Latest campaign positions walnuts as fresh produce
By Tim Hearden To strengthen its market position, California’s walnut industry is running a campaign this summer to encourage consumers and retailers to think beyond the baking aisle and place walnuts in the fresh produce section, where they can be marketed as a healthy snack or a versatile topping for salads and other dishes. […]
‘Rough’ peach crop caps a bitter season
Cling peaches are harvested at Johl Orchards in Marysville. About a quarter of California’s cling peach acreage was ripped out this year following the collapse of Del Monte Foods. In recent years, Del Monte, which filed for bankruptcy last year, was one of two major buyers of the state’s cling peaches. Photo/Caleb Hampton
A life in motion: Avocado farmer helped revolutionize the modern skateboard
Before becoming a farmer, Larry Balma and his company, Tracker Trucks, in 1975 built the first modern skateboard truck, the T-shaped metal part that connects the wheels to the board and allows riders to steer and control the board’s direction. It set a new standard. Photo/Louise Balma
Finding her second act: Former dancer builds new life with U-pick raspberry farm
After injuries ended her ballet career, Rachel Boring moved to California. She bought a neglected plot of land in Sonoma County and turned it into a U-pick raspberry farm. Photo/Paige Green
Smart sprayers slash farm labor and herbicide costs
R&R Farms in Kern County uses the WeedSeeker 2 from PTx Trimble to apply herbicides only to green plants and not to dead material or soil. An increasing number of farms are using high-tech sprayers to save on labor and chemical costs. Brothers Justin and Joe Ritchie, who grow 1,300 acres of almonds and pistachios at R&R Farms, paid for the unit in herbicide savings in one season. Photo/Courtesy of R&R Farms
Mechanical harvest research bolsters table olive prospects
Tables olives are mechanically harvested at Burreson Farm Orchards in Orland. Researchers are experimenting with an ethylene-like spray that makes it easier to harvest olives with a trunk shaker. Photo/Courtesy Musco Family Olive Co.
Early crop boosts prospects for California pear growers
Employees pack Bartlett pears last week at Stillwater Orchards’ packinghouse in Courtland. California is expected to harvest 91,000 tons of Bartlett pears this year, down 15% from last year. Photo/Caleb Hampton
Growers look to grafted watermelons to battle pests
A work crew transplants grafted watermelons into a field in the San Joaquin Valley. Photo/Vicky Boyd
Regulatory costs put Napa County wine future at risk
Napa County winegrape grower Johnnie White says the regulatory costs of farming in the region have pushed individual farms to a breaking point, threatening the future of agriculture in California. Photo/Fred Greaves
Labor expenses push farmers to automate
Jasvinder Pabla, maintenance manager at Sierra Gold Nurseries in Yuba City, inspects almond rootstock as it comes out of a robotic transplanter this month. The Sutter County nursery, a major supplier of fruit and nut trees, purchased the robotic transplanter last year in response to rising labor costs. Photo/Caleb Hampton