MEMBERSHIP BASICS
Three Things to Evaluate After Harvest As the dust settles on the 2024 harvest, I want to suggest you review three areas that will help you produce a successful crop next year. I’m sure you have taken a preliminary look at your Delivery Advance statements to see what grades you had on each lot. This harvest has been swift and quite the whirlwind, so it’s good to get fully organized and do a full review after all the information comes in. One of my favorite principles is to “Begin with the end in mind” made famous by Stephen Covey. As it relates to harvest, evaluating what happened in 2024 is the best way to begin the next crop cycle to ensure you successfully produce a strong, quality crop, and receive the best results, come this time next year.
Verify the accuracy of the acreage you have listed in the Portal. This is what we use to calculate the yield figures under the “Production” tab. If you don’t use the Portal, ask your regional manager to provide you with a copy of your “Exhibit to Crop Agency Agreement” which lists all your acreage details. If something looks incorrect, let your regional manager know and they will do an acreage update to reflect the accurate information on your account. Review your grade information to identify any outliers. You may see that most of your grades were in a relatively tight range, say, 1-2% rejects, but one load shows a significantly higher value. This could be an end-run lot that could have lower quality than the bulk of your product. In the case of box deliveries, end-runs are typically smaller, weighing just a few hundred pounds. End-runs also typically have higher foreign material and reject values as these problems can accumulate during the sheller run and wind up in the last box. However, if the delivery is not an end- run, and its values do not align with the rest of your deliveries from that orchard it may be worth requesting a retest for further evaluation. Samples are taken at the time of receipt according to a strict protocol, but sometimes, due to field variation, pockets of higher-than-average insect damage or foreign material can occur. At our Sacramento Test Room, the samples are divided, with one-half of the sample stored in a reference library for use in the event a retest is requested. The reference samples are retained for at least 60 days. The process of requesting a retest starts with a call to your regional manager. You may also want to consult your huller to get their opinion on the delivery. Huller operators typically maintain notes on each delivery and may be able to shed some light on the situation. Your regional manager will advise you on the retest process as there is a possibility of negative financial impact if the grade deteriorates in the retest process .
Begin with the end in mind. — Stephen Covey
Get Your Records Straight! Sit down at your desk and either pull out all your statements and final summary statement that you received through harvest or open the Blue Diamond Portal on your computer and review all your information together. On the Portal, you can look primarily at the “Deliveries” or “Production” tabs on the home page for a great overview. There are also several reports available to help you view the data in different aspects. If you are a grower with a single orchard, this is a straightforward process and takes little time. If you have multiple Blue Diamond accounts and subcontracts, this review is essential! Double check your statement weights between subcontracts. Does one subcontract look light and another look heavy ? It is possible that a delivery arrived under the wrong subcontract. If that’s the case, we can move delivery lots to the correct subcontract though a “Delivery Transfer.”
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ALMOND FACTS
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