The Almond Journey Podcast, (produced by the Almond Board of California) hosted Burford Ranch assistant manager Sal Parra, Jr.
Sal grew up on the farm where he now lives and works alongside his father to manage 2,800 acres of almonds in western Fresno County.
Host Tim Hammerich talks with Sal about finding ways to continually get “more crop per drop”. Click here for the full episode.
Sal talks about his experience using Phytech to optimize profuction based on what trees are telling him.
“With the dendrometers, it's literally real time. It's telling you a better story of what that tree is going through. I think for me, that was really convincing and I thought, Now this is a game changer". Sal shares that through increased monitoring and irrigation technology he now “can water by need and fertilize by need” rather than assumptions and calendar month. This allows him to tailor his inputs to the “actual variety and actual tree”, and therefore greatly increase his efficiency for this season and future crops.
“The trees were just healthier all year. I think what it really comes down to is that you're having good data to work off of that can help you make micro adjustments that over the long run give you savings. And so for us, that was huge, that was critical at a time where we really needed to go in that direction because of the pressure of not having the water.”
About the Almond Journey podcast:
Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.