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  In April, May and June, public transit buses wrapped in the American Pistachio Growers Antioxidant ad ran through popular routes in major cities throughout the United Kingdom and Spain. The buses promoted the shocking fact that pistachios are loaded with antioxidants. Meanwhile, billboards are on display throughout India and California showing that pistachios are high in antioxidants.  
     
   
     
     
   
  In June, APG kicked off publicity efforts in France with a media event presentation in Paris. APG nutritionist, Vanessa Bedjai-Haddad, presented on the health benefits of pistachios, focusing on the study that shows that pistachios are high in antioxidants. Twenty-seven nutrition, beauty, sports, and lifestyle journalists attended the presentation.  
     
   
   
 
In June and July, 580 outdoor advertisements displayed the American Pistachio Growers Antioxidant ad throughout major cities in France, including Paris, Nice, Bayonne, and La Rochelle. The advertisements are expected to be viewed more than 11 million times.
 
     
   
 
In June, APG exhibited and presented at the Functional Training Summit, a popular conference for fitness trainers and nutrition experts in Germany. In her presentation "The Antioxidant Capacity of Pistachios," APG nutrition expert, Dr. Ursula Manunzio, reported on the nutrition habits of the top athletes she coaches and discussed the antioxidant benefits of American pistachios in an athlete's diet. Sample packs were distributed to the 400 professional trainers who attended to learn about new workouts, scientific studies, and nutritional trends.
 
   
 
In July, American pistachio sample packs and pistachio recipe cards were distributed at two athletic events in Germany: the Hamburg Sunset Run and "Rock the Beach" volleyball tournament. An American Pistachio Growers booth and banners were set up at both events, promoting the health benefits of pistachios. Over 1,500 sample packs were dispersed.
 
     
     
   
 
In May, APG exhibited and presented at the NSCA Personal Trainer Conference hosted by the Spanish Olympic Committee in Madrid, Spain. APG Spanish representative, Jordi Marques, presented the antioxidant study that shows that pistachios are very high in antioxidants and spoke on the health benefits of pistachios for athletes. Over 500 personal trainers attended the conference.
 
   
 
In July, APG hosted a breakfast to educate journalists on the health benefits of pistachios in Barcelona, Spain. APG nutrition expert, Dr. Magda Carlas, gave a presentation titled, "The Importance of Breakfast, Antioxidants and New Healthy Habits," which focused on the antioxidant content of pistachio and the importance of antioxidants in a healthy diet. The breakfast was attended by 12 journalists.
 
     
     
     
   
 
In June, APG collaborated with Io Donna magazine, a popular lifestyle magazine in Italy, for a two-day fitness event and digital promotion. APG distributed more than 1,500 sample packs to attendees who focus on running, meditation, CrossFit, yoga, and other workout disciplines. The collaboration also included an article on the health benefits of American pistachios on their website, which was promoted on their home page and Instagram account. The article was viewed over 320,000 times.
 
   
 
In July, articles on the health benefits of American pistachios were published online in La Cucina Italiana and Vanity Fair magazines. The article published on the Vanity Fair website featured a collaboration with APG nutritionist, Sara Cordara, who explained the health benefits of American pistachios as a post-workout snack, and was viewed more than 11 million times. The article published on the La Cucina Italiana website showcased summer recipes with American pistachios created by APG nutrition expert, Dr. Sacha Sorrentino, along with the benefits of cooking with pistachios. The article was viewed more than three million times.
 
     
     
     
   
 
In June, APG organized a baking class where participating bakers learned how to make desserts with American pistachios. Sixty bakers and pastry chefs made Danish pistachio bread and pistachio brownies while learning about the nutritional value and versatility of American pistachios.
 
   
 
In August, APG presented and exhibited at the International Tree Nuts Conference in China. Senior Director of Global Marketing, Haiying Zhang, and APG's China representative, Stephanie Pan, presented on APG's promotional strategies, the American pistachio industry and APG marketing efforts in China. More than 500 importers, distributers, manufacturers and industry experts visited the American Pistachio Grower booth and 24 trader leads were collected.
 
     
     
     
     
   
  In July, APG collaborated on an advertorial with Joongang Daily, a popular print and digital newspaper in South Korea. The collaboration involved meeting with university sports teams, introducing the health benefits of pistachios for athletes, and interviewing athletes on the importance of nutrition in active lifestyles. The interviews and nutrition benefits of pistachios were then written into an advertorial featured in the online and print versions of Joongang Daily. The advertorial was viewed over 120 million times.  
     
   
   
 
In August, APG teamed up with Local Eat, a popular Italian fusion restaurant in South Korea, to develop two dishes that use American pistachios as a key ingredient. The restaurant featured the dishes on their menu for two weeks and promoted the benefits of cooking with American pistachios. To promote the menu, APG developed a press release and seven digital and print articles. More than 1,500 customers ordered a pistachio dish.
 
     
     
     
   
  Twelve local restaurants throughout the Central Valley participated in Pistachio Week in August by developing and featuring their own pistachio menus all week long. APG promoted Pistachio Week and the participating restaurants with five Central Valley Today segments on KSEE24 that each featured a cooking demonstration of a Pistachio Week dish. Grower member, Rebecca Kaser from Moore-Avellar Farms, closed out the week's segments by explaining the process of growing and harvesting pistachios here in the Central Valley. Additionally, six participating restaurants were interviewed live on KMJ radio's morning show, which aired across the Valley.  
     
 
Click the image above to play the video. Click the image above to play the video.
 
     
     
     
   
 
Join the Pistachio Party this Friday evening at the Clovis Farmers Market! APG will be located in the heart of Old Town Clovis on Pollasky, between 3rd and 7th Street. Don't miss your chance to sample creative, pistachio-infused treats from local vendors and students of the Institute of Technology
 
     
   
  APG was awarded $5 million in funding under the California Department of Food and Agriculture Healthy Soils Block Grant Pilot Program, which creates opportunities that will directly benefit members. This grant puts APG at the forefront of advancing and adopting healthy farming practices that focus on protecting the future of the pistachio industry.  
     
   
     
  Growers can qualify for up to $200,000 in grant funding for an on-farm project, with funding divided up over three years on projects that are implemented annually, or for a one-time reimbursement payment for projects implemented as a one-time practice (e.g. Hedgerow Planting and Conservation Cover).  
   
     
  Stay tuned for announcements on workshops to learn more about these practices and how you can qualify for CDFA funding assistance through APG.  
     
  If you are interested in learning more about implementing these practices and qualifying to receive CDFA Healthy Soils funding, click the link below and insert "Healthy Soils Grant Funding" in the "Additional Notes" box.  
   
     
     
     
   
     
     
     
   
     
  Robert H. Beede
UC Farm Advisor, Emeritus		  
 
 
Notes from Harvest: In addition to the record rainfall and flooding, I am going to remember the harvest of '23 for reaffirming the necessity of having good winter chilling to make pistachio trees perform as expected. I cannot tell you how many farm calls I made during the low-chill years when I studied the trees for some unfound oddity to explain why growers were not getting production. These calls were so plentiful that I began to wonder what I had forgotten about pistachio culture and physiology that would "fix" the repeated light crops. Thankfully, I have not had that problem this year! I've returned to these problem orchards on my own dime just to see how they looked in a year when almost every location statewide, even the high ground along Highway 198 entering Coalinga, received good winter rest. To my glee, all these locations had good or even excellent crops! My fears of being pomologically senile were dashed (at least for the moment!). Yield reports from the Golden Hills have, in many cases, exceeded grower expectations. The abundant winter and spring rains also reduced soil salinity sufficiently in many locations to improve tree efficiency and nut quality.
 
Mike Smith, Grower Representative for Setton Farms, reports that delivery of Golden Hills was substantial by August 26, which is about normal. Hull integrity has once again been excellent; Mike noted that growers were waiting for the green nuts to mature sufficiently for removal to avoid a second shake, but even the green nuts were hulling perfectly with little to no adhering hull. Early deliveries were high-quality and typically received the maximum premiums for low insect and staining. Zack Raven, Grower Representative for Keenan Farms, also reported significant Golden Hills deliveries by August 28, with the receiving area full of trailers on Labor Day (September 4). Early delivery quality is excellent even though Alternaria was already causing substantial leaf loss in many Golden Hills orchards. Zack mentioned grower reports of large amounts of green leaf trash in the receiver tarp following shaking. This may be caused by a heavy crop drawing nutrients from the leaves subtending the clusters to complete maturation, resulting in their early senescence.
 
Setton Farms received a substantial number of Kerman pistachios as early as September 7. Zack Raven confirmed Kerman deliveries to Keenan about the same time but expected the week of September 18 to be a "hair burner!" Thus far, both processor reps report similar high hull quality for the Kermans with insect and stain premium payments equal to Golden Hills. Kerman split nut percentages are often ten percent less than Golden Hills due to varietal differences.
 
It would certainly be great if we could use the new weather station system created by the California Pistachio Research Board to calculate the Degree Growing Days for orchards with various delivery dates to see if there is a good correlation. This would seem very useful in helping growers predict harvest. The harvest prediction model is only as good as the accuracy of the weather data entered into it!
 
WORMS: I will also remember the harvest of '23 for the constant fight PCAs have had in beating the Navel Orangeworm (NOW) down. Market uncertainty, abandoned orchards, expectation of lower crop pricing, and difficulty accessing wet orchard floors all appear to have contributed to reduced winter sanitation efforts. The huge number of mummy nuts (unharvested nuts remaining in the trees throughout the winter) in both almond and pistachio orchards created a large, extended emergence of NOW overwintering as larva and pupa in these nuts. The cool, wet spring initially slowed NOW emergence; pest managers I spoke to commented that NOW activity was light up until May when a sharp increase was observed. Almond growers with three or four sprays targeted for NOW have suffered insect damage as high as 10-20%, which raised industry-wide concerns that pistachios were going to be next on the NOW menu! Fortunately, the early pistachio deliveries have not suffered the same fate as the Nonpareil almonds. Good pistachio hull integrity is credited for reducing its attractiveness for NOW egg laying, a theory which is supported by multiple research projects conducted since 1983.
 
The generally low number of early pea split nuts reported in July also significantly reduced the reproduction of NOW from the overwintering generation on "new crop." This, theoretically, decreased the third generation NOW population in August. Crop advisors also treated the third flight in August just ahead of the appearance of normal-sized and mature early split nuts (hull and shell split, exposing the nut meat), which were abundant in many orchards I scouted August 21. I could find as many as 35 early split nuts in a five-minute search in many orchards. A low number would be around five. Examination of every nut with a hand lens showed up to 25% of them had newly laid eggs and first and second instar NOW larva on September 1. Examination of nuts without the meat exposed revealed no apparent NOW activity. The new adults from the egg and worm population found September 1 could begin infesting pistachios around September 18, based upon research that shows NOW can cycle on new crop pistachios in as little as 500 Degree Days. I am offering this only as a reference point for your own field observations; this is not meant to be a declaration of impending doom! We typically see a very sharp rise in NOW activity around the third week in September, which can cause growers higher insect damage on their grade sheets. Dr. Joel Siegel, USDA/ARS Researcher, with over 20 years of NOW experience believes that the wide-spread implementation of Mating Disruption by the pistachio industry may contribute significantly to reducing late season NOW damage. Time will tell! Mating Disruption is NOT a "stand-alone" pest management program! Winter sanitation is a MUST to make it successful!
 
 
October Orchard Chores:
 
Get on the ATV and survey for gophers, nutritional deficiencies such as copper and zinc, trees whose crotches are split from shaking and require bolting and/or tying, and the position of crop left after shaking which requires attention during pruning. The gophers have been terrible this year. Control with various effective tools improves once the soil is wetted, hopefully by early fall rain!!
   
Review your grade sheets carefully, noting the location of each load delivered. Make a simple summary sheet indicating the general location of the load, the percent of clean open inshell split nuts, the light stain, dark stain, percent of closed shell, and blanks. Also record the bonus received for stain and insect. This summary sheet proves very useful in identifying possible nutrition, irrigation, soil salinity, or pest management problems.
   
Meet with your soil consultant to arrange for sampling. I highly recommend including a 0-3' sample of the surface soil in the area which is routinely wetted from irrigation. Surface soils low in exchangeable calcium, high in sodium or bicarbonates, or affected by too low or high a pH are often masked with the routine 0-1' sample. The precious irrigation water applied during the critical stage 3, kernel filling, may not be penetrating the soil surface because of mineral imbalances at the soil surface. Do not sample directly beneath drip emitters; constant wetting at the emitter site creates soil chemistry profiles which often do not reflect the bulk of the wetted area.
   
Leave your NOW Mating Disruption dispensers up until early November if your supplier says they are still capable of dispensing pheromone. This helps reduce NOW mating during the fall, and conceivably reduces the overwintering NOW population. Randomly collect 20 clusters remaining in the trees and crack out every nut. Record the percentages of split and infested nuts to guide your winter sanitation program. Some orchards may be so infested that lightly shaking them now could be justified. Disk or grind the removed nuts to destroy the NOW larva.
   
Review the condition of your tree canopies with someone knowledgeable about pruning. Discuss your options for side hedging and topping versus hand pruning. Determine what type of cuts are required to maintain an efficient fruiting system.
   
Meet with your PCA to discuss the various weed spectrums present in your orchards. Agree on a program, and get your materials ordered and delivered as soon as possible to avoid supply problems. Service your herbicide equipment to ensure all the hoses are sound, the pressure gauges work, the nozzles are new and clean, and the pump is supplying the correct volume. Have a treatment plan in place with workers aware of their assignments so that you can react quickly to rain forecasts.
   
Get soil modification accomplished as quickly as possible while the ground is dry and responding well to ripping or slip plowing. Berm now if you plan to plant on them in the spring, so that you can reduce the weed population over the winter and have them settled by spring.
   
Irrigation should have stopped on newly planted orchards and those up to four years old by no later than mid-September. Drying young pistachios down in the fall conditions them physiologically to resist injury from the first freeze, typically around mid-November. A fall application of zinc sulfate in powder or liquid form has traditionally been applied during the third and fourth week in October to provide some zinc nutrition and assist in driving the trees into the early stages of dormancy. Young, tender shoot growth present in late October is at risk of freeze injury. Depending upon the severity of the first freeze event, trees still actively growing have been killed back to the main trunk. Yes, I know the fall zinc spray does not immediately desiccate all the leaves, and its value is in question; I am trying some alternatives, and will let you know if there is a better substitute.
   
Rootstock planted later in the spring and budded late has scions only 6-12" tall. Growers are irrigating late in hopes that they can get a good percentage of them 52" above the soil line. Depending on soil texture, the latest I would gamble with late irrigation is October 1 in a fine, sandy loam soil. Heavier textured soils hold a lot of water and, providing they are not saline, could easily carry a newly budded tree into late October with a cutoff date of September 15, which is two weeks later than I recommend. I’m not taking the late irrigation bait; there is too much to lose for the small, long-term gain!
   
PRAY FOR RAIN!! We STILL need it!
   
Happy Farming!