Large crowd turns out for San Joaquin Valley Chip Off
San Joaquin Valley Chapter
Once again, CAFF's annual Almond Chip Off drew many farmers and industry representatives to hear and see more about chipping almond brush. There were over 60 participants at this year's event held at California State University, Fresno. New information regarding techniques and programs as well as new equipment, continues to make the Chip-Off a dynamic and worthwhile way to spend a fall morning.
Standard industry practice is to prune almond trees in the fall and then push the brush out of the orchard and burn it. There is increased interest in chipping these prunings and returning that organic matter to the soil, rather than burning it, but some challenges must be faced. The almond orchard floor must be clean at harvest because the steps of the harvesting method include shaking nuts from the trees and sweeping them up off of the ground. If there are wood chips on the ground at the time of harvest, these will be collected with the nuts and cause a contamination problem at the almond huller. And the contamination of almond hulls is not desirable for the huller, because he sells these for cattle feed. The sale of hulls is a larger income generator than the service of almond hulling. Because the cattle will not eat wood chips, contamination reduces the value of the hulls.
Over the past several years, CAFF has hosted a Chip Off in an almond orchard. Several speakers and various pieces of chipping equipment are brought in to demonstrate the feasibility of chipping almond brush. The practices and technology are still evolving and only a small fraction of farmers currently chip their brush. However, because of increased concerns about air quality and the impacts of agricultural burning, many growers are keenly interested in the possibility of adopting this practice.
This year's speakers included Brent Holtz from UC Cooperative Extension in Madera. Brent and his father, Stan Holtz were some of the first innovators to chip their almond brush instead of burning it. Surrounded by suburban homes, they were not allowed to burn brush on their farm and this forced them to try something new. Brent noted that, in general, increased organic matter captures nutrients that might otherwise be leached out, cation exchange capacity is increased, and Brent has seen a decrease in ring nematode. He is running studies on the effects of chips added to the soil, and found that during the first year, the soil became deficient in nutrients (because of the increased need for nitrogen to break down the chips), but by the second year, the chipped area had higher nutrient levels and decreased pH levels.
John Beyer, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fresno County, spoke about air quality concerns in the San Joaquin Valley, noting that we do not meet air quality standards in two categories: PM10 (particulate matter) and ozone levels. PM10 issues will cause increasing regulation for dust control on unpaved roads, equipment yards and agricultural burning. John stated that the emissions from brush chipping equipment have a far lower impact on air quality than does brush burning.
Next, Bill Kruger from Glenn County Cooperative Extension, shared results from almond pruning trials. There is a particular trial done on the Nichols Estate, which was not pruned for 21 years (except for first year shaping), that is well known. This orchard is densely planted and on poor soil, but given these low vigor conditions, there was no reduction in yield even though the trees had not been pruned. On another trial comparing alternate year vs. annual pruning vs. no pruning, yield was found to be the same on all treatments. The only difference was that the less pruned trees yielded smaller kernel sizes.
The results of these trials could influence the amount of pruning done by farmers, thereby influencing their brush management decision.
Participants next heard from Mark Hutson of Farmland Management in Madera. Farmland Management received thank you letters from residential neighbors and was featured in the local press since moving to chipping instead of burning, particularly in figs. Farmland Management has been working with Rears to modify their pull behind mower/chippers so that the prunings stay in the mower longer and come out smaller.
Jim Smith, of Parreira Almond Processing, Los Banos, receives the nuts from Farmland Management. He stated that the processor gains most of their profit from selling hulls and increased wood contamination lowers the quality of these hulls. However, over the years of working with Farmland Management, he has seen a decrease in wood contamination from chipping. He expects that trend to continue as equipment and methods become more refined.
Equipment manufacturers presenting videos at the Chip-Off included Bert Walters of Turlock; Katherine Platt with Multiple Concepts of Eugene, Oregon; and Stephen Heinrichs of Jack Rabbit in Ripon. All of the above machines are large, self-propelled models. Machinery demonstrations were given by Vermeer Manufacturing of Fresno, Golden Eagle Distributors of Rocklin, and Robert Maragliano of Mechanical Pruning Services of Thornton. These were hand-fed chippers, the latter was mounted on a frame to be self-propelled. An unplanned but welcome demonstration of their brand new, self-propelled unit was given by Dianna Harvesting of Modesto. It put out a very fine, shredded material. The finer the material, the better it will break down before harvest and reduce the likelihood of wood chip contamination.
If you would like more information on chipping or participating in next year's Almond Chip Off, please contact Gwen Huff at 559-268-2696 or gwen@caff.org.
