids and worsened vascular function.

Purpose of Study: To examine the impact of daily pecan consumption for a four-week period on vascular health and other markers of CVD risk in aging adults (50 to 75 years old).

Anticipated Results: Because of the healthy nutrient profile of pecans (high antioxidant levels, high levels of healthy fats and rich in fiber, protein and other micronutrients), and ini tial studies showing improvements in lipids in healthy adults, the researchers hypothesize that daily pecan consumption will be a viable option for adults looking to reduce their CVD risk. They expect to find that daily pecan consumption for four weeks in aging adults will improve large artery and mi crovascular function in response to a high saturated fat meal. They also expect to observe improvements in several CVD and other chronic disease risk factors from pre- to post-pe can diet intervention with no changes in the control group. These CVD risk factors include measures of platelet function, inflammation, glycemic control, cholesterol, lipid metabolism, antioxidant status and appetite.

Benefit to Industry: Provide meaningful health messages about the CVD-related improvements from pecan consump tion in a population most at risk for chronic diseases and increase annual consumer demand.

Cardiometabolic Effects of Including Pecans as a Snack to Improve Diet Quality: A Randomized Controlled Study

Study headed up by Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton and Dr. Kris tina Peterson at Penn State University

Background: Our understanding of the effects of pecans on markers of peripheral vascular health is limited, despite their nutrient and polyphenol profile that is likely to be car dioprotective. Pecans are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and bioactives including flavonoids and phytosterols.

Purpose of Study: To examine how substitution of usu al snack foods with 2 oz./day of pecans affects markers of peripheral vascular health, lipids and lipoproteins, blood pres sure and glycemic control compared to habitual U.S. intake.

Anticipated Results: It is hypothesized that replacement of typical snack foods with 2 oz./day of pecans will improve peripheral vascular assessments, lipid and lipoprotein profile and glycemic control compared to usual average American intake. It is expected that intake of pecans as a snack will improve diet quality and confer important cardiovascular benefits because of the combination of improved diet quality

and the phenolic composition of pecans.

Benefits to Industry: Provide high quality evidence about the role of pecans, as a snack, in the American diet. The findings will likely be reviewed in the development of future dietary guidelines and other population-based nutrition recommendations.

A Randomized, Two Condition, Crossover Trial Assessing Appetite, Energy Metabolism, Blood Biomarker and Ad Libitum Food Intake Responses to a Mid-Morning Pecan Snack vs. an Equicaloric High Carbohydrate Savory Snack in Healthy Overweight and Obese Volunteers

Study headed up by Dr. John C. Peters at the University of Colorado, Denver

Background: Pecans have been asso ciated with beneficial effects on appe tite, blood markers and energy balance based on studies of other tree nuts, but pecan-specific effects have not been fully characterized. If pecans are to be seen as potential aids for weight management, then it is important to directly docu ment their effects on subjective feelings of hunger, satiety, desire to eat, palat ability and pleasantness as well as ad libitum consumption at a meal follow ing a pecan or control snack.

Purpose of Study: Examine the effect of a mid-morning snack of pecans vs. a high-carbohydrate savory snack (un salted pretzels) on appetite (subjective feelings of hunger, fullness), energy ex penditure, blood biomarkers of appetite and metabolism and ad libitum food intake at lunch.

Anticipated Results: The researchers hypothesize that pecans will provoke greater feelings of fullness and reduced hunger after the snack and lunch meal consumption (on either a calorie per cal orie or volume basis.) They also hypoth esize that the pecan snack will provoke greater responses of satiety hormones compared to pretzels and increase en ergy expenditure and fat oxidation post consumption.

Benefit to Industry: Provide a com prehensive characterization of the ef fects of pecan snacks on appetite, blood appetite hormone and energy substrates and energy expenditure. The data can be also used to generate hypotheses for

testing in longer term studies aimed at understanding the potential benefits of pecans on nutrition and body weight management.

A Look Ahead…

The APC has begun to take strides in conducting human nutrition re search specific to pecans, but we have just scratched the surface with three pioneer studies currently underway. Some other potential areas of interest for future nutrition research include, but are not limited to diabetes, stress relief and male-reproductive health.

Many older commodity boards have well-established research programs dating back decades and they continue to invest largely in nutrition research and sustainability efforts, showing how much value they continue to place there. We have a lot we can learn from the path they have paved as we continue to invest in nutrition research studies and getting the message out on the nutrition story unique to pecans.

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

California Tree Nut Conference

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By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

While navel orangeworm, leaffooted bugs and brown marmorated stink bugs grab the headlines and the attention of pistachio growers, another insect pest is gaining ground in California.

The green stink bug can quietly move into orchards, build numbers and cause crop damage mid- and late-season.

The green stink bug (Chinavia hilaris) was previously

called Acrosternum hilare. Like other stink bugs, green stink bugs have the shield-like covering. Adults have bright green coloring with yellow or orange lining around the entire shield margin. Green stink bug nymphs are a mixture of green, black and orange.

Two other stink bug species similar to green stink bugs are Uhler’s stink bug (Chlorochroa uhleri) and Say’s stink bug (chlorochroa sayi). None of these pest stink bugs should be confused with the rough stink bug, Brochymena quadripustu lata, a predator stink bug that is speckled white and gray and common in pistachio orchards throughout the year. Nymphs of this predator stink bug are red, white and blue. They do not prey on green stink bugs but rather are generalist predators.

UCCE IPM Advisor Jhalendra Rijal noted that almond and peach orchards are also experiencing infestations of this pest at a higher level than previous years (photo by Jack Kelly Clark, courtesy UC Statewide IPM Program.)

STINK BUG: FRIEND OR FOE GREEN STINK BUG NUMBERS BUILD OVER TIME, BUT CAN ALSO BE CONFUSED WITH NATURAL PREDATORS.

The green stink bug can quietly move into or chards, build numbers and cause crop damage mid- and late-season (photo courtesy UCCE.)

“I am seeing a lot more of these green stink bugs in orchards this year compared to the last two or three years,” Jhalendra Rijal, UCCE area IPM advisor said. Rijal noted that in addition to pis tachio, almond and peach orchards are experiencing infestations of this pest at a higher level than previous years.

Cause of Kernel Necrosis

Green stink bug feeding on pistachio nuts after shell hardening can cause kernel necrosis. This damage is similar to that caused by leaffooted bugs and results in rejection at the processor. The off-grade nuts may not be obvious at harvest. Green stink bug feeding in July

and August can cause a pinpoint brown mark on the hull, or no external mark due to feeding will be readily visible. Cutting into the nut will show a dark ened kernel with a sunken appearance near the feeding site. UC IPM Guide

“I AM SEEING A LOT MORE OF THESE GREEN STINK BUGS IN ORCHARDS THIS YEAR COMPARED TO THE LAST TWO OR THREE YEARS.” – JHALENDRA RIJAL, UCCE

lines note that stink bug feeding on pistachio nuts can also transmit a type of yeast that causes a condition called Stigma tomycosis and Botryosphaeria panicle as well as shoot blight

PCA Justin Nay with Integral Ag said that the grade sheets from processors do not specify the source of the kernel damage, only noting the percentage of inedible nuts. He said it is likely that green stink bug feeding damage is underreported as it is not distinguished from navel orange

Green stink bugs can overwinter as adults in orchards and in dry vegetation outside of orchards. Rijal said there is evidence that this pest can spend winters hiding inside cracks in tree bark or in any vegetation on the orchard floor where they are protected from the elements.

As weather warms in the spring, green stink bugs move out of protected sites and begin to feed on weeds. After pistachio nut clusters begin to form, green stink bugs are among several species that feed on the developing nuts. This early feeding causes nuts to abort and drop, but due to the relatively low number of stink bugs typically found early in the season and the ability of pistachio trees to compensate for dropped nuts, bug damage prior to shell hardening does not often cause marked crop loss.

“Bug damage after the nut drop period and before shell hardening can cause damage, but that time tends to have low green stink bug populations.,” Rijal said. “However, this can

vary among years and regions. Green stink bugs can still cause damage to pistachio after shell hardening (July to September), resulting in kernel necrosis. The green stink bug adult population also tends to be higher during that period.”

Green stink bugs lay barrel-shaped eggs with concentric dark rings at the top in clusters on foliage and vegeta tion about 17 days after emerging from overwinter sites. After hatching, the nymphs have a wide range of colors from red to black or brown.

Rijal said in his experience with nut orchards infested with green stink bugs, adult, nymph and egg stages can be seen at the same time, although nymph feeding damage late in the season is insignificant.

Parasitoid Activity

It is possible that parasitic wasps can be present in the orchard and lay eggs on green stink bug eggs, ultimately destroying the stink bug eggs. Rijal said he has collected green stink bug egg masses from an almond orchard and found very high parasitic activity. He said parasitoid species that attack the eggs need to be identified and research conducted to determine if this biologi cal control can help reduce green stink bug populations in the orchard.

Rijal said monitoring for green stink bug should begin in April if a grower or PCA suspects damage from the previ ous harvest was caused by this pest.

Use of beating trays can show the presence of green stink bugs in an orchard. Rijal said green stink bugs are not strong fliers compared to leaffooted bugs and are relatively easy to find with a beat tray or sweep net. However, low numbers early in the season and trees’ compensation of the dropped nuts may not justify an insecticide application. Another monitoring method is to look for green stink bug eggs, nymphs and adults. From June onward, if green stink bugs are present, nuts can be inspected for kernel damage to confirm feeding damage. Lesions on the hulls may not appear right after green stink bug feeding.

Rijal said higher overwinter survival due to warm winters and applying few

er broad-spectrum insecticides that can disrupt the natural enemy populations in the orchard may be reasons for the uptick in green stink bugs populations.

Rijal said growers should take note of late-season green stink bug activity. Overwintering sites, other hosts and weeds, bug damage at harvest samples, etc. should help determine next sea son’s pest management plan.

The UC IPM guidelines note that in secticide applications should be timed after the majority of eggs have hatched and nymphs are easily found. Growers can still use insecticides mid-season to prevent kernel necrosis.

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Hazelnut Growers Flock to Summer Tour

By MITCH LIES | Contributing Writer

Hundreds of hazelnut growers, processors and others gathered at a state-of-the-art receiving station in Albany, Ore. in August for the Oregon Hazelnut Industry’s first full-scale Summer Tour in three years.

“We are thrilled with the turnout,” said Colleen Nihen, executive director of the Hazelnut Industry Office, who said more than 700 were on-hand. “It is evident that COVID-19 is ending, and we are finally able to get back together.”

Participants heard about suck er control, soil health and general orchard management during morning breakout sessions that pivoted around a presentation on the K&D Systems receiving station.

Tim Newkirk, a Canby grower who helped with the system’s design, said the system’s developers felt it was critical to develop a system that that could handle the increasing volumes being produced by the Oregon hazelnut industry at a faster rate. And to date, he

said, the system has delivered.

In 2020, for example, the first year K&D Systems operated the station, it essentially doubled its previous volume capacity, said Andrew Kropf, an owner of K&D Systems. “On a lot of the lines we were working on before this, we were running 25,000 to 30,000 pounds an hour of green clean,” Kropf said. “So, we thought, ‘Okay, let’s double that,’

and we hit the target of 50,000 pounds an hour of green clean.”

K&D Systems today is capable of pushing between 65,000 to 75,000 pounds an hour through the system, Kropf said.

In developing the station, Kropf said he toured walnut farms in California

Canby, Ore. hazelnut grower Tim Newkirk, who helped design the K&D Systems receiving station pictured behind him, talks about features of the receiving station to participants of the Oregon Hazelnut Industry Summer Tour in Albany, Ore., while Sean Denfeld, center, and Andrew Kropf, right, look on (all photos by M. Lies.)

Oregon State University Assistant Professor Marcelo Moretti provides advice on sucker control during a presentation at the Oregon Hazelnut Industry Summer Tour.

to learn more about their drying and washing systems and pulled together a group of hazelnut growers to learn of their needs. In addition to moving product through faster, a criti cal need identified by growers was high-quality throughput.

“At the end of the line, we wanted to have the cleanest product coming off,” he said. “So, we worked with an air as piration company and designed an air aspiration system that would cut all contaminates off the line.

“We can adjust that on the fly, and take hazelnut blanks off,” Kropf added. “So, the end-product coming off the line is very clean. The processors we deal with are telling us these are the cleanest hazelnuts coming to them.

“That is something we are proud of,” Kropf said.

Sucker Control

Participants in the breakout sessions also heard a presen tation from Marcelo Moretti, an assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture for Oregon State University, on the latest in sucker control.

Moretti stressed that it is important for growers to treat suckers early in the season when they are small and most susceptible to herbicides. And, he said, four to six applica

tions per season are usually needed.

“The problem is when you do an early application, not all of those buds will be inert, so early in the season you need to come back two or three weeks later and hit it again,” Moretti said.

“But I tell you, that is cheaper than cutting suckers by hand,” he said.

“I would probably start late April or early May [depending on the weather],” he said.

Treating suckers when they are small also lessens the chance for crop injury, he said. “Your chemistry is only ef fective if you spray the top of the suckers, and you should be about 10 to 15 inches above the top,” he said. “So, if you have a 10-inch sucker, and you move another 10 inches above that, now you are spraying the canopy.

“So, if you start small, you mitigate a lot of the secondary problems that we have when trying to control bigger suckers,” he said.

Moretti also advised growers to take steps to avoid pesti cide drift, particularly when treating with 2,4-D, which can delay nut drop.

“If you are really concerned about drift, don’t spray 2,4-D,” he said. “But if you want to use it, my cutoff date is around mid-May or late May, depending on the temperature.”

Pesticide drift can occur both through droplet movement and volatilization, he said.

“You can minimize droplet movement by picking the right times of day to spray and using no-drift nozzles,” he said. Avoiding spraying when temperatures exceed 80 degrees F or are expected to do so in the next 7 to 10 days can help avoid drift through volatilization, he said.

Orchard Management

In another breakout session, Barney Kropf, a partner in K&D Systems, explained some of the thought processes behind his company’s farm management practices, including burying drip lines. In addition to eliminating the damage from coyotes and other pests, which was the main reason be hind burying the lines, the practice has proven beneficial at harvest, he said, because crews no longer are worried about tearing up lines with equipment. Also, he said, the farm is no longer losing water to evaporation.

“There are a lot of benefits,” he said.

He added that the farm leaves drip lines above ground for the first two years of an orchard to ensure water gets right on the roots.

Kropf also talked about the farm’s use of grass between rows. “We like the fact that in the winter, we can get out into the field and get stuff done,” he said. And the grass has ben efits during harvest as well, he said. “If we have a rain event, we can get out there faster.”

Kropf said he mows probably five times a year in a typical year. This year, because of the rainy spring, he mowed proba bly six times, he said.

Soil Microbes

Victoria Marsh of the specialty fertilizer company Tessenderlo Kerley also spoke about the advantages of incorporating grass into orchard alleys during her breakout session on soil microbes.

“This alone is going to be the biggest thing you can do to boost soil health,” Marsh said. Grass helps water filtration, nutrient uptake and de creases compaction in alleys, she said.

“Living roots provide multiple benefits,” she said.

Steep Growth Curve

A recurring theme during the 2022 Summer Tour and Trade Show, start ing with the opening presentation from Nut Growers Society President Cathy Bisset, was the rapid growth rate of the Oregon hazelnut industry.

In the late 1990s, Bisset said, the Summer Tour was an informal event that concluded with a potluck pic nic. “At the time, we had 20,000 acres,” Bisset said. Today, she said, more than 1,000 Oregon farms produce 99% of the U.S. supply of hazelnuts on roughly 90,000 acres.

In his presentation, Sean Denfeld, another partner in the receiving station, noted that the growth curve of the Or egon hazelnut industry is steeper than even the California walnut or almond industries. “Between 2016 and 2018, Oregon planted over 30% of its total area in just three years,” Denfeld said.

“Our growth curve has been incredi bly steep,” he said.

Tim Newkirk, a former Nut Grower of the Year and past CEO of Willamette Hazelnut Growers, added that it is im portant for Oregon growers to maintain their current reputation for producing a quality nut.

“It is really important that we keep that intact,” Newkirk said. “And that all starts with the growers and how we take care of the crop.”

Newkirk also encouraged growers to help spread out the workload for handlers and processors during harvest by getting nuts in early.

“You want to get that product to the wash and dry station in a timely man ner so that they have the time to move this volume through in an efficient state to the processor, so that they can

get that product to market and we can maintain that quality,” he said.

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Nut Growers Society President Cathy Bisset comments on the rapid growth of the Oregon hazelnut industry while welcoming more than 700 participants to the Oregon Hazelnut Industry Summer Tour.

“Beyond the Kernel” Focus Sets Stage for Almond Industry’s Zero Waste Goals

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

Goals

for the future can often be set aside when they are overshad owed by a crises in the present.

Over the past two growing sea sons, California almond growers have been hit with shipment delays, labor issues and water scarcity among other challenges, but they continue to make progress toward the almond industry’s zero waste goals.

“Beyond the kernel” is how Josette Lewis, Almond Board of California’s chief scientific officer, describes the development of new and higher-value uses for almond byproducts.

“Growers are telling us they place a high priority on increasing the value of co-products,” Lewis said.

The 2025 goal of zero waste has two features, Lewis said. Everything grown in the orchard is put to productive use, and those uses deliver optimal value back to the industry. Zero waste means that all parts of the trees, almond hulls and shells are directed to enhancing the environment or productivity for the grower and other industries. In years past, woody biomass from an orchard, whole trees or prunings, were piled and burned or chipped and hauled to a co-generation facility where they were used to create energy. Hulls and shells were used for livestock feed or bedding.

Open field burning is being phased out in California and most co-gen plants are no longer in operation. The market for hulls as livestock feed has shrunk while almond production has increased.

Currently, more almond growers are turning to whole-orchard recycling (WOR) as a use for woody biomass when they push out old orchards. Almond Board-funded research en abled this new practice and supported opening new incentives from state and

federal agencies. Research is also find ing new uses for the other co-products from the almond industry.

Lewis reported that most recent data showed about 50% of almond orchard removals by growers in the stewardship program were whole-or chard recycled, meaning that the trees were ground into chips on-site, spread over the orchard site and incorporated into the soil. This practice was just in its infancy in 2015, and Lewis said the rapid rate of adoption was due to the significant benefits gained in soil and tree health.

Smaller growers do have challenges in adopting WOR, Lewis said. Finan cial incentives from Natural Resources Conservation Service and the CDFA’s Healthy Soil program as well as the San Joaquin air district help offset costs, but finding companies willing to bring equipment for small acreage is still a challenge.

UC research identified advantages to WOR in the past six years, noting that it increased the yield and water use efficiency of the next orchard planted. It also sequestered carbon in the soil, improved soil structure and did not show problems for increased disease.

The net benefit to the next or chard is being realized, Lewis said, as research has shown a water savings of 19% and a 20% increase in production. This is driving adoption of WOR along with increasing availability of orchard recycling machinery and financial incentives.

Expanding Markets for Hulls and Shells

When it comes to optimal use, Lew is said the focus is on expanding mar kets for hulls and shells beyond dairy

Pomona Farming shared photos of their recent whole orchard recycling process. This process is aimed at productivity for the following crop by improving soil health and water use efficiencies while sequestering carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (all photos courtesy Pomona Farms.)

Once trees were pulled, they were ground into chips. The wood chips were then spread across the orchard site where they will be incorporated into the soil.

The completed process shows the new drip hose in place.

feed and bedding. It is important, she noted, that new uses need to scale-up and be commercially viable to achieve greater value back to almond growers.

There are two exciting opportunities

for almond byproducts on the horizon, Lewis said. One is development of almond hulls as a value-added ingredient for human consumption. Examples of uses for the powdered hull product would be in bakery goods as fiber or replacing part of the flour in battered & fried foods, which decreases oil uptake, and as a stabilizer for nut butters, replacing palm oil. Data on the use of the hull product will be shared with food companies, Lewis said.

Including almond hulls in poultry feed also performs well for both broiler and egg laying chickens. The Almond Board noted that research is nearly complete and will be shared with the California poultry industry to open new markets for hulls. Almond shells as a soil amendment is another option as research shows that adding shells to the soil can immobi lize nitrogen and keep it from leaching below the root zone.

While some second-generation biofuel companies have started to operate in the Central Valley, the scale has not yet

Howe said they also recycle all the irrigation system plas tic when an orchard is removed as well as all the cardboard containers. The plastic irrigation tubing is rolled up and tak en to a recycling center where it is cleaned and used to make other plastic items.

As for the shells, Howe said they are evaluating a plan for

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The Next Generation of Plant Health!

“

”

Growers are telling us they place a high priority on increasing the value of co-products.

– Josette Lewis, Almond Board of California

Utilize the Off-Season to Get Ahead With a Proactive Tax Strategy

By JEFF BOWMAN | Grimbleby Coleman CPAs

Most

growers know to set aside time to consult with their accountant during tax season but strate gizing challenges as they arise throughout the year is undeniably the shrewder practice. Such planning tactics can allow for the mitigation of surprises and cash short falls during harvest. This best practice of ongoing proactive planning lets growers make beneficial financial choices that protect them against sudden change.

Being proactive and utilizing the offseason to get ahead allows growers to develop long-term tax strategies. Regional ag accounting experts Grimbleby Coleman CPAs recom mend following these smart first steps to establish a strategy.

Updating estate plans: Real estate acquisitions and changes to health, income, residence, relationship status or family (new children/grandchildren) are occasions that warrant an update.

Maximizing retirement plan contributions: Maximizing your contribution reduces income tax now and saves for the future. Be sure to ask your advisor what plan type and options make the most sense for your business.

Investing in industry-specialized software tools: As your revenue increases, specialized software is money well spent. The right software can aid project management, profitability, benchmarking, reporting and tax preparation.

Reviewing capital gain transactions and assets: Balancing cash flow needs with the timing for taxable income is essen

Growers should look at their financial “big picture”

weekly rather than monthly or quarterly.

tial. For example, it might make sense to delay closing capital gain transac tions until after year-end or structure your 2022 transactions as installment sales so that gains defer past 2022.

Staying current on proposed tax legislation: Review areas impacted by proposed legislation as well as opportu nities and tax relief options. When tax laws change, speak to your accounting team about whether or not there are steps to take.

Look Ahead Often

Falling behind on accounting is another habit that growers can no longer afford. We advise growers to look at their financial “big picture” weekly rather than monthly or quarterly. Many of our clients forecast cash flows with best-case, worst-case and most-likely models.

Growers should know and anticipate the following for cash flow planning:

• Any upcoming significant expenses (buildings, machinery, equipment, vehicles, computer software, etc.)

• Payment for this year’s crop or payment coming in from last year’s harvest

• Labor needs and costs (wages, overtime, PTO, insurance, taxes, expenses, benefits. etc.)

• Vendor payment terms (e.g., are payments due in 15, 30 or 60 days?)

What starts as a “tax question” often turns into a conversation about cash flow, budgets, expected changes in the commodities market and other lon ger-range goals of our clients. We value these advisory conversations. For us, advisory encompasses all the things we do beyond compliance. Advisory dis cussions require our team to listen care

Hedging with Water Futures

In December 2020, CME Group launched the Nasdaq Veles California Water IndexTM futures contracts (Product Code: H2O, or “Water Futures”), designed to serve farmers and commercial water users seeking to manage water price risk in California. The innovative product financially settles to the value of the Nasdaq Veles California Water IndexTM (NQH2OTM), which tracks the weekly price of water rights transactions across major markets in California. NQH2OTM tracks the USD price of one acre foot, or the amount of water needed to cover one-acre of land by a depth of one foot. Each H2O contract represents 10-acre feet of water and market participants may choose to trade any of the eight available quarterly contracts or two monthly contracts to best hedge their water price risk.

Over time, a number of factors including prolonged drought conditions have led to higher water prices in California. The price of one acre foot of water as measured by NQH2OTM has increased over 36% since the beginning of the year. As a result, farmers and commercial water users face a higher

CONTACT

Pat Wolf

Giovanni Vicioso

cost for this essential resource. By implementing a hedging strategy using H2O futures, food producers can protect against adverse water price movements in the future, which can result in cost savings passed on to the end consumers of food and agricultural products.

For example, a farmer concerned about rising prices for water needed three months from now, can purchase the equivalent number of futures contracts that settle in three months’ time. As the futures are financially settled, no physical water changes hands. However, by using futures, the farmer locks-in a price today for water they will need three months from now. Any increase in the price of water three months from now will be offset by the gain the farmer makes on the futures contracts. Conversely, if the price of water is lower three months from now, the farmer will save money on water purchased in the spot market, while the futures position will show a loss. In either case, by using water futures, the farmer has eliminated their price risk and has certainty of price today for commercial water they will need in the future.

Bryan David david@waterexchange.com waterexchange.com

Lance Coogan lance@veleswater.com veleswater.com

fully and truly understand the context of a question rather than just respond. These conversations allow us to be pro active as we engage in a holistic thought process and encourage our entire team

to participate and add value. Grimbleby Coleman takes pride in practicing hightouch accountancy.

A tax planning conversation with our team could uncover additional solutions for your business, including:

Considering elimination of low-margin products or services: With rising costs and shrinking labor availability, it may be time to eliminate some offerings the business has been willing to carry up to this point.

Examining your pricing and cost structure: Owners should evaluate the marketplace and customers. Address ing pricing strategies early on can keep the business afloat. Our team provides tools to help analyze your current pric ing structure.

Becoming creative and flexible with your labor force: Working toward strong employee retention might mean becoming flexible with schedules and work environment, considering incen tive plans for employees who rise to the challenge and hiring remote workers when it fits your business.

Looking (cautiously) for inventory deals: Stocking up on larger amounts of inventory may alleviate the risk of a shortage when shipments are delayed. However, more extensive inventories mean you’re either tying up cash or extending your line of credit, so be cautious.

Staying in conversation with your key suppliers: By speaking to suppliers regularly, you may be able to anticipate windows of opportunity, shortages or price increases.

Seeking out other supply sources: Reliance on one supplier for critical materials could cripple your business if the unexpected happens. It is wise to research alternative suppliers and con sider allocating a small number of your purchases to them if you need to switch.

Understanding cash ebbs and flows through harvest times and beyond is a well-practiced skill. The Grimbleby Coleman team has worked directly with ag clients for over 50 years, so we know the unique challenges and opportuni ties our clients navigate to succeed.

UNIQUE COVER CROP MIX MAY INCREASE SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION

By TAYLOR CHALSTROM | Digital Content Editor

ACalifornia company is incorporating a unique cover crop mix with the hope of increasing permanent soil carbon sequestration in orchards and monetizing the land.

The cover crop mix, known as Oakville bluegrass, caught the attention of Vitidore’s founders as a new perennial solu tion that complements farm schedules and does not impede productivity in specialty crop systems.

One of the company’s founders and Vice President of Solutions John Knutson said he first came across the mix during his previous career in turfgrass sales. The bulbosa grass cultivar (under license from Radix Evergreen) was originally created for use on golf courses, but due to the grass’ unique dormancy cycle in which it consumes no water as well as other benefits, Knutson began to consider its use in agricultural crops such as wine grapes.

“I specifically thought so because this grass has a dor mancy cycle that begins in April and ends in October, and that is almost directly opposite of bermudagrass,” he said. “I thought that might be interesting because grapevines are deciduous, losing the bulk of their leaves in November but really stopping growing about middle of October, and then

they break their dormancy cycle around the third week of March.

“That might line up perfectly in a symbiotic relationship with this [cover crop] species in that it could survive on nat ural precipitation and then go dormant when the vines are starting to wake up.”

The cover crop mix also has applications in tree nut orchards and is being tested in UCCE projects, according to Knutson and co-founder/President Alyssa DeVincentis.

Environmentally and Economically Friendly

Oakville bluegrass is a winter cover crop and is meant to be mowed down right before many permanent crops’ growth periods start around March.

“What makes this grass unique is the dormancy cycle… and the growth habits; it’s a very low-statured grass away from the cash crop,” DeVincentis said. “It’s not going to be affecting the agronomic performance of the cash crop.”

The cover crop not only has agronomic benefits but also economic benefits, DeVincentis said. “On the very tangible side of things, you have reductions in chemical and labor costs,” she said, noting that permanent cover reduces the need for activities like mowing and frost protection. “Those can be really, really expensive.”

The indirect benefits of permanent cover like Oakville bluegrass are more intangible. “In addition to improving air quality and putting less pressure on scarce environmental re sources like water, there’s an understanding that it’s good for the environment, it’s good for the planet to increase your soil carbon content and replace stores of carbon that have been diminished over time,” DeVincentis said.

Telling a grower how much carbon is sequestered in their ground and what that value is can be impactful. “That grower can take that information and keep it on their bal ance sheet and perhaps market their crop as climate-smart because it is from a farm that’s managing their carbon, that knows how much is in the ground.”

Vitidore has developed a software platform to accompany the land monetization and tracking of environmental benefits from Oakville bluegrass, and are excited for what the platform can do on an even larger scale when combined with ground truthing, satellite imagery and machine learning.

Platform Helps Realize Soil Carbon

The company has developed a software platform, engineered by Principal Data Scientist Hervé Guillon, to accompany the land monetization and tracking of environmental benefits from Oakville bluegrass. “It’s a really

important part of what we’re trying to do,” Knutson said.

The software works as an improve ment on the traditional way of verify ing soil carbon content, which Knutson said involves digging a hole in the ground, putting the excavated soil into

a bag and sending it off to a lab for test ing. The platform, rather, helps to not only aggregate these data onsite, but also understand the change in seques tered carbon from Oakville bluegrass

Transforming global food production to maximize food safety and minimize food loss by making sure Every Resource Counts.

Oakville bluegrass, originally created for use on golf courses, complements farm schedules and does not impede productivity in specialty crop systems (all photos courtesy Vitidore.)

and other sustainable practices and predict future changes. Then, according to Guillon, it uses cloud-based machine learning and artificial intelligence ap

proaches to extrapolate the signal from ground-truth samples to any location of interest.

“Traditional collection methods…

would be unable to robustly infer infor mation about new, unseen locations, or locations with under-studied practices and changing processes or conditions,” Guillon said. “The ability to adapt, scale and predict at a new location is the key advantage of using machine learning and artificial intelligence with spatially available datasets like remote sensing (satellite imagery, drone imagery) or meteorological data.”

The platform also doesn’t just an alyze Oakville bluegrass’ effect on se questered carbon in the soil; it works with any cover crop mix, annual or perennial. “We like to call it agnostic to the intervention,” Knutson said.

Addressing Common Concerns

Some across the agriculture industry have voiced concerns over the years about cover crops, especially permanent mixes, affecting on-farm activities such as harvest. DeVincentis

John Knutson (left) and Alyssa DeVincentis (right) are co-founders Vitidore, an agricul ture company researching Oakville bluegrass and carbon sequestration.

said this was the one of the company’s biggest questions at the start when implementing Oakville bluegrass, but noted that, while anecdotal, across 250-plus acres of various permanent crops, growers have seen no issues with harvest.

Even tree nut acreage, including almonds, walnuts and pistachios, that the mix is planted in hasn’t seen any noticeable impacts at harvest.

“This is throwing that concept on its head,” she said, noting that the question of whether there is an impact at harvest is still crop-specific.

“It’s really all about the grass’ dor mancy and its stature,” she said. “It’s so low and dense to the ground, most of the biomass growth is actually happen ing belowground; so, we haven’t seen it interfere with harvest.

“It goes to sleep at the right time of the year so it’s inherently out of the way of the cash crop. It’s not competing for any resources.”

Co-op Expansion

In early 2022, Vitidore decided to expand the company beyond the technology platform and implement a grower-led, non-profit co-op that acts as a buyer group for Oakville bluegrass. Research projects the company is a part of with UCCE and other entities have been chiefly informed by the compa ny’s interests, but moving forward, the hope is for future projects to specifical ly reflect the interests of growers in the co-op.

“We want this to be a completely specialty crop grower-led operation where we are the service provider,” DeVincentis said. “…they get access to all the information we’ve developed over the past three years.”

Knutson and DeVincentis encour age any prospective growers looking to have their voices heard as part of the co-op’s sustainability push to reach out to Vitidore.

“It’s a very exciting time to be a part of this,” DeVincentis said.

organically complexed

Zinc-Shotgun® is a fertilizer that focuses on micronutrients to satisfy needs of customers seeking high zinc with manganese, iron and copper. The micronutrients are completely chelated with natural organic acids, amino acids, and carbohydrates that are readily bio-degradable and supply energy to the plant and soil microflora. Many soils are low in zinc and also require other micronutrients for the growth of good crops.

Organically complexed with plant based amino acids, organic acids, and complexed polysaccharides.

nutrients are readily absorbed by the plant for a faster response.

is also e ective

applied directly

Oakville bluegrass has a unique dormancy cycle in which it consumes no water as well as other benefits.

The ABCs of ATVs

By THERESA KIEHN | President and CEO, AgSafe

n today’s agricultural industry, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) have become an increasingly critical tool in managing operations in orchards. Start ing in the 1980s, when companies be gan exploring how ATVs could be used in a variety of on-farm capacities, there are now tens of millions of these pieces of equipment being used in agriculture across the U.S. As a result, it is critical to know the hazards associated with ATVs and how to operate them safely.

The Law

It is important to understand that ATVs, when used in an agricultural operation, are legally viewed differently than when being operated recreation ally. If you are enjoying an ATV for fun or in any personal capacity, the safe use is governed by California Vehicle Code 38503 and enforceable by both local law enforcement agencies as well as the California Highway Patrol.

Alternatively, when used in an agricultural operation, the legal ju

risdiction falls to the Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occu pational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) and is guided by the California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 3664. This section specifically refers to the operat ing rules of agricultural equipment. It specifically lays out what is required of an operator in terms of safely using the equipment. To read CCR, Title 8, Sec tion 3664 in its entirety, visit dir.ca.gov/ title8/3664.html.

Essential Elements of an ATV Safety Program

Given that CCR, Title 8, Section 3664 is so explicit in its directive on how to safely operate agricultur al equipment, it should come as no surprise that a business needs to have a written ATV safety program that includes several important elements. Programs need to outline expectations of safe operation, maintenance, vehicle pre-inspection, the appropriate per sonal protective equipment (PPE) to be

worn and the protocol for responding to an ATV-related emergency. As with any written safety program, employees operating these machines need to be trained in the program’s components as well as be educated in how to safely operate the ATV.

Here are a few key concepts to keep in mind relative to the needed elements of an ATV safety program. This is not a complete list of elements. A complete ATV safety program must include company-specific protocol, hazards, unique identifiers, and other applicable processes unique to each individual operation.

Safe Operation

• Use the elements outlined in CCR, Title 8, Section 3664 as your guide:

• Where possible, avoid operating the ATV near ditches, embankments and holes.

It is important to understand that ATVs, when used in an agricultural operation, are legally viewed differently than when being operated recreationally (photo courtesy AgSafe.)

• Reduce speed when turning, cross ing slopes, and on rough, slick or muddy surfaces.

• Stay off slopes too steep for safe operation.

• Watch where you are going, espe cially at row ends, on roads and around trees.

• Do not permit others to ride.

• Operate the ATV smoothly; no jerky turns, starts or stops.

• Hitch only to the drawbar and hitch points recommended by the ATV manufacturer.

• When the ATV is stopped, set brakes securely and use park lock if available.

Vehicle Pre-Inspection

• Create an ATV pre-inspection checklist log to be reviewed and signed daily by operators.

• Ensure that the log has space for operators to note any mainte nance-related issues.

• Coordinate log review by the opera tor’s supervisor and/or maintenance staff to ensure that maintenance issues are reported in a timely fashion.

• Pre-inspection checklists should in clude, at minimum, review of: Tires

and wheels; controls and cables; lights and electrical systems; oil and fuel levels; chain and/or drive shaft; brakes; caution and warning labels; emergency tool kit; and first aid kit

Personal Protective Equipment

• The leadership of each business needs to consider the various uses for ATVs within their operation to best determine the most complete list of personal protective equip ment that needs to be worn by operators.

• All PPE must be provided by the employer at no cost to the employee.

• PPE should include, at minimum, the following: US Department of Transportation (USDOT) approved helmet; eye protection; gloves; boots; long-sleeved shirt; long pants; and high visibility vest/jacket/outer clothing

Now What?

The busy season is here, and it is critical that agricultural operations ensure they have a complete and robust ATV safety program in place. Accord ing to the U.S. Department of Labor, California leads the nation in the num

For more information about ATV safety, do not hesitate to contact AgSafe at www.agsafe.org or 209-526-4400. AgSafe is a non-profit organization

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The Potential to Dryland Farm Almonds

By KATHY COATNEY | Contributing Writer

Historically, almonds were a dry land crop in California. In the foothills, there are still old almond trees on almond rootstocks, according to Tom Gradziel, plant science professor at UC Davis.

In California, dry land almonds were raised on the foothills for two reasons, Gradziel said. “You want air drainage because of the frost, but also you need water drainage because al mond roots grow so deep that they are susceptible to waterlogging”

Except for California and Austra lia, other almond producing countries started out as dry land, Gradziel said.

Spain recently started modeling California’s high-input/high-return irrigated production, but their water is drying up faster than California’s. Now, there are Spanish growers taking a hard look at their almond production and saying, alright, where’s that sweet spot between full irrigation and dry land production or they go to Portugal to

Physiology of Almonds

“Almond is hugely adapted to dry land. It’s historically been a dry land crop,” Gradziel said.

Almond root growth, like the almond tree, is very aggressive. They mine the soil very well and go deep and wide to reach the marginal water from the rain, so through the summer they can survive with just rainwater, even in a drought year, Gradziel said.

But almonds flower in February, so the tree starts to push, and if there is flooding, it could die. “You flood those roots, those roots asphyxiate, they die, disease comes in and your orchard’s mush,” Gradziel said.

High Input/High Return

“What many people don’t realize is California rules almond production because California took it off that old scenario of low-input marginal land,

no irrigation, dry land farming low returns, to high input/high returns,” Gradziel said.

“If you go over to Spain, or Greece, you’ll see almonds still mostly grow ing on the marginal land. They’re not going to get a big crop, but they’re go ing to get something,” Gradziel said.

Dry land almonds on almond rootstock don’t tolerate the some times-saturated valley soils. Because of this, Central Valley growers switched to a peach rootstock, and in the Sacramento Valley where there’s more water, a plum rootstock.

“It was really a revolution to put almonds on peach rootstock. It totally changed the paradigm and made it a high-input/high-return crop,” Gradziel said.

Reverting to Dry Land

Is it feasible for California growers to revert to dry land? “That’s sort of an unknown. We’ve got some trials going now where we’ve got dry land almonds,” Gradziel said, adding one of the trials is in the Capay Valley.

“You’ve still got growers in some of these isolated areas in Capay Valley that are still growing almonds dry land. Sometimes 100-year-old trees, 80-year-old trees, very big trees, very deep roots. Maybe a third of the trees are gone, but since it’s low-input, any return you got is a bonus,” Gradziel said.

Gradziel has some experimental, mostly seedling plots for dry land con ditions on a small scale. “As an exam ple, two years ago I had some germinat ing seed on controlled irrigation, and then I forgot to put it back on the main irrigation. So last year, come August, I realized that these seedling trees, and they are about maybe six feet tall at this point, they weren’t on our irrigation. They weren’t getting any irrigation water, except that December rainfall, which was a drought year, and I still had 90% of the trees survive,” he said.

If growers returned to dry land, they would need to slow the tree down, particularly in the heat of summer. This might be accomplished by using almond rootstocks. Peach rootstocks or any combination of the peach-plum,

grow their almonds, Gradziel said.

Traditional dry land almond orchards in the Ebro Valley, Spain (photo courtesy I. Iglesias.)

peach-almond hybrids invigorate the tree, which is why they have such high yields and growth.

“An almond tree on an almond rootstock can, at least in theory, and some of our data supports this, put that tree in a growth dormancy and shift that balance toward nut production and away from runaway growth,” Gradziel.

“There’s some evidence out of Spain, and some of the early work that we’ve done here, where if you grow almond on low water, say, a dry land type sce nario on an almond rootstock, in the summer it’ll go into a natural summer dormancy,” Gradziel said.

“In a sense, what you’ve done is you’ve tweaked the equation to your advantage. You don’t necessarily want a lot of new growth. Once you’ve got a productive orchard, you don’t want it to keep growing aggressively. You want it to settle down, get into that spur pro duction, and produce nuts rather than lots of new shoots,” Gradziel said.

“In many crops, that would catch up with you because you need those new shoots, to get the new flowers, to get the new crop next year. But when you have a high-spur-bearing crop like almond, you only need millimeters of new spur growth rather than feet of new shoot growth,” Gradziel said, and limited growth also means less pruning.

“If we put an almond rootstock in a valley soil, it’s going to put down very deep roots, and consequently it’s going to be very susceptible to water logging, and every five years or so when we get that El Ni ño, we could have massive tree dieback,” Gradziel said.

The northern San Joaquin Valley has sandy soils, which has better drainage, Gradziel continued, so it might be pos sible to dry land almonds there. “If we have some of the better-trained areas in the Westside or even some of the sandi er parts within the valley, there may be opportunities to dry land.”

Potential Benefits to Dry Land Almonds

There are several benefits to farming dry land almonds.

“In general, many of the diseases that are problematic for us would be less of a problem in dry land. And the same

goes with the pests,” Gradziel said.

With dry land, mites could be more problematic, and there will be more traditional dry land pests than wet weather pests, irrigated pests, Gradziel said.

While the nuts are smaller, the fla vors are enhanced, Gradziel said. “A lot of dry land farmers would say that they greatly prefer the taste of a dry land [almond] as opposed to commercial.”

Dry land will also have low fertilizer usage, which is an advantage from the environmental side, Gradziel contin ued.

Shaker damage makes the tree sus ceptible to canker, so by 20 years, 10% or more of the trees can be lost, which is a big hit on potential yield. Dry land, in comparison, has much less tree loss, and it’s not unusual looking back to the mid-1900s to see orchards that are 40, 50, 60 years old or more and still have trees in production, Gradziel said.

There is less shaker damage with dry land almonds. “The danger of

harvesting with shakers is that if you’ve irrigated too close to harvest you’ve still got a lot of moisture in the bark, and your bark gets bruised and damaged, and then you’ve got canker and disease coming in. In a dry land, your bark is going to be much more resistant to the shaker damage,” Gradziel said.

Dry Land Almonds in Spain

Spain has been farming dry land almonds for centuries, according to Dr. Ignasi Iglesias, Ph.D., technical manag er of Agromillora Group.

Typically, Spanish almond grow ers have produced dry land almonds. “Only in the last two decades has irri gation been really important,” Iglesias said.

“Currently [2021], most of the al monds in Spain were cultivated in dry land, accounting for 612,227 hectare (ha),” Iglesias said, compared to irrigat

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No specific varieties have been de veloped for the dry land almonds in Spain, Iglesias continued. The main objectives of the Spanish breeding program have been to develop late blooming varieties to avoid spring frost and self-compatible to avoid problems with pollination.

“In addition to low-density plant ings compared to irrigated plots, an indirect way to avoid a major stress of the trees in dry land has been plant ing varieties with early maturity such as Guara, Vairo, Lauranne, Penta or Vialfás, all hard or semi-hard-shell varieties with less issue with pests. And this combined with late-bloom ing varieties, as far most of traditional and new dry land almond areas are exposed to recurrent spring frost,” Iglesias said.

Specific Needs

Do dry land rootstocks require spe cific soils? Iglesias offered a three-part answer.

First, for dry land to be profitable for almond production requires non-mar ginal soil conditions to capture 100% water and a rainfall up to 400 millime ters (mm) a year with good spring-au tumn distribution as the main factors. So, it means specific soils.

“The ideal ones should have a high capacity to store water (deep soils) in autumn-spring. These are the soils, for example, where the grapes also have the best performance, those will be the ideal,” Iglesias said. “Also, the soil man agement is crucial during the June-Sep tember period (no rain). The weeds are mechanically eliminated, maintaining a clean soil surface after blooming to optimize the water availability.”

Second is rootstocks. “As dry land has been the most common, some se lections of almond as the cultivar Gar rigues have been used traditionally as a

Self-rooted trees of Avijor cultivar located in Carmona, Sevilla, Spain, dry land and trained in hedge. Planted January 2022 (photo courtesy B. Chambra.)

Mechanical green pruning of self-rooted trees of Avijor in Carmona, Sevilla, Spain (photo courtesy B. Chambra.)

rootstock because the root system of the almond is the most tolerant among the Prunus species to drought. In the last two decades, the peach-almond hybrid GF-677 from INRAe (France) has been widely used in almond and peach because of its high vigor and good tolerance to drought,” Iglesias said. “Also, the hybrid Garnem (Garfi almond x Nemaguard peach rootstock) has been developed during the last decade but used less than GF-677 in dry land.”

Third, is an option developed by Agromillora in recent years: self-compatible varieties for dry land, in particular, Penta, Lauranne and Vialfás. “The key is combining the good tolerance of the almond root system producing plants by invitro propagation with a specific training system: a small hedge similar to one used in irrigation, but with a superior spacing (4.0m x 1.5m to 2m) and a smaller individual tree canopy, similar in total volume per ha to the traditional open vase but adaptable by mechanical pruning to specific climat ic/edaphic conditions of each area, and full mechanization of pruning and harvest (over-the-row machine). We don’t want and don’t need necessarily a lot of growth to be efficient in terms of yield,” Iglesias said.

The downside to dry land is less yields. A good plot in dry land with a well distributed rainfall of around 400 to 600 mm of rain per year can get 500 to 700 kilograms of kernel per ha, which is four times less of what irrigated almonds receive. But the price is more than twice that if growers raise dry land organic almonds.

“The important thing in Spain is that around 80% of the organic almonds produced are produced in dry land be cause in these climatic conditions, and in particular, if we are located in the Mediterranean Basin, it is much easier to produce organic because there is less incidence of disease,” Iglesias said, adding there were approximately 148,000 ha of dryland organic almonds in 2020, most of them located in the mentioned Basin.

The best scenario for growers is combining dry land and organic when possible, but not all growers are ready to transition, Iglesias said. “For example, it is very difficult to produce organic almonds in irrigated land of Andalucía, Extremadura (Southwest Spain) or central Portugal (Alentejo region).”

Iglesias listed the benefits of dry land:

• Low input and low cost of production

• Reduced pest and disease pressure, so more appropriate for organic production

• No irrigation system or water and pumping costs

• An interesting alternative in a scenario of water scarcity by using a support irrigation system to optimize the tonnage per foot of water

• Positive impact in the environment as CO2 sink compared with annual crops as cereals combined with an increase in the efficiency of inputs use (labor, plant protection, etc.) when small canopies from self-rooted trees are used

• The main benefit would be dry land almonds in optimum climatic/geographic conditions because yields will be almost dependent on rain and convert to organic production.

Over-the-row harvest of third-year self-rooted almond trees in Córdoba and Ciudad Real, Spain (photo courtesy Agromillora.)

Analyzing Dry Land Production

Sebastian Saa, associate director of agricultural research with the Almond Board of California, went to Spain in April to gather information and learn about different production approaches.

“Dry land is an interesting topic that is not easy to analyze, and it should be analyzed very carefully when an investor or a new grower is planning to go that pathway. I would say, the first thing to consider is that it is truly a different game,” Saa said.

Dry land is a game of cost inputs, Saa continued. “It’s a very low-inputcost, low-income-cost model where yields are very low, and the tree depends 100% on the water that is captured in the soil via rains.”

The average yield is 100 pounds per acre, Saa said. “I’ve seen orchards that are located in some specific locations that have 12 inches of rain, and then the trees have some water to produce more fruit, and they can reach up to 600 pounds per acre, but that’s also with very good management,” Saa said, using a low-input/low-return system.

In Spain, the trees are planted at a very low density, 28 to 40 trees per acre. This allows the trees to have enough space to grow a big root system and capture a lot of water, Saa said.

They use self-compatible varieties in Spain, and bees aren’t used because they are cost prohibitive. Trees are planted in more marginal soils, and they plant hard-shell varieties that have less issues with pests, Saa said.

“It’s a different model; very low-in put, low-cost model, and also, of course, lower revenue per acre,” Saa said.

Is this something we can copy and paste in California? Saa says no.

“We have different realities, but we may have some areas, some niches where we could try this.”

The first thing for anybody that is seriously thinking about this is to put together a financial analysis with a technical expert to predict the cash flow and calculate internal rate of re turn, Saa said.

To make dry land almonds pencil out, growers would have to look at ways to eliminate or significantly reduce inputs. “It’s far more expensive to have 100 trees per acre than 28 trees per acre,” Saa said, adding the same with bees; it’s more expensive to have bees and soft-shell variety that are more sensitive to insect damage than a hardshell variety that is self-compatible. Also, land that has no water is more cheaper than land that has access to water.

To raise dry land almonds, grow ers have to move from a high-input/ high-return to low-input/low-return or to a medium-input/medium-return horticultural model, Saa said.

Determining a Profitable Crop

Determining how a crop is profit able may change. It’s not about yield per acre any longer, it’s the yield per foot of water, Gradziel said.

“That’s where we’re going in the future, and in that scenario, definitely looking toward lower water inputs has advantages.

“But again, this whole change may be predicated upon transitioning to an almond or almond-like but flood ing-tolerant rootstock,” Gradziel said.

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

Over-the-row harvest of third-year self-rooted almond trees in Córdoba and Ciudad Real, Spain (photo courtesy M. López.)

Dry land almond trees in California (photo courtesy T. Gradziel.)

We k now how to feed your so il!

IMAGINATION

INNOVATION

Five Steps to a Long-Term Weed Management Program in Your

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

Weeds are in it for the long haul, and growers and farm managers should be, too.

Weed management should be con sidered a multi-year program, accord ing to the UCCE publication Sacra mento Valley Orchard Source. UCCE Specialist Brad Hanson and Almond Board of California intern Andrew Johnson outlined the building blocks for a long-term approach to controlling weeds in tree nut orchards.

Without persistence and investment in weed control, seed banks can in crease and ensure heavy weed pressure continues for years. Uncontrolled growth of large weeds in mature and young tree nut orchards can obstruct spray patterns and hold leaf litter in place that can protect young weed seed lings from herbicide applications.

Weeds in orchards compete with trees for water, nutrients and light. In newly planted orchards, weeds can interfere with growth of young trees. In mature orchards, weeds can interfere with irrigation, harvest and pest control applications.

Orchards rarely have just one weed species present. Annuals, biennials and perennials can all be present in the form of grasses or broadleaf weeds. Time of emergence and seed versus veg etative spread are also considerations in a successful weed control program.

Hanson noted factors that can affect orchard weed control: shading and space capture, irrigation type and tim ing, tillage practices, herbicide options and orchard access.

Managing weeds on field margins and access roads is important. Cleaning equipment between orchards can help prevent spread of weeds.

An integrated weed management program includes cultural control, me chanical control and chemical control, used in a manner that is economically and environmentally sound.

1. Identification

Weed populations change over time. Some species become well known, but new species can move in, making it important to monitor weed popula

tions at least twice a year in the fall to identify summer species that were not controlled and newly emerging winter species. Spring monitoring should be done to spot winter weeds that were not controlled. There is a weed identi fication tool available online at weedid. wisc.edu/ca/weedid.php and at the UC Weed Research and Information Center wric.ucdavis.edu.

2. Timing

Herbicide applications done at the wrong time are a waste of time and money. Weeds are more difficult to con trol once they have reached a certain size or reproductive stage. Materials applied at the wrong time may not be effective if they are not easily translo cated in the plant or are dependent on rain or irrigation water to move into

the soil. Other barriers to an effective herbicide application are tree rows covered with leaf litter and worn-out spray nozzles.

Preemergent herbicides will not be effective if leaf litter and debris cover the soil. Blowing the tree rows

clean will ensure the herbicide hits the intended target. Old or worn spray nozzles should be replaced to be sure materials are evenly distributed.

Factors that affect herbicide choice are registration for the crop, weeds to

‘ ’

When building a weed management program, considerations include herbicide rotations, tank mix combinations and sequential treatments and adding non-chemical controls where possible to control resistant weed populations and minimize risk of herbicide resistance.

be controlled, toxicity and safety to the crop, soil type and texture and cost.

3. Herbicide Resistance

Winning the battle against invasive weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate is a current challenge. As

glyphosate has been the go-to product for postemergence weed control due to its spectrum of effectiveness and price, resistance will require changes in weed control strategy.

Hanson noted that reliance on a single mode of action has led to resistance in both broadleaf and grass weed species. Horseweed and hairy fleabane are two major widespread weed pests in many orchards. Glyphosate-resistant horse weed was found in 2005 in Tulare County. Fresno State University researcher Anil Shrestha noted recently that test populations of hairy fleabane showed cross-resistance to both glyphosate and paraquat.

Hanson recommended when building a weed manage ment program, considerations include herbicide rotations, tank mix combinations and sequential treatments and add ing non-chemical controls where possible to control resistant weed populations and minimize risk of herbicide resistance.

Sequential treatments and tank mixes can broaden the range of weeds controlled and reduce selection for resistant populations.

4. Managing Middles

Hairy fleabane and three-spike goosegrass are two ex amples of weeds that, if allowed to grow in orchard middles to reproductive stage, can be difficult to control later with postemergents. They can also be a continuing source of weed seed in the tree rows.

Managing the weeds growing in the middles is often less

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Hairy fleabane (pictured) and three-spike goosegrass are two examples of weeds that, if allowed to grow in orchard middles to reproductive stage, can be difficult to control later with postemer gents (photo by B. Hanson.)

intensely done than management in the tree rows. Mowing middles several times during the growing season with a follow-up herbicide application prior to harvest works, Hanson said, but if the weeds go to seed, they may be a source of weed seed in the tree rows.

Options to consider for managing weeds in the middles are light tillage, full floor herbicide treatments and cov er crops to compete with weeds.

5. Keep Records

Scouting and clean up operations are necessary throughout the year. Effective weed management is built on data, including weed counts and ratings or just visual assessment of orchards multiple times of the year. Field scouting also is an opportunity to identify and manage problems, includ ing new species or resistance. A quick clean-up with a spot treatment or hand labor can prevent a costly spread of a problem weed.

Hanson notes that integrated weed management is not a “one-and-done” decision but, a flexible program based on what is working in weed control and what is not.

Goals of an integrated weed man agement plan should be to prevent or reduce weed spread, delay or suppress weed growth, prevent or suppress weed seed production and reduce weed seed bank in the soil.

Flaming and livestock grazing are two unconventional methods to con trol weeds in orchards.

Both come with pros and cons. While non-chemical, flaming can be expensive due to high fuel costs. It works best on young broadleaf weeds. There is no residual control and can damage young trees and irrigation systems.

Animals can be used to manage vegetation in some cases, but food safety issues can be a huge roadblock, particularly in tree nut crops that hit the ground at harvest.

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Integrated weed management is not a “oneand-done” decision but, a flexible program based on what is working in weed control and what is not.

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT CONTAINS PROVISIONS FOR AGRICULTURE

By REBECCA SCOTT | J.D., Partner, JWAGronomics, LLC

The Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) was signed into law on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. A sweeping $750 Billion legislation, the Act, despite its name, primarily addresses not Inflation, but climate, funding incentives, pro cesses and projects intended to reduce and mitigate the effects of climate change in myriad ways. The Act also made changes to health care and tax law. Like most federal legislation, this Act is dense (755 pages), so this is more of a report on the highlights, rather than an in-depth analysis.

The IRA directs ~$400 billion to USDA for several ag-related programs, providing funding and support for farmers, ranchers and forestland owners. According to FarmDocDaily/ Illinois, the ag funding is broken down into categories of conservation (45%), rural development (30%), farm loans (14%) and forestry (11%).

Funding Impacting Ag

Climate-Smart Ag

According to USDA, the IRA will provide over $19 Billion toward Cli mate-Smart Agriculture Programs. These funds are designated for ag con servation practices, projects and ease ments that directly improve soil carbon, reduce nitrogen losses or reduce, cap ture, avoid or sequester carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide emissions associated with ag production. These efforts will be incorporated into Nat ural Resources Conservation Services plans for nutrient management.

Methane Reduction

The IRA addresses Methane Reduc tion in two industries, agriculture and petroleum. For ag, appropriation funds are set aside for the Secretary of Ag to prioritize diet & feed management

programs to reduce ruminant methane emissions. The Oil & Gas industry faces both an incentive and a deterrent. The Methane Emissions & Waste Reduction Incentive Program sets aside funding for grants, rebates, contracts and loans for methane mitigation and monitor ing. However, the Act also imposes a charge on excess methane emissions from owners or operators of oil or gas facilities with reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions. This fee starts at $900/ton in 2024, rises to $1,200/ton in 2025, and plateaus at $1,500/ton in 2026 and years thereaf ter. According to the Congressional Research Service, this is the first time the federal government has imposed a charge, fee, or tax on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Inflation Reduction Act will provide over $4.5 billion for Drought Response and Preparedness in drought-devastated areas.

Drought

The Act provides funding for Drought Response and Preparedness in drought-devastated areas. Appropria tions include $550 million for Bureau of Reclamation Domestic Water Supply Projects, $25 million for Canal Im provement Projects, and $4 billion for Drought Mitigation in Reclamation States (including California). The Act specifically calls out prioritizing the Colorado River Basin and “other basins experiencing comparable levels of longterm drought,” so potentially beneficial to not just Imperial Valley growers, but Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley and the Klamath. Funds include compensation for voluntary reduction in use, funding for projects that result in reduction in use, and ecosystem and

habitat restoration to mitigate effects of drought.

Forest Management

Forest Management and Restoration is designated $5 billion. The appropri ations fund projects for both federal and non-federal forestland owners. Included is funding for hazardous fuels reduction, vegetation management, environmental reviews and the pro tection of old growth forests, as well as competitive grants for non-federal forestland owners.

Appropriations are set aside to address National Forest System Resto ration. Funding is included for projects for hazardous fuels reduction, vege tation management, environmental reviews, and protection of old growth.

The Act sets aside funding for Competitive Grants for Non-Federal Forestland Owners. The purpose is to provide cost sharing to carry out climate mitigation and forest resilience

practices.

Rural Development

The Act’s Rural Development and Agri culture Credit appropriates $1 billion in funding for electric loans for renewable energy. These loans will be up to 50% forgivable under certain terms and con ditions. Additional funding is also set aside for the existing Rural Energy for America Program to be used as grants and loans on eligible projects, with an emphasis on underutilized renewable technologies.

Biofuel

Some $500 million is dedicated for Biofuel Infrastructure to expand the commodity-based fuels market. Grants will be provided to increase the sale and use of biofuels through infrastruc ture improvements for blending, stor ing, supplying or distribution. Existing

Back to Your Roots

tax credits for biodiesel, alternative fuel and second-generation biofuel are extended through December 31, 2024.

Electricity

Almost $10 billion has been set aside for the USDA to assist rural electric coops. Financial assistance in the form of loans is targeted to achieve long-term resiliency, reliability and affordability of rural electric systems through the purchase of renewable energy, renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems and carbon capture and storage systems.

Loan Relief

Distressed Borrowers who have loans administered by the Farm Service Agency may apply for Immediate Loan Relief. Targeted Borrowers are those whose ag operations are at financial risk.

Underserved Persons

$125 million has been set aside to provide outreach, mediation, financial training, capacity building training, cooperative development, agricultural credit training and support, and other technical Assistance and Support for Underserved Farmers, Ranchers and Foresters. Targeted recipients include beginning farmers and ranchers as well as military veterans and those living in high-poverty areas. Funding is included to support and supplement ag research, education, extension, schol arships and programs that provide in ternships and pathways to the ag sector and/or Federal employment, including Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Hispanic serving institutions.

Non-Ag Impacts

There are several other IRA impacts not directly tied to agriculture. Medi care has now been granted the ability to negotiate pricing with pharmaceuti cal companies for certain drugs; this is huge and should bring down prescrip tion costs. In addition, out-of-pocket spending on Medicare Part D has been capped at $2,000 annually, and out-ofpocket insulin has been capped at $35 a month for those on Medicare.

Regarding taxes, Congress has added a 15% Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax on Companies Report ing >$1 billion in income and a 1% Stock Buyback Fee (stock contributions to retirement accounts, pensions and ESOPS are excluded.) Appropriations are set aside for the IRS specifically for Taxpayer Systems, IT Upgrades and Additional Auditors. On a positive note, the Act increases the Research & Devel opment Tax Credit Against Payroll Tax for Small Businesses.

Almost 300 pages of the Act con centrate on Clean Energy and Climate. This involves incentives, tax credits and tax deductions for construction, investment, remodeling and manufac turing to reduce carbon emissions and create energy efficiency. Tax credits are offered for clean fuel and clean vehicles, both personal and commer cial. Investment is dedicated to coastal communities, NOAA, National Marine Sanctuaries and National Parks and Public Lands.

Overall, the Inflation Reduction Act is expected to cut net taxes by about $2 billion per year as energy and tax credits approximately balance out the new tax increases. According to Penn Wharton, University of Pennsylvania Budget Model, “Most, but not all, of the tax increases fall on higher-income households.”

The Act is expected to increase Gross Domestic Product and reduce the deficit by ~$300 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Despite its name, the Act is projected to have no significant impact on actually reducing inflation in the near-term, and only modestly reduce inflation over time. Honestly, the Act is much more about climate than it is about inflation.

For further information or clarifica tion, please contact your Tax Attorney, CPA or nearest USDA office.

Rebecca Scott is a licensed attorney in CA, Bar #222233, TX, Bar #24070581, & WA, Bar #30793, a licensed Realtor with London Properties in the San Joaquin Valley, Lic #01973822, and majority partner in JWAGro nomics, LLC, an agronomy consulting firm.

References

Baillie, K.U., Berger, M.W., de Groot, K., Patel D., “Understanding the Infla tion Reduction Act.” August 17, 2022, Penn Today

“Climate Smart Solutions from America’s Farms, Ranches, & Forests.” August 17, 2022. Solutions From the Land.

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ALMOND BOARD, INDUSTRY PARTNERS MARSHAL EFFORTS TO COMBAT INSECTS CAUSING BROWN SPOT

By ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA | Contributing Writer

Brown spot damage caused by plant bugs is on the rise, resulting in higher rejection rates and blemishes on the bottom line for growers. Since 2017, the most severe cases of brown spot accounted for nearly half of the damage experienced by some growers. In extreme instances, kernel deliveries to handlers were rendered as oil stock, where the crop was discarded, and grow ers were left without a return on their months-long investment.

Latest Culprit: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Brown spot can be caused by a variety of true bugs, such as native stink bugs, which use their needle-like mouth to probe through the hull and into the kernel. Across the industry, experts are seeing two types of bugs increasingly responsible for brown spot damage in almonds, one of which is the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB).

“The brown marmorated stink bug is a relative newcomer,” said Jhalendra Rijal, UCCE integrated pest manage ment advisor for Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. “We first saw it in 2017 in only one orchard, and now we’re seeing it more frequently, and in more orchards and more counties.”

BMSBs are approximately 3/4-inch long with brown marmorated, or marbled, shading on their upper body surface. The bug feeds exclusively on the reproductive structure of plants, such as fruit, and in some cases flowers, caus ing significant economic damage to a variety of crops.

The first reported BMSB infesta tion of an almond orchard occurred

near Modesto and has since spread to orchards in the northern San Joaquin Valley, where it has caused the most damage over the past six years.

“It’s established in the majority of counties along Highway 99, from Butte, even Colusa and Glenn counties, all the way down to Fresno County,” Rijal said. “The tricky thing about BMSB is that it can establish in an urban area because it feeds on ornamental trees and we may not see it in a crop at first in many cases.”

Warmer winters in California may be one possible reason for the recent geographic spread and rise of the BMSB population.

“The BMSB adults overwinter in relatively warmer places, using people’s houses or any kind of structure, such as wood or junk piles,” Rijal said. “So, when there is a mild winter, there’s less overwintering mortality, and they might come out early because of the warmer conditions.”

Due to its penchant to overwinter in undisturbed areas, the BMSB invades orchards quickly and in large popula tions.

“BMSB just doesn’t go to the orchard, feed and stay there,” Rijal said. “They come to the orchard, feed and then fly back.”

Within two weeks after emergence in the spring, overwintering adults will mate, with females laying a cluster of around 28 eggs on the underside of leaves. Eggs are light green when first laid, gradually becoming whiteish near and after hatching. A single female BMSB can produce more than 480 eggs in a lifetime.

On the Rise: Leaffooted Bugs

As with the brown marmorated stink bug, higher instances of brown spot caused by the leaffooted bug (LFB) have been reported in recent years. The LFB is about one inch in length, with a nar row brown body and a yellow or white zigzag line across its flattened back.

LFB has also benefited from recent mild winters, allowing a higher percent age of its adult population to survive into the spring, enabling a larger March or early April flight.

“Late in the fall, LFB moves from almond or pistachio orchards to some other hosts, like pomegranates,” Rijal said.” After they feed there, they go somewhere else. It’s not exactly clear where they overwinter, but we do see them in cypress trees and in some bulk, dense trees where they can hide.”

Following their overwintering period, LFB moves into orchards, with females laying strands of usually 10 to 15 eggs, often found on the sides of almond hulls. One LFB adult female can lay more than 200 eggs in the first two months of spring.

Spotting Damage in the Orchard

From March to early May, BMSB and LFB can feed on young nuts before the shell hardens, causing the embryo to abort and drop to the ground.

“We’ve gone into orchards along Interstate 5, west of Fresno, and we sud denly see a tree where all the nuts have dropped off like a shaker shook them off the tree; green,” said Patrick Rome ro, an almond grower and independent PCA. “These are green nuts; I mean they haven’t even started to hiss or crack. I

think this is more common in dry years because the weeds dried down early and the insects need a host plant to live on.”

Growers will see the telltale sign of gummosis on the nut. LFB usually feeds on one or two spots per nut, resulting in thread-like gumming. BMSB feeding results in multiple gumming spots per nut, with glob-like gumming.

Based on field observations by PCAs, UCCE and handler field staff, certain varieties of almonds tend to be more susceptible to damage from BMSB and LFB, including Price, Fritz, Aldrich, Sonora, Monterey and Butte.

After the shell hardens, BMSB (and native stink bugs, mainly green stink bug) can still cause damage to nuts late in the growing season through July. The bug can probe through the hull and shell with its piercing-sucking, nee dle-like mouth, injecting a digestive enzyme upon feeding to liquify plant tissue. This leaves a brown spot on the kernel, damage nearly identical to that caused by the green stink bug.

Brown spot from insect damage should not be confused for hull rot, but Romero says there’s a way to distinguish between the two.

“When the nut begins to crack, it becomes very susceptible to any humid ity and the shell can start to rot in the green hull, which can stain the kernel,” Romero said. “You can tell if you take a knife and cut through that spot. If it’s a deep, recessed brown injury, then it’s an insect. If it’s just superficial, just under

that brown skin of the kernel, then it’s hull rot.”

A Brown Spot on Growers’ Bottom Line

Mel Machado, vice president of member relations at Blue Diamond Growers, has closely monitored the uptick of brown spot damage caused by insects.

“We’re seeing up to 30% of the total rejects caused due to brown spot. So, if

you have 1% to 2% overall rejects, then about a third could be caused by leaf footed bugs or stink bugs and the brown spot they leave. There’s been cases where if a grower didn’t have brown spot, they wouldn’t have had a reject problem. I have been watching this trend grow and it scares me.”

Machado says he has seen some growers lose their entire load due to

BMSB nymphs feeding on green almonds in Hughson, California (photo by Jhalendra Rijal, UCCE.)

brown spot, a huge economic loss.

“There were guys that had 15% to 20% total rejects and it was all brown spot,” Machado said. “My goal is to have growers at 2% or less on reject damage because that’s where the premiums really kick in. If you’re at 15% to 25% damage, that’s a couple thousand dollars of loss per acre.”

Romero echoes Machado’s sentiment, encouraging growers to manage for BMSB and LFB to protect their bottom line.

“If you don’t bring into the proces sor a clean crop, you tend to lose more money than the drop in the price. You’re going to get paid less per pound because you didn’t spend another hundred or two hundred dollars an acre trying to control an insect or a disease.”

Managing for BMSB

A close look at or removal of po tential BMSB overwintering sites, such as structures and woodpiles near to the orchard, help to reduce the BMSB population.

“If you have early season hosts, such as trees of heaven (Ailanthus trees), near the orchard, that tree species most likely supply BMSB to the orchards,” Rijal said. “We have observed this in many orchards where tree of heaven is nearby. It is the most preferred non-crop host of BMSB.”

According to Rijal, growers can use a trap baited with a BMSB aggregation pheromone and pheromone synergist, methyl decatrienoate, to monitor adults and nymphs all season long.

“Fortunately, we have a trap for BMSB, which we don’t have for the rest of stink bugs,” Rijal said. “Several PCAs and growers are using it once they find they have damage.”

However, Rijal notes that a treatment threshold has not been developed for the pest. The recommended best manage ment practice at this time for growers who have BMSB in traps and confirmed visual surveys is consideration of a spring application for control.

“The best insecticide to use in the early season to control BMSB is a broad-spectrum pyrethroid, but these are also the ones that can kill beneficial

insects” Rijal said. “We did some trials earlier this year with some new insec ticides and we’ll have more informa tion about these later in the year.”

Research Ongoing for Improved LFB Monitoring

For LFB, best monitoring protocols are available, but often point out damage after it’s too late to act. A multiyear effort led by UC Riverside Entomology Professor Jocelyn Millar, and funded by the Almond Board of California, has worked to improve the monitoring options for the pest.

“You can take beat samples of the crop canopy to look for adults or nymphs, but we’ve never established any kind of treatment threshold for that practice,” said Houston Wilson, assistant cooperative extension spe cialist in the Department of Entomol ogy at UC Riverside and collaborator on the project. “Identifying gummosis is easier because you can look for the signs of feeding, but it’s an artifact; by the time you see it, the leaffooted bug has already damaged the nuts.”

A passive sampling system for leaf footed bug, like for navel orangeworm, where a pheromone attracts the insect to a trap doesn’t exist (yet).

Over the past five years, Millar and his team have been identifying compounds that make up the leaffooted bug pheromone. Nine compounds were identified, with the last compound iden tified entirely new to science.

Millar noted this new compound was a relatively small part of the overall pheromone composition, but it packed the biggest punch, triggering the stron gest responses from the bugs. Over the last two years, Millar’s team has been able to collect enough material to identi fy the compound and synthesize it.

At the same time as the pheromone work, the team at UC Riverside, and other collaborators such as Cooperative Extension Specialist Kent Daane, began looking at the best trap for the applica tion. They tested multiple styles of traps and colors, ultimately identifying that a hanging cross-vane panel trap coated with a sticky substance, yellow or blue in color, performed the best for trapping leaffooted bug.

With a fully recreated pheromone

Gumming excreted from almond hulls, a sign of plant bug damage.

and an effective trap, the team ran trials in commercial almond, pistachio and pomegranate orchards in the Central Valley. Based on trials, the team con cluded the trap and pheromone were ef fective and will look to the private sector to commercialize the new monitoring system.

The Almond Board encourages grow ers to consult with their trusted PCA to determine monitoring and treatment protocols specific to their operations. More information about best manage ment practices of leaffooted bug and brown marmorated stink bug is avail able at the UC Statewide IPM website at ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/almond.

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Adult LFB feeding on green almonds.