Managing harvest dust is a year-round consideration for almond grower Gordon Heinrich and his family, who farm 700 acres of almonds, walnuts and field crops near Modesto. The Heinrich family has been farming for five generations on the property, which is in an increasingly urbanized area of Stanislaus County.
Gordon Heinrich, and sons Jerad and Phil (from right) work together to manage harvest dust year-round on the family’s five-generation 700-acre farming operation in Stanislaus County.
“We are trying to be a good neighbor. We know we are never going to be able to eliminate dust, but we are doing everything in our power to keep it at a minimum and be mindful of our neighbors and nearby schools,” Heinrich said.
Gordon Heinrich oversees operations with four of his sons, who take responsibility for different aspects of growing and harvest operations at Heinrich Farms.
Phil Heinrich, who manages farming operations, says managing harvest dust really begins soon after the previous harvest with good orchard floor preparation that leads to a level, smooth and clean harvest surface later on.
“We want to make sure the orchard floor is level. The more uneven the surface, the lower the harvester heads have to operate, which leads to more dust at pick up,” he said. “So it starts right after the previous harvest, we level out mounds from the harvest and touch it up throughout the year. We take steps to minimize the amount of dirt in the windrow. One way to do that is to keep a level, debris-free orchard floor, and you do that year-round.”
Year-round management of vertebrate pests, weeds and debris help eliminate disturbances in the orchard floor that can interfere with harvest operations.
“The more debris you have, the more dust you are going to get out of your harvester,” Phil said.
He also runs irrigation water two to three weeks before harvest to pack down any loose dirt.
Jerad Heinrich, who is in charge of field operations and maintaining harvest equipment, agreed managing harvest dust begins well before harvest starts in October.
“We are getting equipment ready for the next year right after harvest and right up until the next harvest,” he said.
Jerad goes into harvest preparing sweepers, shakers and pickup machines to reduce the amount of dust. He adjusts tire pressure so equipment runs evenly and sets sweeper and pick up machine head heights so they are running at orchard floor level to collect nuts without disturbing the orchard floor.
Newer-generation equipment has low-dust innovations built in. But taking additional steps, such as utilizing gravity chains to filter out dust before nuts reach the suction fan and adjusting head heights and fan speeds are critical.
Jerad Heinrich, who is in charge of field operations for Heinrich Farms, adjusts sweeper head heights to ensure they are collecting nuts but not picking up dust with harvested nuts.
Speed is another important factor. Jared said reducing pick up machine speeds can significantly reduce the amount of dust generated. He is also careful to use the orchard row ends as filters, shutting down machines at the end of rows to try and keep dust inside the orchard.
Gordon noted that all the preparation and steps for reducing dust at harvest do add considerable work for the family-run operation, but it’s important, particularly as urbanization advances on farming communities.
Almond Board of California has been investing in research and resources in recent years to not only identify sources of dust at harvest and methods for reducing dust, but also to communicate to growers the best way to get manage the issue. The Almond Board has made practical guides and videos available to growers and workers to encourage adoption of key practices for reducing dust at harvest. These resources are available at Almonds.com/HarvestDust.
“ABC is doing a good job of getting information to growers to make them aware of the problem and the solutions,” he said. “And it’s a matter of training our employees and implementing those ideas to get the job done.”
Bilingual training materials available through the Almond Board are part of Heinrich’s training program.
“Our employees, if they understand the goal, will cooperate. So training them about the importance of driving at the right speed and other concepts is very important,” Gordon said.
