June 6,2015-
Processing Tomato Crop Up
Despite the drought in the Central Valley the state’s processing tomato crop is expected to be up this year by 2% to 14.3 million tons ,an all time record. The estimate is based on acreage of 295,000 acres, up 3,000 from last year. Fresno County remains the top county for contracted acres at 91,000,up from 90,000 last year. Kings County acreage has dropped to 27,000 acres from 31,000 in 2014.Merced and Madera acres are up up from last year. Yield per acre remains highest in Kings County at 54 tons per acre, followed by Kern County.
2015 Cotton Acres at 160,000 – Lowest Ever
The drought certainly has helped whittle down the acreage of California grown cotton.Last year some 210,00 acres were grown. This year the CDFA Pink Bolworm program estimate says farmers planted just 160,000 acres.
The number jibes with USDA estimates earlier this year of 45 thousand acres of Upland cotton in 2015, down 21 percent from the acreage seeded in 2014. In addition, growers were expecting to seed 110 thousand acres of American Pima cotton in 2015, down 29 percent from last year. Kings County remains king of cotton at some 51,000 acres planted.
Mas Masumoto: Peaches Can be Grown with 30 to 50% Less Water
Selma fruit grower turned poet Mas Masumoto told the LA Times this week that some of his petite peaches can be grown with 30 to 50% less water resulting in smaller size but more intense flavor.”I realize all these years I’ve been pumping them with fertilizer and water to get them artificially big.”The result of less water – “they’re small this year but,good god,the flavor is great.It’s fantastic.It’s probably the most intense Ive ever had.”
Growers Pulled 30,00 Acres of Grapes This Winter
Allied Grape Growers in a recent presentation to growers estimates farmers pulled about 30,000 acres of vineyards this last winter, 20,000 acre of which were wine grapes.This is triple that recorded each of the past five years. Growers are likely to be planting alternative crops they say.
Egg Shortage Comes From Avian Flu
There is a nationwide egg shortage but this time – don’t blame Prop 2. Instead its due to Avian Flue with the loss of around 40 million hens in the Midwest.Prices for California eggs went up earlier this year due to new space rules for hens. But now prices are up all over with eggs sent to NY now being more expensive than those sold in California. The industry source Egg-Cite says “Wednesday May 27th in Moreno Valley, CA. generic Large were priced at $3.20 per dozen with enriched specialty Large white at $3.99 per dozen for a national brand and $4.99 for store-brand USDA certified organic.” The flue has not made a big hit in California but” was detected in a single chicken flock in Kings County and a turkey flock in Stanislaus County, for a total of 247,300 birds affected, USDA data show” says the LA Times.