Winter 2021 - 22

ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
The spacing and height of trees
allows for precision agriculture
practices and mechanization.
Image: Agromillora
entire system is built around only delivering the amount of
water and fertilizer required for the ultimate performance of
the hedge in that line, and nothing more, " said Beumel.
The shallow root system is purposeful - even in the high
heat of summer in the southern San Joaquin Valley, the trees'
roots don't need to search for and mine the stored water out
of the soil. And Beumel is okay with that. There's a lot of
waste in that water, he said, and the standard almond tree
doesn't use a lot of the water actually applied.
" It's old ag, " he said.
For growers who may face the fallowing of their land in
the wake of SGMA, super high density could potentially
change the numbers. A grower who farms 6,000 acres of
almonds in a standard orchard may consider fallowing half
that acreage because of limited water availability, but each
tree in production still requires its original amount of water.
According to Beumel, with a super high density orchard
that has high efficiency of water, growers could bump that
farmable acreage up to 4,000 acres - and use less water.
" The math starts changing, " said Beumel. " It's on the
scale of, 'What can I do with the resources I have, given the
future environment?' "
Although there's no exact water savings recorded
specifically for California yet since the first planting is brandnew,
Agromillora anticipates - and is excited to prove - about
one acre foot less of water than a standard orchard on the
same site, based on international results. That's the best data
the company is willing to extrapolate from Spain or elsewhere,
given that varieties, farming practices and soil conditions vary.
Data from California fields is part of a much larger picture
and purpose for Agromillora. The company partnered
with Bronco Wine Co., and together they share the goal of
wanting to help change the industry.
" We're going to track data, and there's going to be absolute
transparency, " said Beumel. " We want the (university and
Almond Board) researchers in there. And all the data we get,
we're going to share. "
22 WINTER 2021
How the future looks
There's no doubt that farming is changing, and a lot of the
systems that gave almonds the run up to its heyday aren't
sustainable. The significant move to mechanization and
efficiency is making companies - and growers - up their
game in order to have the value proposition necessary to
remain relevant.
It's inevitable that changing trends, regulation, prices and
a host of other factors are altering the grower landscape -
some growers are changing their farming practices and
business models, and others are on either end of industry
consolidation. How this looks for a small, family almond
farmer is questionable, especially against a trend of
investment firms taking a keen eye to agriculture and the
companies that are leading the industry.
Aside from the efficiency and sustainability of super high
density planting, this technique opens much wider the door
for organically grown California almonds, especially since
SHD orchards are harvested at hull split and dried in driers
so that the nuts never touch the ground.
" We see at least for the next 20-30 years, the premium on
organic almonds should stay pretty strong, " said Beumel. He
compared it to the strong conventional-to-organic shift in
apples. " I think that's coming for almonds. "
Organic California almonds are not commonplace, and
with strong almond prices, organic crops were not at the
forefront for growers other than those who had reasons
beyond increased premiums.
" Growers can say they don't really want to go down that
road because organic is hard, but if they plant this system, at
least they know that option is in their back pocket. It's another
mitigation factor. Maybe they say they hope they'll never have
to go organic, but if they do, at least this system makes the
transition a lot easier than a standard orchard, " said Beumel.
In addition to the 700 SHD acres in Arvin, Agromillora
has slated for 2021 about 320 acres in Denair and 315 acres
in Ceres.
Winter 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Winter 2021
