July 2022 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER
Fruit
Drought spurs tech innovation
as growers seek water
Not to be a broken record here, but the most pressing topic from last month's
Editor's Letter - historic droughts and their effect on agriculture and specialty
crops - will continue to be covered here and elsewhere in Fruit Growers News.
Assistant editor Doug Ohlemeier's cover story
on drought conditions looks at the effects of
droughts on California's Central Valley and the
Klamath Basin potato growing region on the
California-Oregon border. As with many areas in
the Western U.S., the lack of water is not a new
issue.
For example, look back two decades at the
Klamath Basin's turn-of-the-century drought.
In April 2001, most irrigation water deliveries
were curtailed to the Klamath Reclamation
Project because of drought and steps to protect
endangered fish.
Growers
News.com
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Rabobank report continues to track inflation
Throughout Rabobank's North American
Agribusiness Review, the company analyzes
the effects of inflation on what consumers
buy at retail and order at restaurants, and
how growers are being affected, with rising
costs of inputs.
A December 2002 report from Oregon State
University's Extension Service (with the weighty title of " Water Allocation in
the Klamath Reclamation Project, 2001: An Assessment of Natural Resource,
Economic, Social and Institutional Issues with a Focus on the Upper Klamath
Basin " ) pretty much sums up where we are now:
" The 2000-2001 drought was neither the Klamath Basin's first nor its last.
Likewise, similar natural resource conflicts face communities across the country.
If sustainable and equitable methods of resource allocation are not found, the
conflicts of 2001 are destined to be repeated in the basin and elsewhere. "
Ohlemeier talks to Don Cameron of Terranova Ranch in Helm, California, which
grows processing tomatoes, peppers, onions, nuts and grain. The lack of water,
Cameron says, makes it difficult to plan and make long-term investments. When
you don't have water to grow a crop any given year, that's a significant problem.
But year after year uncertainty? How can you plan ahead for your business,
your family, your future?
Chris Koger
Managing Editor
Mexican official: U.S. to issue 300K
temporary work visas
The U.S. plans to issue 300,000 temporary
work visas to migrants from Mexico and
Central America, according to a senior
Mexican official.
Cameron and other growers have acted to help recharge groundwater
supplies, diverting winter flood flows to vineyards and fields, a practice now
endorsed by the California Department of Water Resources.
Water conservation successes will depend on a system-wide assessment of
facilities and programs, and a realization that we need to be open-minded when
seeking solutions. To illustrate: a Pacific Institute-led water efficiency project
used remote sensors to detect toilet leaks in low-income housing. The project,
" Advancing Water Efficiency through Leak Detection for Low-Income Housing
in Southern California, " - which I've dubbed " Operation Jiggle the Handle " -
showed that a 183-unit senior housing community near downtown L.A. saved
more than 1 million gallons of water and reduced bills by more than 25% by
using the sensors to alert officials to wasted water.
Down in Imperial Valley, California's desert region, University of California
Extension researchers came up with a novel way to cut water use on sweet
corn crops. Researchers conducted trials in Imperial County and found that drip
irrigation to grow sweet corn can significantly conserve water, lower fertilizer
use and hike crop yields. Ali Montazar, UC-Cooperation Extension irrigation
and water management advisor for Imperial, Riverside and San Diego Counties,
conducted the drip irrigation study over two seasons, in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The six fields with drip irrigation in 2021-22 used an average of 37% less water
then the five fields with furrow irrigation.
With a 25% savings on fertilizer purchases and a slight increase in yield, the
benefits of drip irrigation seems to be a good option to lower water use. The real
hurdle, however, is how much more preparation and expenses are tied to the
laying of the irrigation tape vs. furrow irrigation prep.
Montazar said the success is related to the sandy soil in Imperial County, which
requires more water for furrow irrigation than other soils. He plans to continue
his research next year.
In other California news, tractor companies are questioning a decision by the
state agency regulating workplace safety. California's Division of Occupational
Safety and Health recently rejected a petition for using driverless tractors on
farms. A California labor code from the 1970s blocks widescale approval of
autonomous vehicles. Cal/OSHA members also questioned Monarch Tractors'
failure to include labor advocacy groups during a year-long trial on the safety of
the tractors.
Two other Cal/OSHA board members sided with growers, saying the technology
is being adopted and will advance, regardless of California's adoption.
Proponents of autonomous farm vehicles, and ag tech in general, will be
following this case. And while I agree that farmworker safety must be a part of
any product trial, Cal/OSHA needs to work with companies to ensure that trials
address these issues.
Michigan tart cherry volumes return after
two years
After two years of almost no crops,
Michigan tart cherry producers expect
higher yields in 2022.
APHIS extends comment period on five-year
plan
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving
farmers and other industry stakeholders
another month to comment on a five-year
strategic plan for the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
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July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2022

July 2022 - 1
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