California’s annual winegrape harvest is underway, and wineries across the state are humming with activity as they transform the grapes into wine. Despite this year’s challenges, vintners are pleased with the quality of the 2020 vintage. As a tribute to this special time, Wine Institute presents eight lesser-known facts about California’s winegrape harvest. Want to experience California wine country‘s harvest? …

With support from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Multistate Research Fund, researchers at 17 land-grant universities are working together to develop automated systems that work well for labor-intensive specialty crops like fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery plants. A multi-state collaborative approach lifts the burden of research and development from a single specialty crop sector and spurs major …

Recent heat waves have caused California’s energy grid to take a beating, which forced the California Independent System Operator, the entity that operates the state’s power grid, to institute rolling blackouts. How do California’s farmers and ranchers deal with energy uncertainty during times like this, when the intense heat demands an increase in irrigation? For many years, they have been working …

The false chinch bug (FCB), Nysius raphanus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), is a pest of many plants. FCB is a generalist and has been found to be a problem in many cropping systems such as soybeans, quinoa, tobacco, cotton, broccoli and other Brassicaceae plants. FCB adults (above) is mostly light to dark gray, elongate, and about 0.12 inch (3 mm) long. Females lay eggs on host …

In 2019, U.S. peach, nectarine, and cherry exports to Taiwan increased as competitor market share declined. Taiwan’s peach and nectarine production is forecast to increase from 16,171 metric tons (MT) in 2019 to 19,000 MT in 2020 due to improved bearing. Taiwan’s robust handling of COVID-19 has led to a modest recovery in domestic consumption, which has allowed consumption to …

This is not good. You find an avocado tree with sun blotch or it is time to thin the orchard and you remove the offending tree. You know that if you don’t remove the sucker, you’ll end up with some rootstock growth that just gets in the way of the other trees. Avocado suckers can look like a valued tree …

The Pacific Regional Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts an acreage survey of California citrus growers as funding is available. The purpose of this survey is to provide bi-annual citrus acreage, which includes information on new plantings and removals. It is the continuation of a long series of industry-funded Citrus Acreage surveys. Users are cautioned that …

California Avocado Commission — According to a new report released by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the Climate Science Alliance, Southern California agricultural regions will face more climate extremes — notably higher daily maximum temperatures and more frequent and intense heat events — in the coming decades. As Dr. Ben Faber notes in a recent blog post, although avocado groves have …

The initial 2020-21 Navel orange forecast is 84.0 million cartons, down 5 percent from the previous year. Of the total Navel orange forecast, 81.0 million cartons are estimated to be in the Central Valley. Cara Cara variety Navel orange production in the Central Valley is forecast at 7.0 million cartons. These forecasts are based on the results of the 2020-21 …

California Citrus Mutual commends the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) for the actions they recently announced to address the injury caused by increased imports of seasonal and perishable products. Low-priced imports have previously caused a substantial market disruption for the California citrus industry during its marketing season. …