Pacific Nut Producer Magazine

Tag: Walnut Bargaining Association

  • California Walnut & Ag Industry Leader Jonathan Field Passes

    California’s agriculture industry is mourning the loss of Jonathan W. Field who served as Manager of the California Tree Fruit Agreement for over a decade, led the Walnut Bargaining Association and served as the Compliance Officer for the California and Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements and the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board.

    Field, 77, of Lincoln, California, passed away peacefully August 5, 2025, surrounded by his loving family.

    Field’s passion for agriculture began at age six when he received his first sheep on Christmas morning. A lifelong 4-H member, he spent nine months in Kenya, Africa with the 4-H and Peace Corps, teaching crop rotation and agricultural best practices. He always maintained his own sheep and cattle, fulfilling his lifelong dream of farming.

    He attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where he earned an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Business and then a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from University of California, Davis.

    Field’s professional journey as part of California’s agricultural industry was as expansive as it was impactful. He began his career with California Agricultural Statistics Service and then as an economist for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) where he worked on programs for iceberg lettuce, fresh tomatoes, carrots, celery, potatoes, cling peaches and processing pears. While at CDFA, Field wrote the first Marketing Agreement program and was the economist assigned to the first Commission laws created in California.

    In 1981, Field became Assistant Manager for the California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA), a conglomerate of marketing order programs representing California-grown peaches, plums, nectarines and pears. He became Manager in 1987, serving until 2000 where he championed growers, strengthened industry standards and left a lasting mark on California’s tree fruit sector. Importantly, he was integrally involved in the litigation which went successfully to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the legality of mandatory commodity programs.

    “During the 1990s, the California Tree Fruit Agreement was extremely fortunate to have Jonathan Field as its Manager,” said Melvin Enns, a tree fruit grower-shipper who served on the CTFA Board for many years.  “Jon was well-versed in the intricacies of government regulations. He formed a diverse team of experts in the areas of merchandising, export development, communications and grower relations to create programs that complied with these directives. And, together with the 1500+ growers of California peaches, pears, plums, and nectarines, Jonathan and his team built a federal and state marketing order that was the envy of tree fruit growers in every other state.”

    Not only did Field leave a lasting impression on the California fruit industry, but he championed several causes impacting California agriculture in general. Working with a group of marketing order and commission managers (who are now retired) including:  Bruce Obbink, California Table Grape Commission; Dennis Balant, California Walnut Board; Rich Peterson, California Prune Board; Terry Stark, California Raisin Advisory Board, and Dave Riggs, California Strawberry Commission, Field was instrumental in founding the Alliance for Food and Farming, the Agricultural Issues Forum, the Minor Crop Farmer Alliance, the California Specialty Crop Council and the Buy California Marketing Agreement, or “California Grown”.

    After leaving CTFA, Field formed Paradigm Consulting Company where he worked for several organizations including as Executive Director of the Walnut Bargaining Association, a cooperative of California walnut growers.

    “Jon Field was a true representative for our industry,” said Donald Norene, Chairman of the Walnut Bargaining Association (now known as the Walnut Alliance of California.). “He was committed to empowering walnut growers with the financial information necessary to successfully negotiate a fair return for their walnut crop and his analysis was highly regarded by bankers, growers and handlers.”

    In 2007, Field began working as the first Compliance Officer for the newly formed California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) and its sister organization the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to help ensure leafy greens growers are following stringent food safety practices. In 2012, he began performing these same functions as the Compliance Officer for the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board. Field finally retired in 2023.

    “I had known Jon for many years prior to bringing him on at the LGMA as our very first Compliance Officer,” said Scott Horsfall, former president and CEO of the California LGMA. “He was the perfect person for this role with his strong background in working with CDFA, his knowledge of marketing orders and agreements and his strong desire to help the agricultural industry through challenges. He will be missed.”

    Jon is survived by his wife, Christine, of 52 years; and children Erin, Jonathan and Heather; seven grandchildren, sister, Shirley and many nieces, nephews and cousins.  The family will provide more information about a Celebration of Life at a later date.

  • Walnut Bargaining Association Recommends Minimum Grower Price

    In an effort to keep walnut prices from tumbling further downward, the Walnut Bargaining Association (WBA) is recommending a minimum price recommendation that will return at least 65 cents per pound back to growers. This price is based on in-shell Chandlers, Jumbo/Large, average quality.

    “Our organization is concerned that walnut prices will continue to fall without some minimum price being suggested,” said Jonathan Field, Executive Director of the Walnut Bargaining Association (WBA), a grower cooperative that exists to ensure walnut farmers receive fair prices. “The WBA realizes there is ample carryover from 2021 which needs to be moved out prior to marketing new crop, but this should not be done at the expense of the current crop and production. We believe buyers are willing to pay more for walnuts and we’re urging handlers to move prices up from current levels.”

    According to Field, current prices being offered by handlers will result in only 45 or 50 cents per pound going back to growers, which is substantially below break-even. The 65 cents per pound minimum grower return recommended by the WBA, means handler trade prices need to immediately increase from current levels to cover handling costs and margins.

    Historically, handlers have published a minimum price for walnut exports in August. This didn’t happen in 2022 due to several unknowns surrounding the new crop and global supplies. The WBA will publish its official price recommendation for the 2022 crop after more is known about crop size and quality, worldwide production and the effect of the economy worldwide on prices, movement and utilization.

    “The WBA Board feels strongly the current California crop will come in lighter than expected,” said Todd Ramos, a walnut grower from Winters who is chairman of the WBA. “As walnut harvest continues throughout the state, growers are reporting less volume and more damage from the excessive heat than what was expected before the announcement of the 2022 crop estimate. These factors will reduce overall tonnage.”

    “California walnut farmers are struggling with record inflation of production costs and severely depressed prices which make it impossible to be profitable,” continued Ramos.  “The industry needs every handler to adhere to the minimum price point recommended by the WBA.”

    The WBA is urging growers and handlers to work together to stabilize the market as much as possible. They suggest that payment schedules, advances, timing of payments and all mutually beneficial discussions take place as soon as possible.

    The WBA recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about the benefits it provides to walnut growers by sharing information on prices walnut farmers receive from their handlers.

    “The WBA collects only verifiable information on grower price,” said Field, “That’s why the pricing information collected by the WBA is considered the most accurate data available. It’s definitely more reliable than what growers hear at the coffee shop.”

    The WBA hopes to gain new members so that they can collect even more accurate data.

    “When additional walnut growers join the WBA, our grower pricing data becomes increasingly comprehensive and the better the WBA can help us get the highest price for our walnuts,” said Ramos.  “The WBA understands by uniting together cooperatively with our handlers and marketers, we all stand the best chance for success.”

    More information about the WBA can be found on their website.  Growers interested in receiving sample reports and information from the WBA can sign up here.

  • Walnut Bargaining Association Asks Handlers to Hold Off on Setting Prices

    The Board of the Walnut Bargaining Association (WBA) met last month in Sacramento to discuss the outlook for this year’s walnut crop.  Traditionally, this is the time of year when the industry begins to hear estimates from handlers about prices growers can expect to receive for their walnuts. But this year, the WBA is hoping to delay these decisions.

    “So much is still uncertain at this time,” said Pete Jelavich, WBA member from Yuba City. “The California Ag Statistics Service (CASS) has set the pre-season crop estimate at 720,000 tons, but many growers believe recent weather events since the estimate was released will reduce yields. We’re also waiting to learn more about global supply conditions and about the volume and quality of last year’s crop is still available for sale. Both of these factors will play a major role in the price we’ll receive for our walnuts for the new season.”

    In general, grower prices for walnuts have been at record lows for the past few years. And while the WBA doesn’t expect things to change dramatically this year, they are cautiously optimistic that things will improve a bit over last year.

    According to WBA statistics, last year’s CASS estimate was way off its pre-season estimate of a 670,000-ton crop. The actual crop was significantly larger and eventually came in at 730,000 tons. As a result, actual prices for walnuts were dramatically lower than what was predicted in early fall.

    “This year, we could very likely have the opposite scenario,” said Jonathan Field, Executive Director of the WBA.  “The CASS crop estimate is just slightly below last year’s actual crop, but the report indicated far fewer nuts per tree and kernel weights that are much lighter than normal. As a result, the crop may come in lighter than predictions, which would hopefully drive prices up.”

    “The WBA has sent a letter to handlers asking them not to jump the gun on setting walnut prices until we know more about the crop size and for some of the unstable market conditions to settle a bit,” said Jelavich. “Growers need to receive higher prices for our walnuts than we have for the past few years. So, we’re asking handlers to work with us and wait until we know more.”

    According to Jelavich, the whole reason for the existence of the WBA is to improve grower pricing. But many walnut farmers don’t even know the WBA exists. To combat that, the WBA has recently launched a new website and is funding a series of ads in walnut growing trade publications such as Pacific Nut Producer Magazine to help raise awareness about the WBA and what it’s all about.

    In short, the WBA is a grower-owned cooperative whose only goal is to help farmers get a fair price for walnuts. They do this by providing walnut farmers with accurate data, global market intelligence and information about actual prices walnut farmers receive from handlers.

    “Each year, the WBA collects information about the prices our members have received for their walnuts,” says the WBA’s Field. “This information doesn’t come from coffee shop talk. We get it by collecting pay stubs that growers receive from their handlers.”

    Grower pricing information submitted to the WBA is confidential. Name, address and ranch information on pay stubs is redacted to ensure anonymity. Specific information on handler names is also not made public. But the pricing information gathered by the WBA is the most accurate available anywhere. It gives WBA members a really good idea if the price they received was in line with the industry average or below it.

    “In many cases, the WBA pricing report has empowered our members to go back to their handler and secure an enhanced payment,” said Field.  “Our goal is to help make grower prices more transparent and to hold handlers accountable for paying farmers the right price.”

    The WBA is embarking on a membership drive in an effort to help all walnut growers receive better prices.

    “The more walnut farmers we have in our membership, the more accurate our pricing information will be and the greater unity we’ll have as a walnut farming community,” he said. “Joining the WBA might be the most important thing a walnut farmer can do to improve prices for walnuts.”

    The cost to join the WBA is $2 per ton. In addition to information on prices received from handlers, the WBA provides a host of additional economic and market intelligence that is very difficult to get elsewhere. This includes information on sales, supply-demand issues, trade market pricing, quality, and other global economic trends. 

    To learn more about the information provided by WBA, growers can register here to receive a sample of WBA reports. The new WBA website includes much more information about the WBA and its benefits of members. Growers can also hear testimonials from fellow walnut growers here and here.

  • Walnut Prices: What Growers Can Expect in the Near Future

    California walnut growers are not happy with current global market trends for their industry.  How long will the market remain in a slump? Will prices ever return to the record highs of 2014? Watch this brief interview with Jon Field, General Manager of the Walnut Bargaining Association, as he shares his projections for the future of the industry, based on his recent State of the Walnut Industry presentation at the annual Grape, Nut & Tree Fruit Expo.
    Please thank this video’s sponsor Suterra for their industry support.