Regulators get up-close and personal view of environmental
stewardship at Hunter Farms
By Marni Katz
Special to California Almond News
Scott Hunter believes actions speak louder than words when it comes to farming
commercial almonds in an environmentally friendly way.
Hunter talks often about the importance of environmental stewardship as former
chairman of the Almond Board of California’s board of directors. But he also
takes steps at Hunter Farms to “walk the talk” of environmentally friendly
farming in his commercial almond operation in Livingston, Calif.
Virtually
every aspect of his farming operation has been recrafted with an eye toward
reducing impacts to air and water quality and improving pesticide use
efficiency. Some examples:
* His orchard prunings are shredded rather than burned and then composted and
incorporated to amend the soil in newly planted orchards.
* Orchard sanitation and regular monitoring have helped reduce the amount of
dormant and in-season sprays required at Hunter Farms.
Almond Grower Scott Hunter of Hunter Farms explains during the Almond
Environmental Stewardship Tour for regulators in February how his dual
micro-irrigation lines not only improve irrigation efficiency, but also sprinkle
the orchard floor to reduce dust emissions at harvest.
* High-tech sprayers have helped reduce pesticide use and costs by as much as 50
percent over his conventional air blast sprayers when those sprays are required.
* A double-line micro-irrigation system includes solid set sprinklers to wet
orchard floors prior to harvest to reduce dust from harvest operations, and a
buried drip line that increases irrigation efficiency while reducing the
potential for water runoff.
Hunter is among a growing legion of almond farmers who are taking steps to
change how they farm as part of an overall program to address mounting
environmental regulations while still maintaining productivity and profits.
Dave Baker, chairman of the Almond Board’s Environmental Committee told a group
of regulators touring Hunter Farms in early March that the Almond Board, through
research and grower outreach, is helping almond growers make the transition to
environmentally sensitive farming. More than 20 officials from state, federal
and local agencies that oversee water, air and crop protection regulations
visited Hunter Farms as part of the Almond Board’s Environmental Stewardship
Tour.
“We want to proactively seek solutions to the environmental challenges that we
face in farming in general and especially here in the almond industry,” Baker
says. “The goal is to get growers to adopt low-risk, environmentally friendly
farming strategies, while at the same time make sure operations remain
economically efficient.”
Mike Flora, of Flory Industries, manufacturer of brush shredders and harvesters,
says more and more growers are turning to harvesting practices that reduce
impacts on air quality, which in turn is prompting rapid innovations in orchard
equipment. Many growers are now shredding their brush in lieu of burning,
particularly as the 2010 deadline approaches for a ban on burning almond orchard
prunings. Equipment manufacturers are responding by continually developing more
environmentally minded sweepers, harvesters, carts, shredders and other
machines.
“Air quality has become one of our major design parameters as we design new
machines,” Flora says.
He said the newer Flory 8500 Harvester, with slower running fans and
recirculated air, has reduced PM10 emissions by 30 to 50 percent compared to its
predecessor.
Similarly, Doug Flora, with Exact Harvesting Systems, says the company’s new
sweeper uses brushes instead of air to clear almonds off berms into windrows.
That innovation, in addition to a recycled air system and closed windrows has
also greatly reduced the amount of dust emissions in the sweeping and harvesting
operation.
“We’re
reducing passes and we’re reducing the amount of air we are using to sweep the
nuts and that equates to less dust,” Flora says.
Shredding has also become more common with almond growers, particularly with
improvements in the affordability and availability of equipment. Hunter Farms in
a joint commercial venture this year shredded prunings from some 20,000 acres of
commercial almonds in his area using a new Flory WS900 shredder and found it was
both an affordable and effective alterative for growers.
Almond Board Environmental Committee Chairman Dave Baker greets
participants on the Almond Environmental Stewardship Tour. (Photo by Marni
Katz)
“That’s 20,000 acres worth of prunings that would have probably been burned
otherwise,” Hunter says.
Displaying a thirst for scientific experimentation and true farming ingenuity,
Hunter Farms now composts orchard prunings and pulled trees to recycle the
organic matter back into the orchard floor.
In one recently removed 80-acre orchard, pulled trees were finely shredded in a
tub grinder and then transported into one of six quarter-mile windrows. These
large windrows are treated with nitrogen and water and turned regularly to
accelerate microbial breakdown as part of the six-month composting process. That
compost will then be incorporated back into the newly planted orchard site to
improve the tilth of the sandy soil.
Scott’s father William Hunter says that while regulations are driving some of
the changes in orchard practices at Hunter Farms, composting is one example of
an environmentally friendly approach he and other growers are doing voluntarily
as part of an overall orchard transition.
“Most of the stuff being done by farmers, we’re not mandated to do,” he says.
Integrated pest management strategies have also reduced the use of key
pesticides on Hunter Farms. Scott Hunter says the orchard relies more on regular
scouting and good orchard sanitation to reduce in-season pest pressures, rather
than rely on annual dormant sprays.
This is a trend seen throughout the almond industry, and statistics show these
alternative strategies are working. According to the most recent statistics from
the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the use of dormant organophosphate
pesticides on almonds has dropped more than 75 percent in the last 10 years from
350,000 pounds active ingredient (a.i.) statewide in 1994 to less than 80,000
pounds in 2004.
Hunter realizes that, like all ag irrigators in the Central Valley, he must work
to reduce the use of OPs and pyrethroids and potential for runoff in an effort
to comply with Central Valley water quality regulations. While he does not
believe that there is offsite movement of pesticides from his relatively
land-locked flat orchard, he realizes he has a responsibility to at least
improve perceptions.
“The one size fits all approach to regulating farming needs to be looked at,” he
says. “We need to figure out how do we meet water quality requirements in the
Delta and at the same time how can we be realistic about the improvements we can
make to impact that water quality.”
Hunter
maximizes the efficiency of his pesticide sprays by using low-volume concentrate
sprayers and high tech Smart Sprayers that visually detect the tree canopy and
only spray when droplets will contact the tree. Two conventional air blast
sprayers are equipped with SmartSprayer technology, a $14,000 enhancement for
each sprayer.
Smart Sprayer technology that utilizes technology to turn pesticide sprays
on and off as the sprayer moves through an orchard was on display at the Almond
Board’s Environmental Stewardship Tour. (Photo by Marni Katz)
The Smart Sprayer uses three zones of calibrated nozzles that visually “see” the
orchard canopy and automatically turn off and on only when sprays will reach
their target. The Smart Sprayer can be adjusted according to speed, spray
volume, tree spacing and other orchard parameters to direct sprays only to the
canopy. The Smart Sprayer is especially effective in younger orchards where
there is considerable spacing between smaller trees, Hunter says.
Highly technical machinery like the SmartSprayer continues to improve every
year, and as the technology improves and becomes more affordable more growers
will embrace it.
“And as there is more and more demand for this kind of machinery, the equipment
will become more and more efficient,” he says.
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