December 30, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Rabobank: Dairies need to prepare for stricter regulation
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Looming
regulations
aimed at mitigating surface
and ground water contami-
nation and greenhouse gas
emissions, as well as reduc-
ing water withdrawals, will
require significant changes on
California’s dairy farms.
Dairies that invest in new
technology and enhanced
management strategies will be
better positioned to succeed in
the stricter regulatory climate,
according to a new report by
Rabobank’s agribusiness re-
search and advisory team.
The state’s dairies are
facing a lot of regulations
that will come to fruition in
the next 10 to 15 years, said
James Williamson, an analyst
with Rabobank.
Dairies will have to make
Tim Hearden/Capital Press File
Cows are milked at VanderWoude Dairy near Merced, Calif. Ra-
bobank says California dairymen must begin planning now for new
environmental regulations.
changes to continue operat-
ing, and it’ll take significant
capital expenditures, he said.
“The important thing to
note is they have time before
these regulations are imple-
mented,” he said.
Dairies have time to pre-
pare and need to explore
options and develop a com-
prehensive system that is en-
vironmentally and economi-
cally sustainable, according to
the report — “Digesting Envi-
ronmental Policy: California
Dairies are Swimming in It.”
“By researching and plan-
ning now, California dairy
owners can consider capital
investments in solutions like
subsurface drip irrigation for
forage and croplands, anaer-
obic digesters that convert
methane into energy and other
options currently being ex-
plored,” he said.
Digesters are costly —
$1,000 to $2,000 per cow —
and there are maintenance
costs. But the costs could be
offset by the electricity pro-
duced. In some cases, digest-
ers have completely offset
electricity costs in the milking
parlor, he said.
There is also potential rev-
enue of $75 to $500 per cow
per year, depending on the
style of digester, from selling
excess electricity to the grid
or byproducts, such as soil
amendments or organic fertil-
izer, he said.
For dairies to really be
profitable at a level that off-
sets their electricity needs
or produces excess electrici-
ty, they need to have at least
1,000 cows, he said.
While not every dairy is
going to be able to afford a
digester, there are less costly
options. The state is exploring
the potential for community
cell digesters and trucking
manure to those digesters.
Dairies could also band to-
gether to install a digester and
collect their manure at a cen-
tral location.
“It’s a cost-effective way,
especially for smaller dairies,
to reduce cost and methane
emissions,” he said.
Other options to reduce
methane emissions include
manure separation and com-
posting, he said.
Williamson said the dairy
producers he’s talked with
are a bit overwhelmed about
managing all the regulations
that will be put in place, the
expensive and the increase in
their cost of production.
At the same time, some
dairymen are already doing
some of the things that will be
needed, said Vernon Crowder,
a senior analyst with the bank.
“So while it’s a bit over-
whelming and people would
like to see the technology
proven a little more, there are
already dairies moving for-
ward,” he said.
“The biggest takeaway
is that every dairy is going
to have to make a change,
but every dairy is not going
to have to make the same
change,” Williamson said.
WSU may soon hire tree
fruit soil endowed chair
By DAN WHEAT
Growers: Oil olive yields
lighter but quality good
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Olive
oil producers in California are
wrapping up their harvest of
a lighter crop than last year’s
but report good quality and
oil content in the fruit.
The California Olive Oil
Council estimates this year’s
extra-virgin olive oil produc-
tion at 3.5 million gallons,
down from last year’s bumper
crop of 4 million gallons but
well above the 2.4 million
gallons produced in 2014.
“To some extent, olive
trees are alternate bearing,”
said Patricia Darrah, the
Berkeley-based
council’s
executive director. “So even
though things are looking
super-healthy, we had a little
bit of a downturn. We expect
next year ... to be well over
the 4 million mark of last
year’s harvest.”
This year’s production
was helped by the oil con-
tent, which can vary by year,
amount of fruit on the tree
and variety, according to the
University of California Co-
operative Extension.
“I think they are quite hap-
py,” Darragh said of produc-
ers. “Although the volume
was down a bit, the oil con-
tent was quite good and qual-
ity appears to be very good
this year.”
More than 35,000 acres of
oil olives are grown in Cali-
fornia, according to the coun-
cil. About 3,500 acres of new
orchards are expected to go in
this winter, Darragh said.
The harvest of oil olives
proceeded as table olive
growers were producing an
anticipated 65,000-ton crop,
down from the 78,000 tons
produced in 2015, according
to the National Agricultural
Statistics Service office in
Sacramento.
Oil olives have become a
lucrative crop for growers as
the Golden State is becoming
known for having top-quality
extra-virgin oil.
California now provides
nearly 6 percent of the olive
oil consumed in the U.S.,
up from just 1 percent a few
years ago, according to the
COOC. The state is on track
to see a sizable increase in
market share again next year,
the organization said.
Helping that effort is a
$357,000 grant the council
received from the Califor-
nia Department of Food and
Agriculture in October. The
money was part of more
than $22.3 million for Cal-
ifornia in the USDA’s Spe-
cialty Crop Block Grant
Program.
The grant will enable the
council, which represents
more than 400 growers, to
promote California olive oil
by creating marketing mate-
rials and hosting food shows,
growers’ workshops and oth-
er events, according to the
CDFA.
“We’re going to be work-
ing with a number of partners
on this including California
Grown,” a state-sponsored
marketing program, Darragh
said.
The council’s hallmark is
its 18-year-old certification
seal program, which aims to
assure retailers and consum-
ers that the oil being sold has
met certain grade standards.
Each year, grower and pro-
ducer members must submit
their oils to the program for
grading.
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
An expert in soil and rhizo-
sphere ecology may be hired
as the next tree fruit endowed
chair at Washington State Uni-
versity within a few months.
The candidate is employed
in an academic setting in the
U.S. but was not looking for
a job, so is being recruited,
said Mike Willett, manager
of the Washington Tree Fruit
Research Commission in
Wenatchee. He declined to
identify the candidate.
“We have to convince
them to come. It is an individ-
ual industry members on the
committee think would make
a great hire for the university
and industry,” Willett said.
He was referring to the
WSU Tree Fruit Endowment
Advisory Committee, which
advises WSU on all facets of
a $32 million endowment the
industry is providing to im-
prove tree fruit research.
Endowed chair salaries
are paid by the university
but interest earnings on the
endowment pay for support
staff, equipment and research
orchards.
In 2011 and 2013, grow-
ers approved assessments of
$1 per ton on apples, pears
and stone fruit and $4 per ton
on cherries for eight years or
until $32 million is raised.
Willett said annual crops have
been larger than original con-
servative estimates so funding
probably will completed be-
fore eight years.
Rhizosphere is the region
of soil in which the chemis-
try and microbiology of plant
roots is influenced by growth,
respiration and nutrient ex-
change. The importance of
good soil for growing tree fruit
has received more attention in
recent years and the committee
identified it as a category wor-
thy of endowed chair status.
A search committee is writ-
ing a position description for a
postharvest tree fruit endowed
chair and for which there
should be candidates by sum-
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Red d’Anjou pears at Arnold Orchard near Dryden, Wash. Washington tree fruit growers pay assess-
ments to fund an endowment that pays for tree fruit research.
mer, Willett said.
“We’re always trying to at-
tract people whom we really
want, not just those who are
looking,” he said.
That is because the industry
and WSU goal is to make WSU
one of the top three tree fruit re-
search institutions in the world.
The two new endowed chair
positions will be at the WSU
Tree Fruit Research and Exten-
sion Center in Wenatchee or the
WSU Irrigated Agriculture Re-
search and Extension Center in
Prosser.
Desmond Layne, a Clem-
son University fruit specialist,
was the first person hired to
one of the new endowed chair-
manships, becoming WSU tree
fruit extension program leader
on Feb. 1, 2013. That August,
Stefano Musacchi, an assistant
professor in tree fruit at the
University of Bologna, Italy,
became WSU endowed chair in
tree fruit physiology and man-
agement. Both positions were
in Wenatchee.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Mike Willett, manager, Washington Tree Fruit Research Commis-
sion in Wenatchee.
Layne left his position to
become WSU director of Ag-
ricultural and Food Systems
and Integrated Plant Sciences
degree programs in Pullman
ROP-40-42-4/#17
Olive oil is tested during processing at ENZO Olive Oil in Madera,
Calif. Growers report a down year for oil olives but say the quality
and oil yield were good.
Capital Press
53-1/#5
Courtesy of Calif. Olive Oil Council
on Sept. 1, 2015. Karen Lew-
is, WSU tree fruit specialist in
Ephrata, took part of Layne’s
previous role, becoming tree
fruit extension program leader.
That position may be reacti-
vated some day as an endowed
chair, Willett said.
Crop protection, engineer-
ing and automation and molec-
ular biology are subject matter
of consideration for three final
endowed chairs with searches
tentatively scheduled for fiscal
years 2017-18, 2018-19 and
2019-20. Willett said those ar-
eas are not final and that the
committee would like to hear
new ideas.
Each of the six endowed
chairs eventually will be sup-
ported by $2 million endow-
ments.
Endowment
investment
earnings were used in August
to hire Rob Blakey, a post-
harvest physiologist, as an
extension faculty member at
Prosser. A food safety position
is open and five other exten-
sion-type positions are being
considered, Willett said.