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LinkedInPosts Tagged: export
California farmers rely on overseas markets to survive
“The overseas market is extremely important,” said Jesús Ramos, a Tulare County citrus farmer. “That dictates whether you can keep a crop going or not.”
Another key to keeping crops going is the state's water situation. After four years of drought, Californians are hoping the predicted El Niño rains will live up to the forecast.
Wee interviewed UC Agriculture and Natural Resources alfalfa expert Daniel Putnam, a UC ANR Cooperative Extension specialist based at UC Davis. He said U.S. alfalfa hay exports to Asia and the Middle East have climbed in recent years. China's imports have risen from almost nothing in the mid-2000s to roughly 1 million metric tons forecast for 2015.
A University of Arizona water resource expert, Robert Glennon, told the reporter he was surprised to learn that 2 million tons of Western alfalfa hay, which required 100 billion gallons of water to produce, was shipped overseas.
“When I found out we were shipping bales of hay across the world, you could have knocked me over with a feather,” Glennon said.
One of the export drivers is cheap shipping to Asia in containers that might otherwise make the return trip across the Pacific Ocean unfilled. Putnam estimates shipping hay from the Imperial Valley to Tulare County can run $60 to $70 per ton. But transporting the hay from Long Beach to a port in Asia costs $25 to $45 a ton.
Agriculture is Kern County's second highest export
Almonds, cotton, cherries and fresh vegetables account for the bulk of the region's agricultural exports, said Brian Marsh, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Kern County, an agronomy and cotton expert.
It helps that the area's harvest for key crops, such as cherries, begins earlier than in other markets, so the local ag sector gets a jump-start with buyers, he said.
Minimal pruning boosts walnuts
Tim Hearden, Capital Press
Researchers affirm it may not be necessary to cut back young walnut trees as much as many farmers typically do.
In an orchard near Arbuckle, Calif., University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisors are finding that trees that are minimally pruned have so far yielded the best tonnage per acre.
"The lowest yield is the heavily pruned one," farm advisor Carolyn DeBuse told nearly 100 growers during a workshop March 6. "The other three treatments were not a significant difference, but the largest yield is the minimal-pruning low-vigor (method)."
Supervisor training offered in Modesto
Lake County Record-Bee
UC Cooperative Extension advisor Gregorio Billikopf is offering a four-day farm supervisor training in Spanish March 16 at the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center in Modesto.
According to Billikopf, a personnel management expert, topics that will be covered include employee discipline, including how to deal with the most difficult subordinate behaviors; interpersonal negotiation skills and the importance of praise in day-to-day communications.
Those who attend will participate in numerous role-plays and receive individualized attention and evaluation.
