Growing almonds requires a lot of water, a resource heavily regulated in some areas.
It led researchers at UC Davis to roll up their sleeves and see just how much stress an almond tree can take.
“We had two sites, we have six years in one and three years in another, and found that we could wait a substantial amount of time, more than one month after growers normally start irrigating. We have not seen any bad effects on yields, but we have seen a better tree appearance in the trees. Now, we haven’t actually seen any serious symptoms, but at least delaying irrigation for long times has had no detrimental effect and some positive effects,” said Ken Shackel.
No worries there, but starting irrigation too late can cause issues. Shackel calls it the “bank account effect,” when the trees take up too much water too quickly, and then do not have enough to get through harvest.
High input costs and persistant drought is pushing Midwest growers to rethink planting decisions.
April 28, 2026 12:28 PM
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Spring Weather Splits Conditions Across American Farm Country
April 27, 2026 05:34 PM
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Dr. Peter Beetham with Cibus joins us to discuss the Supreme Court review of a case about glyphosate use, its potential impact on Bayer and Roundup, farmers who use the products, and the ag industry as a whole.
April 27, 2026 03:18 PM
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U.S. Soybean Export Council CEO Jim Sutter joins us to discuss the impact of new trade development funding for U.S. soy.
April 27, 2026 01:08 PM
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Grain movement stayed active, with barges showing the strongest weekly gain while rail and ocean signals remained mixed.
April 26, 2026 07:00 AM
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The Supreme Court’s ruling could affect pesticide warning claims well beyond Roundup. Richard Gupton with the Ag Retailers Association joins us to explain the importance of federal pesticide labeling standards and discuss the potential impact on the ag industry and supply chain.
April 25, 2026 07:00 PM
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