WAE tours provide inside look at SJV agriculture

Attendees at World Ag Expo will have the opportunity to sign up for several agricultural tours of farming, ranching and research operations in the San Joaquin Valley. Tours are offered each of the three days of the show.

The schedule is as follows:

• Elkhorn Dairy and University of California, Davis, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9 a.m. and returns by 1 p.m. There is a cost of $40 (includes boxed lunch).
  This tour starts at Elkhorn Dairy with a look at the state-of-the-art carousel milking parlor, which accommodates 3,300 cows that milked three times a day. Visitors will also learn about how a portion of the dairy's electricity is provided by solar power. The tour will continue to the UC research center located south of Tulare. This facility is a leading educational and research organization for dairy production medicine and herd health.
• Fresno Wine Tour, Feb. 12. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9:15 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m. There is a cost of $45 (includes lunch at winery). This tour includes stops at Engelmann Cellars, LoMac Winery, Nonini Winery and Milla Vineyards. Participants will enjoy wine tasting at all four wineries and lunch prepared by Engelmann Cellars. Tours of the winemaking facilities will also be available at the locations.
• Sun Pacific Packing & Historic Exeter, Feb. 12. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m. There is a cost of $30 (lunch not included). Participants will visit the Sun Pacific packing facility in Tulare, which will be in full production with the navel and mandarin harvests. The tour will follow the path of the fruit from tree to packing. The tour also includes a self-guided tour of Exeter's hand-painted murals.
• Monrovia Nursery and Lagomarsino Blueberry Farm, Feb. 13. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m. There is a cost of $40 (includes boxed lunch). This tour includes a visit to Monrovia Nursery's newest facility, housed on more than 1,000 acres located east of Visalia. The nursery grows more than 40 varieties of citrus trees. A large range of plant material is grown at the facility for zones nationwide. A specialty is the camellia nursery that grows more than 60 varieties of the flowering plant.

Also included in this tour is a stop at Lagomarsino Farms to visit their blueberry facility. Blueberries are new to the California market and Lagomarsino Farms now has 100 acres developed.

• Sun Pacific Packing and UC Davis Research and Extension Center, Feb. 13. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m. There is a cost of $40 (includes boxed lunch). On this tour, participants will visit the Sun Pacific Packing facility in Tulare, which will be in full production with the navel and mandarin orange harvest. The tour will follow the path of the fruit from tree to packing. The second half of the tour will include a stop at the UC Davis Research and Extension Center near Visalia. The tour will include citrus tasting and an overview of the orchards.
• Elkhorn and Milky Way dairies, Feb. 14. Tour departs from Heritage Complex at 9 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m. There is a cost of $40 (includes boxed lunch). This tour includes stops at two large dairies located north of Visalia. Elkhorn Dairy is home to a state-of-the-art carousel milking parlor, which accommodates 3,300 cows that are milked three times a day. Visitors will also learn about how a portion of the dairy's electricity is provided by solar power. During the tour of Milky Way Dairy, participants will learn about how two herds are managed in tandem and milked three times a day in a 32-herringbone parlor.
• Energy Efficient Tour and Dairy Tour, Feb. 14. Tour will begin at Wreden Ranch and Dairy then proceed to Curtimade Dairy. The last stop of the day will be the Energy Education Center. In 2012, E.J. De Jong took two major steps in making his dairy more cost effective through energy efficiency. By approaching two of the most costly energy-using systems, refrigeration and cow cooling, the combined efforts will save his dairy, Wreden Ranch, $75,000 a year in energy costs.

Curtimade Dairy is saving $145,000 annually and powering 85 percent of its dairy operation through a solar power system. The solar installation not only cuts down on the daily operating costs, but provides a long-term hedge against rising electricity rates and a strategy toward sustainable production and quality of milk. The Energy Education Center is a source of energy-efficiency information for agricultural and other business owners and operators, or anyone wanting to learn about the latest in state-of-the-art technology for saving energy, money and the environment.