Almond harvest is wrapping up in the Sacramento Valley, with a harvest earlier than most can remember.
Some growers began shaking nuts from trees as early as the end of July, said UC Cooperative Extension almond farm adviser Danielle Lightle.
Bloom was great in February, and the weather for growing was mild and kind.
Yet, access to water was more dicey.
No one is complaining. People in Northern California know that farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are struggling through the prolonged drought, Lightle said.
Most orchardists use groundwater for trees, but others have land with access to surface water — except in drought.
Farmers with junior surface water rights, for example, were allocated zero water this year. Some of those could pump groundwater. Others needed to find a surface water transfer, which usually meant buying water from a rice farmer.
The alternative — not having water for trees — is even more costly. Trees might survive with less water, but over time the yield can become permanently decreased. If an orchard tree has a useful life of 20-25 years, (minus 3-4 years to reach maturity) less yield over decades can really add up financially.
Butte County Agricultural Commissioner Richard Price said he knows of several growers with their own wells who struggled to get enough water on trees.
If orchards are near one another, one farmer on a well could be competing for water with another farmer nearby. Price said some farmers coordinated with one another to pump on alternating days.
When water from wells was consistent, most growers had to pump from deeper in the ground, which costs more money for energy. The average well drew from about 12 feet deeper from March to August of this year, according to figures from the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation.
Tehama. Glenn and Colusa counties have all put restrictions on new well permits, Lightle said. Glenn, for example, placed a six-month moratorium on new well permits and is working out details of how repairs to existing wells would be allowed. (Read story here: http://tinyurl.com/nrpwunh)
Everyone is hoping that winter brings an easing to water pressures in California. However, it will take more than one year of average rainfall to bring groundwater levels back to pre-drought levels.
Daniel Robinson, manager of the Gorrill Ranch in Durham, said the almond crop looks to be about normal yield. The one differential he’s noticed is more pressure from pests.
Price, who will be retiring this month after 27 years as the county’s ag commissioner, said this is the earliest almond harvest he has seen.
Walnuts in the wing
Walnuts will be harvested near the end of this month, if all goes well.
The early rains of autumn help walnut trees naturally shed the nuts.
Most growers also apply ethephon, a growth regulator that helps hull split be more uniform in the orchard. The hope is that the nut can be harvested with one shaking of the trees. Sometimes it takes a grower two passes with the shakers, which translates into twice the labor for the job.
Also, harvesting the nuts a little earlier keeps the kernel color light, which is more attractive to consumers.
The ethephon itself isn’t all that expensive, Robinson said. The cost is in the labor. The material can be sprayed from the ground, but the cost goes up for larger trees when a helicopter is needed to reach into the 30-foot-high branches.
Robinson said there’s some interest in trying a growth regulator for pecans, but as of yet it is not used in the industry. Pecans are harvested the first week of November until the end of January
The trees need the cold weather for the nuts to separate from the tree, Robinson said.
Rice is next
Water is already being drained from rice fields, which means the plants will dry out and turn a tawny color. Robinson said his rice harvest is due to being in mid-September.
Agricultural Commissioner Price said some of the earliest varieties of rice are already being harvested near Richvale.
Contact reporter Heather Hacking at 896-7758.
