The California Walnut Board announced today the launch of the “Life Isn’t Always Simple” The California Walnut Board advertising campaign, created to show consumers how walnuts can be an easy way to add nutrition, crunch and variety to any meal and snack. The new campaign, which focuses on the importance of small daily “wins,” like getting an easy and delicious meal on the table, marks a conscious shift to a more lifestyle-focused creative strategy than in years past. In developing the creative, the Board leaned into the emotional connection and role walnuts can play in people’s everyday lives.
Segmentation research and a series of focus groups uncovered that women aged 25-54, primarily Millennials and Gen Xers, are optimistically embracing the challenges that accompany their full, active and busy lifestyles. Despite describing their days as ‘controlled chaos’, they are enthusiastic about life, laugh off small setbacks, and enjoy small daily victories. Lack of time is their greatest challenge and many are looking for simple solutions to make their days more manageable.
The integrated campaign will reach 97% of adults over 18 an average of 32 times, garnering 3.7 million impressions across the U.S. The year-long campaign kicks off with national print ads, six TV spots as well as digital ads. The TV spots feature relatable examples of how modern life can often be filled with chaotic moments (ever mistake school picture day for pajama day?) then reminds viewers that California walnuts are an easy solution for incorporating nutritious and delicious recipes into everyday routines.
“In recent years, the California Walnut Board’s advertising was focused on promoting the functionality of walnuts, their versatility and added health benefits as an ingredient,” said Jennifer Williams, Marketing Director, Domestic Advertising at California Walnut Board. “California walnuts are not just in the business of food, but in making an emotional connection with our audiences through cooking, eating, and enjoying. This new campaign is a shift towards appealing to consumers on a more emotional level – portraying walnuts in a relatable way.”
The media plan to support this new campaign leverages various platforms including print magazines, national TV, editorial integrations, digital and social activations, blog posts, and influencer programs. The entire plan is designed to encourage walnut consumption beyond the traditional holiday season. This effort will be supported by an unprecedented investment at retail, to remind consumers to add California walnuts to their shopping cart.
California Walnut Board
The California Walnut Board was established in 1948 to represent the walnut growers and handlers of California. The CWB is funded by mandatory assessments of the handlers. The CWB is governed by a Federal Walnut Marketing Order. The CWB promotes usage of walnuts in the United States through publicity and educational programs. The CWB also provides funding for walnut production, food safety and post-harvest research.
Even though growers are just completing this year’s harvest, it’s never too early to start thinking about winter sanitation.
Winter is the time to remove and destroy mummy nuts that harbor navel orangeworm (NOW) larvae, which can hatch in the spring and wreak havoc in the orchard. By removing the nuts, growers are eliminating both a shelter and food source for these overwintering pests. This practice falls in line with the strategic and effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for NOW, one that includes different tactics depending on the time of the year.
“Winter sanitation is the core of IPM programs,” said David Haviland, a UCCE farm advisor in Kern County who specialist in entomology and pest management.
Here are some quick tips growers should keep in mind when preparing to remove mummy nuts from their orchards, a.k.a. “mummy shake”:
Mummy nuts become most obvious after trees have shed their leaves, and growers should look to knock all the mummies off the trees no later than Jan. 15.
A good time for winter sanitation is when dew has formed or after it’s rained because mummy nuts will have absorbed some moisture, making them heavier and more likely to fall. In addition, a wet orchard floor helps to increase NOW mortality rates.
Growers can remove mummy nuts by bringing the shaker through their orchards or hiring crews to knock mummies to the ground using long poles.
To note: Both hard- and soft-shell varieties can harbor overwintering NOW, so growers must be sure to remove mummies in both types.
Growers should aim to have fewer than two mummers per tree before bud swell (around Feb. 1). However, growers in the San Joaquin Valley should aim for less than one mummy per tree.
Once on the ground, mummy nuts should be swept into windrows and destroyed, either with a flail mower or by disking them into the soil, by March. 15.
Removing mummy nuts and reducing NOW levels using environmentally friendly techniques is key to helping the California almond industry achieve its Almond Orchard 2025 Goals, one of which is to increase adoption of environmentally friendly pest management tools by 25% by 2025.
Josette Lewis, the Almond Board’s director of Agricultural Affairs, said growers must realize that in the end the cost of efficient winter sanitation pays for itself.
“It is important to recognize that the return on investment comes from both a higher yield after shelling and a higher price premium at the handler,” Lewis said. “In other words, without good winter sanitation, yield loss occurs due to rejection of mummy nuts from the previous year and heavily NOW-damaged nuts from the current season.”
To help remind growers to break the link between mummy nuts and NOW, the Almond Board of California created a parody song that’s sure to be an “orchard smash.” It’s “The Mummy Shake” — and if you and your family dance and sing along, you’ll be in the running to receive tickets to a luncheon at The Almond Conference 2019 in Sacramento in addition to either tickets to Disneyland or a $500 Amazon gift card! Visit Almonds.com/NOW to learn more.
Last September, the California Walnut Commission launched a new social media strategy, and over the past year, all metrics have soared. The result of all of these strategic changes, including more storytelling, the introduction of the blog, use of recipe collections, and new social ad formats, is that clicks to the website from social media reached 154,789, up from 20,726 the previous year. The primary purpose of the new approach was to increase engagement with consumers across social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn) where California walnuts is active and as a result, increase the number of visitors to walnuts.orgwho hope to learn more, and it worked.
A key component of accomplishing these goals was a brand new point of view with an encouraging, unified voice. Content continues to focus on walnuts in the kitchen but also takes walnuts beyond the kitchen, weaving them into many aspects of today’s consumers’ lifestyles. For example, showing consumers how to live a more healthful and balanced lifestyle by incorporating walnuts was a focus this year. Back-to-the-roots “orchard origins” content helped connect consumers to the broader community of California walnuts, and the story of ‘orchard to table’.
This larger range of content themes has allowed California Walnuts to reach new audiences, including men, millennials, health enthusiasts, and more.
In fact, since the launch of the new social media strategy, the California Walnuts social media community has grown nearly 16% — which means over 30,235 people have liked or followed California Walnuts on social media. Instagram was up 90%. It’s not just followers, though. The number of people seeing our content across all social media channels are up 140% comparing year over year, with 67 million total impressions delivered.
A critical metric in social media is engagement, which is the public’s way of letting you know if the content is resonating. These engagements could be likes, shares, comments or saves. These active engagements are up 336% over the previous time period. Some of the most-liked content has been from the monthly #MeatlessMonday series, which celebrates plant-based meals and Power Pairings, where walnuts are showcased with a seasonal ingredient along with a link to a recipe collection on walnuts.org.
Walnut growers are now eligible to receive trade mitigation payments through the USDA Farm Service Agency. Sign-ups have begun and from a world production perspective, US walnut growers are looking to have a better year. Watch this brief interview with Pam Graviet from the California Walnut Commission as she explains and read more about it in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
Please thank our sponsor Duarte Nursery for their industry support HERE.
Walnut production research goes back over five decades. Each year, the California Walnut Board’s Production Research Committee recommends projects for funding based on industry’s short and long term needs. This year, the CWB members approved a total of 23 projects totaling $1.69 M for the 2019-2020 crop year.
Production research continues to be fundamental to addressing production challenges in the areas of orchard management, entomology, breeding and genomics as well as plant pathology and nematology. The Production Research Committee sees the slate of projects it approves each year as an ongoing mix of short and long-range approaches: Short-range approaches, which typically consist of one or more sequential multi-year (2-3) projects by the same team of researchers, are designed to craft management solutions for problems in today’s orchards. Longer-range approaches–which almost always means plant breeding–are used to craft solutions for tomorrow’s orchards. Historically, new varieties with better productivity and quality were developed through a time-consuming process of selection and testing of hundreds to thousands of seedlings resulting from intentional crosses of chosen male and female parent trees. Increasingly, new DNA-based techniques are being deployed to accelerate the pace of this traditional process for creating new varieties. And these techniques are now also being used to speed the development of new rootstocks. It is important to emphasize that the new varieties and rootstocks that come out of these efforts will still be the result of traditional crossing of selected parents and evaluation of selection of seedlings, just augmented and made more efficient by understanding the genetics behind desirable traits.
The scope of the breeding effort has also expanded: from finding productive high-quality productive new varieties that efficiently span the harvest timing window, to developing varieties and rootstocks that address orchard pest and disease problems–especially those that have eluded attempts to find sustainable solutions derived from shorter term research approaches. Thus, breeding efforts now focus on reducing tree susceptibility to walnut blight, husk fly, nematode and water stress as well as the traditional goals of productivity, nut quality, and harvest timing.
The Production Research Committee puts a high priority on striking an appropriate balance between short- and long-term research aimed at industry research needs. This balance fluctuates slightly from year to year and currently stands at a roughly 50-50 balance of short- and long-term efforts (Figure 1). Compared to other commodities, this is a large investment in the future of the California walnut industry. But our industry has always been forward looking: Most of today’s orchards, for example, are planted to varieties (and farmed using methods) developed through past industry investments in research and innovation.
The following are just a few examples of current research:
Breeding & Genomics:
Continued efforts to fill the harvest window with a sequence of productive, high quality, and pest resistant varieties, with a current emphasis on the Serr through Tulare timeframe
A first batch of Phytpohtopra, crown gall, and/or nematode resistant rootstocks have been advanced to ‘elite’ status and are now planted in small scale field trials around the state. Current rootstock improvements efforts are focused on moving additional candidates–some of which have resistance multiple diseases–through the disease screening process–and into the field trials.
Diseases and Nematodes:
Continued efforts to find alternatives to–or better ways to use–copper+mancozeb to control blight
Replacing methyl bromide by field testing of new experimental and recently registered pre- and post-plant nematicides for control of lesion and root knot nematodes
A search for genetic and/or new molecular biology tools that will expedite the development of blackline resistant varieties or rootstocks
Entomology
Continued efforts to understand aspects of navel orangeworm biology, movement, and monitoring that will make current control efforts more effective
Orchard & Canopy Management
Continued refinement and validation of no- and reduced-pruning approaches in developing orchards
Support of ongoing pre- and post-emergence herbicide performance and safety evaluations in young and mature walnut orchards
An effort to improve irrigation scheduling and water application efficiency by integrating real-time estimates of orchard canopy water use (evapotranspiration, ETc) with plant other irrigation scheduling tools
Validation across multiple sites of the water-saving and tree health promoting potential of using pressure chamber monitoring of tree water status to delay the start of spring irrigations
Other
In addition to the above, CWB also provides a small amount of funding each year to UC Farm Advisors in support of local applied research trials they conduct and their efforts to extend knowledge and use of the results of those trials among growers.
Figure 1. Twenty-three 2019 approved production research projects, totaling roughly $1.69M, divided by subject area.
California Walnut Board: We recently received final clarification that the Indian government announcement regarding implementation of the 20% retaliatory tariff that went into effect Sunday, June 16, does, in fact, include walnuts. Please let us know whether or not you have shipments currently in transit as the US Embassy in India wants to be aware of the magnitude of the tariff change on goods that left the United States under the belief of a lower tariff rate.
Effective Sunday June 16, 2019, tariff rates increased to 120% for in shell and 30.9% for shelled walnuts from the U.S. only.
We have been in direct contact with the Agricultural Affairs Office of the USDA in the US Embassy in India as well as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on this matter. Tariff issues remain a top priority for the California Walnut Commission (CWC). The CWC remains engaged with United States Trade Representative (USTR), USDA (FAS and AMS), APHIS, Congressional Representatives and our consultants/agencies to ensure our concerns are heard by the Administration officials in advocating on the industry’s behalf regarding the many tariff issue as well as non-tariff barriers facing the industry.
Walnut production is most productive on deep-rooting uniform soils with good water-holding capacity. Such soils are also conducive to infestations of plant-parasitic nematodes. Currently, the key pest of concern in walnut plantings is root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus vulnus). In California, this nematode is wide-spread in walnut producing areas and is estimated to be present in almost 85% of walnut orchards.
Because of the longevity of a walnut planting, even barely detectable nematode numbers can cause damage to the traditional rootstocks in the life span of an orchard. English and Paradox rootstocks are susceptible to root lesion nematode. Other nematodes, root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), can cause damage to English rootstocks. The third species frequently present in walnut soil is ring nematode (Mesocriconema xenoplax) but its damage potential has not been as well documented as for the lesion and root-knot nematode.
Plant-parasitic nematodes entirely depend on their host plants to sustain themselves. They can injure root tissues directly, and also consume photosynthetic nutrients that otherwise would be used for plant growth and nut production. Trees of all ages are susceptible, but newly planted and young trees are especially sensitive. In addition, the so-called replant problem, a biologically-incited disease that is poorly understood, can hinder the establishment and growth of new plantings.
Nematode problems become most challenging when an old orchard is removed and replanted. Under these conditions, the succumbing trees may have left behind huge numbers of the soil-dwelling parasites without symptoms the grower associated with nematode damage. When the young trees are exposed to these high populations, they can be severely damaged. Soil sampling for nematode evaluation when replacing an orchard should be standard practice.
For decades, methyl bromide was used to mitigate these challenges. This material has properties that allow its injection and gaseous redistribution in different soils, and thus was effective in various soil types and soil conditions. Since methyl bromide was banned in 2005, control options have relied heavily on 1,3-D products (Telone) and mixes of 1,3-D and chloropicrin. These are suitable soil fumigants under appropriate soil conditions, especially the soil moisture must be adjusted to the required range, and soil temperatures needs to be in the proper range. Soil preparation including deep-ripping (at least 5 ft) for alleviating obstructive soil layers and removal of old roots is even more important in a 1,3-D fumigation than it was when treating with methyl bromide. Achieving these conditions is more challenging on fine-textured soils. Many growers resort to cover cropping with, e.g., a winter annual grain crop to remove excess soil moisture during the spring and summer before fumigation is performed. Reaching highest levels of performance despite all these preparations may still be a challenge. Use of 1,3-D fumigation is restricted to a maximum annual amount that may be used under a so-called “township cap”.
Clearly, more sustainable methods of nematode management in walnut orchards are urgently needed. Three main avenues are currently being researched at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center: (a) development of walnut rootstocks with elevated resistance or tolerance to root lesion and other plant-parasitic nematodes, (b) implementation of chemical nematode suppression using novel nematicidal chemistries, and (c) biorational methods that rely on the use of organic amendments and cover crops for nematode suppression.
Development of nematode-tolerant walnut rootstocks is an ongoing program inherited from the long-term efforts at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. With the knowledge leap of mastering the in vitro production of new inter-species Juglanscrosses,it has become possible to produce saplings originating from cross breeding. This process allows for a much improved and accelerated breeding because many plant copies can be easily made for testing of desirable tree genotypes. The nematode tolerant rootstock ‘VX211’, Phytophthora root rot resistant ‘RX1’ and the vigorously growing ‘Vlach’ are early examples of new rootstocks developed using this approach. A team from the University of California, USDA-ARS, California State University Fresno and UCANR has come together to work on rootstock improvement. Genetically diverse walnut material is produced by the breeder and given to plant pathologists, the nematologist, and physiologist for concomitant examination for desirable rootstock and scion-compatibility traits. In the nematology program, trees are planted to field plots, inoculated with root lesion and root-knot nematodes and monitored for at least two years. At that time, nematode numbers in the roots and multi-year plant growth data are used to identify elite selections that are then transplanted from the original selection orchard and further monitored for vigor and nematode dynamics. Two years after transplanting, trees are grafted to the scion ‘Chandler’ to examine graft compatibility in parallel to the root evaluations. This program has been successful in identifying advanced elites that outperform currently used clonal rootstocks under high nematode and replant problem pressure. In winter 2018, a collection of elite nematode-, Phytophthora-, and crown gall-resistant selections was planted at the Kearney Agricultural Center in Parlier, and more trees are scheduled to be planted this spring at the Nickels Soils Laboratory near Arbuckle.
The second approach that is pursued is evaluating novel nematicidal chemistriesfor their activity against nematodes that affect walnuts. After many years of having few new products available for testing, several new products have recently become available. In general, these materials are much safer for the user and the environment than the old compounds were.
The application of traditional preplant soil fumigants was relatively simple compared to newer non-fumigant products. A large tractor could apply traditional products using shanks to deliver the material to the proper soil depth. Gaseous redistribution of the material fostered good soil penetration and nematode suppression. The non-fumigant character of the new chemistries requires delivery to the site of action. This is most efficiently accomplished by a 6 acre-inch preplant water drench via a drip irrigation system. Some of the compounds need to be applied underneath a tarp for user and bystander protection. While this process is logistically challenging, it does offer promise because only a few pounds of active ingredient per acre are effective in killing nematodes compared to several hundred pounds of the old traditional materials.
In post-plant situations, the newer products are less cumbersome to apply than preplant situations partially because existing irrigation systems may be used. Typically, lower amounts of materials are applied that do not result in the high mortality required of preplant treatments but even modest population reductions (for example, around 50%) in established orchards can improve tree growth and productivity. After several years of field testing of the new chemistries at Kearney, CWB-supported work is now underway in commercial orchard field trials.
Lastly, novel organic amendments and cover crops for nematode suppressionare tested. Large amounts of organic waste material accrue from various sources in California and novel ways of using them – or products derived from them – are coming on line. In California, a recent focus of this research has been on exploiting novel characteristics of anaerobically digested food waste and animal manures. The fermentation process is implemented for biogas and ultimately bioenergy production. The finding that some of the by-products of this process, called digestates, can suppress plant-parasitic nematodes, while also serving as a nutrient source, is being explored in walnuts and other nut crops.
Strategies that rely on processes that occur within the field are also under study. In anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD), large amounts of organic substrate (typical 9 tons/acre of rice bran or other organic material) are spread on the soil surface, incorporated, and the soil kept moist under tarp for about one month after an initial complete soil saturation. This method is logistically challenging but has shown high levels of efficacy when preparing nursery sites for planting. Another approach shown to effectively suppress nematode populations is “biofumigation”, in which Brassica crops such as various mustards or radishes are planted and subsequently incorporated into the soil. Using similar Brassica crops as “companion crops” within walnut orchards also takes advantage of the capacities of these crops. Planted after harvest close to fall rains, cover cropping with cool-season Brassica can be a straight-forward process with few logistical challenges. The hope is that the Brassica species reduces nematode infestation by trap cropping the nematode pests or by actively reducing the populations via root exudates.
In summary, with CWB support, a multi-pronged approach is investigated to alleviate the devastating impacts of plant-parasitic nematodes in walnuts. These studies are often highly collaborative with other experts of walnut production. The goal is to increase profitability and sustainability of walnut production while reducing its environmental impacts. This work is made possible by the gracious industry and government agency support coupled with the efforts of a highly dedicated nematology team, support from the University of California – Agricultural and Natural Resources, and the generous cooperation of grower and farm advisor collaborators.
By Andreas Westphal, Department of Nematology, University of California, Riverside, Parlier, CA
Walnut rootstocks growing in root lesion nematode-infested soil in a walnut replant site. Standard clonal rootstock on the left, new selection on the right.
After years of drought, the 2019 winter is turning out to be a good one for California’s water supply. Several winter storm systems in the past couple of months means there is plenty of water. In some parts of the state, more than plenty, as evidenced from flooding events. Snow pack is above average (156%) and reservoirs are sufficiently full. So, farmers can rest easy, eh? Not so fast.
Some of you may have heard that in December 2018 the State Water Resource Board announced that up to 50% of the water flowing through Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries – the Stanislaus, Merced and Tuolumne river will be required to flow unimpaired, i.e. without diversions. The Water Board contends this is needed to restore critically endangered fish species dependent on the flow. A second phase of the plan would see similar flow requirements for the Sacramento River and its tributaries – the Feather, Yuba and American Rivers. As you can imagine, this will have a severe impact on agriculture dependent on this water.
However, this is not a done deal. There are other regulatory processes that must be followed before the plan can go into effect. But already, legal challenges have been made to this so called “Bay Delta Plan”. Several agricultural commodity groups, including the California Walnut Commission, have voiced their opposition. Critics of the plan argue that voluntary water sharing agreements between various stakeholders can yield better results than arbitrary unimpaired flow decisions. Furthermore, they point out that water flow is just one of the factors affecting species survival. Habitat loss is another critical factor to be taken into account. Mere unimpaired water flow would not be as beneficial to species restoration. To that end, cooperation among various stakeholder groups-agricultural water rights, urban drinking water, and environmental groups, is the appropriate way to go.
Another regulatory issue of importance is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This was passed in 2014, at the height of the California drought, to avoid severe depletion of groundwater and its quality. The first phase of SGMA implementation is approaching in 2020. Local water agencies will need to start implementing Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP), which will include annual tabulation of how much groundwater is being extracted. Growers should have heard by now from their local water agencies as to which Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) they belong to and what the annual reporting requirements are.
Regardless of the regulatory issue, the California Walnut Commission will continue to make sure the opinions of the California Walnut industry are represented.
Navel Orangeworm has become a serious pest in California for many agricultural commodities, especially for tree nuts. Mating disruption technology has proven to be a critical tool in managing this pest; however some growers may have concerns with utilizing this technology on their farms. Check out this brief interview with Brad Higbee, now Field Research & Development Manager for Trece, Inc. as he works with growers to overcome concerns and clear up any misconceptions regarding this novel technology in the nut industry.
This year the California Walnut Commission will be holding elections for members and alternates for the term beginning September 1, 2019 and ending August 31, 2021.
“The diversity of our growing and evolving membership brings valuable perspective to industry. The CWC in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) welcomes participation of women, minorities and people with disabilities,” said Michelle McNeil Connelly, CEO of the California Walnut Commission.
Following are the specifications for the election:
Every two years the Commission law provides for the nomination of 13 members and 13 alternates that will be appointed by the California Secretary of Food and Agriculture.
The following is a list of the member and corresponding alternate positions for the Commission:
Eight Producer Members (four from each district, see below)
Four Handler Members
One public member (nominated by 12 elected members)
All producers and handlers participating in the election must complete a nomination form in order for their name to appear on the ballot. The nomination period is May 1-31. All producer candidates must return the form with at least 15 eligible grower signatures. All handler candidates must submit a petition with at least five other handler signatures.
We anticipate that ballots will be mailed to growers and handlers in late June. The election results will most likely be announced in August.
District 1 is comprised of counties in the state that lie north of a line drawn on the south boundaries of San Mateo, Alameda, San Joaquin, Calaveras and Alpine counties.
District 2 consists of all other walnut producing counties in the state south of this boundary line.If you have any questions please feel free to call the CWC office at (916) 932-7070.
About California Walnut Commission
The California Walnut Commission, established in 1987, is funded by mandatory assessments of the growers. The Commission is an agency of the State of California that works in concurrence with the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). The CWC is mainly involved in health research and export market development activities. For more industry information, health research and recipe ideas, visit www.walnuts.org.
A key component of accomplishing these goals was a brand new point of view with an encouraging, unified voice. Content continues to focus on walnuts in the kitchen but also takes walnuts beyond the kitchen, weaving them into many aspects of today’s consumers’ lifestyles. For example, showing consumers how to live a more healthful and balanced lifestyle by incorporating walnuts was a focus this year. Back-to-the-roots “orchard origins” content helped connect consumers to the broader community of California walnuts, and the story of ‘orchard to table’.
This year the California Walnut Commission will be holding elections for members and alternates for the term beginning September 1, 2019 and ending August 31, 2021.