—by Ross Courtney
International Fruit Tree Association tour-goers saw plenty of the pears, apples and cherries they’re used to seeing as the group embarked on the first day of the summer tour through Central California, scheduled July 16–18.
But they also got a dose of avocados and olives, crops that two growers suspect mark a future for California specialty crop farmers near Sacramento.
Robert Arceo of Rivermaid Trading Co., who hosted one of the tour stops, expects more Northern California growers will plant avocados in the future. They have a forgiving harvest window and require less pest management than pears, he said. And the temperate Mediterranean climate of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta does not necessarily kill the tropical plant.
“They can survive it if you take care of them correctly,” he said.
He keeps avocado trees about 10 feet tall, uses overhead cooling and plants them on berms to avoid phytophthora.
Arceo also showed IFTA tour participants pear and apple trees.
Pears grow well in the Delta, an area of backwaters, sloughs and tributaries of the Sacramento River near its mouth on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. Temperatures are moderated by the Pacific Ocean and soils are dense and fertile, but the few canneries left in the area have been asking for smaller volumes, he said.
Rivermaid also sells fruit at farmers markets and through gift boxes.
To the south, near Lodi, grower Jeff Colombini also showed the tour group a crop they don’t often see: olives.
Colombini farms olives for oil, selling to independent restaurants and pizzerias. Unlike his cherries and apples, olives and almonds can be mechanically harvested. Olives also use less water than almonds, he said.
“This is the crop of the future” for drought-prone areas of California, he said.
The IFTA crowd also got a good look at Colombini’s apples, which his crews harvest by platform. He even showed a partial row of an unnamed, early red variety from Zaiger Genetics, a fruit breeder in nearby Modesto.
Like many California growers, he has been routinely replacing his Bing cherries with early ripening varieties such as Coral Champagne, a variety that now makes up about 50 percent of the state’s cherry crop, he said.
The other tour stop Tuesday was a visit to the University of California, Davis, where engineering professor Dennis Sadowski discussed efforts to build fruit-picking robots. Two postdoctoral researchers demonstrated a robot designed to transport fruit lugs from pickers in the rows to checking stations and back.
The IFTA crowd for the summer tour is smaller than usual, with roughly 60 participants, organizers said.
The IFTA tour continues July 17 and 18 with visits to Zaiger Genetics and stone fruit producers between Lodi and Fresno. •
Leave A Comment