Environmental Stewardship Program Update May 1, 2007

Media Placements

• Stockton Record• Capital Press • Pacific Nut Producer• Modesto Bee• San Joaquin County Farm Bureau Newspaper

Pacific Nut Producer

• Friday, March 09, 2007Almond tour highlights stewardship

• MANTECA - Mummified nut removal, cover crops and specialized shredding equipment, all examples of farming practices that help the environment, were highlights of the annual Environmental Stewardship tour by the Almond Board of California.

Members of federal, state and local regulatory agencies as well as other growers were on hand to learn farming and processing practices aimed at making almonds "the healthiest specialty crop in the world."

The tour was hosted by Dave Phippen, chairman of the Almond Board of California, at the Travaille and Phippen plant.

Modbee.comMarch 11, 2007

• Budding Prospects • Almond growers aim to keep their

customers healthy by keeping salmonella and other germs out of the orchards. Many try to do this by excluding rodents and other creatures that can track germs onto the orchard floor, where the nuts lie after being shaken from the trees. But many growers also like to maintain at least some ecological diversity on their farms. They might do this with grassy cover crops between the trees, or hedgerows at the orchard's edges. Trouble is, these mini-habitats could nurture the very animals that growers want to keep out so the crop doesn't become tainted. "Human pathogens are unfortunately carried by these birds and squirrels and so forth," said Merle Jacobs, associate director for industry relations at the Almond Board of California, during an orchard tour near Ripon last week. "There's always a balance: Are you mitigating one problem and adding to another problem?"

• Regulators witness environmental stewardship

• Dave Phippen of Travaille and Phippen Inc. in Manteca is proud to welcome regulators to his almond orchard. Phippen, an almond grower, San Joaquin Farm Bureau board member and chairman of the Almond Board of California, has good news to share about the integrated pest management and sustainable farming, harvesting and hulling/shelling practices underway at Travaille and Phippen.

Upcoming Newsletter Articles

• May 2007: Soil fumigants and VOCs

• May 2007: Expanded website article on Stewardship Tour

• July/Aug 2007: Water Quality. Update on monitoring results, encourage growers to return BMP surveys.

• Sept/Oct 2007: Possible article on pheromone disruption

Press Releases

• Burn Deadline June 1 for almond growers. Educate growers about deadline and exemptions.

• Technology Conference. Possible Funding for Ag Engineering That Will Assist Environmental Research Efforts.

Burn Ban for Almond Orchard Removal in SJV Takes Effect this June

• April 15, 2007 - - Almond growers in the San Joaquin Valley as of June 1, 2007 will no longer be able to burn removed orchards as part of a ban on open agricultural burning being phased in by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. 

• Growers will still have until June 2010 to obtain permits to burn prunings from surface harvested crops such as almonds. 

• The June deadline on orchard removal burning marks the third phase of the gradual elimination of open burning in the San Joaquin Valley to manage agricultural products, including prunings.    

• “This process has been going on for several years but this is the first phase-out deadline to affect almonds directly,” said Gabriele Ludwig, Senior Manager, Global Technical & Regulatory Affairs with the Almond Board of California. 

• Ludwig said growers will be able to manage stumps and other orchard removal material through open burning after June 1 only under three specific scenarios, and only after obtaining a permit from the air district.

Burn Ban for Almond Orchard Removal in SJV Takes Effect this June

• The three exemptions to the June ban on orchard removals are: 

1)  To remove individual trees that fall down in an existing orchard. 2)  For a single block up to 20 acres annually. This time-limited exemption will be available through June 1, 2015 to help growers contend with cost issues related to handling small acreage removals.3)  To burn diseased trees only when the county agricultural commissioner deems that burning diseased trees or limbs is the most effective way to eradicate or stop spread of the disease.

• Burning orchard materials is no longer permitted under any circumstances without a permit from the air district. The district is made up of eight Central Valley counties from Stockton to Bakersfield.

Definitions of Sustainability

Ecologically Sound

Economically Viable

Social Equity

Revised Definition of Sustainability for the Almond Industry:

Sustainable almond farming utilizes production practices that are economically viable and are based upon both scientific research and common sense. and a respect for the environment, neighbors and employees. The result is a plentiful, healthy and safe food product.

Levels of Sustainable Efforts

1. A Mission StatementInternal guidance using mission as

anchor2. A Vision

Known internally and promoted externally3. Farm-to-Fork BMP’s

Pulls together all BMP’s and GAP’s under one “whole systems” approach

4. Voluntary Self – EvaluationDocumentation of self-assessment of

BMPs/GAPs5. Value-Added Marketing Tool

Third party certification and marketing advantage

Partnerships and Collaborative EffortsAugust 1, 2006 →

• CDFA – Steve Shaffer, EC Tour Participant, Director Office of Ag

and Environmental Stewardship

• UCD – Dr. Tom Tomich, EC Tour Participant, Director Ag Sustainability Institute

• Santa Clara University - Dr. Keith Warner, OFM, Environmental Studies Institute

• Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission - Dr. Cliff Ohmart, IPM Director

• CAFF – Marcia Gibb, Sustainable Cotton

• California Roundtable on Ag and the Environment• Roots of Change – Michael Dimick