COURTESY: ALMOND BOARD OF CALIFORNIA
As part of ongoing efforts to provide support to the agricultural industry, Bayer Crop Science co-sponsors the Almond Leadership Program (ALP) with the Almond Board of California. The program helps to prepare industry members to take bigger roles as ag leaders. The ALP class recently toured Bayer’s Western Field Technology Station to get a first-hand look at some of the work Bayer is engaged in.
“We are hosting the Almond Leadership class which is a very special event for us because we like to support the community, especially those in agriculture and those that are making a difference,” said Alfonso Cabrera, Station Operations Manager. “So, we’re more than glad to have them here and be part of their career development.”
The facility is located on 120 acres in Fresno County, with a variety of crops planted on approximately 90 acres. Cabrera said the work taking place at the facility is an important aspect for evaluating potential ag solutions for the future. ALP members were able to observe how Bayer is using drones on the farm during the tour. Cabrera noted that drones are just one of the tools they are looking at as part of addressing sustainability in agriculture.
“We want to be on top of the game and try to see if we can gain expertise. If we can utilize the drones in different ways. Not just spraying, but also using sensors and using cameras to either help or replace some of the evaluations that we sometimes do that are a little bit more labor intense,” said Cabrera. “So, for us, investment in this type of technology is always good because it helps us understand more the future of farming practices.”
The tour also highlighted a variety of cover crops implemented within the different cropping systems at the facility. Cabrera said that about 90 percent of the cropland involves cover cropping since implementation really took off after 2013.
“We realized that those spots in which we had cover crops the soil quality was a little bit better than where we just had fallow areas throughout the wintertime. Then we started observing that our cover crops were helping different pollinators,” Cabrera noted. “They were attracting local, native pollinators. So not only the honeybees, or bees specific to pollinating almonds, but also the native populations were increasing also.”
As future ag leaders, ALP participants are continuing to learn about new technologies and new practices. Exposure to what agribusinesses like Bayer are doing provides a more well-rounded understanding of agriculture and where the industry is heading. “Bayer strongly supports the next generation of agricultural leaders in California and our sponsorship of the Almond Leadership Program is a great example of how we are investing in these future leaders,” said Jeff Baxter, Product Manager for Bayer Crop Science.
Listen to Cabrera’s interview below.
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