Breakdown Requests Do not forget about breakdown requests. The foundation of an effective pest management program is accurate identification of the pest that’s causing the issue. With that in mind, it’s a good practice to request a reject breakdown on at least one delivery tag per orchard to receive detailed information on your delivery advance statement. The breakdown request will identify and list the percentage of damage caused by each type of pest (ants, Navel orangeworm, etc.) or the makeup of foreign material in each sample. Your huller can check the box marked “Rejects” and/or “Foreign Material” to get a clearer picture of the makeup of your sample. A new category for 2024 will be “Beetle” to designate the damage caused by the emerging pest, Carpophilis truncates . Many huller-shellers will routinely mark these on your behalf, but it may be worth sending them a reminder to be sure to mark a breakdown for each of your orchards. Tracking Loads with the Portal As I mentioned in my last article, being connected to the Blue Diamond Portal is essential to having updated information at your disposal. We plan to enable daily email notices of delivery, letting you know your almonds have been received. This new feature will allow you to open the portal to check weights and view grade information once tested. Check your Portal regularly for updates through harvest. Amazingly, this “harvest orchestra” moves along in unison with grower-member, huller-sheller, and Blue Diamond all working hand in hand to yield the best results. Lastly, you should have received your 2024 Crop Delivery Guide at the end of July. This guide contains additional details on these topics and in-depth information to help you make the most of the 2024 almond harvest.
Contact your regional manager to sign a Stockpile Advance Agreement. Then, when the crop has been harvested and stockpiled, your regional manager will work with the huller to calculate the estimated meat weight and document the weights on a Stockpile Description form. For piles located on your farm, measurements will be taken to estimate the meat weight. When the stockpile is picked up and hulled and/or shelled and received, our Grower Information System will determine the full value of the delivery and deduct the amount paid on through the Stockpile Advance Program. No interest is charged on stockpile advances. This program is offered as a service to our grower-members to help them through the critical harvest period. Leverage the Volume Premium A longstanding program that can be a significant benefit to grower-members is Blue Diamond ’s Volume Premium Program. You receive an incentive for delivery in bulk trailers. While most of the almond industry is standardized on 2200-pound wooden boxes delivered by flatbed truck, Blue Diamond is uniquely set up to receive and process bulk trailer deliveries very efficiently. Overall, about 80% of Blue Diamond ’s handle is delivered via bulk trailers. Each bin delivery has five times the processing cost per pound than each pound delivered in a bulk trailer. Just think about the number of steps involved in making a bin delivery. Every bin must be filled, placed on a flatbed truck, tied down, received, truck weighed, untied, each bin moved individually with a forklift, weighed again, dumped at receiving, and have tags entered into our system. Bulk deliveries provide a significant efficiency advantage due to their inherently simple process that requires only a few steps with minimal hands-on labor. If your huller- sheller is set up for bulk deliveries, and your product is not routinely delivered in bulk, it is wise to connect with your huller-sheller or regional manager to see if you may take advantage of the Volume Premium Program. More details regarding the program are listed in the Grower Statement section of your Crop Delivery Guide.
Ben Goudie, Director, Member Relations, Blue Diamond Growers
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JULY–AUGUST 2024
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