Archives

Visitor Counter

322619
Visit Today : 90
Visit Yesterday : 165
This Month : 1632
This Year : 9922
Total Visit : 322619
Hits Today : 107
Total Hits : 1071640
Who's Online : 4
Your IP Address: 34.229.62.45
Server Time: 24-03-29

Around Kings County: Post Election News

November 9,2016

Screen Shot 2016-05-15 at 7.56.25 AMLatest Almond Nursery Sales Report from USDA shows no slowdown in plantings with 108,000 acres of almond trees planted in the Valley from June 2015 through May 2016. Of that 71% were new orchards with the rest replaced existing almond orchards. These latest numbers are up from last year at 96,000 acres and 67,000 acres between 2013-2014. The report also details that almond prices fell in 2015 to an average of $2.84 per pound from $4 the year before. In another report USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service forecasts that California’s 900,000 acres of bearing almond trees will produce 2.05 billion pounds of nuts this year. That’s a 7.9 percent jump from the year before.
Walnut Prices: Meanwhile a USDA report says walnut prices fell to 84 cents a pound in 2015 compared to $1.62 a pound the year before and $1.82 the year before that. Expansion in the walnut industry here continues as seen by construction of a new $1.2 million walnut dehydrator building by John Hamar Farms.
San Luis Reservoir storage is zooming higher this November, now near 700,000 acre-feet as regulators take advantage of recent plentiful northern California rainfall. The pumps will be going full out, farmers hope, to get as much water as possible in the key off-stream storage reservoir by March. The reservoir is run by both the state and feds.With the news this week of a Trump victory – farmers here are hopeful the feds will now push to speed water south of the Delta. Trump’s earlier visit to the Valley promised as much.
Other impacts on Kings County could come from Trump’s promised scrapping of climate change initiatives that could include any future support for High Speed Rail from the federal government. The project is not supported by the GOP who won both houses in Congress this week. During the campaign Trump appeared to favor more high speed trains though. Back in March he said “You go to China, they have trains that go 300 miles an hour. We have trains that go ‘Chug, chug, chug.’ And then they have to stop because the tracks split, right?”
Then there is a potential impact on exports from a change in trade policy? About 80% of Valley nuts and lots of our milk goes overseas and would be hurt by any trade war.
Good news for local dairymen as Cheese Blocks reached $1.93 a this Tuesday, up from $1.53 in early October and as low as $1.30 earlier this summer. About half our milk goes to make cheese.
Speaking of dairy the organization DairyCares finds more dairies are going solar. The Valley is ideally suited for solar power with a NASA study finding that the counties in the Valley received more sunshine than 98 percent of the nation’s counties. Local dairies are signing up to take advantage of lower panel prices and continued incentives to build. Dairy Cares says in Kings County, seven dairy solar projects totaling close to eight MWs in capacity were permitted in the first seven months of 2016 alone.In Tulare County in the past few years 35 solar projects were permitted for dairy farms, and the average energy capacity of these systems was almost one megawatt (MW) per project.
More Homes: Locally-based San Joaquin Valley Homes has closed escrow on 28.75 acres at 12th Avenue and Hume Avenue in Hanford. The developer is planning on breaking ground on Chandler Park, a new neighborhood offering 115 single-family homes this month. The retail value of this development is expected to exceed $28 million. “San Joaquin Valley Homes is thrilled to provide homes for families in Hanford, a growing community with one of California’s most thriving downtowns,” said Joe Leal, co-founder for Visalia-based SJV Homes.
Hanford Selling 7 Surplus Properties/ Approve Helena Chemical Development :The Hanford Planning Commission is expected to clear the way for sale of 7 surplus properties owned by the City. Among the properties are the former Goodwill building Downtown and the Old Fire Station on Lacey and Kaweah. There is also an acre-plus parcel east of Irwin St between Fifth and Fourth.
At the same meeting the Commission finalized approvals for the new 26-acre Helena Chemical parcel in the industrial park. The company will use the property to blend fertilizer and offer product for sale.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *