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8 CapitalPress.com July 10, 2015 California Industry says drought will slightly reduce 2015 almond crop Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters By TIM HEARDEN fourth year, said Mike Mason, an almond grower and processor MODESTO, Calif. — Con- who chairs the almond board. tinued stress on trees because of “The California agriculture the ongoing drought will lead to community is certainly hoping a slightly smaller almond crop that the drought abates next win- this year, industry insiders pre- ter, but in the meantime, grow- dict. ers are doing everything within The Almond Board of Cal- their power to conserve water,” ifornia expects this year’s har- he said as the board unveiled its vest to produce 1.8 billion meat crop estimate on July 1. pounds, or about 3 percent less The average nut set per tree than a federal forecast of 1.85 is 5,874, down 12 percent from billion pounds in May and down the 2014 crop, the board report- 3.3 percent from last year’s pro- ed. The Nonpareil average nut duction of 1.867 billion pounds. set is 5,239, down 14 percent The board expects nuts to be from last year, while the average harvested from 890,000 bearing kernel weight for all varieties acres statewide, up slightly from sampled was 1.43 grams, down the historic high of 880,000 1 percent from the 2014 average bearing acres forecast by the weight of 1.45 grams. National Agricultural Statistics In May, NASS forecast the Service last year. bearing acreage for 2015 at 7KLV\HDU¶VHVWLPDWHUHÀHFWV 290,000 acres, resulting in a the continued stress that grow- yield of 2,080 pounds per acre. ers are coping with as a result of The expanding acreage comes the drought, which is now in its despite some growers’ decision Capital Press Courtesy of Almond Board of California Almonds are processed at a packaging plant. This year’s almond crop is expected to be slightly small- er than last year’s, mainly because of drought-related tree stress. to take some older orchards out because of a lack of water, but others are putting in new or- chards because the returns for almonds are lucrative enough that growers can afford to pur- chase water for them, industry professionals have said. Last year’s harvest fell well short of the NASS prediction of a 2.1 billion pound crop as growers encountered smaller kernels and more rejects than normal because of the drought. The agency believed a net gain of 20,000 bearing acres last year would fuel an increase from the 2 billion meat pounds turned out in 2013. However, a few orchards didn’t turn a crop last year be- cause of a lack of water, and near-daily 100-degree heat for a stretch last summer further im- pacted the crop. This year, nuts were ap- parently sizing well with crop development about two weeks ahead of normal, NASS report- ed. But triple-digit temperatures are back this summer; some Central Valley communities saw their afternoon highs average above 98 degrees in June, ac- cording to the National Weather Service. Heat wave accelerates crops, stresses scarce water resources By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press RED BLUFF, Calif. — A heat wave that’s causing crops to develop quickly and putting more pressure on scarce water resources could last through the summer, forecasters say. California’s Central Val- ley and the rest of the West are likely to experience high- er-than-normal temperatures over the next three months, according to the federal Cli- mate Prediction Center. The outlook comes as Red Bluff and other cities have al- ready experienced two weeks of near daily triple-digit highs leading up to the July Fourth weekend, with temperatures here spiking at 113 degrees on June 30. For many growers, rising temperatures mean having to use more water to irrigate, said Kevin Greer, who oper- ates a mobile irrigation van for the Tehama County Re- source Conservation District. “It changes the irrigation schedule,” said Greer, who counsels growers on how to make the most of their water. “The hotter it gets, the more water they have to put on.” In the Red Bluff area, most growers have nut or prune orchards or pasture land and rely on groundwater to sustain them, Greer said. “The shallower wells are where some of the growers are having a little bit of trou- ble,” he said, adding that one grower had to deepen his well IURPWRIHHW³,¶P¿QG- ing a lot of guys are having to call in well drillers and in- crease the depth of their wells dramatically.” At R and K Orchards in Corning, Calif., the heat has caused the peaches, apricots and other fruit to ripen quick- ly, co-owner Karen Mills said. “The heat will cause any- thing that’s close to ripe to drop,” she said. If it gets hot enough, peaches will cook on the tree, Mills said. “That’s only happened to us once,” she said, adding that the fruit had to be discarded. Some varieties of peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots are two to three weeks ahead of schedule, according to the National Agricultural Statis- tics Service in Sacramento. The heat has caused Valencia oranges to re-green, prompt- ing growers to treat them and divert them to domestic mar- kets, the agency reports. The heat is expected to continue through the summer and possibly into October, said Cindy Matthews, a Na- tional Weather Service hy- drologist in Sacramento. 28-2/#6 Tim Hearden/Capital Press $¿HOGQHDU:LOORZV&DOLILVSUHSDUHGIRUULFHSODQWLQJWKLVVSULQJ5LFHDFUHDJHLQ&DOLIRUQLDLVGRZQ considerably this summer because of a lack of available water. &DOLIRUQLD¶V¿HOGFURSDFUHDJHV continue to shrink amid drought to settlement contractors along the river. “There’s kind of a worry that NASS crop acreage report: it’ll decrease their diversions,” SACRAMENTO — A con- http://www.usda.gov/nass/ Mathews said. tinued lack of water availability PUBS/TODAYRPT/acrg0615. 5LFH LV RQH RI VHYHUDO ¿HOG LV FDXVLQJ ¿HOG FURS DFUHDJHV pdf crops in California showing in California to dip even lower sharp acreage declines this year, than expected, government and industry representatives say. California to decrease by 11 per- according to the report. Among Rice acreage in California cent and 9 percent, respectively, others: • Corn acreage in the Gold- is now expected to top out at IURPLWVXSGDWHG¿HOGFURS en State is estimated at 430,000 385,000, a steep drop from the report states. 431,000 acres of rice harvested Nationwide, areas planted acres, down from 520,000 acres last year, according to a USDA to rice in 2015 are estimated at a year ago. Corn planted nation- ¿HOGFURSUHSRUW 2.77 million acres, down 6 per- wide totals 88.9 million acres, The actual acreage may end cent from last year, because of down 2 percent from last year. • California’s 51,000 acres of up being lower, cautions Char- lower price expectations this cotton are down from the 56,000 ley Mathews, a Marysville, Ca- year, according to NASS. lif., grower and member of the Water uncertainties amid a acres harvested in the state last USA Rice Federation’s execu- fourth straight year of drought year. • Growers have planted tive committee. KDYHFRQWLQXHGWRÀXVWHUJURZ- “The industry number we’ve ers, particularly along the Sac- DFUHV RI VXQÀRZHU LQ been using is between 350,000 ramento River in Northern Cal- California this year, down from and 375,000,” Mathews said. “I ifornia. With regulators wanting 44,000 acres last year. The declines come as growers think they (the USDA) started to keep enough water in the river off kind of high.” IRUPLJUDWLQJ¿VKPDQ\JURZ- with limited water have sacrificed Early this spring, farmers ers had to wait for deliveries be- some annual plantings to concen- told the National Agricultural fore they could start planting in trate on perennial crops, such as nut orchards, they have said. Statistics Service they intended late April. For the area survey, NASS Recently, the federal govern- to seed rice on 408,000 acres, or 6 percent below the acre- ment’s need to keep cold water RI¿FLDOVYLVLWHGUDQGRPO\VHOHFW- age seeded in 2014. However, LQ6KDVWD/DNHIRU¿VKKDVIXU- ed tracts of land and interviewed NASS now expects medium- ther complicated the timing and growers in early June, according and short-grain rice acreage in quantity of remaining deliveries to a news release. By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press Online 28-2/#5