From the Fields: Steve Schafer, Madera County farmer

By Steve Schafer
Madera County farmer

The winegrape business is as tough as it’s been in my lifetime. The millennials aren’t drinking wine the way previous generations did. I’ve pulled out a considerable amount of vines and am looking for other things to plant. We’ve planted almond trees and figs. 

It’s been a wonderful growing season. The winegrape crop is average. We’ve had a lot of pullouts, and we’re going to need more pullouts because the industry is in a serious oversupply. At the same time, we’ve got a declining market.

The raisin industry seems to be doing very well. The market has been declining in terms of total tonnage for years. Our production meets demand, and we don’t have any excesses, so the raisin industry is in balance and is profitable.

I dry my grapes on the vine. The Thompson seedless dry-on-the-tray method isn’t cost effective. There’s a lot of Thompsons out there that are made into raisins, but the newer varieties that lend themselves to drying on the vine produce more. Everything looks good. We’re less than a month from cutting the canes, and then there’s 30, 40 days of hanging and drying the crop. As long as we have no early rains, everything should be good.

We’ve been picking fresh figs for a few weeks. The crop appears to be pretty similar to last year. The cool weather has made for great quality. When it gets really hot, the figs ripen within half a day. They’ll be ready to pick in the morning and start getting soft by afternoon. With these milder temperatures, the shelf life has been good. We’re not having to cull near as much. 

The market is stable. Demand is good. We’re selling everything we’re picking. The fig market is like the stock market. It goes week to week. Up until this point, it’s been going good, but we’ll see what the rest of the year brings us. 

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