From the Fields - Jay Mahil

By Jay Mahil, Madera County farmer

We’re about two weeks behind on all crops. The extreme heat that we had really didn’t help. It just hit the timeout button on all crops. It pushed water demand on all crops, so we’ve had to accelerate irrigation. We’ll see what the temperatures in July do; sometimes we play a little catch up.

We’re preparing for harvest. We’re probably a little over a month out to start almond harvest, followed by winegrapes, pistachios and walnuts. Almond hull split is right around the corner, so we’re gearing up to start spraying. Walnuts and pistachios are working their way into maturing, and we’re finishing up with fertilizer in the fields.

The 2023 walnut crop looks like a pretty big crop. We’re in a distressed market for walnuts. China was the biggest market for exporting our walnut crop but has become a large walnut exporter. Chile is another big exporter, so we face a lot of foreign competition. Some of the reports we’ve heard is China has a light walnut crop this year, so hopefully we get a little bounce back on pricing.

Labor numbers have come up, so we’re not stretched as thin as we were before. The issue now is pay. We have the $15.50 per hour minimum wage, but with the increase in inflation, employees are asking for higher pay. The overtime rule has cut their hours back to 40, so their take-home pay has been reduced. That is starting to put a pinch on growers’ budgets, especially with interest rates going up. The cost of farming has really gone sky high.

Growers are very excited about all the water that we have this year. San Luis Reservoir is full to the brim, and the word is they are going to keep it at that level through fall. People are using surface water, so deep wells have been shut off, and we’re giving aquifers a well-needed rest.