{"id":12645,"date":"2016-11-04T17:53:01","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growers-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:53:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:53:01","slug":"blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almonds: no longer the \u201c1 gallon of water per nut\u201d nut<\/strong>
\nCalifornia is currently facing a severe water shortage. The shortage is primarily due to two factors: four years of consecutive drought and the lack of adequate water storage facilities to accommodate the state\u2019s residential, industrial and agricultural demands [1]. The drought cost agriculture 17,000 jobs and $1.5 billion contributing to a total loss of $7.5 billion to the broader California economy [1]. Although the almond (the \u201cone-gallon nut\u201d) is a water intensive crop (consuming 10% of California water resources), it is critical to the California economy as the state\u2019s top commodity export valued at $4.5 billion [2,3].<\/p>\n

Blue Diamond: facing harsh drought conditions<\/strong>
\nThroughout the drought, the almond industry has faced harsh limits on surface water allocation forcing growers to shift their constrained resources from established to young groves in an effort to preserve their orchard investment. This starvation of productive almond orchards negatively impacts the current and subsequent year production and nut quality. To alleviate the pain of water restriction, Blue Diamond is working with government authorities and growers to increase water sustainability by promoting initiatives to fix the leaky water distribution infrastructure, capture waste water to reconstitute aquifers, and develop water storage systems. Additionally, Blue Diamond is committed to investing in educating growers about best practices and new irrigation management systems [1]. As the Blue Diamond director of member relations said, \u201cGrowers do all they can to be good stewards of natural resources like water because it\u2019s smart business and smart farming\u201d [1]. Farmers must innovate in order to significantly increase their crop to drop ratio and continue to operate under these water restrictions.<\/p>\n

Education to improve operations<\/strong>
\nBlue Diamond educates almond growers about new farming practices through the California Almond Sustainability Program [4]. One module, irrigation management, has introduced new irrigation approaches: watering at night, increasing efficiency, and reducing water pump energy costs. Growers\u2019 adoption of new practices has reduced water per pound of nuts consumption by 33%, and a further $3 billion investment in smart irrigation systems reduced water consumption by an additional 14% in 2015 [1].<\/p>\n

Technology in the orchard today<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a>
Matt Efird and His Dog at Double E Farms [6]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Beyond established irrigation techniques, Blue Diamond growers, such as Matt Efird, continue to innovate by adopting water management technologies that ensure healthy crop and lowest water use by monitoring soil moisture with electronic soil probes and root zone water measurements. [6]<\/p>\n

\"Example<\/a>
Example of sap flow sensor used to confirm optimized irrigation [8]<\/figcaption><\/figure>George Goshgarian Jr., another almond grower, is implementing real time on site weather stations, as well as sap flow sensors to determine their trees\u2019 specific water needs [8]. Efird and Goshgarian\u2019s adoption of new technologies and strategies shows how growers can introduce technology into the orchard to use water resources more efficiently. Eventually, the growers will be able to use remote sensing to electronically control irrigation for healthier groves, while reducing water consumption by restricting\u00a0resource delivery to only trees that need it [8].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pushing the Boundary: the case for restricted irrigation techniques<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example<\/a>
Example of almond hull rot prior to harvest [11]<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nRecently, scientists have started to experiment with Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI), the intentional limiting of water during the almond production cycle. A pioneer of this method, David Goldhamer, studied the improvements in irrigation efficiency through RDI [10]. Goldhamer\u2019s group used linear displacement sensors to measure the maximum daily trunk shrinkage to calculate water stress data specific to each tree [12]. The researchers found up to 40% reduced water consumption was achievable with only slight decreases in almond yield.<\/p>\n

A surprise finding from RDI experiments was that water stress for three to four weeks prior to harvest, not only saved about 10% of irrigation water [7], but also reduced hull rot (fungal infection of the splitting hull and tree) creating a win-win situation. Historically, hull rot could decimate one third of the crop, erasing profit and leaving damaged groves in its wake [10]. RDI not only saves water, but also saves crops and businesses. Wide adoption of RDI in conjunction with remote sensing and monitoring can lead to significant reduction in water consumption and increased production yield.<\/p>\n

Looking forward: The Future for Almonds<\/strong>
\nThe Blue Diamond growers\u2019 adoption of next generation technology as well as their partnerships with government and environmental groups will lead to sustainable almond production and water security for California. To make these studies truly successful, Blue Diamond will need to determine long term implications of the RDI method, and continue to help their growers deploy technology in their orchards. Ultimately these advances in almond production could benefit other tree crops both in California and globally.<\/p>\n

Final Word Count: 759 Words<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

[1] Cummings, D., et al. \u201cGovernor declares mandatory water cuts: agriculture water use under scrutiny.\u201d\u00a0 Almond Facts<\/em>: May\/Jun (2016): 26.<\/p>\n

[2] Holthaus, E. \u201cStop Vilifying Almonds\u201d Slate: April (2015)<\/p>\n

[3] Sumner, D., et al., \u201cThe Economic Impacts of the California Almond Industry.\u201d Almond Board of California: <\/em>(n.d)<\/p>\n

[4] Olsen, Daniel, Arian Aghajanzadeh, and Aimee McKane.\u00a0Opportunities for Automated Demand Response in California Agricultural Irrigation<\/em>. No. LBNL-1003786. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States), 2015.<\/p>\n

[5] Almonds: Growing up Sustainable.\u201d Almond Board of California: Oct 2016<\/p>\n

[6] Cummings, D., et al. \u201cLeading Edge Operations Mean Higher Return for Blue Diamond Growers.\u201d\u00a0 Almond Facts<\/em>: Jul\/Aug (2016): 15<\/p>\n

[7] Stewart, W., et al. “Regulated deficit irrigation reduces water use of almonds without affecting yield.”\u00a0California Agriculture<\/em>\u00a065.2 (2011): 90-95.<\/p>\n

[8] Cummings, D., et al. \u201cTaking the Guesswork Out of Irrigation.\u201d\u00a0 Almond Facts<\/em>: May\/Jun (2016): 30.<\/p>\n

[9] Goldhamer DA, Viveros M, Salinias M. \u201cRegulated deficit irrigation in almonds: effects of variations in applied water and stress on yield and yield components.\u201d Irrig. Sci. 24(2) 2005:101-114.<\/p>\n

[10] Cline, H., \u201cToo much water at almond hull split can be costly for a long time.\u201d Western Farm Press: <\/em>July 2007<\/p>\n

[11] Cummings, D., et al. \u201cTime to Consider: Hull Rot Management.\u201d\u00a0 Almond Facts<\/em>: May\/June (2016): 33<\/p>\n

[12] Goldhamer, D., Elias Fereres, and Mario Salinas. “Can almond trees directly dictate their irrigation needs?”\u00a0California Agriculture<\/em>\u00a057.4 (2003): 138-144.<\/p>\n

[13] Schoups, Gerrit, et al. “Sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, California.”\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>102.43 (2005): 15352-15356.<\/p>\n

[14] Kendall, Alissa, et al. “Life Cycle\u2013based Assessment of Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Almond Production, Part I: Analytical Framework and Baseline Results.”\u00a0Journal of Industrial Ecology<\/em>\u00a019.6 (2015): 1008-1018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can California take control of it's thirsty cash crop?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2566,"featured_media":12646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[28,1321,1254,1218,37,1580,1697],"class_list":["post-12645","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-almonds","category-california","category-climate-change","category-innovation","category-irrigation","category-technological-innovation"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nBlue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can California take control of it's thirsty cash crop?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"989\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-04T21:53:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg\",\"width\":1484,\"height\":989},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"Can California take control of it's thirsty cash crop?","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","og_image":[{"width":1484,"height":989,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/","name":"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg","datePublished":"2016-11-04T21:53:01+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/orchard-alive-dead.jpeg","width":1484,"height":989},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/blue-diamond-growing-californias-almond-industry-with-less-water\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Blue Diamond: Growing California\u2019s Almond Industry with Less Water"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/12645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/12645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}