The Farm Beat: No Dust-ups to Report

Almond growers have made great strides in reducing the dust clouds that can come with the harvest. Not that it matters at the moment. The light rain in the last couple of days has slowed the harvest, since the crews need dry ground to shake the trees and sweep up the nuts. I called around this morning because my editor suggested a photo spread on the area's No. 2 farm product (after milk). Industry people I talked to said the rain delay will likely be a brief one and the tightly scheduled harvest should stay on track.

On a related note, stats from the Almond Board of California show that sales continue strong. The industry is working down the carryover from last year's record crop and also is selling the first of the 2009 crop. It looks like the recession, which battered global demand for milk, has not been so hard on the almond business.