California situation

Blue Diamond provided an update yesterday on the progress of the almond bloom in California.

It seems cool weather has slowed the progression of the bloom, although it also reported that so far there has minimal damage to almond orchards from flooding.

I noticed a few hours ago that another website has reported that the evacuation downstream from the Oroville dam is causing some logistical difficulties for agricultural businesses and farmers in the area, which includes many almond growers.

The article also raises some concerns that the wet weather and dam situation could impact the almond bloom:

...Colleen Cecil, executive director of the Butte County Farm Bureau, said flooding was nothing out of the ordinary so far.

"There hasn't been extreme flooding," she said. "I think it's normal flooding along the Feather River that folks are experiencing right now."

Cecil said it was too early to assess damage.

"Right now, there's standing water in orchards," she said. "Almond bloom has started. It's in the very early stages. These sunny days in between these rainstorms get bees really happy, and we're going to see almond bloom here much sooner rather than later. Hopefully, pollination won't be impacted, but that is definitely an area that we're watching."

Crops that could potentially be affected if the situation worsens include cling peaches, prunes, walnuts, almonds, olives, kiwifruit and possibly rice.

Kulwant Johl of Yuba City, who grows orchard crops and whose farm is located along Highway 70, said the affected region includes a number of processing, packing and fruit drying companies, such as Sunsweet, Pacific Coast Producers, Cal Fruit International and Sacramento Valley Packing.

"We have so many farms, agricultural facilities and equipment. We've got packing facilities and dehydrators and dryers, so if something happens, for agriculture it will be a disaster," Johl said.

Apparently, a large portion of the Sacramento Valley's $1.5 billion agricultural industry potentially falls in the path of water from the Lake Oroville dam if it were to fail.


Thus, in the short term, there are two significant issues that could impact the Californian almond industry: disruption to the almond bloom from inclement weather, and the potential for a disaster downstream from the Oroville dam if things there go from bad to worse.