California almond farmers prepping for rain during critical blooming weeksNews investigation finds
By Charlie Lapastora
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SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — With rain forecasted this week, it could impact almond farming during their crucial blooming season over the next few weeks.
CBS Sacramento spoke with almond farmer Mike Weststeyn on Wednesday and followed up with him on Sunday before potential rain on the horizon. Mike farms 700 acres of almond trees throughout San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties with his son, Erik.
Almonds make up a $5 billion industry in California and that triples with the economic output and ripple effect, according to UC Agricultural Issues Center director Daniel A. Sumner. In San Joaquin County, it’s the second largest crop.
“That’s how we make a living,” Mike said. “We’re producing those and that’s what we’re trying to sell, those, as in if we don’t have a crop to sell, that’s hard on the bottom line. If we don’t have a crop to sell, yeah, not making money.”
That is why these next few weeks of the almond blooming season, which will end around March 1, are crucial for farmers like Mike, his son Erik, and the more than 7,000 almond farmers throughout the state, who make up 80% of the world’s almond production.
“It’s really a critical time, even after bloom, and that nut starts to grow, it’ll shed this outside covering, and it’ll be sitting there, like with this little green nut, was really sensitive to frost at that stage. If we get a frost, any temperate down below 32 degrees, that will freeze that little nut there and it’ll fall off,” Mike said. “It’s not going to bloom again. You’re going to have to wait again until next year.”
With rain in the forecast this week, farmers are putting fungicide sprays on trees before the rain to hold it over until there’s clear skies again.
“The last couple nights you could hear the sprayers running out in the orchards. Lot of guys have been doing that, getting everything covered, so it gets a fungicide treatment on before the rain, so it will hold until we can get back in the orchards after the rain,” Mike said.
Mike is expecting, with the rain, that California won’t get a bumper crop, which would be between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds an acre. He says it may be a little less than that. If that’s the case, he’s hoping almond prices will go up to help the bottom line.
Since CBS Sacramento spoke with Mike on Wednesday, he gave an update on how the crops have been since then – and what he’s expecting this week.
“The last couple days have been really good,” Mike said. “The bees have been out, buds are pollinated. We’ve had pretty decent weather, looks like there’s some rain coming in tonight, so yeah, maybe the next couple of days, the bees are going to be hold up in their house and not too much pollinating going on. But, we’ll see if the weather clears up by Thursday and they’ll get back to work after that. Maybe a little hit on the crop but hopefully not too big of a hit. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
But whether or not this weather affects their crop, for Mike, he’s just grateful he gets to farm through this with his son.
“Having the opportunity to be with him every day, I get the phone calls, I always have somebody to talk to,” Mike said. “It’s different for me, my dad passed away when I was just graduating from college and I never had the opportunity to really farm with my dad. So, this is, it is special, have a kid that wants to farm and is willing to learn and is good at doing that stuff, it’s really special.”
Erik graduated from UC Davis in 2024 with an ag systems management degree and came back home.
“Could’ve gone some other places and made some more money, but the dream of growing the family business and the hope to keep that going for generations and someday pass it down to my kids really was the main draw,” Erik said.
Erik also got married recently and his wife works in the ag finance industry. Mike and his wife, Amy, enjoy having them around, making home-cooked meals, and Mike said Amy especially is looking forward to having grandkids. Mike said his daughter works in Sacramento at the Blue Diamond office. Almonds are very much a part of this family, as Mike grew up on an almond farm with his dad farming it at a property near where they are today in Ripon.
And almonds need the bees. With two beehives per acre on their property, Mike also calls these bees “vitally important” to their operation. If there’s rain or temperatures below 50 degrees, the bees can’t fly. If the bees can’t fly, they can’t pollinate, and there’s no crop. But, they’ve been able to fly and pollinate these last few days and they’re hoping that after the rain, they can still get a good crop.
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