Almond Pest Management Alliance

Advisory Team Meeting Wednesday,

June 16, 1999 Minutes

Attending:

Wes Asai, Pomology Consultant

Bob Elliott, Calif. Dept. of Pesticide Regulation

Joe Connell, Farm Advisor, Butte County

Nicole Darby, Field Scout, Butte County PMA

Frank Zalom, Director, Statewide IPM Project

Roger Duncan, Farm Advisor, Stanislaus County

Mike Oliver, Centers for Water & Wildlife Resources, UC Davis

Marcia Gibbs, Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Lonnie Hendricks, Farm Advisor, Farm County

Gene Beach, Almond Hullers and Processor Assn.

Chris Heintz, Research Director, Almond Board of California

Mark Looker, Almond PMA Project Administrator

Minutes

The minutes of the Feb. 17, 1999 meting were reviewed and accepted.

Updates

Chris Heintz reported on her presentation about the PMA project to the DPR’s Pesticide Management Advisory Committee. The new director, Paul Helliker, was in attendance. Two significant take-aways from the meeting: 1) The emphasis is on reduced use, not just reduced risk. 2) The director is interested in adding environmental spots on the committee.

Mark Looker reported that "unofficially" the outlook was promising for a second year of funding from DPR for the PMA project. Bob Elliott said that final word could come in the next week or so. (Editor’s note: The DPR announcement came on June 22, 1999 that the Almond PMA had been funded in the amount of $98,976.)

Mark also reported that a proposal submitted to CalFed by the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship(CURES) had not been funded. The proposal involved the Almond Board as a partner and was focused on using model farms and orchards to educate growers on reducing water runoff. However, the CURES indicated it would seek other funding for the project and planned to move forward.

Mark also reported that the Almond Board Chairman Joe MacIlvaine was invited to a dinner recently with approximately 15 other commodity group leaders for a discussion with Cal/EPA Secretary Winston Hickcox, Undersecretary Brian Haddix and DPR’s chief Helliker. MacIlvaine reported the meeting was very productive in opening up lines of communication between the new Davis Administration and the ag community.

Field Days

Lonnie Hendricks reported on the field day held May 27 at Arakelian Farms in Livingston. Nearly 100 growers and PCA’s were in attendance. Chris Heintz provided an overview of the PMA project; Lonnie talked about dormant spray test and insect monitoring in the orchard; Frank Zalom updated everyone on the pesticide runoff studies being conducted at the orchard; Steve Simmons, Merced High School, demonstrated owl nesting boxes and the role owl play in keeping down rodent populations; Roger Duncan discussed the almond disease summary for 1999, and Walt Bentley talked about the 1999 ant control project.

The Butte County field day was held June 10 at cooperator Ben Bertagna’s orchard. Joe Connell reported more than 80 people were in attendance. Topics covered included a presentation by Carolyn Pickel and Nicole Darby on pest monitoring methods; Joe discussed the navel orangeworm status and model; Bill Krueger talked about the peach twig borer status and model, while Walt Bentley finish up with a talk on ant control.

Mark reported that the Kern County field day was held May 12. Some 100 were in attendance there. Topics covered included peach twig borer emergence by Walt and Peggy Schrader; San Jose scale and ant monitoring by Walt Bentley and Marjie Bartles, and mites and water stress by Walt Bentley, Mario Viveros and Marjie Bartels.

Economic Analysis

Roger Duncan presented a written update on the Stanislaus county project. The economic analysis component generated a lot of discussion. A copy of Roger’s report is posted to the project web site. It will also be provided by Mark to the other project’s farm advisors as a model for similar analysis of their projects, as well as a model for the final report on Year One which is due in December 1999.

Other points raised during the discussion included:

Application costs should be reflected for every application

Monitoring costs should be reflected. Monitoring is a service and growers should try to get their PCA’s to recognize it as such.

A fungicide component should be considered for future years of the project.

Grower Survey

Marcia Gibbs reported on the grower survey being conducted under the umbrella of the PMA. It is a baseline survey that will serve the needs of the BIOS program and Statewide IPM Project for program measurement and the need for the Almond Board to gather baseline data on grower practices related to pesticide use. Some 800 growers have been randomly selected and the hope is for a 50% response rate. Results will be compiled within three months.

Future Field Days

The following dates were set for field days:

Dec. 15- Stanislaus project

Dec. 16 - Butte project

Mark will contact Mario to see what date the Kern County field day will be.

Next Meeting Date

The next PMA Advisory Team Meeting is set for Wednesday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m. at the DANR building, Olive Room.