Growers required to have a Conservation Management Practice (CMP) plan in the San Joaquin Valley for dust reduction have received some favorable news. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) announced an update to their list of approved practices to reduce dust emissions, now including the use of low-dust harvesters. The SJVAPCD Conservation Management Practices, Rule 4550, was adopted in 2004. The purpose of the program is to reduce dust emissions, both PM10 and PM2.5, from agricultural sites. Growers with 100 acres or more in the district must provide a CMP plan, choo ..read more

Pistachio acreage in California has been steadily increasing in recent years. A recent report by the Administrative Committee for Pistachios puts the bearing acreage of pistachio in California at about 461,000 acres, and the non-bearing acreage at about 144,000 acres. The average acreage for new yearly plantings for the last five years is about 29,000 acres. Much of the new plantings are in areas in the southern San Joaquin Valley that have moderate to high salinity. Generally, young pistachio trees are those that of non-bearing age. In California, pistachio is usually planted at row spacings ..read more

Did we get enough chill over the winter? What are yields going to look like this fall? One relatively new area of research, carbohydrate dynamics, is shedding light that may help answer these questions. Recent years of research by the Zwieniecki lab (the Z Lab) at UC Davis, including the Carbohydrate Observatory, have been providing exciting new insights to better explain how pistachios may be counting winter chill, when budbreak occurs, and how much pistachios will yield in a given year. While many areas remain to be investigated, this research is starting to provide insight into how managem ..read more

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has announced $2.6 million in grant funding awarded to eight projects that advance the adoption of safer, more sustainable pest management. The department awarded $1.72 million in Research Grants to fund projects that advance integrated pest management (IPM) knowledge, tools and practices. DPR additionally awarded $942,000 in Alliance Grants to fund projects that promote or increase sustainable pest management though the implementation, expansion and adoption of effective, proven and affordable IPM systems or practices. Over the past 20 y ..read more

Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative opened enrollment for the inaugural year of the USDA climate-smart partnerships incentive to plant Oakville bluegrass, a summer-dormant perennial cover crop. Because Oakville bluegrass is dormant from April through September, it doesn’t compete with cash crops for water or nutrients making it ideal for California permanent crops. Planted on over 900 acres of vineyards and tree nut orchards, this low growing, drought tolerant cover crop will last over ten years when well managed, significantly reducing labor and input costs for growers. When well managed, this low ..read more

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Vietnam has granted market access for California peaches and nectarine effective immediately. Eliminating the phytosanitary barriers keeping California peaches and nectarines out of the Vietnamese market required multiple rounds of technical negotiations over the course of several years. “This market access is a big win for California’s nectarine and peach producers,” said USDA’s Jenny Lester Moffitt, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. “Our APHIS trade team members have worked diligently to make this ope ..read more

The California table olive industry commends today’s 4-0 vote by the International Trade Commission (ITC) affirming that the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders first imposed on Spanish ripe olives in 2018 must remain in place. The ITC’s determination was based on its findings that a revocation of the olive AD/CVD orders is reasonably likely to lead to a continuation or recurrence of material injury to the California ripe olive industry. The ITC’s unanimous vote in favor of the California industry follows companion determinations issued by the Department of Commerce ..read more

The top 3 championship pizzaiolos in the Traditional American Division at the 2024 Trofeo Caputo, aka the Caputo Cup, shared a strong California connection: all three chefs used California-made Mozzarella in their winning pizzas. The overall American Division winner, Siler Chapman, is a co-owner with his wife Amber of King of Fire in Fort Mill, SC. Lars Smith, owner of State of Mind Public House & Pizzeria in Los Altos, Calif., earned second place, and Leah Scurto of PizzaLeah in Windsor, Calif., came in third. Scurto, who was sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) for winn ..read more

Cow’s milk cheese and dairy processors that use the Real California Milk seal brought home 31 awards during the 2024 annual cheese competition held by the American Cheese Society (ACS) in Buffalo, New York. The American Cheese Society recognizes the finest cheeses and dairy products made in the Americas. A total of 1,596 cheese and cultured dairy products were entered into the competition. Cheeses made with California cow’s milk had a strong showing this year in a field of 142 organizations representing North America. California cheesemakers won a total of 53 awards – with Real Calif ..read more

California is the nation’s primary producer of many specialty crops, and table olives is among those choice commodities. Todd Sanders from the Olive Growers Council of California visited with Matthew Malcolm on California Ag Network to provide an update on the developing 2024 olive crop as well as emphasizing the need for the U.S. to continue protecting the industry from foreign imports with an anti-dumping tariff. Watch this brief interview and read more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine. Please thank this video’s sponsor Southern California Gas Company for their industr ..read more