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Ag Beat: Tomato /Chocolate Milk / Bees

Middle California – More Tomatoes Per Acre
Farmers are coaxing more crop per acre from Valley fields. Witness the processing tomato industry that is yielding near 50 tons per acre in 2012 compared to 38 in 2002, 33 tons in 1992, 26.5 in 1982 and 17 tons per acre back in 1967. The value of processing tomatoes from about 200,000 to 250,000 acres of land has jumped about 10-fold in this time. Farmers expect to harvest 13 million tons this year, the most since 2009.The total acreage planted to this crop has fallen from around 317,000 acres to 258,000 – much of it in Kings and Fresno counties.Fresno County produces about 40% of the crop by itself.The yields in Fresno and Kern county exceed 55 tons per acre, highest in the state.

California grows 96% of the US crop, almost all machine harvested.
But this winter a drought in China who typically is a  big producer of tomato paste has hurt  global supply and is expected to be down 11% this year putting the squeeze so to speak  on ketchup prices in world markets but not likely in the US .
Americans consume three-fourths of their tomatoes in processed form. U.S. consumption of processed tomatoes began a steady climb that accelerated in the late 1980s with the rising popularity of pizza, pasta, and salsa.

California Produces Half US Vegetables

California produced about half the value of all vegetables grown in the US in 2012 says USDA. California accounted for 49% of the production.

Chocolate Milk Loses High Fructose Corn Syrup

Dean Foods has introduced a reformulation of its popular brand of chocolate milk, TruMoo. The new product, which hit shelves in January 2013, contains 35 percent less total sugar than the leading chocolate milk competitor, and has 40 percent less sugar than its previous formula and no high fructose corn syrup.
In a 2012 MilkPEP survey of more than 1,000 moms of school-aged children, 85% report feeling positively about the benefits chocolate milk provides their children.
“Together, these nutrients help strengthen bones and build and repair muscles,” said Willow Jarosh MS, RD of C&J Nutrition. “And a low-fat chocolate milk with no high fructose corn syrup and very little added sugar is a practical way to get kids the nutrients they need without all the sugar they don’t, and from a source moms can trust.”
Critics of chocolate milk helped get the beverage pulled from school cafeterias in past years saying there was too much sugar in the drink.
Busy As Bees:
Trucks carrying beehives are crisscrossing the state in preparation for the spring bloom, but their cargo may be a little lighter. Beekeepers say their colonies are smaller, in part due to a poor winter last year that didn’t produce enough food to keep the bees healthy. The U.S. Agriculture Department reports that the bees’ annual work on the state’s farms will begin in almond orchards, where 1.6 million honeybee colonies will be needed to pollinate the crop.

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