Apricot trees at Orange Heritage Park in Sunnyvale.
Photo by Gary Reyes, Bay Area News Group

By Gillian Brassil

SUNNYVALE — The summer heat brings folks out for fresh fruit, and Charlie Olson has been in the business for over 70 years, bringing Blenheim apricots to Sunnyvale residents since his family moved to California over a century ago.

The farming family tradition began in 1899 when Olson’s grandfather moved to California and started his farm on the land now leased by the family to the shopping center at the corner of Mathilda and El Camino. At age 13, Olson’s father dropped out of school to take over the family business. Olson took over the family business in 1977, three years before his father passed in 1980. He now tends to the 10 acres of apricot orchard owned by the City of Sunnyvale.

“Farming is what I know best; it’s in my blood,” Olson said. “It’s been a romance with me and the orchards and the people around me, it does something for your soul.”

The legacy continues as Olson, now 82, is still operating Orchard Heritage Park behind the Sunnyvale Community Center. Olson’s farm is one of the last of its kind in the Silicon Valley.

The apricot farm has 10 acres left of the original 43 by the Sunnyvale Community Center. According to Olson, there are about 80 trees per acre, meaning the farm has about 800 trees to prune, pick and take care of. There are three additional acres of cherry trees that Olson tends to by the Las Palmas Tennis Center. During season, Olson has between 20 and 25 workers helping. Out of season, Olson operates the farm with only one or two other partners.

The apricot season is during June and July. Olson said the original family tradition was to open the day after the Fourth of July, however, the heat makes the fruit ripen quicker. Now the season starts closer to the middle of June.

“The heat makes the apricots cook on the trees,” Olson explained. “We have to pick them right as they change color.”

Olson said that the market for dried apricots is narrow, especially for the Blenheim apricots that the orchard grows. Olson claims that Blenheim apricots are the sweetest and “best tasting” apricots, but are going extinct as they are the most tedious to care for — it costs around seven dollars to raise one pound of apricots.

As a result, most apricots in the United States are imported from the Middle East. Olson said less than 700 tons of apricots were grown in-state last year.

“Especially with families on budgets, you can get cheap dried apricots from Turkey at Costco in these big bags and we just can’t do that,” Olson said.

Olson said it takes about five pounds of fresh apricots to make one pound of dried apricots. He sun-dries his own apricots across from the barn where his office is.

On the other side of the community center, Olson’s co-worker for the past 25 years, Elisabeth Maurer, runs the fruit stand. There, farm hands sort the freshly picked and dried apricots as well as “Elisabeth’s Jams” made from the apricots and cherries grown in the orchard.

Maurer said the typical day runs from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with the stand open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. seven days per week. Maurer has between four and six hands to help sort the apricots which are picked and loaded into the tractor truck running from the orchard to the stand.

“We have to sort by soft, sunburnt, small, regular — sometimes we get a combination of small and sunburnt and we just make another pile that way,” said Yannah, a recent high school graduate who has been working on the orchard for the past three years.

Maurer said sorting is crucial to different tastes. For example, a sunburned apricot is generally sweeter with a crispy skin. These fruits are discounted as they do not save as long as the regular apricots. Regular apricots cost 15 dollars per five pounds.

Despite the hard work, Maurer said the effort is worth it.

“It really is a labor of love,” Maurer said. “Our goal is to make people happy — and we do.”

Farm stand shoppers said they enjoyed the freshness of the apricots and the fact that the fruit was all local.

“Can’t get fresh fruit like this elsewhere,” said one local shopper, John Lou.

Although Olson and Maurer both love the orchard, Olson says his family farming line probably ends with him. His daughter runs the family apricot and cherry stand that started operating in the 50s, C.J. Olson Cherries, on El Camino and Mathilda. Olson said that the family farming tradition would probably end after this generation.

“People don’t get into it nowadays — it’s hard,” Olson said. “Farm families get up and farm because it is your job, it is what you know. Times change and I’m 82; the line stops here.”

Link to article

June 19-25 is “Pollinator Week,” a time to spotlight the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week was originally created by Congress 10 years ago and has now grown into an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by the “B’s:” birds, butterflies, bees, bats and beetles.

CDFA highlighted concerns with declining bee populations in its Growing California video series. Here is “Blossom Buddies,” parts one and two.

Link to the Pollinator Partnership web site

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the licensing of a rapid-response (three-hour) Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) diagnostic kit by the USDA.  Developed by a large research consortium of federal agencies, academia and animal health industry scientists, this is the first licensed FMD diagnostic kit that can be manufactured on the U.S. mainland, critical for a rapid response in the event of a FMD outbreak.

This diagnostic kit provides animal health first-responders with an important tool to mitigate the potentially catastrophic economic and animal welfare impacts of a FMD outbreak. This high-performance test can be used for cattle, swine, and sheep, and will be commercialized and sold by Veterinary Medical Research and Development, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of veterinary diagnostics.

“This assay will be a pivotal tool for U.S. emergency preparedness and response and for ensuring the resiliency of U.S. animal agriculture, a critical infrastructure” said DHS Under Secretary (Acting) William N. Bryan. “Successfully bringing this test to market exemplifies the type of public-private partnerships that are necessary to support U.S. agriculture and global FMD control and eradication programs.”

California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones concurs: “This will be a CRITICAL tool in that it will allow us to focus more directly on diseased animals; and it could reduce the size of a quarantined area, reduce the number of animals that would be euthanized, and better enable us to use vaccination as a control strategy,” she said.

The FMD virus is highly contagious in cloven-hoofed animals, including: cattle, pigs, small ruminants. Globally, FMD has a significant impact on livestock trade economics, and extensive regulatory programs exist in the U.S. to facilitate identification of, response to, and control of the disease. With one in nine Americans employed in the agriculture or allied industries, the effects of an FMD outbreak in the U.S. would be devastating ­– estimated at nearly $200 billion in lost revenue over 10 years across affected industries.

Link to Morning Ag Clips

As Farmers Markets are flourishing throughout California this summer, here’s an encore presentation from the Growing California video series.

Find a Certified Farmers market near you.

Although California and Australia are in opposite hemispheres, our climates – and the associated challenges — are profoundly similar. As California continues to lead the nation in agricultural production, we must look to our international partners to find innovative ways to produce high quality foods while also practicing water conservation.

Join the conversation as farmers, research scientists and government representatives from Australia and California discuss irrigation water management and technologies for use in specialty crop production.

California & Australia Climate Smart Agriculture Webinar   June 19, 2017 · 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. (PST)

Australia is one the world’s leaders in irrigation efficiency and water management innovation. From 1997 to 2009, Australia faced the worst drought in the country’s history. However, through a series of policy innovations, Australia was successful in reducing water use and developing adaptive on-farm solutions for a changing climate.

California is working in collaboration with international partners to foster knowledge-sharing partnerships to address climate change impacts on agriculture. This webinar is the fifth in a series of international discussions focusing on climate smart agriculture.

(left to right) Tammy Anderson-Wise, Dairy Council of California, Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sandip Kaur, Director of Nutrition Services, California Department of Education , Jay Lowden, CEO YMCA of Superior California, Sacramento, Michelle Drake, Elk Grove Unified School District Food Service Director and Coco the cow from New Hope Dairy in Halt, representing Dairy Council Of CA’s Mobile Dairy Classroom.

During the school year, more than 16.9 million children receive free and reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, only 2.3 million, or about 12 percent, of these young people have access to free meals over the summer break.

This summer, the YMCA of Superior California, in partnership with the Walmart Foundation, will provide more than 500 free lunches a day to youth at partner locations throughout the community, through their Summer Food Program.

At the kick-off event yesterday in Sacramento, Dairy Council of California had the opportunity to showcases their Mobile Dairy Classroom, with Tootsie – the star of the show.

Tootsie (four week old calf) meeting the kids.

Further information on statewide Summer Meal Programs from the California Department of Education.

Today, CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and Deputy Secretary Kevin Masuhara had opportunity to visit with current class of the department’s Executive Leadership Program.

“What a pleasure to join Deputy Secretary Kevin Masuhara to address this year’s CDFA Executive Leadership class. I am so proud of our CDFA team and their commitment to the department’s mission and to serving agriculture and the consumers who depend upon it!!

This class graduates next month. They are terrific!” – Secretary Karen Ross

CDFA’s current class includes: Trish Beam; John Martin; Mandy Patterson – (Administrative Services); Crystal D’Souza – (Executive Office); Rachel Andrade; Austin Borgman; Dr. Alyssa Louie; Virginia Townley – (Animal Health and Food Safety Services); Colleen Murphy; Jason Chan; Paul Martinez; Shaun Winterton; Adam Holmes – (Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services); Patrina Brennan – (Pierce’s Disease); Dinesh Chand; Stan Murikami; Scott Renteria; Danielle Chapman; Samantha Moran; Evelyn Ndiaye – (Inspection Services); Christine Bernardo; David DaSilva; Dave Dillabo; David Wilcox – (Marketing Services); and John Larkin – (Measurement Standards).