—by Ross Courtney
Robert Arceo of Rivermaid Buying and selling Co. discusses rising Bartlett and Hailey Purple pears on July 16 throughout the Worldwide Fruit Tree Affiliation summer season tour close to Sacramento, California. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
Worldwide Fruit Tree Affiliation tour-goers noticed loads of the pears, apples and cherries they’re used to seeing because the group launched into the primary day of the summer season tour by Central California, scheduled July 16–18.
However additionally they obtained a dose of avocados and olives, crops that two growers suspect mark a future for California specialty crop farmers close to Sacramento.
Robert Arceo of Rivermaid Buying and selling Co., who hosted one of many tour stops, expects extra Northern California growers will plant avocados sooner or later. They’ve a forgiving harvest window and require much less pest administration than pears, he stated. And the temperate Mediterranean local weather of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta doesn’t essentially kill the tropical plant.
“They will survive it should you deal with them accurately,” he stated.
He retains avocado timber about 10 toes tall, makes use of overhead cooling and crops them on berms to keep away from phytophthora.
Arceo additionally confirmed IFTA tour individuals pear and apple timber.
Pears develop properly within the Delta, an space of backwaters, sloughs and tributaries of the Sacramento River close to its mouth on the east aspect of the San Francisco Bay. Temperatures are moderated by the Pacific Ocean and soils are dense and fertile, however the few canneries left within the space have been asking for smaller volumes, he stated.
Rivermaid additionally sells fruit at farmers markets and thru reward packing containers.
To the south, close to Lodi, grower Jeff Colombini additionally confirmed the tour group a crop they don’t usually see: olives.
Colombini farms olives for oil, promoting to impartial eating places and pizzerias. In contrast to his cherries and apples, olives and almonds could be mechanically harvested. Olives additionally use much less water than almonds, he stated.
“That is the crop of the longer term” for drought-prone areas of California, he stated.
The IFTA crowd additionally obtained a superb take a look at Colombini’s apples, which his crews harvest by platform. He even confirmed a partial row of an unnamed, early pink selection from Zaiger Genetics, a fruit breeder in close by Modesto.
Like many California growers, he has been routinely changing his Bing cherries with early ripening varieties resembling Coral Champagne, a spread that now makes up about 50 p.c of the state’s cherry crop, he stated.
The opposite tour cease Tuesday was a go to to the College of California, Davis, the place engineering professor Dennis Sadowski mentioned efforts to construct fruit-picking robots. Two postdoctoral researchers demonstrated a robotic designed to move fruit lugs from pickers within the rows to checking stations and again.
The IFTA crowd for the summer season tour is smaller than regular, with roughly 60 individuals, organizers stated.
The IFTA tour continues July 17 and 18 with visits to Zaiger Genetics and stone fruit producers between Lodi and Fresno. •
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