Trees & Vines

Randy Baranek, project manager for the agricultural service provider Fowler Brothers, looks on as foreman Alex Noriega uses an excavator to place discarded grapevines into an air curtain burner last month in Lodi. The device has gained traction on farms as a ban on open agricultural burning nears. 

Photo/Caleb Hampton

Glenn County farmer Dennis Burreson, vice president of field operations for Musco Family Olive Co., left, inspects an orchard of table-olive trees with son Heath Burreson.

Photo/Robyn Rominger

Solano County farmer Russ Lester stands in his organic walnut orchard, which shows remnants of a leguminous cover crop that dies back in May and June. He says the cover crop fixes nitrogen to the soil, attracts beneficial insects and forms a heavy mat on the orchard floor, allowing him to use less water.

Photo/Ching Lee

Team members at the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center introduce the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa into grapevines as part of Pierce’s disease research.

Photo/University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center

Leovigilda Velázquez picks apricots at Lucich Santos Farms in Stanislaus County. Some growers describe this year’s crop as slightly smaller than last year’s, when California harvested about 30,000 tons of the stone fruit. With processors and dry yards taking less fruit, more apricots are marketed fresh. 

Photo/Steve German

A crew loads harvested cherries from Chinchiolo Farming Co. in San Joaquin County during the 2023 season. The farm markets some of its “export-quality” fruit directly to U.S. customers through its website and ships the cherries to people’s homes.

Photo/Fred Greaves

At their Fresno County farm, growers Scott and Mandy Critchley show off their blueberry crop during harvest season. Statewide, production is estimated at a record 74.5 million pounds, according to the California Blueberry Commission. Harvest in the San Joaquin Valley is expected to run through June.

Photo/Cecilia Parsons

University of California researchers and almond growers are seeking solutions for controlling the carpophilus beetle, a newcomer to the state that is an established pest in Australia.

Photo/Jhalendra Rijal/University of California Cooperative Extension

An almond orchard blooms during pollination season in February.

Photo/Christine Souza

Kevin Sass, winemaker at Halter Ranch Vineyard Estate in Paso Robles, stands in a vineyard grown using dry farming practices. The approach relies on moisture in the soil instead of irrigation.

Photo/Courtesy Halter Ranch

Smita Sadana, a partner of Contra Costa County-based Habitera Farms, picks mulberries at the Brentwood orchard.

Photo/Paige Green

Placer County farmer Rich Ferreira walks through his organic citrus grove planted with a cover crop. He says conservation improvements he has made have benefited pollinators, soil health and the quality of his citrus crop.

Photo/Christine Souza

Almond grower Christine Gemperle says cover crops planted between orchard rows provide significant benefits for soil health, pollinators and other wildlife. Blue Diamond Growers, in partnership with Project Apis m. and its Seeds for Bees program, secured $45 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support such sustainable practices in almond orchards.

Photo/Vicky Boyd

Growers of California nut crops, including pistachios, face a new threat from Carpophilus truncatus, a beetle species that University of California researchers say has been discovered in every county in the San Joaquin Valley.

Photo/Christine Souza

Former homicide detective Gary Nanson, far right, and Los Angeles County nursery operator Roy Nagatoshi, center, have partnered for decades in extolling spiritual benefits of raising bonsai trees.

Photo/Bryan Meyer

Almond trees bloom at Nickels Soil Laboratory in Arbuckle, a working farm used for research. Because the farm relies on income from crop sales, it faces funding shortfalls as revenue drops and costs rise. It seeks financial support, such as for the fungicide being applied above, donated by Syngenta.

Photo/Ching Lee

Alexis Harvey, manager of Dixon Bee Co. in Solano County, checks on honeybees placed in an area almond orchard in time for bloom. It takes 2.5 million beehives from California and out of state to pollinate the state’s 1.37 million bearing almond acres, according to the Almond Board of California.

Photo/Christine Souza

Cornerstone Certified Vineyard employees José Ventura Vieyra García, from left, Anelly Reyes Jiménez and José Cervantes, graduates of the Fundación de la Voz de los Viñedos leadership academy, prepare for winegrape harvest at their workplace near Santa Rosa.

Photo/Fred Greaves

Winegrape production in California is outpacing demand. With some 20,000 acres of new vineyards becoming productive, another 50,000 acres may need to be pulled to balance the market.

Photo/Fred Greaves

Winegrapes grow at Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles. In 2018, the vineyard was recognized as certified regenerative organic. The wine region celebrates its sustainable farming practices. 

Photo/Tablas Creek Vineyard

At a farmers market in Thousand Oaks, which is at the center of a quarantine for the Queensland fruit fly, produce that can host the invasive pest must be covered with netting to prevent potential spread.

Photo/Karen Wetzel Schott

San Joaquin County farmer Joe Cataldo, who grows winegrapes and cherries in Lodi, says a portion of his vineyard would be affected by a transmission line project proposed by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Farmers are concerned the project could remove productive farmland and reduce property values.

Photo/Christine Souza