From the Fields

The long days of bringing in the crops is here. The walnut crop looks average at this time. However, you never really know until we get the crop into the dryer. Most farmers have a love-hate relationship with harvest. While every farmer and rancher wants to know how good or bad the yield will be, we also dread seeing grade sheets and price estimates. But I am hearing the price will be up from last year, so that is always a good thing.

The cost of everything has gone up—fuel, labor, insurance, chemicals and more. Added to all our normal worries is still COVID and keeping employees safe. Can we manage harvest without anyone on the crew getting sick? There is no doubt that farming has always been tough, but it sure isn't getting any easier.

We have also struggled with how to keep all the crops irrigated through this summer of drought. As we move into harvest, we begin to plan for next year. That is also proving to be more difficult than usual, as we don't know how much water we will have.

More than ever, California needs to move forward with more water storage and a new and improved plan for water deliveries. If we want to have more people in this state and continue to farm, we need to improve the infrastructure that we already have.