Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/408361
In2009,onthe4than- nual Farm-City Bus Tour we toured the southern part of the county. Breakfast speaker was Mark Lathrop of Sierra Pacific Industries. Tim- ber used to be an impor- tant industry in Tehama County for over 100 years and now the timber com- pany has to have a 100- year plan to manage their own lands. He showed pic- tures taken in the same lo- cation over ten years time, when it was a clear cut of 30 acres, and now the planted pine and fir trees are 15 feet tall. First stop was CAPEX — California Almond Pack- ers & Exporters, Inc. — on Simpson Road west of Corning. A.P. Esteve Farms was established in 1980, with 500 acres planted in almonds and 500 in walnuts. Matthew Esteve, general manager was our host and guide as we toured the plant wear- ing our net bonnets. Esteve received the Farmer of the Year award at the 2009 annual Farm — City dinner last Monday night. Congratulations! CAPEX was established in 1986, and they do an in- ternational business with their sale office in Lodi. The almonds are sold by size, and now the smaller size is more desired. The nuts are received here, weighed and identified by grower. There was a fumi- gation chamber. In a large warehouse the walnuts were cracked and sorted into size of nut meats by a vibrating machine. On the other side of the building the almonds inshell were being sacked in 50-pound bags, and placed on a pal- let to be enclosed in plas- tic. During harvest time 124 people are hired here. Be- fore shipping overseas the USDA (United States De- partment of Agriculture) will inspect the walnuts and almonds. Next stop was Pacific Sun Olive Oil, part of Pa- cific Farms & Orchards, Inc; a third-generation family farm that has been in business in Tehama County since 1952. They grow prunes, walnuts, al- monds and buy olives to produce olive oil. Brendon Flynn is general manager and Leslie Stone guided us through the olive oil tast- ing. They do custom mill- ing, and the customer can order oil in sizes from 6 ounce bottles to 265 gallon barrels. They also have full traceability back to the grower since each bin is tagged, just like CAPEX. The olives are dumped from a bin into a water bath, and then the fruit is pulverized (crushed) into a mash. There are two basic ways to crush the fruit; a hammer mill or disc. Pits do have oil. You can influ- ence the flavor of the oil by the way it is crushed. Also flavor is affected by vari- ety, by fertilization and ir- rigation, and harvest time. Pacific Sun sells only "extra virgin" olive oil. They extract the oil by me- chanical extraction. Virgin oil doesn't pass one chem- ical standard, while ex- tra light has been refined, with no flavor. Heat, oxy- gen and light can degrade the olive oil. The olives are crushed to a paste, of 45-65% mois- ture and 8-17% oil. There is a pump at bottom of unit, where a warm water jacket is wrapped around the tank. The paste is heated so the oil and wa- ter are separated by a cen- trifuge. Each bin holds 1,000 pounds of olives, and they can process two tons per hour. The oil will decant in barrels for a month or two, where the remaining wa- ter and sediment go to the bottom of the barrel. Tehama Angus Ranch on Tehama Avenue was next stop, where Linda Borror greeted the group with homemade sour cream coffee cake in fla- vors of apple, blueberry and plain, plus coffee, or- ange juice and water. Bill Borror told the his- tory of the family- owned ranch. His parents Dale and Inez Borror purchased the ranch in 1948. Orig- inally it was the Holmes Estate that covered the Gerber area with sheep. Then A. T. Spencer pur- chased the ranch in the late 1920's and had 2,000 acres from the current ranch to the river. He put in the miles of concrete pipe lines that were dug by hand, to develop the ir- rigation. Spencer devel- oped the Romeldale breed of sheep, by crossing Rom- ney rams on Rambouil- let ewes. In 1950 A.T. Spencer was Livestock Man of the Year , honored by Cali- fornia Chamber of Com- merce, and Bill Borror was named Livestock Man of the Year this year. Two men recognized for this honor from the same ranch land, (and not re- lated). The Borror's started with 100 acres of irri- gated land, and 350 acres of grazing land for their cattle, gradually expand- ing. When Bill graduated from UC Davis he worked with the university weigh- ing the cows and calves, and keeping records. "Cat- tle are more efficient now; all due to genetics." Now everyone keeps records on their cattle. The first pri- vate Angus bull sale in California was held at TAR in 1975. Eric Borror takes care of the 650 acres of almond and walnut orchards and farming, while Kevin Bor- ror narrated the bus trip to view the fall calving cows and their calves on permanent pasture. I have been curious about the acres of SHD (super high density) olive plantings along I-5 high- way. We visited Crane Mills SHD planting on Hall Road, and learned they plant 700 to 1000 trees per acre. Brian Crane told how they were in the lumber business for 79 years, and in 1994 they planted 80 acres of al- monds. Now they have al- monds, walnuts, prunes and 205 acres of SHD ol- ives. SHD are planted five foot apart, and 13 foot across to next row, while the old orchards were planted 20-30 feet apart. The idea of SHD came from Spain. The oil vari- eties planted are 96% Ar- bequina, with 4% pollen- izers of Koroneiki, and Ar- bosana. They are a small fruit. The orchard we were in was planted in April 2009, after Easter and al- ready the trees were 4 to 5 feet tall. They will grow to 9 feet, and be mechani- cally harvested when 3 or 4 years old. They are fertil- ized through the drip irri- gation system. There were two strands of high tensile wire, that keep the trees upright. Crane said the cartons around the base of the newly planted trees are to protect against the herbicide sprays, and sun- burn on the tree trunk. The investment is similar to planting grapes. Expen- sive. Olives do better on poor soil. JeanBartonhasbeen writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbarton2013@ gmail.com. JEANBARTON A look back at 2009 Farm-City Bus Tour Since the growing season for the principle summer crops is coming to an end, this will be the last weekly issue of Evapotranspiration (ET) data for the 2014 irri- gation season. This was the 41st season of providing ET information for the North Valley. The ET data will be made available at the start of the 2015 irrigation sea- son. This information is pro- vided as a joint effort by the California Department of Water Resources' North- ern Region Office, the Uni- versity of California Co- operative Extension in Te- hama County and the Daily News. It is intended as an aid to irrigators to help de- termine when to irrigate and also how much water to apply. The ET data, which ap- pears weekly in this news- paper during the irrigation season, is a measure of the amount of water that is lost from the soil root zone due to crop use and soil surface evaporation. These are typically the most significant losses of soil moisture during the growing season. To gain the maximum value from this information you need to look for it each week during the irrigation sea- son and compare it to how much irrigation water is ap- plied with your irrigation system or how much rain- fall is received. If this is the first time that you have observed this information, you may want to note that these reports will be resumed around April 2015, depending on the spring weather condi- tions. In the meantime, you may want to make note of the season totals and com- pare them to your district water bills or estimates of groundwater pumped per acre. The comparison might provoke some interesting questions. Information on how to use these weekly reports can be found at http://cete- hama.ucdavis.edu. When at this web page, select "Water / Irrigation Program" and then select "Weekly Soil Moisture Loss Reports." Each weekly soil moisture loss report is posted at this site including a two-page article with examples of how to use the report. A request for a hard copy of this article can be made at University of California Cooperative Extension in Red Bluff at 527-3101, Ext. 3. Assistance is also avail- able at the Tehama County Mobile Irrigation Lab at 527-3013 x 102 or by call- ing the California Depart- ment of Water Resources, Northern Region Office at 529-7301. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION Irrigationinformationendsfortheseason Pursuant to the Secretary of Agriculture's designation of an emergency in the state of California on Sept. 17, Te- hama County and 13 other counties have been named eligible for USDA emer- gency farm loans because of physical and produc- tion losses based on dam- ages and losses caused by drought which occurred on Jan. 1 and continues. In addition, the 15 neigh- boring counties in Califor- nia are eligible, along with two Arizona counties, seven Nevada counties and four Oregon counties. Farmers in all 42 California counties have eight months to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. Some of the eligibility re- quirements are: Have suffered at least 30 percent loss of normal pro- duction directly related to the above-cited cause, be able to repay the loan and any other loans, be unable to obtain credit elsewhere, have adequate security, have multi-peril crop insur- ance, if available, and meet other eligibility criteria. All applicants must com- plete a certification of disas- ter losses, which reflects the exact dates and nature of the designated disas- ter and how it caused the loss or damage. Crop in- surance field reports may be a source for document- ing losses directly related to the cited cause. The authorization from Farm Service Agency to ac- cept Emergency loans un- der this authorization ex- pires on May 18, 2015. Ap- plications should be filed with your FSA Service Cen- ter at 2 Sutter St., Ste. C, Red Bluff. USDA Tehama among counties eligible for loans By Terence Chea The Associated Press WOODLAND Califor- nia's deepening drought is shrinking its rice har- vest, and that's bad news for farmers, migratory birds and sushi lovers. The $5 billion indus- try exports rice to more than 100 countries and specializes in premium grains used in risotto, pa- ella and sushi. Nearly all U.S. sushi restaurants use medium- grain rice grown in the Sacramento Valley. The rice harvest is just the latest victim of Cali- fornia's historic drought, which has sharply re- duced crop production as it enters its fourth year. With 95 percent of the state in "severe" to "ex- ceptional" drought, farm- ers are leaving fields un- planted, cattle ranchers are reducing herds and almond growers are tear- ing out orchards. California, the nation's second largest rice-grow- ing state after Arkansas, usually produces more than five million pounds of rice and sells about half of it abroad. But this year rice farm- ers only planted 420,000 acres — 25 percent less than last year — because of water restrictions, ac- cording to the California Rice Commission. On a clear October day, farmer Mike De- Wit watched as a giant combine harvester cut and threshed a field of rice plants, discharging the grain into a tractor- pulled wagon. DeWit, who usually plants 1,000 acres of rice on his family farm in Woodland, outside Sac- ramento, said he only planted 700 acres this year because his water supply was cut by 30 per- cent. So he idled one of his combine harvesters, and hired one less worker and one less tractor. "I think it's the worst as far as the California rice industry is concerned on record," DeWit said. "One more dry year, and I think the impacts on California rice farmers will be dev- astating." The reduced plantings also impact migratory birds and other wildlife that depend on flooded rice fields as habitat. Every fall, millions of waterfowl fly south from Canada and Alaska to spend their winters in California's Central Val- ley. After the fall harvest, farmers usually cover their fields with water to break down the rice stalks, creating wet- lands habitat for millions of ducks and geese that can feed on uncollected grains and other plants. "It is environmentally a very nice crop to have in the system. It mimics the natural system of a couple hundred years ago, when that area was wetlands," said Bruce Lindquist, a rice researcher at the Uni- versity of California, Da- vis. In a typical year, rice farms flood 250,000 to 300,000 acres in win- ter, but this year as few as 50,000 acres may be flooded because of water restrictions, according to the rice commission. Conservationists are worried that waterfowl and shorebirds will be at greater risk for disease as they crowd together in fewer rice fields and wet- lands. "When you have less rice out there, the impacts are significant for our en- vironment, our economy, for the farms as well," said Jim Rice, a rice com- mission spokesman. This year, conservation groups are renting 14,000 acres from rice farmers and temporarily flooding them, turning the fields into "pop-up wetlands" for birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. The rice commission doesn't track prices, but Taro Arai, who runs eight Japanese restaurants in the Sacramento area, said he paid 8 percent more for rice this year and ex- pects to pay even more next year. Arai, "chief dreaming officer" of the Mikuni Restaurant Group, is con- cerned about the reduced supply and rising cost of California sushi rice, but he's reluctant to buy rice from outside the state. So he's looking into growing and harvesting his own rice as he pre- pares to open more res- taurants in Northern Cal- ifornia. "Sushi rice makes or breaks sushi for every restaurant in California or the United States," Arai said. "I hear the ru- mors there's a cheaper rice, but you want to eat high-quality California rice." CALIFORNIA Drought takes bite out of rice harvest STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! GreenMountainGrills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate SERVICESATLOWERPRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K MembersWelcome RUNNINGS ROOFING SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Ownerisonsiteoneveryjob ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 NoMoney Down! "NoJobTooSteep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA. LIC#829089 FARM » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, November 1, 2014 MOREATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5