Episode 1149 | August 8, 2025 | Crop Consultant Conference Speaker Interview w/Western Region CCA's Stephen Vasquez

·21 min·1 clip

California just surpassed Arizona with the highest average farm cash rents at $346 per acre.

The episode opens with agricultural news, reporting that California has surpassed Arizona for the highest average farm cash rents at $346 per acre, with national averages provided. It then shifts to rural mental health, featuring Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, who discusses barriers like stigma and time, highlighting telehealth as a private solution. A legal update follows, covering a court ruling that blocks immigration patrols in Los Angeles. The show reports on a Fresno County event connecting high school students to agricultural research through Reedley College's Upward Bound program. A segment on abandoned farmland in the Central Valley quotes Ryan Jacobson of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, who cites tumbling commodity prices, water policy, and new laws increasing removal costs from $500 to nearly $3,000 per acre. Jagbar Sellos of Agbar Ag Enterprises mentions pests migrating from abandoned fields. The Haas Avocado Board's 2025-2030 strategic plan is noted, focusing on making avocados America's preferred healthy food. An advertisement promotes the 2025 Crop Consultant Conference. The main interview features Stephen Vasquez, Executive Director of the Administrative Committee for Pistachios and Chair of Western Region CCA, previewing a conference panel on fertilizer best management practices for specialty crops like grapes, stone fruit, and nuts. He names speakers Matthew Fidelibus, Raymond Mayerlis, and Doug Amaral, all university experts. Vasquez emphasizes climate change impacts, discussing heat spikes, nutrient uptake challenges, and the vulnerability of perennial crops compared to annuals. The episode continues with USDA loan interest rates for August 2025 and comments from Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden on closing some USDA facilities. Other news includes USDA's $230 million purchase for food banks, trade tariff impacts on grain prices, and a temporary suspension of H-2A program certification fees. The show concludes with an advertisement for JCS Marketing Incorporated.

As heard by us

A conference preview makes fertilizer management a practical matter of timing, testing, and crop-specific expertise.

Stephen Vasquez's preview of a Crop Consultant Conference panel gives this My Ag Life Daily News Report a clear crop-operations focus: fertilizer management is becoming a more exacting issue for California specialty crops.

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Why you'd press play

You want a crisp read on California's 2025 cash-rent lead, then a practical preview of specialty-crop nutrition talks.

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