Recently in Agriculture Category
National Young Farmers and Ranchers conference in Baltimore. During the opening session, an economist from Washington, D.C., said, "I never thought I would say this, but agriculture is a shining star in our slowing economy."
Commodity prices for a lot of products are up but that is not the only change on agriculture's horizon. Public perception and interest in the food supply is changing, too. Being a grower myself, I have noticed the variety of labels on food I see in the stores. There is organic, all natural, certified clean, free range, grass fed and carbon free. But I think the most important label of all is that it's California grown.
California farmers and ranchers grow, pack and ship some of the safest and best-quality products in the world. Many times we take this for granted because we can go to just about any store in California and have an abundance of beautiful produce to choose from. People living in other states or countries don't enjoy this same selection.
Consumers are becoming more educated on where their food comes from and how it is produced. They are concerned with food safety and as growers we need to be prepared to assure them that the product they are getting is the best in the world.
Consumers are not the only ones changing. Farmers and ranchers are changing, too. Many are beginning to understand the importance of telling their story and making sure their voice is heard on local and statewide issues affecting their farms and ranchers.
In a recent informal survey of young farmers and ranchers ages 18-35, conducted by the American Farm Bureau, 75 percent said state and local issues like property taxes concern them more than federal issues.
The same survey showed the vast majority--83 percent--of young farmers and ranchers are more optimistic about farming than they were five years ago. This is up from only 61 percent in 2003.
As consumers are showing more interest in the origin of their food,
farmers and ranchers are doing even more to continue their role as
stewards of the land. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said they
practice conservation tillage and 49 percent rotate three or more
crops. Forty-percent said they use soil and tissue analysis and 36
percent use integrated pest management practices.
SOURCE: California Farm Bureau
University of California researchers have studied the effects of irrigation on almonds for about 20 years. It has generally been thought that about 42 inches per acre per season is a reasonable estimate of water use by mature, productive almonds.
Seasonal water use follows a bell-shaped curve. Under this 42-inch model, water use starts out low after leafout at about 1.0 inch every 15 days, peaks at about 4.5 inches every 15 days in the first half of July, and declines back to about 1.0 inch every 15 days as the season ends.
In some situations, growers may have much less than 42 inches of water available from stored soil moisture and irrigation water. The challenge becomes managing crop stress over the course of the season.
One relatively effective approach that doesn't rely heavily on field monitoring is to attempt to sustain crop stress uniformly across all stages of tree growth and crop development by using estimates of crop water use. The limited water allocation is applied as a consistent percentage of the seasonal water use pattern. If 24 inches of irrigation water are available, representing about 60 percent of the potential water use, then the irrigation water would be allocated at about 60 percent of real-time or historic rates of crop water use over the course of the season.
UC water management specialist David Goldhamer of the Kearney
Agricultural Center published results of a four-year study illustrating
the effectiveness of the above approach.
Almonds were produced with 55, 70, 85 and 100 percent of a 42-inch water allocation.
Water was either cut back as a consistent percentage of estimated crop water use to try to sustain less pronounced crop stress across all stages of crop growth, or cutbacks targeted only pre-harvest, or post-harvest crop stages for higher crop stress.
The effect of limited water supply was minimized with uniform
allocation of water across all crop stages. However, productivity was
reduced particularly with 55 percent and 70 percent allocations.
- The uniform crop stress strategy gave both the highest four-year yields, and the largest average nut size within each water allocation.
- Sharp cut backs before harvest resulted in the second highest yields, but reduced nut size.
- Sharply withholding water after harvest affected bud development and reduced yield the next season.
UC Davis professor Ken Shackel was able to get by with a water allocation of about 85 percent of full supply with no short-term yield loss or effect on nut size by using a pressure chamber to actually track midday crop stress and keeping it within the -12 to -20 bar range in July during hull split.
For more information on on water management refer to UCManageDrought.ucdavis.edu.
