Regulators See Almond Industry Progress in Addressing Environmental Concerns

By Marni Katz

Special to California Almonds

May 4, 2007

Regulators from a number of state and federal agencies that establish and enforce environmental laws impacting almond production practices, spent a beautiful mid-bloom day learning the latest steps the almond industry is taking to address environmental issues in farming and processing practices.

The Almond Board of California’s third annual Environmental Stewardship Tour at the facilities of Travaille and Phippen Inc. in Manteca on March 2, 2007 allowed some 50 regulators, media members, researchers and other invited guests to see first-hand the progress growers are making at the ground level to address air quality, water quality, endangered species, pesticide use and other environmental issues

Merle Jacobs, the Almond Board’s associate director for industry relations, stressed that the industry is working to implement an integrated sustainable approach that addresses a number of sometimes competing environmental challenges along with food safety concerns and the need for economic viability of those new practices.

Mary-Ann Warmerdam director of CDFA’s Department of Pesticide Regulation said the annual tour provides an important avenue for regulators to see how industry efforts, such as the Almond Board’s Environmental Stewardship Campaign, can help voluntarily tackle environmental issues.

“It’s fabulous for our organization to go out and understand the industry we are regulating,” she added.

Warmerdam and Steve Shaffer, director of CDFA’s new Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship Office, shared Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s vision for sustainable farming systems and statewide efforts to better coordinate rules and regulatory agencies when it comes to environmental concerns and restrictions.

During the Almond Board’s recent Environmental Stewardship Tour, Mary-Ann Warmerdam, left, director of the Calif. Department of Pesticide Regulation, and Steve Shaffer, director of CDFA’s new Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship office, discuss Gov. Schwarzenegger’s vision for sustainable farming systems and statewide efforts to better coordinate rules and regulatory agencies when it comes to environmental concerns and restrictions. (Photo by Marni Katz)

Various state agencies that cover environmental regulations now meet monthly in an effort to bring a partnership approach to these types of regulations.

 “The different agencies in California are working together on this whole issue of ag sustainability and the question for us is, do we stay out of the way and not be part of the problem, or can we be part of the solution. There is no question the issue of sustainability is going to move forward and agencies are working together,” Shaffer said.

“It’s got to be an integrated approach,” he added. “We have got to integrate different regulations and solutions so that we are working to bring the dynamics of water and air quality together so that the tools are there and they don’t conflict.”

Nick Gatzman, PCA and field supervisor for Travaille and Phippen, shared what the farm is doing to control pests through sustainable farming practices that include monitoring and sampling, reduced risk pesticide use, cover crops and orchard sanitation.

Gatzman said he applies pesticides and herbicides based on recommendations compiled by the Almond Board and UC Cooperative Extension in the Seasonal Guide to Environmentally Responsible Pest Management Practices. In addition to relying on detailed monitoring to time applications, high tech equipment and best management practices minimize impacts of those applications to air and water quality.

He said the farm sprays at night when there is less drift and is careful to calibrate the sprayer, turn it off at the ends of rows and otherwise make sure the spray nozzle is only hitting its target.

“We don’t spray where we don’t have a tree,” he said.

One key to success in the program is to monitor pest populations with pheromone traps and sample regularly to know what pests are present in the orchard and whether or not they have reached the threshold or stage of development to justify treatment.

“You’ve got to get out and get your boots dirty and see what you have,” Gatzman said.

Orchard sanitation is also important. Gatzman said Travaille and Phippen shakes and knocks mummies, or decaying nuts that remain on trees after harvest, during the winter to remove habitat for overwintering navel orangeworm. That alone helps significantly reduce inseason sprays to control the pest. He said the orchards can now go several years without an application to control navel orangeworm.

Navel orangeworm traps help him monitor the pest throughout the year and time needed sprays according to degree days for optimal control. Gatzman relies more on reduced risk products to control NOW inseason rather than more broad spectrum dormant sprays that can impact water quality.

Nick Gatzman discusses the importance of IPM practices and orchard sanitation during the Environmental Stewardship tour. (Photo by Mark Looker

Application of reduced risk sprays also help preserve beneficials for control of pests including San Jose Scale.  

Gabriele Ludwig, the Almond Board’s senior manager for technical and regulatory affairs, said many of these strategies have been developed through years of research sponsored by the Almond Board of California.

The Environmental Committee this year is funding $300,000 in research to address environmental issues in addition to $800,000 in production research the board also is funding.

In the hulling operation, Dave Phippen also shared how improvements in hulling equipment allow Travaille and Phippen to reduce environmental impacts and also produce quality byproducts in the hulling operation.  

He pointed out that the increased presence of chipped prunings in the orchard has impacted the quality of almond hulls he sells to dairies for feed. He commented that “dairies love the nutrition of the hulls, but do not like paying for wood”.

In northern counties with higher rainfall, an estimated 80 percent of orchard prunings are now shredded or chipped for use either as landscape material, co-generation fuel, dairy bedding or to decompose and provide organic matter to the soil. Just three years ago, that figure was reversed with about 80 percent of prunings burned. This has helped significantly reduce pollutants released into the air by burning.

Modern screening equipment is helping Travaille and Phippen process the hulls to get quality products suitable for dairies. The industry, he noted, has come a long way from the days when hulls were added to the burn pile.

Phippen said the opportunity to meet face-to-face with regulators helps open dialogue about voluntary steps the ag industry can take to pre-empt mounting environmental regulations.

Equipment manufacturers displayed improvements to sweepers, harvesters and chipper/shredders, which every year continue to raise the bar for reducing air quality emissions and other environmental impacts from almond farming and harvesting.

Mike Flora of Flory Industries discussed the next generation of sweepers with adjustable heads that sweep harvested nuts using fewer passes and with lower dust emissions.  

Newer harvesters from Exact Harvesting Systems have also been modified to use much less air and further reduce emissions from the harvesting process, said the company’s Doug Flora.

Brush shredders to manage orchard prunings were also on display. Rhys Panero with Panero Farms, who does custom shredding for outside almond growers, said newer shredders can manage larger diameter wood and operate quicker to make the process more efficient for growers.

Stephen Heinrichs of JackRabbit said the company’s dual chipper/shredder is now doing the work that three to four tractors once performed in the field, greatly reducing passes to manage orchard brush.

Dale Shimp with the State Air Resources Board said he is impressed at the improvements made not only to the equipment but to almond production practices in general in recent years. Shimp recently returned to the Air Board after several years away from the ag industry.

“I remember going on an almond tour 10 years ago and talking about these things as possibilities. To come here today, a decade later, and see all the improvements and progress that has happened is really just amazing,” he said.

Dave Baker, chair of the Almond Board’s Environmental Stewardship Campaign Committee, said these improvements have been decades in the making and that the almond industry has become a leader in the movement to integrate economically viable environmentally sustainable farming and harvesting practices.

Dave Baker, chair, Almond Board of California Environmental Committee, discusses the work of the committee as he addresses government regulatory and elected officials during the Environmental Stewardship tour. (Photo by Mark Looker)

“I’m proud to work in the almond industry because of the work growers have done to keep a sustainable system in place for farming almonds for a long time,” Baker said.

Phippen agreed that environmental stewardship is more than just a slogan to most almond growers.

“Environmental stewardship isn’t just something on a plaque on the wall in the almond industry, it’s something where the rubber hits the road at the ground level, harvesting level and processing level—all throughout the operation,” Phippen said.

Cindy Wire, Region 9 representative for the U.S. EPA, recognized the Almond Board for helping implement and promote strategies in the face of mounting environmental regulations and noted that the industry needs to continue challenging itself to find voluntary solutions.

“I’ve seen what almond growers are accomplishing and I want that to be recognized. I want them to push themselves and get the recognition they deserve. I’ve seen what the Almond Board’s Environmental Committee can do and I am sure they are going to make a lot of progress in the future,” she said.

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