By Blake Wilbur
Tulare County dairy and tree nut farmer 

Our dairy has 1,600 milking Jersey cows. We’re a Land O’Lakes shipper. A lot of our trucks go to Saputo, and the milk gets made into cheese. We also grow almonds and pistachios and most of our own forage.

Right now, it’s water, water, water. We’re going into the hottest time of the season so far. Nuts are filling and developing. If you lose the opportunity to irrigate intensely, it can affect yields. The almonds look like an average year. Prices are recovering after losing money the last couple years. The pistachio orchards look heavy. I’m hoping for an above-average crop.

We have a groundwater allocation, which limits how much we can pump. When you add it to the surface water we’re getting this year, you can cover most of the crops you would likely grow in the area. At the moment, we’re buying our alfalfa instead of growing it because of its water use and the economics of the hay market. 

Feed prices in general have been trending down. It’s the biggest expense on a dairy farm, and it affects our bottom line the most. Milk prices are good enough; we should be making a little money this year. It helps that beef prices are so high. That’s a serious money maker. When cows’ milk has dropped off, they are sold to the beef market. Dairy cattle prices are also high, and we’ve been able to sell excess replacement animals that are often first or second lactation. Prices for those are extremely high.

We caught bird flu last fall and saw milk flow reduce by 25% for two to three weeks. We, fortunately, did not lose many, if any, cows. Dairies with Holsteins suffered worse, and those that got bird flu during the summer heat fared much worse. Our cows have bounced back. Our milk production is actually higher now than it was at this time last year. We had a very nice spring, and coming into summer June was not tough on the cows.

By Sean McCauley
Contra Costa County farmer

Our winegrapes and vines look great. All the whites and reds seem to be coming out well. The weather is cooperating. It hasn’t been too hot. For vertical farmers, we’re still value-adding the product. It’s just unfortunate the price is in the tank.

We did not grow any wheat this year because the price is so poor. It’s unbelievable. It’s $120 to $160 a ton, and it costs you $120 to put it in. We’re dry farmers, and in our area, we would lose money. Instead of summer-fallowing half our land, we did all 3,000 acres to let the ground rest this year. We hope the price is going to come back to where we can make some money. Another reason we fallowed is water. You build up that water table in the ground, so you usually have a better crop. 

We’re also assessing the olive crop. We’re probably four months away from harvest. Right now, we’re fighting off the olive fruit fly and doing some biological treatments. Our crop doesn’t look very good at all—not because of the fly. Quality is good. It’s just the yield. It’s at least a 25% decrease in tonnage per acre. I don’t know why. I’m trying to figure it out.

The market for our product has been excellent. Extra-virgin olive oil is more popular than ever, and we have built up traction from that. We can sell every bit of oil we have and don’t have to wholesale as much. Brentwood is the U-pick capital of the world, and we take advantage of U-pick season and ag tourism. 

With the smaller crop, we’re going to do less wholesale. In this day and age, you have to be agile with your farming entities. When you go vertical with these products, it’s important that as much effort goes into the retail piece as possible. When you have a great crop, you’re able to wholesale more. But when it doesn’t happen for you, then you scale it back and go full retail.