New fungus causing concern for California almond growers
UC graduate student Bob Johnson, who is studying the fungus as part of his doctoral thesis, found thousands of infected trees in a Hanford almond orchard that were just 9 and 10 years old.
“It was so bad you could push the tree over and it would fall,” Johnson said. “The trunk broke off right at the soil. It was unbelievable.”
“It is a little early to say how big of a threat this might be,” said Tom Rogers, a Madera County almond farmer. “But it does raise a lot of questions, like how did it get started, and how was it brought in, is it something in the field?”
Statewide, almonds are a $5 billion crop. About a third of production comes from Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.
source: modbee.com
