From the Fields: Bryan Van Groningen, San Joaquin County farmer 

By Bryan Van Groningen
San Joaquin County farmer 

Our family is centralized in a few different crops. We sell watermelons under the Yosemite Fresh label and pumpkins under the Pamper’d Farms label. We also grow almonds, and we have some field crops like wheat and alfalfa. And we raise beef cattle. 

Pumpkins were hot and heavy with harvest leading up to Halloween. We grow about 50 different varieties of pumpkins that are shipped up and down the state and as far as Utah. We harvested most of our regular, carving-size pumpkins. Our ornamental varieties that are smaller were harvested back in August, September and into October. 

The crop looks good. Yields are running slightly above average. The weather this past year was conducive to pumpkin production. We didn’t have too much extreme heat. Our watermelon crop was very good as well. We’re at the very tail end of watermelon harvest. 

Everything is done by hand labor. Our crews start with watermelon harvest in June and they continue all the way through the end of October. Pumpkins have to be handled carefully. They can’t have broken stems or scars from lying in the field. It’s like a beauty contest. We send some of our off-grade pumpkins and watermelons to our feedlot for the cattle and to some local dairies. 

We just finished almond harvest and are getting ready to do some postharvest activities like pruning, fertilizing and preparing the trees to go into dormancy. Our almond crop was down maybe 10% to 20%. We had some really poor pollination weather. The whole state was down, so that drove prices up, which makes up for it a little bit. 

We have a long season. We’re almost through it, and we’re thankful to make it through another year. We’re thankful we’ve had good weather this year and good yields in some of our crops.

In this edition…

• View full issue
• California farmers explore seaweed crop
• Soaring costs and low yield dampen walnut prospects
• Lessons learned from being a dot on bankruptcy map
• Ventura County's record crop values describe 'only half the story'
• From the Fields: Bryan Van Groningen, San Joaquin County farmer
• From the Fields: Steven Springer, Yuba County farmer
• From the Fields: Jim Spinetta, Amador County winegrape grower
• From the Fields: Billie Roney, Tehama County rancher
• Market, prices strengthen for sweet potato growers
• Advocacy in Action: A legal victory, air monitoring, kangaroo rat, screwworm and wolves
• Protein boom marks 'paradigm shift' in dairy sector
• California FFA students win in Agricultural Proficiency
• Protecting your herd: Modern solutions for livestock theft