WHAT WE’RE SEEING IN THE FIELD RIGHT NOW
Here’s this week’s Crop & Field Report from our PCAs, covering the San Joaquin Valley and the coast: pistachios, cotton, watermelon, corn, citrus, lemons, stone fruit, and almonds.
Pistachios: The crop is lighter than anyone wanted — significant reduction across the Valley, with Kern County hit hardest. Blank rates are running high enough to move the yield conversation on their own, and foliar nutrition is coming back reduced to match. The bright spot: blocks where the dormancy program went out in the right window at the right concentration are showing real, repeatable results this season.
Cotton: The crop is ahead of schedule and generally looking clean. Aphid and whitefly are present but light in most fields — late August is where whitefly decides your grade, so keep the scouting tight.
Watermelon & Corn: Water called this harvest, not the crop. Watermelon harvest is ending early on water shortages — the vines weren’t the limiting factor. Corn is wrapping up, with final mite applications going out now.
Citrus: It’s a hard year on price — overproduction has the market soft heading into the season. Sizing is still the agronomic concern, though pest programs are moving on schedule.
Lemons: Coastal lemon crops are holding steady, with one exception — coastal blocks where broad mite pressure is climbing. Broad mite hides in the new flush and shows up as damage you can’t undo, so check the tips.
Stone Fruit: Harvests came early, and pest threats came up with them. Focus is shifting to post-harvest fertility and staying on pest management after the fruit is off — what happens in the next six weeks writes next year’s crop.
Almonds: Mite pressure is the agronomic story, and the blocks holding up are the ones that got covered before the population built. The bigger problem is low moisture and a delayed harvest, which land straight on grower returns.
Once the fruit and nuts come off, the tree starts rebuilding for next year — that window is short and it doesn’t wait. Now is the time to build the post-harvest fertility plan, not after the leaves drop.
Questions about how this applies to your fields? Reach out to your GAR PCA, or call us at (559) 638-6311. Follow us on LinkedIn for the full report and photos.