In this episode of the Almond Journey Podcast, we sit down with nine different almond industry leaders to hear about their hopes for 2023 and beyond. This group shares an acknowledgment of the current challenges, but also optimism for the future ahead for almonds. Our guests include: Richard Waycott, Almond Board of California president and CEO Dick Cunningham, grower and Almond Alliance board member Monish Seth, president and owner of Farmers International in Chico Robert Holterman, fourth-gene...
Jan 16, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 34
January's Global Update from the Global Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at the Almond Board of California in today's Almond Byte. Ag Trade Leaders are Confirmed by Senate After being nominated for leadership positions by the Biden administration last spring, Alexis Taylor was confirmed by the US Senate as Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Affairs at USDA on Dec 21. In addition, Doug McKalip was confirmed as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on...
Jan 13, 2023•6 min
This special episode was recorded in-person at The Almond Conference in early December 2022. Almond Achievement Award winner Brian Ezell shares his almond journey, the importance of volunteerism, and what he’s given and gained by serving the industry over the years. Ezell is the vice president of the almond division for Wonderful Almonds and Pistachios. His primary role is to make sure that the company markets and sells their almonds every year to customers around the world. Ezell has served on ...
Dec 30, 2022•10 min
Bill Brush is a wealth of knowledge about soil and crop fertility. After years of farming and working in ag retail, Brush became fascinated by the world beneath the soil’s surface, and that led to him becoming a full-time independent consultant. In this episode, Brush discusses what can be done to continue to build structure, biology and water holding capacity over time. “The three major components of science are physics, biology, and chemistry. It's like a three-legged stool. You have to have a...
Dec 21, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 33
In this episode, pest control adviser (PCA) Robert Sylvester joins the journey. Sylvester has worked for Wilbur Ellis for over 12 years focused on almonds he grew up working in almond orchards with his father. While at Cal Poly, Sylvester interned with Wilbur Ellis which led to a full time position and a PCA license. This background has greatly influenced the way he approaches his almond producer clients. “I work with the grower and I say, this is where I see the issues and this is where I think...
Nov 30, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Almond grower Jarred Greene didn’t always know he would end up pursuing farming as a career. In 2013, Greene took a summer internship with his current employer, San Juan Ranch, part of Nickel Family Farms. That led him on a journey from washing shop windows to irrigation scheduling to farm management. In this episode, Greene shares insights on where automation fits into an almond operation, especially in the areas oof irrigation and spraying. “We have irrigators out there. We’re not trying to re...
Nov 17, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 31
November's Global Update includes the latest on the European Union, engagement in the Indian market and new pesticide and trade strategy development. EU Regulatory & Trade Update The EU continues to grapple with the fallout from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in the form of delayed implementation of some of the Green Deal/Farm-to-Fork proposals and higher energy costs. ABC is monitoring proposals that may impact the export of California almonds to the EU. As part of stakeholder consultations...
Nov 16, 2022•4 min•Season 1Ep. 8
The 50th Almond Conference will host over 3,500 attendees and 270 exhibitors this December in Sacramento. Jim Jasper, Ladd Hackler, Bob Curtis and Rebecca Bailey have each attended the annual event several times throughout the years. They share some of their experiences in this episode as we hear how far the event has come in the last half-decade. “It's the super bowl of the almond industry. Once a guy does go, you're probably gonna see him the next year too because he did learn something. But y...
Oct 20, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 30
EU Regulatory & Trade Update The overall aflatoxin rejections for California almonds in Europe have trended down, from 32 in 2017-18 to 2 so far this year. However, the industry continues to face other challenges associated with aflatoxin rejections, namely, denial of goods returned to origin for rejected shipments in some EU countries such as Spain and Denmark. This is an issue ABC has been actively working with EU regulators to harmonize across all member states so shippers can opt to brin...
Oct 20, 2022•5 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Daniel Bays is a sixth-generation California farmer who also happens to be a former California State FFA Officer. In today’s episode, Bays shares about his farming operation, how the FFA has impacted his career and life, and why decades after wearing the blue jacket himself, he’s still passionately supporting the organization. We’ll also hear from Katie Otto of the California FFA Foundation and Rebecca Bailey at the Almond Board of California (ABC) about how the almond industry is supporting tom...
Sep 29, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Updates on transportation and Logistics, a new USTR Chief Negotiator and China's Decree 248 challenges in this month's Global Update from the Global Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at ABC. Transportation/Logistics Update The number of container ships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigor during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago. According to dat...
Sep 14, 2022•5 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Almond grower Patrick Abercrombie farms with his family in Kerman, California. In 2007, after about a decade of growing almonds, it became difficult for local hullers to keep up with the increase in deliveries. That paired with a year of untimely rains prompted the Abercrombie family to start stockpiling. “What's happened now with the almonds is we've gotten to the point where they cannot process the almonds as fast as we can deliver them so therefore, we're all going to have to start storing th...
Sep 01, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 28
While exports got off to a slow start at the beginning of the marketing year, record monthly shipments during the last quarter resulted in the second largest volume of exports on record, despite a multitude of ongoing challenges including logistical problems, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a strong dollar and ongoing, pandemic-related lockdowns in China. Trade has remained front and center! We continued to monitor global tariff and technical barriers, even though this Administration maintains ...
Aug 17, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Almond grower and pest control adviser (PCA) Patrick Romero shares some of the issues he has been seeing with plant bugs in orchards, including leaffooted bugs and stink bugs. Mel Machado , Blue Diamond Growers vice president of member relations, has been seeing this problem show up at the processor in brown spot damage. In some cases, the economic losses have been significant. “We had deliveries that were rendered as oil stock, and it was entirely because of brown spot as a result of plant bugs...
Aug 02, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Today we head east of Modesto to the town of Denair to visit with Brian Wahlbrink of Sperry Farms. Brian grows almonds with his brother-in-law, Wes Sperry, on their 5th generation farming operation. As many of you know, Brian is also the current chairman of the Almond Board of California (ABC). Wahlbrink shares about the unique journey that led him to almonds, his long tenure on the global market development committee, keeping up with marketing a rapidly growing crop, and an exciting new partner...
Jul 15, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Transportation/Logistics Update ABC staff attended the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) annual conference in Tacoma that focused on ongoing transportation disruptions and touched on many aspects of the logistics crisis. Numerous discussions focused on how and when things may begin to improve; the consensus among those presenting was that things will continue to improve throughout the calendar year with something like a return to normalcy being realized in 2023. Carrier rates, however,...
Jul 14, 2022•4 min•Ep. 4
Farmers Kyle Nichols and Rory Crowley discuss the benefits and tradeoffs of planting cover crops. They examine the economics and agronomics of the practice, and what this means for water management. Crowley is also the habitat program director for Project Apis m., running the Seeds for Bees program. Seeds for Bees encourages growers to support honey bee habitat and soil health by planting cover crops. “Everything on the market seems to be more and more difficult so growers are having a really ha...
Jun 27, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Transportation-Logistics Update The Almond Alliance, along with other agricultural export leaders, has met with significant ocean carriers such as CMA/CGM, OOCL, MAERSK, the Ports of LA, LB, and Oakland, and railroads - UP & BNSF, to find immediate solutions to current industry shipping logjams. Using ABC data, the Almond Alliance was able to show that there is the demand to warrant alternatives to shipping out of the Port of Oakland. As a result of these meetings, the Alliance was able to b...
Jun 16, 2022•4 min•Season 2022Ep. 3
Richard Waycott is the president and CEO of the Almond Board of California (ABC). Over the past 20 years he has seen almond production triple from one billion to three billion pounds. Recent travels to Spain, Portugal, India, and Duba have informed Richard’s perspective on the global supply and demand drivers impacting almonds. Richard shares some takeaways from these trips and how emerging trends will inform ABC’s strategies going forward. “I'm focused on the industry and the importers and the ...
Jun 06, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 24
On April 25, a group of agricultural stakeholders, led by the Almond Alliance of California (AAC), sent a letter to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation and other Federal agencies requesting they convene a meeting between agricultural exporters and ocean carriers to address the current trade imbalance. Other signatories included California Farm Bureau; Western Growers Association; National Milk Producers Federation; U.S. Dairy Export Council; Western Unit...
May 18, 2022•2 min•Ep. 2
Kirk Pumphrey grows 160 acres of almonds on Westwind Farms in Yolo County. He has been on a seven-year journey to finetune his operation, especially in the areas of irrigation efficiency and distribution uniformity. “In ‘13 and ‘14 the market was down, and a piece of property became available. I got through the planning of the orchard probably moving, I would say a bit quick in not doing as much research as I probably should have…. I quickly learned and understood the deficiencies of those decis...
May 12, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Australia and India ink new Trade Agreement It has been in the works for a long time, but it appears Australia and India have finally concluded their Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAusECTA) on April 2, 2022. The agreement provides for competitive tariff elimination or reduction on a wide range of goods including Australian almonds. The aim is to enhance bilateral trade to $54 billion in the next five years which is currently at $27.5 billion. As soon as the Agreement is ratified by...
Apr 30, 2022•6 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Devin Clarke has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to crop fertility, and is conducting some interesting trials at YARA’s Incubator Farm . The farm consists of 40 acres that they lease from an almond grower to compare various full season nutrition management strategies. In this episode, Devin discusses what they’re learning at the incubator farm, what’s going on with the volatile fertilizer market, and what insights he can share that might help growers get the most out of their fertilizer prog...
Apr 15, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Darren Rigg is a field buyer and sales representative for Minturn Nut Company and a member of the Almond Board of California Board of Directors. Rigg, like other handlers in the industry, sees firsthand how transportation disruptions are impacting the almond supply chain. In this episode of the Almond Journey Podcast, Rigg talks about the current logistics, transportation, and shipping challenges that the industry is facing while trying to execute on the global demand for almonds. “I feel like i...
Mar 29, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode we visit with almond grower and retired Air Force officer Alec Earle. Alec and his wife each spent over 30 years in the Air Force, first in active duty then civil service. In 2014, they bought 20 acres in partnership with his wife’s sister and her husband to form E&S Farms, LLC. Alec used the skills he had developed in the military to research extensively and organize his small orchard to operate at peak performance. He has fine-tuned his irrigation program and tapped into gr...
Mar 10, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 20
This National Almond Day episode travels down to Shafter, California to chat with 4th generation California farmer Jenny Holtermann , who some of you might know from her online presence as Almond Girl Jenny . Holtermann grew up farming almonds in the Chico area, and now raising the fifth-generation family farmers with her husband in Kern County. In this episode Holterman details her journey into industry advocacy, the benefits of sharing your story, and the need for more people from the industry...
Feb 16, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In today’s episode, independent PCA and crop consultant, Justin Nay , shares advice and experience for your almond orchard’s integrated pest management program. Justin’s company, Integral Ag Incorporated was formed in 2008. Before that Justin earned his Ph.D. in entomology from UC Riverside, where he worked with the carob moth, a cousin to the almond industry’s biggest pest: the navel orangeworm. Justin walks us through a year of pest management in almond orchards beginning with winter sanitatio...
Feb 01, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 18
In today’s episode we visit with Carl Evers and Jeremy Olday of AgIS Capital . AgIS Capital is an employee-owned management firm that invests in farmland on behalf of and alongside their investors. AgIS then oversees the management of those farm properties which are located nationwide with the majority being in California and the Pacific Northwest. Carl Evers is the director of sustainability at AgIS Capital, and Jeremy Olday is a farm manager for the company. The two discuss their efforts to ma...
Jan 25, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this episode we visit with almond grower and Hughson Nut Field Representative Donny Hicks. Donny manages a small 18-acre orchard, which helps him keep a grower’s perspective in everything he does. Donny shares how he’s offering up his acreage for experiments in areas such as fumigation, pruning, and subsurface irrigation. Then we talk about his role with Hughson Nut, and what he learns from the growers he works with day to day. “It's really nice to be able to farm and do what I'm doing becaus...
Dec 22, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In this episode we visit with Kyle McClintock. Kyle is the vice president and general manager of San Joaquin Fertilizer . He is also an almond grower at IB Farming, his family’s farming operation. On the fertilizer side, they specialize in crop fertility recommendations and foliar nutrients as well as a couple of proprietary liquid soil amendments. Kyle is also a current participant in the Almond Leadership Program . Kyle shares a little bit about crop fertility in almonds, the current situation...
Dec 03, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 15
