According to a March USDA/ERS report, the nation’s citrus crop is higher than the previous season by 31 percent. The report notes that Florida orange tonnage is significantly higher, but once again fails to differentiate between fruit destined for the fresh market versus that moving to juice and other processing objectives. The report notes that [...]
Earlier this week, the County of Fresno Department of Agriculture announced the appointment of Melissa Cregan as the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures. She was appointed by the County of Fresno Board of Supervisors on March 26th with a retroactive effective date of March 11, 2019. Cregan holds a B.S. in Animal Science from [...]
Bloom season is underway and for citrus, this establishes the beginning of a time period when the use of insecticides is greatly restricted in citrus groves. As 10% bloom is declared in each district, all citrus growers, pest control operators, and beekeepers must comply with the regulations covering the citrus/bee protection areas (section 6654 and [...]
This week, the Joint Conference of the International Organization of Citrus Virologists and the International Research Conference on Huanglongbing is being held in Riverside. On Tuesday night, there was a dinner event ending the Virologist Conference and starting the HLB conference. During that dinner, CRB Interim President Franco Bernardi recognized Past CCM President Joel Nelsen, [...]
The produce industry’s umbrella entity, United Fresh publishes a quarterly review of what sales patterns are in the produce department. For the 4th quarter, 2018 and the year in total interesting facts emerge for citrus. As a whole, fresh produce sales slightly increased in 2018. While shopping in the 4th quarter, 2018; 98% of the [...]
The Kern County Cooperative Extension is hosting a Spring Citrus Meeting on Friday, March 8th from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Extension office at 1021 S. Mount Vernon Avenue, Bakersfield. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Continuing Education (CE) units or Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) units are not available. Topics include: Latest Treatment Strategies [...]
CCM staff and members of the Board met with Representatives Devin Nunes and TJ Cox this week to discuss a number of Federal policy concerns from water, to immigration, to trade, and more. Congress was on recess this week, providing an opportunity for CCM representatives to have two productive discussions with two members of Congress. [...]
The 2019 Agricultural Tractor and Mobile Equipment Survey is now online. CCM, in conjunction with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the California Air Resources Board, is looking to collect information from producers in the field, custom operators, and first processing facilities, and covers all mobile Ag equipment using any type of fuel or electricity, [...]
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is awarding water efficiency grants, and there is a particular focus on prioritizing grants to disadvantaged communities and this could include any farm in a (DAC) or one that employs workers from a nearby disadvantaged community. All of the details to learn more are available on the CDFA [...]
Another CDFA Grant Program - Healthy Soils Program (HSP) can fund your efforts to improve soil health. Particular focus will be given to those farms in disadvantaged communities but all commercial farms are eligible to apply. Due Date - March 8, 2019 The HSP Incentives Program provides financial assistance for implementation of conservation management that [...]
