Food And Farm News
May 20, 2026
Experts seek methane-cutting solutions
Private companies and researchers at the University of California, Davis, are working with farmers to develop new ways to reduce methane emissions from cattle. To address methane from cow burps, or enteric methane, UC Davis professor of animal science Ermias Kebreab is studying a compound in red seaweed as a feed additive that has been shown to lower methane production in the animals’ rumens. Kebreab is also exploring gene-editing technology that could permanently decrease methane production. At the same time, dairy farms have adopted methane digesters and waste-treatment systems that turn emissions from manure into renewable energy and other usable products. Farmers say it’s crucial that these solutions make financial sense for their operations so that the technologies could be broadly implemented. “Sustainability always has to start with financial sustainability,” Merced County dairy farmer Simon Vander Woude said.
California cherry crops decimated by spring storms
Fortunes went from bad to worse this year for California cherry growers. An early heat wave impacted fruit set in many orchards. Then, rainstorms in April and May battered the crop. “It was like getting knocked down and then getting kicked,” said Bill Stokes, who grows cherries in San Joaquin County. Growers in the county, which leads California in cherry production, lost 63% of their crop and suffered financial losses of $174 million, according to the county’s request for a disaster declaration, which would make growers eligible for low-interest federal loans and other assistance. California’s other cherry growing regions were also affected. Tony Guerrero, grower relations and farm manager at Lodi-based packer M&R Co., which sources cherries from across California, said this year’s crop was the worst he had seen in three decades working with cherries in the state. “It’s pretty devastating,” Guerrero said. “There was just nowhere that was unscathed.”
Why rocket scientists began counting nuts in California
For decades, experts have done their best to estimate the size of California’s almond crop prior to harvest. With the state producing most of the world’s supply, the global market rises and falls with the fate of the Central Valley crop. Expectation of a shortage can stoke competition among buyers and raise prices, while a large crop forecast can achieve the opposite. “It affects many lives,” said Jasbir Sidhu, who grows almonds in Fresno and Madera counties. But the expansion of California’s almond industry, which brought greater variation from one orchard to the next, made it harder to forecast statewide yields by sampling a subset of orchards. In December, the Almond Board of California’s directors voted to stop funding a key forecast provided for decades by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Instead, the industry is looking to private entities to find new ways to estimate the crop. While counting nuts may not be rocket science, some firms have leveraged experience in aerospace engineering—using technologies such as remote sensing and machine learning—to forecast crop yields.
Production forecast shows drop in several state crops
California production of almonds, peaches and winter wheat is expected to drop while production of durum wheat is projected to rise in 2026, according to a crop forecast released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department estimated the 2026 almond crop will come in at 2.7 billion pounds, down from 2.715 billion pounds in 2025, a drop of about 1%. Total peach production is projected to fall nearly 10% this year to 480,000 tons, a dip from 532,000 tons last year. On wheat production, California is expected to harvest the same number of acres of winter wheat as last year—110,000—but yield is projected to be lower this year. The state is expected to produce 7.15 million bushels of winter wheat in 2026 compared to 9.46 million bushels in 2025.
For more information about any story in Food and Farm News, contact the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division at 916-561-5550 or email news@cfbf.com. Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram: @CAFarmBureau.
.svg.png?cacheid=0.9616018850896426)
