There is a wide variety of incentive opportunities that are available to help almond growers. Grower with Evans Farming and owner of Evans Ag Consulting, Kelli Evans participated in a panel at The Almond Conference 2023, highlighting some of the options that are out there. Many programs can help provide support to industry members for practices that are already taking place.
“There’s so many areas of your operation that you can save on,” Evans noted. “If you start learning to stack and prepare and do these in the right order, it can save hundreds of thousands of dollars on your farm every year if you start getting the correct rotation and knowing where to go and where to apply.”
While growers may need to adapt and tailor certain approaches to fit specific program requirements, it can ultimately pay significant dividends. Programs offered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service can be particularly helpful for growers. Oftentimes growers are already engaged in certain production practices that are covered by an incentive program. “If you’re a grower that’s like, ‘I’m already doing these things, I’m already doing cover crop, I’m already doing these great things in my orchard, I’m already water efficient.’ Well then you need to be signed up because it is literally just paying you for being a good grower,” Evans explained.
Part of taking advantage of the available opportunities involves some legwork to identify and access the most suitable programs. Enrollment in some programs can be a challenging process. Evans explained that there is a wide range of help available to interested growers. “If it’s through that organization, through a third-party technical assistance provider that gets money from that organization to help you, to private consultants,” said Evans. “No matter what level you’re comfortable and there’s somebody there to help you.”
Resources from the Almond Board of California can help industry members learn more about incentive opportunities.
Listen to the segment below.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West