Farm manager Nick Gatzman explains the use of soil monitoring systems that record and send soil moisture status directly to his cell phone.The site of the Almond Board’s 13th annual Environmental Stewardship Tour in May was a four-generation vertical farming operation where tradition and innovation intersect. From pest management to irrigation and fertilizer through harvest, Travaille & Phippen is constantly integrating technological innovation to help the Manteca grower, huller, sheller, packer and processor farm sustainably1 while optimizing inputs and production.
The tour showcased for more than 56 attendees from local, state and federal regulatory agencies, along with media, elected officials and other invited guests, how technology is helping the 1,500 acre, 30-million-pound operation adapt to a changing regulatory and market landscape for California Almonds.
Host Dave Phippen (member of the Almond Board of Directors) said that while the roots of farming run deep at Travaille & Phippen, a vein of innovation permeates throughout.
“A lot has changed since we first hosted this tour 10 years ago, and this tour is an opportunity for us to showcase technology in our farming operation that allows us to be good stewards of the land,” Phippen said.
His son-in-law Nick Gatzman, who manages the farming operations and is also a member of the Almond Board’s Environmental Research Committee, demonstrated the advantages and challenges of applying irrigation water and nutrients through drip irrigation. Irrigation rates are determined and timing is scheduled using a combination of soil moisture and climate monitoring systems that deliver information on moisture status throughout the soil profile to Gatzman’s cell phone. This helps him track available water and schedule irrigations based on water depletion in the soil. It also allows Gatzman to see how far he is pushing water into the soil profile, with an eye toward keeping fertilizers in the root zone.
Monitoring evapotranspiration rates and crop coefficients, along with other environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, also allows him to anticipate water needs based on tree use and determine how long to irrigate to replenish water used by the crop.
“The technology we are using now is incredible, and some of the technology we are experimenting with we will use in the future. We’ve got the technology, but it’s a matter of how we are going to use it,” Gatzman said.
The company is experimenting with remote sensing technology in a move toward precision farming that will allow it to adapt irrigation, pest management and other inputs to account for variations within the orchard.
Travaille & Phippen is routinely flying the ranch with fixed-winged aircraft to take aerial photos of its almond acreage. Those photos are overlaid with various light spectrum filters that allow Gatzman to see variations in the orchard.
Infrared filters help Gatzman locate areas where the trees are stressed, which helps to manage mite hot spots, fine-tune irrigation and predict yield potential. NDVI filters show variations in heat signatures coming off leaves, which can show where trees are more or less vigorous.
“We are still learning how to use these tools,” he said. “We are not so much using this technology to schedule our inputs as we are to see where we are doing things right and where we can improve. With the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program and new groundwater regulations we are having to track our nitrogen use more than ever, and explain and verify how much nitrogen we are applying,” Gatzman said.
In addition to fixed-wing flyovers, Travaille & Phippen started incorporating drone technology last fall to better photograph orchards, and is also looking at using ATVs to photograph the orchard canopy from below to develop 3-D images of trees. Gatzman hopes eventually to use specific heat signatures from the technology to sense nutrient levels in the leaves, and perhaps replace cumbersome stem water potential readings to further fine-tune irrigation sets.
“And if in lieu of tissue samples we can fly a drone and find out the nitrogen content in leaves, that would be hugely advantageous for us,” he said.
“It’s early on with this technology, and we are not even sure yet what we can do, but I am really hopeful and excited that this can be a quick, easy and efficient tool to get valuable data that can be useful to us,” concluded Gatzman.
1. What defines California Almond sustainability? Sustainable almond farming utilizes production practices that are economically viable and are based upon scientific research, common sense and a respect for the environment, neighbors and employees. The result is a plentiful, nutritious, safe food product.
