The Madera County Ag Commissioner’s office is gathering data to determine if the pistachio crop has been damaged due to weather and pollination earlier this year. They are hearing reports of low yields and lots of blanks in the current pistachio crop and would appreicate the filling out of this survey form.
The survey form can be downloaded here.
Hot March temperatures are leading to a lighter pistachio crop this year. However, growers and processors remain optimistic that the 2026 growing season is a fluke, and that the industry will have an excellent yield in 2027. Jeff Gibbons with Setton Farms and Joe Coelho with American Pistachio Growers discussed this anomalous year in the pistachio industry with Matthew Malcolm from California Ag Network. Watch this quick video and learn more in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
California pistachios now cover more than 600,000 acres and generate over $2.5 billion annually. As demand for pistachios continues to grow worldwide, production remains concentrated in the Central Valley with some acreage in coastal counties. However, a changing climate is creating new challenges for growers.
Although the 2025–2026 winter felt “normal” with cold, foggy days, a closer look at the data shows that some pistachio orchards may not have received adequate winter chill. The March heatwave, which coincided with bloom, further intensified bloom and nut-set irregularities, issues many growers have already reported. However, some orchards were severely affected while others showed little or no impact, pointing to underlying factors that are not yet fully understood.
This situation presents a valuable opportunity to better understand how unseasonable weather affects bloom, fertilization and set. To this end, the University of California, Davis (UCD) and the California Pistachio Research Board (CPRB) have developed a short grower survey. The information collected will help researchers evaluate the impacts of climate variability during this critical developmental stage. Several CPRB-funded research trials focused on improving yield and quality may also benefit from the survey data. These findings will help researchers develop strategies to prevent or mitigate similar impacts in the future and identify priority areas for targeted research. Grower participation is essential: the more orchards represented, the clearer the picture will be for guiding future research and management decisions.
The California Pistachio Research Board encourages growers to complete the survey and share observations from their orchards this season. Growers with multiple orchards showing different performance under the same cultural practices (e.g. irrigation, fertilization) are welcome to submit separate responses for each site. The survey takes only a few minutes to
complete but will provide valuable insights for future research.
All responses are anonymous unless you choose to provide contact information. Growers can use the link or QR code below to access the survey.
Pistachio Survey: https://forms.gle/vyeXgnoGfYG3aDDQ9
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Losing crops is a reality of farming, especially when you’re battling weather, new pests and emerging diseases. Seeing a few acres of your life’s work perish is tough, but the threat of losing your entire operation is a different type of sting. One California almond grower shares how soil health improvements made his orchards vulnerable to disease and how he was able to bring them back from the brink of total devastation.
Whole orchard recycling is a process to reincorporate an outgoing orchard in preparation for planting a new one. Mature trees are felled and ground into woodchips, which are then spread and incorporated into the soil. The University of California found that this process can help improve water retention. The issue for John Fassler, a California pest advisor who went through whole orchard recycling, was that the moist soil and greater-than-normal rainfall turned his orchards into the perfect breeding ground for oomycete pathogens like Phytophthora.
Fassler has consulted at Braden Farms where they used whole orchard recycling as a way to prepare for planting a new orchard. “This is a fairly new process, which means we’re learning as we go,” he says. “Some issues we’ve seen have been a rise in fungal diseases, such as Phytophthora and other replant diseases.”
Mother Nature hasn’t helped the fungal disease risk, especially at the beginning of the 2023 growing season. California experienced greater than average annual precipitation in 2023, breaking numerous records and ending three years of persistent drought, according to the California Nevada River Forecast Center.
“We’ve had significant rainfall in California the last two years, so this has really intensified the battle with Phytophthora in some spots,” says Ashley Bandoni, Syngenta sales representative and California almond grower.
Fassler experienced devastation due to those heavy rains. One of his orchards was completely submerged, worsening the orchard’s Phytophthora issues.
“We lost about 500 trees on this block due to Phytophthora and replant disease,” says Fassler. “Phytophthora is becoming more and more of an issue in these wetter years.”
Watch Video
Many California growers and crop consultants have been battling fungal disease challenges.
Ethan Nicol, an independent pest control advisor and crop consultant for Balanced Agronomics, helped one of his customers manage extreme Phytophthora in a young almond orchard.
Planted in the fall of 2021, Nicol began seeing early symptoms of Phytophthora infections the following spring. Young trees like the ones in the orchard Nicol manages tend to be more susceptible to disease because their root systems and crown areas are smaller compared to those of mature trees, according to the University of California Department of Agriculture.
“In that first 2022 season, we observed maybe 30 percent of the orchard was infected,” says Nicol. “By mid-August, we had really grown to realize the significance of the issue.”
Watch Video
For both Nicol and Fassler, almond yield potential was on the line and devastation was just over the horizon. They both had a tough decision to make.
“As far as doing our research going into it, usually we have the Syngenta reps come in to help us decide if the product will be a good fit for us,” says Fassler. “We also ask about how the product differentiates itself from what we’ve already been doing.”
After discussions with their local Syngenta experts, Fassler and Nicol decided to apply Orondis® fungicide to help save their orchards. Fassler says his flooded orchard plot turned around.
“My experience with Orondis changed up our program,” says Fassler. “We’ve been able to work it into our program really well and we didn’t lose one tree this year.”
Nicol’s experience with Orondis was also nothing short of extraordinary. Before application, Nicol was working with the grower to continuously remove and replant dead trees. They lost roughly 600 almond trees — six ranches — to Phytophthora. Once Orondis was applied in 2023, Nicol observed a noticeable decline in newly infected trees.
“We were confident in the success that we were seeing by the replants taking and growing strongly, and the existing trees continuing to grow and not develop signs of Phytophthora,” says Nicol. “Going into 2024, just as a precaution and to help protect this investment, we made an additional Orondis application. There’s been almost no sign of infected trees this season.”
If Fassler and Nicol didn’t have the guidance and support of their Syngenta representatives, their almond orchards might have been lost.
“I’ve worked with Syngenta for probably about the last 20 years, and through the years we’ve had many different experiences,” says Fassler. “Syngenta has always been there to help us through and guide us through what needed to be done.”
Learn more HERE.
California has experienced an unusually hot Summer this year, which may have had influence in Cal/OSHA’s recent approval of a new regulation “Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment” that went into effect immediately, which impacts indoor workplaces in ag such as nut hulling and processing facilities, wineries, dairies, packinghouses and more. Key indoor temperature/heat index thresholds of 82 & 87 degrees F will mandate certain procedures to ensure the health and safety of employees. Looking into the impact of the new regulation, Matthew Malcolm visited with labor contractor Robert Heredia of H&R Labor, who specializes in meeting the labor needs of food processing facilities in one of the hottest regions in the nation — the Central Valley of California. Watch this brief interview as Heredia shares his thoughts on the recent changes.
Special thanks to American Pistachio Growers for sponsoring this video.
The Governor of California recently issued an Executive Order allowing local water districts to utilize floodwater for groundwater recharge purposes, a record amount of which will take place on California farmland. This is desperately needed and welcomed by farmers and other water users all over the state that have suffered decades of drought conditions. Watch this brief interview with Adam Borchard from the California Fresh Fruit Association for more insight on what the announcement entails.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Ranch Systems for their industry support.
Plan for the worst, hope for the best. That’s a tough, solid, strategy as the 2021 season winds down and almond growers and PCAs look to 2022. The following are some considerations when following this strategy. Every operation is different, and growers must decide what works best for their business. Final decisions may not need to be made until early 2022, but planning ahead, given the stakes, is recommended.
The core issue is water, with both availability and quality of concern depending on local conditions.
The region and state start the water year (Oct-Sept) way behind on water. As of the middle of September, major reservoirs (Shasta and Oroville) serving the region and state are at 22-25% capacity, less than half of the normal storage for this time of year. The current forecast for the rest of 2021 is for equal chances for normal precipitation in the Sacramento Valley with a 70-80% chance of La Niña winter. 2020-21 was a La Niña winter. These are all predictions, not certainties, but the current precipitation outlook for the winter ‘21-‘22 is not great.
If the drought continues, more groundwater will be pumped to keep trees alive and, if enough water is available, productive. Using moderate to low quality water (see table) can risk decreasing yield from increasing rootzone salinity and/or toxic levels of the elements chloride, boron or sodium. For most of the Sacramento Valley, groundwater quality is good to very good. However, for parts of the Colusa and Sutter groundwater basins, water quality is not so good. Irrigation water quality levels are important to planning for next year, especially if similar quality groundwater was used in 2021.
Thresholds for 3 important irrigation water quality components based on risk to almond growth or yield reduction.
*For a more extensive information on water quality for almond irrigation see:
https://www.sacvalleyorchards.com/almonds/irrigation/lower-quality-water/
With a worst case scenario of low/no surface water deliveries and falling well water levels, here are some thoughts to consider in planning for 2022.
Rank orchards by potential value (net return to grower) in 2022 and future years. Possible considerations and rankings for use in farming decisions are suggested in the following table. These groupings are just examples based on UC research and the author’s experience. Orchard rankings and farming decisions should be based on local conditions and grower experience with input from PCA/CCA and nut handler.
Orchard conditions possibly influencing net grower returns (NGR) in a drought year.
Fall to prebloom practices can influence production potential for 2022 and could be adjusted on a per orchard basis. For example, higher cost items such as winter irrigation/salt management, potassium fertilization, preemergent herbicide and dormant sprays could be prioritized to the orchards with higher net return potential. [Orchard sanitation is also a big cost, but lack of sanitation in one orchard can mean that increased NOW, there, can spread harm and reduced net return in adjacent orchards.] Lower yielding orchards could receive less inputs this fall and/or spring, further limiting potential net income next year, depending on what is cut out or limited. Limiting inputs to orchards considered for removal could be further savings to growers.
Hopefully, adequate rain and snow will mean that these hard choices to remove or limit orchard yield will not need to be made. In the meantime, planning ahead will make springtime decision making simpler if the weather stays dry. — By Franz Niederholzer, UCCE Farm Advisor, Colusa and Sutter/Yuba Counties
Washington is under a state of emergency, with more than 600 wildfires reported already this year. That’s about double the normal rate, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. Where there’s fire, there’s smoke that can expose outdoor workers in construction, agriculture, and other jobs to health risks from breathing particulate matter in the air.
To help these and other workers, the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) filed emergency rules today to help protect employees exposed to wildfire smoke. Washington is just the second state to issue regulations regarding workers and wildfire smoke. California was the first, adopting its rules in 2019.
“This wildfire season is shaping up to be even worse than last year,” said L&I Director Joel Sacks. “We’re establishing these emergency rules to protect employees who have to work outside, breathing in smoky air all day long.”
Smoke from wildfires contains chemicals, gases, and fine particles that can harm health. The most concerning hazard is associated with the smallest particles, or Particulate Matter (PM), that are less than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5). These particles can get deep into the lungs, worsening existing health conditions like asthma, negatively impacting heart health, and increasing the risk of death.
The new wildfire smoke rules spell out to employers how to identify harmful smoke exposure risks and when to notify their workers. They also require employers to:
The rule sets the standard for dangerously poor air quality at PM 2.5 concentrations of 55.5 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3) or an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 151.
Measures to eliminate or reduce worker exposure may include:
Although not required, L&I also recommends employers take action to reduce employee exposure to dangerous air at even lower levels of particulate matter, especially for sensitive groups with asthma or other lung conditions.
Monitoring air quality
The emergency wildfire smoke rules include several ways employers can check PM 2.5 levels. They can check sites including the EPA’s AirNow website or state Department of Ecology’s Air Monitoring Network and download mobile apps like “EPA AirNow” or “Air Quality WA.” They can also purchase equipment to check it themselves.
What’s next
The emergency rules are in effect immediately (July 16, 2021); employers will be given a brief grace period before enforcement begins. L&I gathered stakeholder input and referenced California’s regulations to develop the emergency wildfire smoke rules. L&I will announce opportunities to provide input on permanent rules in the coming months.
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