The family farming operation wasn’t in trouble by any means. Instead, the Jacksons and farm manager Mike Burden, of Lent-Burden Farming Inc., wanted to educate the regulators about the science and technology they use to make decisions.

The annual environmental tour is sponsored by the Modesto-based Almond Board of California to showcase the practices growers are using to protect the environment. It’s also designed to create a better understanding between farmers and regulators.

Since 2007, the Jacksons and Burden have developed the hilly countryside, planting walnuts and almonds. Depending on the microclimate and soil-water infiltration rate, the trees are irrigated with microspinklers or double-line drip hoses, Burden says. Burden showed tour participants the automated weather stations and pressure chamber he uses to help determine when and how much to irrigate. Each of the PureSense automated soil-moisture monitoring units costs about $3,200 without a weather station and $4,000 with a weather station. The operation has 38 units across all the blocks, with 12 of those having weather stations. In addition, Burden says the operation pays about $800 per unit per year for service and monitoring. But he says the cost is well worth it.

What Burden says he found was he wasn’t irrigating the almond trees enough at critical stages in the crop’s development. He’s actually applying more water, but the trees are less stressed and healthier now. Burden says the stations also allow him to reduce irrigation by 25 percent during hull split. By using regulated deficit irrigation, he’s able to better manage the disease as well as promote more even crop ripening.

Before the monitoring stations, the operation hired a technician with a neutron probe to take soil moisture readings one a week. Burden then spent days calculating irrigation rates and timing, factoring in ET, or evapotraspiration rates.

The weather stations collect soil moisture data every 15 minutes and relays it via cellphone technology to Burden’s computer. As part of the irrigation monitoring, Burden says he uses a pressure bomb to test stem water potential. The reading shows whether the tree is receiving ample water or is drought stressed.Burden still uses ET when figuring irrigation applications, but he says he spends only a few hours a week calculating irrigation rates. ”By tying all three together, we’re able to dial this in and hit it right,” he says.

Burden also discussed how he spoon feeds the trees nitrogen through the irrigation, improving overall nutrient efficiency while reducing the chances for leaching into the groundwater or runoff into nearby waterways. In addition, he talked about using cultural practices to control navel orangeworm, showed off a settling pond system that improves water quality and protects Dry Creek down stream, and talked about transitioning to brush chipping from open-field burning.

Burden is one of 405 growers so far who have participated in the almond board’s sustainability program that involves self-assessments, says Gabrielle Ludwig, associate director, environmental affairs. The almond program, started in 2009, is patterned loosely after the highly successful California Sustainable Winegrowing Program.

So far, the almond board has released five modules—irrigation management, nutrient management, energy efficiency, air quality and pest management. The almond board has conducted a number of workshops through the state to help growers complete one or more of the modules, Luldwig says. The assessments recently were posted online, so growers can complete them at their convenience. Although many growers already have adopted practices considered sustainable, the program allows them to document it, she says. ”It’s an industrywide initiative that’s transparent about what the industry is doing,” says Joe Browde, professional services manager, Sure Harvest, Soquel, Calif.

The data is collected by SureHarvest and presented in such a way that individual growers remain anonymous. Industry leaders also can look at the results and determine where to target educational industry outreach programs, Ludwig says.

Ecosystem Services Defined

A common definition of ecosystem services is “the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems.” This is the definition developed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), a highly respected international endeavor completed in 2005 on the state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide. The MEA also provided a detailed framework that categorized ecosystem services into four areas: Supporting Services (i.e. nutrient cycling, soil formation, etc.), Provisioning Services (i.e. food, freshwater, wood and fiber, fuel, etc.), Regulating Services (i.e. climate regulation, flood regulation, disease regulation, water purification, etc.), and Cultural Services (i.e. aesthetic, educational, recreational, etc.).  

Earlier this year the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel, which I serve on, formulated and approved the following ecosystems services definition: “In agriculture, ecosystem services are defined as the multiple benefits we gain from farming and ranching including crop and livestock production. In addition to valuable open space and wildlife habitat, the management decisions and conservation practices of farmers and ranchers also enhance environmental quality, provide recreational opportunities, and offer social benefits.” Below are examples of these types of benefits.

• Wildlife Habitats: provide habitats for resident and transient wildlife populations

• Nutrient Cycling: Provide nutrient storage and cycling

• Food, Fiber, Fuel Production: Provide food, fiber, and fuel to sustain a growing global population

• Recreation and Cultural: Provide opportunities for recreational activities

• Soil Structure, Formation, and Fertility: Provide opportunities for enhancing the soil system, promote organic matter buildup/carbon sequestration, and prevent disturbances

• Biodiversity Conservation: Promote biodiversity

• Water Cycling: Maintain soil moisture and regulate water movement/cycling

• Atmospheric Gas/Climate Regulation: Regulate atmospheric chemical composition.

• Pest Control: Control pests and weeds by natural enemies and weed seed predators, respectively

• Pollination Services: Contribute to fruit, nut, and vegetable production.

Ecosystem Services Pilot Projects

Last year CDFA Secretary Karen Ross reconstituted the Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel (EFA SAP). Two key objectives of the EFA SAP are to compile information on the net environmental impacts that agriculture creates for the environment and identify incentives that may be provided to encourage agricultural practices with environmental benefits. To accomplish these objectives, adopting an agriculture-centric ecosystems services definition was a key first step.  

The panel is now working to develop an ecosystem services evaluation framework that can be used to recognize environmental value, and identify and prioritize incentives to reward growers for producing multiple ecosystem services benefits. The next steps are to work with interested groups to implement a series of pilot projects that could serve as the basis to develop more comprehensive policies that create additional sources of revenue, recognition, and regulatory certainty for farmers and ranchers that are net producers of ecosystems services. At least one pilot with vegetable growers is highly likely.  

Though not as catchy as the opening line, I prefer the statement “Pay farmers for producing more ecosystem services with less and saving the rest.”

SureHarvest announced the addition of David Sypnieski as Director of Sales.  “David brings over 13 years experience in developing and deploying strategic and impactful branding, market and sales initiatives.  As Director of Sales, David will be leading SureHarvest’s drive to expand the company’s farm management software business.  This will include but not limited to growing Farming MIS sales, deployment of a strategic partner and channel program, retaining and managing top-level sales talent, and development of improved internal processes to support growth”, announced Jeff Dlott, SureHarvest CEO. “David’s understanding of the complexity of farming i.e. that every crop, region, county, farm and field is different, will enable him to match our tools to the needs of the growers”, according to Dlott.

“I am excited to be working with the people at SureHarvest.  Working with SureHarvest allows me to utilize my experience in delivering impactful and valuable solutions to a market in need.  Growers have worked very hard over the past couple of generations to drive tremendous improvements to production and sustainability in general.  With increasing pressures from market competition and regulatory compliance, growers and related stakeholders need an ever-improving set of products, tools and services in order to not only survive, but thrive as farmers today and tomorrow.  Combining production and profit improvements with sustainability, that’s what I am working on here at SureHarvest,” said Sypnieski.

David is recognized as an innovator that has been involved with the creation and launching of two start-up technology/e-commerce related organizations, responsible for developing a metric based sustainability program related to the commercial landscape market, and managing the re-launch of an agricultural related technology that delivers site specific, soil based information.  David’s unique skills in assessing market opportunities and matching an organization’s capabilities to drive sales and market share have enabled his success.  David received his B.A. in Public Relations and Issue Management from CSU Sacramento and lives in Sacramento with his wife and three children.

 (SOQUEL, CA. – December 12, 2011) SureHarvest and Cultura Technologies finalized an agreement to enable SureHarvest the rights to market, sell, and implement Cultura Technologies’ ExtendAg labor management and harvest tracking software nationwide. The two entities have integrated SureHarvest’s Farm Management System and ExtendAg applications to better meet the needs of growers, farm managers, and farm labor contractors looking for ways to improve their management practices.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with Cultura Technologies to resell and support their field labor and harvest tracking tools,” said SureHarvest President/CEO Jeff Dlott. “These world-class applications dramatically increase the value of our fully integrated Farm Management System for agribusinesses driving continuous operational improvements through technology. Better management of labor resources as well as better tracking of harvested products is increasingly critical to optimizing yields, improving product quality and enhancing food safety.”

The ExtendAg labor management and harvest tracking apps are designed for companies that deploy large to medium-sized labor crews in the field for various cultural or harvest activities. The system meets the needs of growers, farm managers, and labor contractors who require tools to capture information in the field simply and efficiently for tracking employee productivity and fully automating the payroll process.

“The ExtendAg system has been successfully used by food processors for many years to improve raw product inventory control, manage logistics, optimize processing/packing yields, trace and track to and from the field and plant, and automate grower payments,” stated Cultura Technologies Product Manager Mike Allen. “We extended our offering recently to include the ability to capture key information related to labor and the product originating from the field. Now, integration with SureHarvest’s Farming Management System provides everything in one place for farm managers, allowing them more opportunities to make better decisions with more and better information,” added Allen.

According to Dlott, “SureHarvest Farming Management System provides growers with the tools to institutionalize the practice of ‘measuring to manage’ for implementing best management practices throughout their farming operation. We are proud to announce that our capabilities now extend to labor resource and harvested product optimization.”

The wine community has embraced the concept of sustainability like no other cropping system.  Since the early 1990s winegrowers and winemakers have been committed to moving along the sustainability continuum, from less sustainable to more sustainable.  For the most part, progress has been measured by implementing and tracking practices.  furthermore,  all of the existing sustainability certification programs (such as Lodi rulse for Sustainable Winegrowing, Sustainability in Practice, Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing Program, National Organic Program and Biodynamic Farming) are practice-based.  University and government programs designed to improve environmental and social conditions on and off the farm also are based on implementing what have been labeled best managements practices, or BMPs.

In all cases, the underlying assumption is that the practices being recommended and implemented are improving one's sustainability performance.  Once practices are implemented, however, very little if any follow up measurements are made to find out if, in fact, these practices are having the benefits attributed to them.

During the past few years, sustainability proponents have shown increasing interest in measuring the outcomes of practices as a more direct way to gauge sustainability performance.  Measurements used to quantify this performance are called performance metrics.  Winegrape growers already use some performance metrics, such as yield per acre and cost of production per acre.  Wineries track cases of wine produced, the cost of production per case and numbers of cases sold.  However, while these are important, there are many others that could be used as well.

A change in approach

Measuring performance rather than tracking practices is a change inn approach to determining levels of sustainability.  for example, if we implement practices to improve water-use efficiency, then we should measure water use over time in relation to yield and quality to see if our practices are, in fact, improving water-use efficiency.

The logic in this approach is if we are implementing practices to achieve a desired outcome, then why not measure the outcome directly to gauge success?  In this example, water use per unit of production is the performance metric.  Other performance metrics are energy use per unity of production, nutrient inputs per unit of production and measures of biodiversity, greenhouse gas production and water and air quality.  It is relatively easy to develop metrics and measure outcomes for things such as water use.  Metrics to measure the outcomes of practices in other areas, such

(Soquel, CA - September 6, 2011) Dr. Jeff Dlott has been appointed by California Department of food and Agriculture Secretary Karen ross to serve on the Cannella Environmental Farming Act Science Panel.  Secretary Ross has made a commitment to invigorate the panel, established over a decade ago, and has brought together panel members with deep experience in environmental farming.

The Cannella Environmental Farming Act requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. In addition, the CDFA is required to assist in the compilation of scientific evidence from public and private sources and serve as a depository of this information and provide it to federal, state, and local governments, as needed.

 “I’m honored to be appointed alongside such an intelligent and experienced group of colleagues” stated Dr. Dlott, SureHarvest CEO. “It’s a privilege to serve on the panel to advise and assist Secretary Ross in her commitment to strengthen California agriculture’s positive impacts on the economy and environment.”

 Dr. Dlott will be serving along with Ann Thrupp, Ph.D., Manager of Sustainability and Organic Development, Fetzer & Bonterra Vineyards (Hopland); Don Cameron, Vice President and General Manager, TerraNova Ranch, Inc. (Fresno); Brian Leahy, JD, Resources Agency, Department of Conservation; Mike Tollstrup, CalEPA, Air Resources Board. Ex Officio members will be Daniel Mountjoy, Ph.D., USDA NRCS and Louise Jackson, Ph.D., University of California Cooperative Extension.

 The work of the science panel will underscore CDFA’s commitment to science, to a fair regulatory climate, and to the ongoing documentation of the environmental contributions of farming.

Through CIG, the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is investing nearly $22.5 million in innovative conservation technologies and approaches that address a broad array of existing and emerging natural resource issues.

"We're announcing more than 52 grants today—these are 52 opportunities to help some of America's top agricultural and conservation institutions, foundations and businesses develop unique approaches to enhancing and protecting natural resources on agricultural lands," said Vilsack. "The grants will help to spur creativity and problem solving to benefit conservation-minded farmers and ranchers. Everyone who relies upon the sustainability of our nation's natural resources for clean water, food and fiber, or their way of life, will benefit from these grants."

(Davis, CA – July 20, 2011) SureHarvest has been selected as “California’s 2011 

Leaders InAgriculture Innovation” by Grow-California for its cutting-edge approach 

to business, which has a positive impact on California’s agricultural industry and economy.

The award will be presented by California Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Ross, and USDA

Rural Development State Director, Dr. Glenda Humiston, as a special ceremony during the

inaugural California Agriculture innovation conference on the campus of U.C. Davis on July 21st.

“The SureHarvest team has been working hard to mainstream sustainability as a core business

strategy in California’s agrifood sector by adapting continuous improvement approaches

common in manufacturing to the demanding conditions found on the farm and inside food

processing and winery facilities. California agriculture is a global leader in operational efficiency, 

quality, and most recently sustainability. I’m thrilled SureHarvest’s contributions to California 

agriculture is being recognized through the“Game Changer” award”, announced Jeff Dlott, 

SureHarvest CEO.

The California Agriculture Innovation conference marks the first time that the Silicon Valley 

will be focusing on the Central Valley and beyond for potential investment opportunities 

within the state’s agricultural industry to help ag entrepreneurs grow and develop while 

at the same time creating new companies and jobs which will help rebuild the economy. 

Conference organizers hope that by bringing the venture capital community together with 

the agricultural community, there will be tremendous potential to create an innovative 

technology hub for agriculture in the Central Valley, which will spawn new companies, 

jobs and economic activity.

“SureHarvest is a true game changer in its innovative approach,” said Jon Gregory, president

and CEO of Grow California. He added, “It is a business that has caught the interest of

numerous investors, bankers and economic development organizations who consulted with us

to identify California agricultural companies who were impressed by their focus on innovation.”

A selection committee comprised of investment banks, venture capital funds, academia and

conference sponsors reviewed nominations and determined the winners.

For more information about the California Agriculture Innovation conference and the “Game

Changer of the Year” awards, visit: http://www.grow-california.com/

About SureHarvest: (www.sureharvest.com) Founded in 1999, SureHarvest provides

continuous improvement solutions in the agrifood sector through a farm management software

suite, sustainability best practices and performance metrics software, and professional services

to optimize efficiencies, increase production, improve quality, achieve regulatory and

commercial compliance, support marketing programs, and accomplish environmental

stewardship goals. The company’s products and services are used by leading producers,

processors, wineries, trade associations, certification organizations, and NGO’s throughout the

US.

Modesto almond grower Merlyn Garber hosted the tour on the land where he was raised. About 20 regulators and other guests toured his 30-year-old flood-irrigated almond orchard, juxtaposed against a newly planted block under micro-irrigation, to see how things have changed, thanks in part to decades of research supported by the Almond Board of California

Garber Almond Ranch was an early participant in the Pest Management Alliance (PMA), helping to commercially validate more environmentally friendly practices for insect control. Many of those practices have since become standard for California Almond growers.

Roger Duncan, almond farm advisor and Stanislaus County director for the UC Cooperative Extension office, explained how farm advisors were key in sharing the knowledge gained from the PMA and other research, thus helping almond growers improve productivity and sustainability.

Garber’s pest control adviser, Art Bowman, displayed various tools used in the orchard to monitor and trap pests, as well as track information to determine the best timing of applied pest control products.

An early adopter of shredding almond prunings, Garber demonstrated how his Flory Pow’rTrak shredder has eliminated the need for burning prunings each year.

Lunchtime presentations featured talks from representatives of industry partners, including the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Environmental Stewardship and SureHarvest, as well as UC Davis researcher Patrick Brown, who described a multiyear, industry- and USDA-funded project on almond fertility.

The day concluded with a tour of Salida Hulling and Shelling, where Garber is a cooperative member, to hear the latest on solar installation and new technologies for dust reduction that have been installed at the new facility.

The answer I hear most often is retailers and foodservice companies are responding to consumer demand.  I don’t think this answer alone holds much water.  Sure some consumers make choices of where to shop and eat-out based on a company’s sustainability efforts, but I don’t think enough do so in order to justify the type of investments these companies have made in sustainability initiatives.  Don’t get me wrong, consumer demand is a huge deal as we are talking about millions and millions of shoppers spending close to $500 billion dollars at the top five US retailers in 2010.  The potential lost revenue of missing the consumer demand mark and having shoppers shop somewhere else or buy less is enormous.  I just think there is a more compelling reason why all of the leading food companies, retailers and foodservice companies have embraced sustainability; two words—continuous improvement.

Many of these large companies have continuous improvement programs in place under the guise of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Kaizen and others, and have been on a mission to drive out costs using these proven management approaches. What they may be finding is that sustainability is about measuring and monitoring inputs to manage an optimized output. Simply put, it is just good management to be moving towards greater efficiencies of operations as long as it does not impact the consumer experience negatively. Oh, and the consumer encourages the efforts of these companies to do so as a means of minimizing their overall environmental impact. To use an overused cliché, this sounds like a classic “win win” situation for all parties.

Continuous improvement efforts where performance metrics are identified, measured and managed toward goals are not new.  What is new and compelling is that the union of continuous improvement and a sustainability framework provides a more expansive view of operational performance and focuses the spotlight on key resources such as energy, materials and water.   Such a spotlight fosters innovation and improved operational skills to drive out inefficiencies.  The majority of the leading food, retail and foodservice companies have reported cost savings in the areas of energy and waste management that they attribute to their sustainability efforts.  Reducing costs, improving operational performance, encouraging innovation and in the process, making your company more appealing to some portion of your consumers, are powerful business drivers to deliver value to employees, management, boards, and shareholders.  What is not to like! 

Back on the farm, the question is does a continuous improvement approach using a sustainability lens deliver similar business value under the unique and demanding conditions found in vegetable production?  In our experience, there are opportunities to increasing the efficiency of critical (and increasingly expensive) resources including energy (fuel and electricity), water, fertilizers and other necessary inputs. We’ve seen companies that have management systems (people, processes and technologies) in place, and are executing on continuous improvement initiatives.  There is a second group of companies that are adapting their management system to drive continuous improvement efforts.  We think these two groups are getting down to the business of creating a sustaining competitive advantage to manage costs, steward resources, and increasingly meet customer needs.

Agrifood technology professionals join company to meet growing demand for farming management software

(Soquel, CA – May 9, 2011)  SureHarvest announced today the addition of three talented and experienced professionals to advance the sales of SureHarvest Farming MIS software and services. “I’m very excited that Scott Turner, Melissa McKinsey and Randy Miller are joining our sales team. Collectively, their experience in agrifood and information technology spans more than 6 decades. Their knowledge, insights, and successful track record will enable SureHarvest to meet the increasing demand from growers, farm management companies, wineries and food companies to more effectively capture and analyze farming information to increase efficiencies, meet compliance requirements, and drive continuous improvement initiatives,” announced Jeff Dlott, SureHarvest CEO.

Scott Turner, former General Manager of Operations for John Deere Agri-Services, will be leading the team as an Executive Sales Advisor. “I’m looking forward to contributing to the success of SureHarvest. The company is positioned to succeed because SureHarvest delivers effective solutions for growers who will have to manage their limited resources with greater precision in order to stay competitive,” stated Turner. Scott’s career in agricultural technology started in 1980 when he started a company that was sold to AGRIS, and subsequently, to John Deere.

“To meet the growing demand for information technology among leading agribusiness companies, we hired two new Sales Managers, Melissa McKinsey and Randy Miller. Both have led successful sales efforts in information technologies making them poised to deliver the tools that specialty crop growers need to support their daily farming management decisions,” according to Dlott.

Melissa McKinsey previously worked for PureSense, an irrigation technology company and John Deere Agri-Services as a Sales Manager selling farm accounting and related systems to California agribusiness firms. Melissa will be based out of Modesto and focused on fruit, nut and winegrape growers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and the North Coast regions.

Randy Miller has over 20 years of sales and business development experience with Silicon Valley technology companies and most recently was the Director of Sales for Aging Vines, a wine distributor. Randy lives in Templeton and will be working with farming companies in the southern San Joaquin Valley, Salinas Valley and Central Coast.

About SureHarvest: (www.sureharvest.com) Since 1999, SureHarvest has provided growers farming a total of over 400,000 acres with software and services to implement sustainability as a business strategy. SureHarvest Farming MIS tracks, analyzes and reports on all farming activities, including scouting, chemical-fertilizer applications, irrigation, yield forecasting, harvest and labor. SureHarvest customers include Booth Ranches, Sundquist Fruit, J. Lohr Vineyards, Beckstoffer Vineyards, Bien Nacido, Constellation Wines U.S., Lange Twins, Adelsheim Vineyard, Mid-Valley Ag Services, and Glades Crop Care.

View a Demo New Customers Latest News Upcoming Events Contact Us Sustainability as a Strategy At SureHarvest, sustainability is best understood and implemented as a strategic approach to how you farm or manage your food company. In this video, Dr. Cliff Ohmart, VP of Professional Services, walks you through the SureHarvest 5Ps of Sustainability applied to a farming operation.   Almond growers proactive on sustainability Motivated by questions from their buyers and pressure from regulators, the Almond Board of California is preparing their members for the future. Over 100 growers have participated in a self-evaluation of their growing practices in order to benchmark current practices and identify priorities for improvement. SureHarvest is designing self-assessment modules in irrigation and nutrient management, air quality, energy and pest management. Read more in this Ag Alert report. SureHarvest customers top the list Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of the Year of 2010 include several SureHarvest customers who use Farming MIS to make quality-focused vineyard management decisions resulting in top-quality wines. Our congratulations to Adelsheim Vineyard Au Bon Climat – grapes by Bien Nacido Bond Estates– Harlan Family Estates Chateau Ste. Michelle– grapes by Bien Nacido Concha y Toro– grapes by Bien Nacido Duckhorn– grapes by Dutton Ranch and Bien Nacido Hartford – grapes by Dutton Ranch L’Ecole No 41 – grapes by Seven Hills Vineyards Leonetti Cellars– grapes by Seven Hills Vineyards Nickel & Nickel – grapes by Dutton Ranch Pepper Bridge – grapes by Seven Hills Vineyards Qupé – grapes by Bien Nacido Ravenswood– Constellation Wines U. S. Technology at Bien Nacido For Quality, Consistency, Efficiency Honored as the 2010 California State Fair Vineyard of the Year, Bien Nacido is clearly one of the state’s exceptional vineyards. Farming winegrapes, lemons, avocados and blueberries, the Miller family is entering its 5th generation of farming in the Santa Maria region. In 2007, the Miller family tried SureHarvest Farming MIS on 100 acres at Solomon Hills and just recently, expanded SureHarvest to manage the farming data for 1500 acres including all of Bien Nacido Vineyards. “For us, technology is an integral tool to the farming processes at Bien Nacido,” according to Marshall Miller, partner and IT manager. “Having all farming data in one place – pesticide reports, irrigation use, fertility plans – gives managers the ability to talk the same language, increase interaction and synergies between the 3 vineyards and 2 wineries.” In addition, data management provides insight to improve operational efficiencies. The IT plan is to integrate SureHarvest with other systems, including SalesForce, to enable timely reports to their winegrape customers throughout the season. Most importantly, better access to vineyard data gives Bien Nacido the edge in making day-to-day management decisions that ultimately yield premium quality grapes for award winning wineries, like Qupé, Au Bon Climat, Concha y Toro and Chateau Ste. Michelle, recognized as Wine and Spirits Top 100 for 2010. TrueTrac chooses SureHarvest as sustainability partner TrueTrac, a food safety and produce traceability software company based in Salinas, CA, chose SureHarvest as its sustainability partner for serving the data-driven needs in the specialty crop sector. TrueTrac was recently selected as one of two technology companies by Western Growers Association to provide food safety, traceability and sustainability data management solutions for its member growers and shippers. SureHarvest will contribute its sustainability data collection, benchmarking and reporting technology of its Sustainability MIS to the TrueTrac product offering. SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott said, “WGA is wise to provide its grower-members with tools that integrate the data demanded by the marketplace of the future and SureHarvest is excited about providing these solutions in partnership with TrueTrac.” SureHarvest recognized as ‘IPM Innovator’ by California DPR SureHarvest was honored recently as an IPM Innovator by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) for its leadership in developing and implementing the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program and supporting sustainability information management technologies. "Our work at SureHarvest, and that of my fellow honorees, is a manifestation of the groundbreaking contributions of Hagen, van de Bosch, Huffaker and Stern who built the scientific foundations of IPM at UC Berkeley and UC Riverside,” stated Dr. Cliff Ohmart, VP of Professional Services for SureHarvest.  Read press release. Dr. Jeff Dlott, DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam and Dr. Cliff Ohmart.   Dlott chosen as guest columnist Given the growing relevancy of sustainability in the agricultural industry, the American Vegetable Grower magazine launched a column entitled “Sustainable Ag” with SureHarvest CEO Jeff Dlott writing as a guest columnist. In his debut column, Jeff articulated the benefits of integrating sustainability as a business strategy to drive day-to-day operations. Noting that, “It would be impossible to find a successful manufacturing company that does not have “measure to manage” baked into their corporate DNA,” Jeff suggests that agriculture too, would benefit from similar performance management approaches. Read Jeff’s column and watch for more to come.   Upcoming Events May 2 - 5 United Fresh 2011 May 6 Friend‘s Day at Duarte Nursery May 20 - 22 Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions May 24 Certification, Consumption and Change June 28 - 30 Sustainable Food Lab Leadership Summit 2011

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According to Napa grape grower Andy Beckstoffer, the time of legendary men may be over. "The vineyards are the next Robert Mondavi. The vineyards are what matters," he said.

One could argue that this position was either born of great knowledge or was rather self-serving, since Mr. Beckstoffer owns 1,000 acres of vineyard land in Napa.

Unlike many growers, Mr. Beckstoffer only sells grapes to other wineries; he doesn't make wine himself. "That's an entirely different business," he said. It simplifies matters and reduces expenses and also answers the inevitable question about growers who also make wine from their grapes: Don't they keep the best fruit for themselves?

The Beckstoffer holdings (which also include a couple thousand more acres in Mendocino and Lake Counties) are not only notable for their size but their pedigree. They include some of the top Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in the state.

The greatest of these vineyards is unquestionably To Kalon. Planted in 1868 by Hamilton Crabb, one of the Valley's earliest pioneers, To Kalon (which means beautiful in Greek) was made famous by Mr. Mondavi, who laid claim to the To Kalon name—he even trademarked it, though he didn't own the entire vineyard. Mr. Beckstoffer purchased part of To Kalon (89 acres) from Beaulieu Vineyards in 1993, and after some wrangling with Mr. Mondavi, he was granted the right to use the name To Kalon in conjunction with his own—Beckstoffer To Kalon a name that all winemakers who buy grapes from this vineyard are entitled to use. (The Mondavi winery uses the To Kalon name for its Fumé Blanc I Block and Cabernet.)

In addition to To Kalon there are five other historic vineyards in the Beckstoffer portfolio, as well as many nonhistoric vineyards. The historic vineyards include Dr. Crane (planted by Dr. George Belden Crane in 1858), Missouri Hopper, Las Piedras, Georges III and most recently, the Bourn (formerly Hayne) vineyard.

Mr. Beckstoffer is known for spending aggressively to buy the vineyards he wants. According to one Napa source, Mr. Beckstoffer paid $3.9 million—which would be the second-highest price paid for a Napa vineyard—for the 13-acre Hayne Vineyard, which has famously been the source of some of the best, and priciest, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah in California. (Both Mr. Beckstoffer and Elliott Hayne, the seller of the vineyard, allowed that the $3.9 million figure was "close" to the selling price.)

"We've been buying vineyards from wineries since the 1980s. We don't ask to buy vineyards. People come to us," Mr. Beckstoffer said as we walked through the Dr. Crane Vineyard, located in the suburbs of St. Helena just down the road from Bourn/Hayne.

Mr. Beckstoffer, a 71-year-old native Virginian with a Southern drawl, got his start in the wine business as a business analyst at the spirits company Heublein in the 1960s, helping the company to negotiate the purchase of famed wineries like Inglenook and Beaulieu. He eventually became president of a Heublein subsidiary he helped to create, the Vinifera Development Company.

When Heublein decided to sell Vinifera in 1973, Mr. Beckstoffer, then 33, decided to buy the subsidiary. He had no money so he took out loans. By 1978, "We were effectively underwater," Mr. Beckstoffer said, but he managed to survive—and never took on investors or partners. "I never wanted to explain my business to anyone," he said. Today he works with his son, David. (Another son, Tuck, is a winemaker.)

Mr. Beckstoffer sells grapes to everyone, from large wineries like Franciscan and Cain and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to tiny producers like Schrader. Of course, the best blocks (vineyards are divided into "blocks" of various sizes) of the top Beckstoffer vineyards aren't readily available or easily obtained. For example, the best blocks of To Kalon were secured long ago by top winemakers like Thomas Brown (Schrader Vineyards), Mike Hirby and Paul Hobbs (Paul Hobbs Vineyards).

Mr. Hobbs, who makes acclaimed wine in California and Argentina (and more recently France) has been buying fruit from Mr. Beckstoffer's To Kalon since 1997) and says he has the best blocks or as put it, "the pick of the litter."

"To Kalon produces sublime fruit—truly extraordinary. We could talk for hours about the kind of wine it can produce," Mr. Hobbs said by phone from Argentina. "Of course," he added, "There are blocks that are Porsches and blocks that are more like Volkswagens, although Andy sells them all like they're Porsches." (Mr. Beckstoffer responded rather heatedly that one of the blocks that Mr. Hobbs doesn't work with produced a 98-point wine for Realm Cellars. "Is that a Volkswagen?" he asked.)

The Beckstoffer pricing formula calls for the price of a ton of To Kalon Cabernet grapes to equal 100 times the current retail price of a bottle. (This is true of all his heritage vineyards.) For example, if a bottle of Paul Hobbs Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon costs $250 (as it did at my local store) then Mr. Hobbs paid $25,000 for a ton of the fruit plus a base amount per acre that may vary. By contrast, the average price per ton of (average) Napa Cabernet is just north of $4,000.

Mr. Beckstoffer says there are two types of people he will not do business with: untalented winemakers and people who brag about how much money they have. But in most cases, he is ready to make a sale. "If they come in looking for To Kalon, my plan is to get them to buy Hayne. I'll tell them, 'I can get you something exciting and new,' " he said over lunch at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena.

He sat taller in his chair (he's quite tall already) and fixed his eyes upon mine. "If you want to do business with me, you've got to believe," he said, in a deep and sonorous voice.

"You could be a television preacher," I ventured. Mr. Beckstoffer laughed. "Elmer Gantry!" he replied, slamming both hands on the table. Elmer Gantry was the lead character of a Sinclair Lewis novel, a con man turned evangelical preacher.

But unlike Elmer Gantry, Andy Beckstoffer has a genuine cause. It's not just about making money but preserving vineyards—his "stewardship," he says. As we walked through To Kalon Vineyard after lunch, his pride and pleasure was palpable.

"Look at that even spacing; look at the trellising," he said, staring down row after row. "Think of how long this vineyard has been here, of how much great wine it has produced." For Mr. Beckstoffer, this is his contribution and his legacy: He is creating legends in the land.

—Read the On Wine blog at blogs.wsj.com/wine. Email Lettie at wine@wsj.com

In response to these customer queries, retail stores are developing educational programs and new product labeling to provide this information. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, is one of the leaders in developing this program. In September 2009, Wal-Mart announced that it will begin requiring all of its suppliers to document the energy consumption and carbon footprint of products it buys.

Since Wal-Mart ranks among the largest food retailers, there likely will be ramifications of its decision throughout the U.S. food supply chain and agriculture. Suppliers will begin to request more detailed information from food manufacturers who, in turn, will begin asking agricultural processing firms and producers to provide an accounting of their energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Information on farm and ranch energy consumption and carbon emissions are related topics. While consumers are concerned about all the energy consumed, they are especially interested in the use of fossil energy. Using fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide and other gases that are classified as greenhouse gas emissions and linked to climate change.

I am working with two North Dakota agricultural commodity organizations that are proactively responding to the signals Wal-Mart and consumers, in general, are sending to farmers and ranchers. In particular, they are striving to document how much energy is utilized in farm and ranch production activities.

If consumers are sincerely committed to changing their buying habits and purchasing low-fossil energy or low-carbon agricultural products, these two agricultural commodity groups see a marketing opportunity to sell premium products in the marketplace. In turn, this would enhance profits to participating farmers.

Europe is farther along in consumer awareness, marketing of new low-fossil energy agricultural products and documenting on-farm or ranch energy consumption. Energy prices have been historically higher in Europe compared with U.S. markets, which has motivated change.

How do agricultural producers begin to measure how much fossil energy is consumed or carbon is released during commodity production activities? While I was a student, I asked producers to measure each gallon of fuel going in their tractors or read their power meter hourly. Today, we have lifecycle analysis.

Lifecycle analysis is a new integrated tool that energy scientists have adopted worldwide as the standard method for making energy and carbon assessments. A unique aspect of the analysis is that it evaluates all of the energy entering the process and tracks where it ends up (air, soil, water or human products) at each process stage.