We’re Springing Forward With Another Growing Season

Spring is just around the corner. Here in farm country, spring marks the traditional start of the growing season in the Valley.

After a brief hiatus, field scouts Carlos Silva and Jenna Mayfield started to gear up last week for another year working with almond, cotton and alfalfa growers in the Central Valley. 

 

In recent days, they have been connecting with growers to participate in the San Joaquin Sustainable Farming Project (SJSFP) this season. A program of the Sustainable Cotton Project, SJSFP is launching a new three-year program to work with Valley growers to promote sustainable farming practices to protect local watersheds, improve air quality and support our rural communities.

New initiatives include working with Project ApisM on pollinator issues and educating growers about ways to improve their water conservation practices. Unless El Niño brings Noah Arc-like rains this spring, California won’t be able to make up for the four previous dry years and bring an end to the severe drought. Stay tuned for future post about bees and water conservation.

In the meantime, Carlos and Jenna will be collaborating with participating growers to map out fields and orchards that they will be scouting this season. They also will help arrange the first Field Day of the year for growers. We’re looking at March 30 for the meeting. Look for more details soon.

It will be interesting to see how the El Niño rains will affect this year’s growing season. Remember how many growers last year had to make a number of hard economic choices – whether it was investing heavily in digging a well, sacrificing one crop over another due to the lack of water or fallowing acres after acres of fertile land.

In the orchards, we’re starting to see some greening emerging in early varieties.

Carlos reports alfalfa appears to be growing nicely, with the crop around 12 to 14 inches tall. The first cutting of the season will arrive soon after the alfalfa reaches a couple feet in height.

Cotton plants grew quickly during dry times last  April 2015.

In cotton, growers will be holding off planting until the rains start to subside and the temperatures begin warming. Because of the skimpy rain in recent years, it was no joke to find growers planting seeds on April Fool’s Day.

Well, it should be another exciting season. Carlos and Jenna will keep us updated on the latest happening from the fields. At the same time, we will once again offer you valuable insights from leading experts throughout the year.

Clackety-clack: The Sounds of Cotton Harvest Are in the Air

Clackety-clack. Clackety-clack. Clackety-clack.

That’s the sound of harvesters crisscrossing acres and acres of cotton fields around the San Joaquin Valley as twirling spindles twist the fresh cotton from the burrs attached to the dried plant stems. 

Yes, the cotton harvest has begun after the first seeds were planted some 180 days ago. Field scout Carlos Silva reports the first sightings of cotton harvesters this week. Activity will certainly pick up in the coming weeks.

Harvesters are now starting to pick cotton in the Valley.

It won’t be long before we’ll see lots of round and rectangular cotton modules lining the field margins, ready to be hauled off the nearby gins for processing.

Continued hot weather translates into ideal picking conditions. There’s no signs of cool damp weather or fog to slow down picking – that may be one of the positives of the state’s severe drought.

Speaking of the drought, we have to give credit to those growers who have stuck with cotton as water supplies became tighter and tighter and more expensive.

The drought will reduce the amount of cotton harvested.

Cotton acreage certainly has taken a beating during these past four rain-starved years. Estimates put this year’s cotton planting at 162,000 acres (almost a third grown in the San Joaquin Valley), according to a survey by the California Pink Bollworm Program. That’s the lowest total since the Great Depression.

Upland cotton comes in at 46,000 acres while Pima checks in at about 116,000 acres. Growers are inclined to plant more Pima because the variety commands a greater price. Most of the nation’s high-quality Pima is grown in California. A number of long-time growers have told us they have remained dedicated to cotton because it serves as a good rotational crop.

While the cotton harvest is gearing up, the alfalfa crop is winding down its harvest season. Carlos reports one grower has finished cutting his alfalfa and others should start following suit this week. With the arrival of fall, this could be the final cutting of the year for many growers.

The alfalfa season is starting to wind down this year.

Except for a few growers who ended their alfalfa season early to divert water to other crops, most were able to continue harvesting throughout the summer. They should end up with the usual 10 or so cuttings for the season. By maintaining production, growers have been able to keep supplying high quality alfalfa to California’s valuable dairy and cattle industry.

Alfalfa is important to keep the dairy and cattle industry fed.

Indeed, alfalfa plays an integral role in state’s $46 billion ag economy. A 2007 University of California report titled “Alfalfa Production Systems in California” called the dairy-forage connection “the state’s most important agricultural enterprise. The linkage with dairy products and other animal enterprises (such as beef cattle, horses, goats and sheep) has caused alfalfa and forage crops to play a significant role in the state.”

  

Hey, let’s give shout out to those growers who perserveredduring the historic drought and kept on farming alfalfa. We can say they helped keep California’s economy “moo-ving” forward.