BIG PUMPKINS, BIG BUSINESS: RECORD-SETTING MEGA-SQUASHES
Page 2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 43
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
THE NUT
BOOM
California’s cyclical
almond, walnut and
pistachio industries keep
growing despite price lull
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Courtesy of American Pistachio Growers
Pistachios are harvested in an orchard in Fresno County, Calif. This year’s pistachio crop has bounced back after unfavorable
weather during last year’s blossom led to an inordinate number of “blanks”, or empty shells, during the 2015 harvest.
$5
$2.84: Down
29% from 2014
U.S. tree nut prices
4
(Dollars per pound)
*Estimate
Almonds
Walnuts
Pistachios
3
$2.48: Down
30.5% from 2013
2
$1.01
$0.97
1
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Howard walnuts are swept up during harvest in an
orchard owned by Lindauer Farm Management near
Los Molinos, Calif. A big walnut crop was expected this
year as the industry continued efforts to boost domes-
tic demand for the nuts.
0
$1.62: Down 56.2% from 2013
$0.62
2000
’05
Source: USDA NASS
’10
2015*
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
If there’s a ceiling on how many nuts California
can produce and still maintain profi tability, growers
remain convinced they haven’t yet reached it.
L
OS MOLINOS, Calif. — For nearly a de-
cade, the sky has been the limit for Cali-
fornia tree nut growers.
As growing demand pushed prices up-
ward, the number of acres devoted to al-
monds, walnuts and pistachios rocketed, leading
to record production and billions of dollars of
profi ts for growers, processors and exporters.
Until last year.
A price slide in the midst of last season’s
record walnut harvest marked the fi rst signs
of vulnerability. Prices dropped from an av-
erage of $1.85 a pound in 2013 to about 81
cents last year, according to the National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service.
Meanwhile, almond prices have fallen by 30 per-
cent in the past year, from an average of $4 a pound
in 2013 to $2.84 in 2015.
At the same time, the initial prices quoted to pis-
tachio growers are about half the average of $3.57 a
pound they received in 2014.
The sobering news accompanies record harvests
for all three nut crops.
But third-generation walnut grower Bruce
Lindauer isn’t worried about his farm’s long-term vi-
ability. He has seen plenty of ups and downs.
“I’m in it for the long haul,” said the own-
er of Lindauer Farm Management Inc. “If you’re
a smart grower, when it’s over $2 a pound you
sock some away, and when it’s like this you stop
spending.”
Turn to NUTS, Page 12
Presidential campaigns differ on government’s helpfulness
Surrogates field farm questions
By DON JENKINS
A farm forum in Wash-
ington, D.C., featuring surro-
gates for presidential hopefuls
Hillary Clinton and Donald
ELECTION 2016
Trump Wednesday highlight-
ed the campaigns’ differing
views on promoting a healthy
agricultural economy.
Trump’s
campaign
co-chairman Sam Clovis said
federal agencies need to be
restrained, particularly in the
West. He said the new Waters
of the U.S rule “may be the
poster child of overreach.”
Clinton supporter Kath-
leen Merrigan, former dep-
uty agriculture secretary in
the Obama administration,
said government needs to
communicate better. She said
concerns about WOTUS are
overblown. “In most cases,
these are worries that are bo-
Owyhee Reservoir
irrigators fi nally
get full allotment
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Courtesy of Zachary Moskow, wikipedia.org; www.donaldjtrump.com
Clinton, left, at an event in Philadelphia on April 20. Trump at a rally
in Pella, Iowa, on Jan. 23.
geyman worries,” she said
On the morning of the
third and fi nal Clinton-Trump
debate, the Farm Foundation
hosted a two-hour session at
the National Press Club fea-
turing Clovis, an economics
professor at Morningside Col-
lege in Iowa, and Merrigan,
director of sustainability at
George Washington Univer-
sity.
Clovis repeatedly turned
to regulations during his
opening remarks and a ques-
tion-and-answer session that
followed.
Turn to ELECTION,
Page 12
“If you’re
a smart
grower,
when it’s
over $2 a
pound you
sock some
away, and
when it’s
like this
you stop
spending.”
ONTARIO, Ore. — A
full water allotment for the
fi st time in four years has
made a huge difference for
farmers in Oregon and Idaho
who depend on the Owyhee
Reservoir to irrigate their
crops.
They received only a
third of their full 4 acre-foot
allotment in 2014 and 2015
and as a result drastically al-
tered their crop rotations and
left a lot of ground fallow to
save what water they did
receive for their onions, the
area’s main cash crop.
The reservoir provides
irrigation water for 1,800
farms and 118,000 acres of
ground in Eastern Oregon
and part of southwestern
Idaho.
“It meant a lot to have
a full allotment this year,”
said Owyhee Irrigation Dis-
trict Manager Jay Cham-
berlin. “It was good to see
growers get back to more
normal planting.”
During the drought years,
when water was sparse, a lot
of farmers moved their on-
ion acres to areas where they
had access to well water or
Turn to WATER, Page 12
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Capital Press
Bruce
Lindauer