IN YOUR ORCHARD
TIME TO CONSIDER
In 2017 a lot happened in our country. Former President Trump was inaugurated, Taylor Swift came out with a new album, and California faced one of the worst wildfire seasons on record. These facts are all important to different types of people, but one other event happened in 2017 that has remained on the minds of almond growers. 2017 was one of the worst years for rejects that California almond growers had ever experienced. If you’ve heard Mel Machado, Vice President of Member Relations, speak on the topic you may have heard him refer to 2017 as “The Wreck.” If 2017 is known as “The Wreck”, then we may want to start referring to 2023 as “The Disaster.” The 2023 almond harvest is showing reject levels above those from 2017 and leaving many growers with a bad taste in their mouth when looking at their statements. Let’s talk about the significance of the damage, what may have caused it, and what we can do to prevent another year like this. 2023 has been a bad year for rejects, but just how bad is it ? Since we haven’t received all the 2023 product yet, all these numbers are still subject to change, but let’s start by looking at Nonpareil. So far in 2023, 64% of deliveries have been given the standard grade (S1) on the grower statements. The average reject percentage of those S1 deliveries is 4.93%! Compare that to “The Wreck” of 2017, where 34% of Nonpareil deliveries were given the S1 grade, and the average reject percentage was 4.16%. That is an 18% increase in rejects from what is considered a “bad reject” year. This number looks even worse when compared to last year, where the average rejects of Nonpareil S1 deliveries was 3.1%. That is a 59% increase from last year! Currently, pollinator conditions are not looking any better, but we simply don’t have enough data to make any assumptions yet. I know there were a lot of percentages above, here’s the gist: this year was bad, just plain bad.
We know 2023 has been a bad year, but what caused it ? Navel Orangeworm (NOW) is still the biggest issue in the almond industry. This isn’t news to any grower, but why was NOW so bad this year ? There may be a few factors. First, a lack of winter sanitation. The amount of rain that California received during the dormant season made it incredibly difficult to complete winter shaking, so we started off with a high overwintering population. Second, a prolonged bloom period. A prolonged bloom period leads to a prolonged hull split later in the year. Prolonged hull split makes it difficult to properly time a hull split application. Third is economics. As growers, you know all too well how the costs of materials have increased, and the almond market is not currently in a place to offset those costs. Growers may have needed to
Figure 1 NOW Moths on Inshell Delivery. Photo credit: Christine Ivory
“cut back” out of necessity because of these economic conditions. Finally, we are seeing an unprecedented number of abandoned or unharvested orchards. These orchards are breeding grounds for NOW, and since NOW moths are excellent flyers, they can reach well-managed orchards two miles away. NOW is not the only the issue, as Leaf-footed Plantbugs and Stinkbugs are still an issue in many almond orchards. The amount of damage may look like it has decreased, but it actually has not.
48
ALMOND FACTS
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker