Have you ever found yourself in the morning looking down the vineyard row and seeing what looks like a sumo wrestling match had taken place the night before right in your vineyard? You may likely have a problem with feral pigs. Ryan McCreary from USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services recently addressed large wildlife pest threats in the vineyard at Malcolm Media’s Sonoma …
“Brand New” Sun-Maid Holds 107TH Annual Meeting
Sun-Maid Growers of California held its 107th Annual membership meeting at the Convention Center’s “New Exhibit Hall” in Downtown Fresno this past weekend. The theme “It’s a Brand New Sun-Maid—And it’s not just Business as Usual” was evident throughout the event with a fresh approach to facing challenges in the industry and continuing company-wide transformation. More than 1,000 raisin growers, families …
2019 Raisin Crop Offer Made to RBA Signatory Packers
The Raisin Bargaining Association’s Board of Directors has offered their signatory packers a price of $1,600/ton for the the 2019 Natural Seedless Raisin Crop. The Board of Directors is asking all RBA Signatory Packers to accept, counter, or reject this offer by 11/22/19 at 5 pm. The RBA Board of Directors strongly believes it is in the best interests of …
UC Davis’ Kaan Kurtural Shares Advancements in Precision Viticulture
It used to be that growers had few if any options in bring uniformity to a vineyard with so much variability in soil type among other geographical characteristics. There have been so many recent developments and technological advances in plant and soil sensing equipment that has taken precision viticulture to a whole new level. Watch this brief interview with UC …
California Raisin Crop Estimate Up, Acreage Down
Harvest has just begun for Central Valley raisin growers, but what is crop size, quality and maturity looking like? Watch this brief interview with Sun-Maid Board member and grower Jon Marthedal to find out, and read more about it in the September issue of American Vineyard Magazine. Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery for their industry support HERE.
Sunpreme Raisin Trial Returns to the Kearney Ag Center
It’s human nature to point fingers, but let’s face it — accidents happen, and we all make mistakes from time to time. What matters is how we respond to them. And despite an accident that setback the DOV Sunpreme raisin variety trial at the UC Kearney Ag Center, the trial continues on. Watch this brief interview with UCCE Viticulture Advisor …
USDA Announces Details of Support Package for Farmers
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced further details of the $16 billion package aimed at supporting American agricultural producers while the Administration continues to work on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals. In May, President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other …
2018 California Raisin Grape Mechanical Harvest Report
As the farm labor force in California continues to shrink and costs continue to climb, growers have been compelled to mechanize much of their farming tasks. Harvesting is one of the most labor-intensive tasks for California raisin growers, and fortunately, mechanical harvesting is an option for them. The technology has been around for quite some time now; however, some growers …
Heat illness prevention alert!
Summer is coming, and temperatures are rising to levels of concern for heat illness for farm employees. “Weather forecasts are looking at highly increased temperatures in the coming weeks,” shared Manuel Cunha, Jr., President of Nisei Farmers League. “In some areas, an increase of more than 20 degrees than what we are used to at this time of the year. Please …
Introducing the New Complete DOV Raisin Variety Kalem93
One of the topics of interest addressed at the recent annual meeting of the Raisin Bargaining Association was a new raisin variety currently being tested known as Kalem93. This variety’s features offer great labor savings potential for California raisin growers. Watch this brief interview as RBA Chairman Dwayne Cardoza talks about the new variety and read more about it in …
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American Vineyard Magazine Matthew Malcolm California Ag Network Duarte Nursery California grape industry California Association of Winegrape Growers UC Cooperative Extension Allied Grape Growers California Raisins Wine Grapes Jeff Bitter California wine industry raisin growers Raisin Bargaining Association Kalem Barserian Food Safety Modernization Act Unified Symposium CAWG Malcolm Media Sonoma Grape Expo winemaking UCANR Raisin supply CDFA American Society for Enology and Viticulture
jim grady: I think Jeff is a little out of touch with the current market. There is NO spot...