The Almond Board of California arranged an orchard and facility tour for Representative Dwight Evans and several House Ag committee staff during their visit to Modesto for the recent 2018 Farm Bill Listening Session.
While Rep. Evans admitted he knew little about the almond industry, he also said that he loves to eat almonds. And while he has no farmers in his urban Philadelphia district, he said he has a lot of consumers who like to eat, adding that consumers need to have a better understanding of where food comes from and stating that ag needs to do a better job of telling its story.
Rep. Evans, along with Stacy Revels, Troy Philips and Keith Jones from the House Ag committee and Tracey Chow from Representative Jeff Denham’s office, spent the morning at Travaille and Phippen, located in the nearby town of Ripon, learning how almonds are produced, the way rootstock is selected and why so many varieties of almonds exist. They also expressed a deep interest in pollination and the yearly process that takes place when hives traveling from all across the United States meet in California Almond orchards in order to pollinate the crop. Rep. Evans was impressed by the fact that a majority of almond farms are multi-generational, family farms and by the industry’s embrace of new technologies to improve production, including efficient irrigation methods, sorting equipment and drones.
ABC would like to thank Kimi Phippen and Nick Gatzman for leading the tour and thank Kelly Covello of the Almond Alliance of California for joining the tour and addressing industry priorities.
