Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1159340
9 ABC: What would you say to a grower who might be hearing about the harvest dust reduction goal for the first time and is concerned about costs to implement low-dust technology? DF: I think perception of cost is one of the challenges that we have. There are roughly 7,000 almond growers in California. We have a lot of smaller growers that wouldn't be able to take advantage of the economies of scale for purchasing new equipment that includes the newer technologies. However, the Almond Board has done a lot of work on some of the basic things those growers can do to really move the needle, such as orchard prep before harvest, making sure that floors are clean, and that you have some ground cover. And even if you're using older equipment, we've shown that just having it adjusted properly certainly can help reduce dust. I don't think we're going to attain a 50% reduction just by everyone ensuring their sweeper heads are set correctly, but that certainly will make a difference. I would also say that the new technology is becoming more affordable, like it always does. There are also incentive funding programs that the air district is offering to help mitigate costs, and a grower can receive up to 50% funding toward a new piece of equipment to help them implement dust reduction technology. The Almond Board continues to try to get that message out there — affording low-dust equipment is more attainable than some growers realize. ABC: What kind of value can a grower place on reducing harvest dust? DF: When growers are looking at how this pencils out, there are so many factors to consider. A big piece of the puzzle is just being a good neighbor, which includes considering the safety issues related to traffic on roads and looking out for the people in your orchards. There are also horticulture benefits to keeping dirt off your trees, including improved tree health. It's hard to ascribe a dollar per acre value to some of those things. The food safety issue is something growers should consider too. When you look at the bacteria in soil up and down the valley, you have to prevent picking up that soil and blowing it on your pollinator varieties while you're also picking up your Nonpareil varieties. The food safety benefits to reducing dust are huge, and once you start to combine all the benefits you really start to understand how valuable and necessary dust reduction is. In fact, I would say the monetary benefits amount to more than what a low-dust harvester costs. Plus, new, low-dust technology does not compromise productivity. You can go side by side with a conventional harvester and your production between that and a low-dust harvester is the same. I think it's important that growers realize this and look at the big picture. ABC: There's talk of using off- ground harvesting, like the pistachio industry. Is there a future for off- ground harvesting in almonds? DF: I think there likely is, but the key word is "future." It's pretty obvious that we would likely have to change cultural practices to accommodate that. We have to come up with a variety that will at least minimize — and hopefully eliminate — windfall. The kernels would also have to dry on the tree instead of on the ground so that we don't have to deal with hauling green products and drying like the pistachio industry has to do. I think that's a big hurdle, and there's a lot of research being done on that. So, I absolutely would not rule that out, but the reality is there's over a million acres in the ground right now with varieties and cultural practices that are going to require harvesting with somewhat of a conventional type system. We'll need to get to that next generation of an almond orchard that can be developed from the beginning with the mindset of off-ground harvesting. Visit Almonds.com/HarvestDust for more information about low-dust harvesting techniques, available incentive funding and other tools to reduce harvest dust. Deploying low-dust harvesting equipment will help the industry achieve the Almond Orchard 2025 Goal of reducing dust during harvest by 50%.