Growers using AEA's regenerative agriculture system with SeaShield report larger fruit, fewer disease problems, and better economics. One nectarine grower gained $1,300 per acre. A freeze that killed buds on untreated trees left treated blocks largely unharmed.
Questions this video answers
A full half-row size increase in fruit size (treated vs. control).
At least $800, sometimes up to $1,000 increased return per acre.
Around 15% reduction in fruit cracking in SeaShield-treated blocks.
Temperatures went from 43°F down to −4°F.
They picked 10% more cherries in 2015 than in 2014.
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Our company is an agricultural products and services company that works with farmers all over the world. And we use regenerative agriculture to bring a new level of health to all kinds of crops and plants.
This is our second full season of using SeaShield here in our cherry orchards and we've had very, very good results with the product. In our side by side trials, we've seen a full half row size increase in fruit size in the Seashield treated blocks. That equates to at least $800, sometimes up to $1,000 increased return per acre.
The thing that we're able to do is to help the farmer figure out what are the economic drivers for their farm, what makes them more money and focus their entire fertility program around those goals.
We had a historic freeze once every 50 years sort of freeze happen here in our area. We went from 43 degrees Fahrenheit as our low to minus 4. And there was a substantial impact in the orchard area. That next year's crop was really low in many of the area orchards. The average orchard in our area had roughly half to three quarters of a crop. However, on our farm we actually picked 10% more cherries in 2015 than we did in 2014. Our trees going into that freeze had complete nutrition in those buds and they survived much better than buds that were being managed under a traditional nutrition program. After starting to work with aea, we really have substantially increased the size of our spur leaves in the spring and our fruit are much larger and we have more of them. And I think that the post harvest program is integral to that.
We really struggle with cowdery mildew issues. And in blocks where we've been applying SeaShield, we noticed a significant decrease in the powdery mildew incidence, something that we didn't expect to see here on our place. The other thing that we've seen as a side benefit is that in years where we've had rain, we've seen a reduction in fruit cracking by around 15% in the Seashield treated blocks. This has a very significant impact upon our bottom line.
In rain years.
We started off the season and we averaged $26.82. Last year our average was a little over $19. So it's been a significant increase in the amount of money per acre. $1,300 an acre more this year on the Z Fire nectarines than last year. I'm overjoyed. It's a great start.
So far this year compared to last year, we have really seen an improvement in the quality the brix level has gone up. The peaches seem to be lasting on the tree fruit a little longer than they're able to withstand the heat, despite the previous years of drought that we've had.
You can see how our clusters are real full and the berries are going.
To size very nicely. We've got very good growth using organic inputs. The real thing is we are following biological practices.
