David Doll4 CommentsJune 26, 2014Insects

Speed Doesn’t Kill Part 3: Economics

There has been a lot of research focusing on spray rig speed and spray coverage. Work by Jack Dibble back in the 70s-90s indicated that the best coverage is achieved at 1.5 MPH, and was the basis of the compromised recommendation of 2.0 MPH. This work has since been repeated by Dr. Joel Siegel (along with several collaborators) and Dr. Ken Giles and colleagues at Arbuckle, CA, and has indicated that at higher speeds, control of navel orangeworm (NOW) is lost in the upper canopy of the tree (>15′ high). This, interestingly enough, is where the majority of the crop is located. A few articles have been posted on this in the past (Speed Doesn’t Kill, Speed Doesn’t Kill, part 2).

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Franz Niederholzer9 CommentsMay 26, 2013General

It’s the Nut Price, Dummy

I got a call from a savvy nut grower in the north Sacramento Valley a couple of weeks ago.  He knows his way around the world money markets as well as an almond orchard.  We talked about a number of topics, and the high price of ag land came up.  “Where is this going to end?” he asked.  We agreed that nut prices are up, way up, in some cases, but what nut price he asked, would cover the huge price tag on some pieces of land, some pushing $20,000/acre?  I didn’t know, but thought I’d try to find out.  Here’s what I learned.

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