WCN February 2020 Web

Continued from Page 8
for an increase in profits considering
drying and transport costs. However,
higher moisture nuts will increase drying
costs and there currently is limited
drying capacity.
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Next Steps in the Journey
The next steps in the journey, Simmons
said, will be to determine the true
cost of an off-ground harvester including
depreciation and capital recovery,
fuel and labor efficiency, maintenance,
cost to produce, competition and
penetration pricing. Other costs to
consider will be mechanical drying, and
how much dust is mitigated under each
harvest scenario.
Despite the challenges, Simmons
said there are promising signals that offground
harvest could be cost effective
for growers.
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Adapting Orchard Systems
Ted Dejong, UC Davis, said adapting
almond orchard systems to accommodate
off-ground harvest will require a
change in mind set prior to planting a
new orchard.
Rather than primarily thinking
about choosing a density to maximize
yield and accommodate an irrigation
system and operation of orchard equipment,
DeJong said, the type of harvest
equipment that will be used becomes a
primary consideration.
Those types include an over the row
type harvester used in high density olives,
the Tenias type of over the row that
can accommodate medium size trees,
a side by side shake-catch machine
similar to what is used in pistachio
harvest and a wrap around shake-catch
machine similar to a 1970s model.
DeJong said each of the off-ground
harvest systems have their advantages
and disadvantages, but they all require
trees and orchard canopies to be smaller
than what is now in production. Trees
will also need to have higher crotches.
One of the most urgent needs accompanying
off-ground harvest is size
controlling rootstocks. This is a major
change as in the past rootstocks have
often been selected for their ability to
enhance tree vigor and mature tree canopy
size. These rootstocks will present
a challenge with anchorage as many of
the dwarfing rootstocks have relatively
poor anchorage.
Brown reported the results from
2019 trials to determine losses from
windfall nuts in an off-ground harvest
scenario. Trials were done in Kern and
Butte counties. Preliminary analysis
shows windfall from zero to one percent
with the majority of the sites reporting
less than 15 pounds per acre. Brown
reported that fruit falling before four
weeks of normal harvest are very poor
quality. Quality and size of kernels is
not compromised at the two-four week
early shake. Moisture is 10-15 percent
higher at greater than two weeks early
shake. Brown said the potential for
navel orangeworm (NOW) damage and
hull rot is greatly increased with fruit
maturity.
He plans to continue analysis of
regional and cultivar data and repeat
studies will be conducted in 2020 with
10
West Coast Nut February 2020