Posts Tagged: raisin
If Cinderella Were a Moth...
If Cinderella were a moth, what species would she be? Maybe this tiny, shimmering one. When we...
This tiny moth, which appears to be a Cadra figulilella, the raisin moth, rests on a petal of a Mexican sunflower in a Vacaville pollinator garden during National Pollinator Week. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC releases new cost studies for growing plums and raisins in the San Joaquin Valley
UC Agricultural Issues Center has released three new studies, one on the cost and returns of establishing an orchard and producing fresh market plums, and the cost and returns of establishment and production of dried-on-vine (DOV) raisins under two different trellis systems.
The cost and returns are multi-year studies based on hypothetical farm operations of well-managed orchards and vineyards, using practices common to the San Joaquin Valley. Growers, UC ANR Cooperative Extension farm advisors and other agricultural associates provided input and reviewed the methods and findings of the studies.
The plum study, using double-line drip irrigation, estimates costs from orchard establishment through the production years. The economic life of the orchard used in this cost analysis is 18 years.
The DOV raisin establishment and production cost studies are under different trellis systems; overhead trellis system (OHTS) and open gable trellis system (OGTS). The two separate DOV raisin studies use single-line drip irrigation. The economic life of the vineyards used in these cost analysis is 30 years.
The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for each crop, material inputs, cash and non-cash overhead. A ranging analysis table shows net returns over a range of prices and yields. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.
The new studies are titled:
- Sample Costs to Establish an Orchard and Produce Fresh Market Plums in the San Joaquin Valley – South- 2016
- Sample Costs to Establish a Vineyard and Produce DOV Raisins (OGTS) in the San Joaquin Valley - 2016
- Sample Costs to Establish a Vineyard and Produce DOV Raisins (OHTS) in the San Joaquin Valley - 2016
Free copies of these studies and other sample cost of production studies for many commodities are available online. To download the cost studies, visit the UC Agricultural Issues Center Cost Studies website at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
The cost and returns program is funded by the UC Agricultural Issues Center, which is part of UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the studies, contact Donald Stewart through the UC Agricultural Issues Center at (530) 752-4651 or destewart@ucdavis.edu. Contact UC Cooperative Extension advisors through the local UCCE office http://ucanr.edu/County_Offices
Embryo Rescue: Making the Impossible Happen
Grapes like DOVine, Selma Pete, Sweet Scarlet and Scarlet Royal likely would not exist were it not for ARS scientists’ expertise with a laboratory technique known as “embryo rescue.” The technology “allows us to use two seedless grape plants as parents for new, seedless offspring,” says grape breeder David W. Ramming with USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at Parlier, California.
“Seedless” grapes actually have a small seed inside, “but it’s so small that your tongue can’t detect it,” says Ramming. What’s the point of embryo rescue? To literally rescue the embryo within the minuscule seed so that it can be grown into an experimental vine for testing in the research vineyard.
DOVine, developed by the USDA ARS in 1995, as an early ripening raisin was the first variety released from the hybridization of two seedless grapes using embryo rescue techniques. DOVine resulted from a cross of 79-101 x Fresno Seedless made in 1983. 79-101 is a blue seedless grape of unknown parentage, probably bred by Elmer Snyder of USDA; Fresno Seedless is a sibling of Flame Seedless and resulted from the cross of (Cardinal x Thompson Seedless) x [(Red Malaga x Tifafihi Ahmer) x (Muscat of Alexandria x Thompson Seedless)].
As might be expected, when two seedless grapes are chosen as parents, the seeds inside the grapes of their offspring are also extremely small. Says Ramming, “In nature, those seeds would abort” instead of developing into hard little spheres, each with a healthy embryo inside.
To save otherwise-doomed embryos, Ramming and colleagues excise them with surgical precision from the developing berry (Fig.1). Then, the researchers nurture the embryos on a gel-like bed of nutrients until they form seedlings hardy enough to transplant.
Ramming pioneered the use of embryo rescue several decades ago to breed superb seedless grapes. Today, it still remains the survival secret of many of the team’s most innovative grapes and used by private breeding programs.
Raisin and Wine Grape Mechanical Harvest Safety Training
The second annual Raisin and Wine Grape Mechanical Harvest Safety Training is set for July 18, 2012 at the C.P.D.E.S. Hall in Easton CA, located at 172 W. Jefferson Ave.
Training will be provided in both English and Spanish.
The free training for farm employees and supervisors will increase awareness and improve safety in the field during mechanical raisin and wine grape harvest. Trained participants are expected to pass the information on to the individuals they supervise.
“This is an excellent opportunity to prepare employees for a safe harvest season for Fresno County’s number one crop, grapes and raisins,” said Fresno County Farm Bureau Executive Director/CEO Ryan Jacobsen.
Participants will take part in breakout sessions, including: OSHA regulations; harvester safety; and tractor and equipment safety.
Registration will begin at 8 a.m.; the training will run from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
The training is sponsored by the Fresno County Farm Bureau, Nisei Farmers League, Raisin Bargaining Association, Sun-Maid and Allied Grape Growers.
For more information, or to RSVP, please contact the Fresno County Farm Bureau office at 559-237-0263 or info@fcfb.org, or visit www.fcfb.org to download and complete the registration form.
Please provide the name of each participant and which session, English or Spanish, they will participate in.
Raisin Harvester
Raisin Production Overhead Trellis Report
According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS),California raisin type grapes using the overhead trellis management system totaled 19,543 acres (bearing and non-bearing) during 2011. This amounted to 9.8 percent of the total raisin type grape acreage. Varieties ‘Fiesta’ and ‘DOVine’ had the highest percentage of acreage using the overhead trellis system, at 52.2 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively. However, ‘DOVine’ at 609 acres is being grafted over to by growers other varieties including ‘Fiesta’. ‘Selma Pete’ has increased in acreage to 3,872 with approximately 33.1 percent of the plantings trained on an overhead trellis system. The remaining acreage is primarily trained to the open gable trellis system, which is less costly and allows growers to use most of their existing equipment. Approximately 31.5 percent of the total raisin type acreage planted since 2004 has been managed using the overhead trellis system according to the USDA NASS.
The full USDA NASS 2011 California Raisin Grape Overhead Trellis Report can be found here.