Redox Bio-Nutrients has incorporated a fleet of ChrysaLabs probes in its soil testing. ChrysaLabs has developed a portable AI-based soil health probe that measures 37 soil nutrients and characteristics in real time. The company describes the probes as each containing their own laboratory. Combining a patented spectroscopy interface and the latest AI possibilities, the optical technology measures the soil properties at 360 degrees, with a large contact surface, at any depth, and without preparation. Soil is analyzed in less than a minute, according to the company, saving producers and agronomists time waiting for traditional lab analysis.
The crew at Klaustermeyer Farms tops a row of slicer carrots.
When it comes to growing carrots for the frozen process market, Jim Klaustermeyer Jr. says it’s a lot like baseball.
“The crop is all grown for contract; there’s no open market,” Klaustermeyer says. “I use the analogy of hitting singles and doubles. There are no homeruns. But you are in the game all the time.”
Klaustermeyer has been in the game since 1989, when he returned from college to farm with his dad in Basin City, Washington. Jim Klaustermeyer Sr., who remains involved in the day-to-day operation of the farm, had been a crop science professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, before moving to the Columbia Basin in the late 1970s to farm with other growers and, ultimately, start Klaustermeyer Farms in 1986.
“I like to say that he came up to Washington to practice what he preached,” Jim Klaustermeyer Jr. says of his dad.
When the younger Klaustermeyer joined his dad in the operation, they were farming 300 to 500 acres. Today, they grow 2,000 acres of carrots for processing, along with a couple hundred acres of pearl onions and 500 to 700 acres of rotation crops including wheat, beans and hay. Klaustermeyer attributes much of the farm’s steady growth in the 1990s to its implementation of a method of crowning carrots in the planting bed.
Topped and crowned carrots are ready for harvest. Klaustermeyer Farms’ processing contract calls for 90 percent of the carrots to be crowned.
Crowning the Carrots
After harvesting the first several carrot crops with a top lifter, Klaustermeyer Farms transitioned to planting carrots in wider beds and share-lifting the crop. When the processor requested that the farm begin crowning the carrots in the early to mid ‘90s, the Klaustermeyers modified their harvest process. After topping the carrots, the growers began using a homebuilt implement to crown the carrots before share-lifting the crop. The technology had been adopted in Europe and commercial crowners were being built, Klaustermeyer says. Since then, the practice has become common in processing carrots.
“When we developed the crowning technique, it was a big labor savings for the processors. They were taking the crowns off the carrots manually, and in order to save them some labor and add value to our product, we developed this crowning technique,” Klaustermeyer recounts. “I remember pretty vividly the first year that we did that, the comment back from the processor was ‘We were able to remove up to 30 people from the line.’ It was a cost savings for them and a value-added step for us.”
Klaustermeyer’s contract calls for 90 percent of the carrots to be crowned. Therefore, depending on how they’re growing in the bed, some will be topped more aggressively than others. Careful management is needed to remove the minimal amount of the carrot and still meet the contract requirements. Even under ideal conditions, crowning reduces yield by about 12 percent.
On the flipside, crowning the carrots in the beds means that top attachment is not nearly as critical, Klaustermeyer says. This allows the grower to fight diseases with chemicals that could weaken top attachment later in the season and allows him to select varieties for attributes other than top attachment, prioritizing durability to withstand the more aggressive harvest process, followed by color and taste. He also seeks out cultivars that stay flush with the soil surface rather than protruding out of the bed, in an attempt to minimize the amount of carrot lost during crowning.
A harvester digs carrots at Klaustermeyer Farms.
Managing the Crop
Through the years, Klaustermeyer has seen the number of carrot growers in the region decrease and each grower’s acreage increase as consolidation reshaped the industry.
“We were at the right place at the right time to grow with it, and now we’re able to keep up with a pretty robust harvest demand,” the grower says.
Klaustermeyer Farms grows 1,100 acres of slicer-type carrots, 400 acres of dicers, 200 acres of cut-and-peel carrots, 250 acres of yellow carrots and 50 acres of “natural baby carrots.” The farm takes advantage of the Columbia Basin’s extended growing season. Planting starts mid-March and continues through the first week of June, while harvest extends from the third week of July through Thanksgiving. The long planting window keeps carrots – especially slicers – at the proper maturity, but also adds complexity to managing the crop.
“We’re planting so long that we’re managing a different size crop throughout the season. By that, I mean in August, I still have carrots that are very small and I have carrots that are ready to harvest,” the grower explains. “You can’t just say ‘It’s August 15, so I do this.’ Until early fall, the carrots are at so many different levels of maturity that you have to be on your toes to keep up with the different stages of growth the carrots are in.”
With more than 30 years of experience, Klaustermeyer has learned to manage the various challenges in growing carrots, from pests to pathogens. Carrots are grown on a four-year rotation, and the grower considers the crop produced in the field the previous season, preferring to follow wheat, onions, timothy hay or beans.
With a diverse range of soil types in the Columbia Basin, Klaustermeyer also chooses to plant carrots in sandy or sandy loam soil. This makes for better harvest conditions and fewer dirt clods in the load compared to farming in heavier soil. At the same time, however, sandy fields are more vulnerable to wind erosion. After a year in which a 40-hour windstorm took out 500 acres of carrots, Klaustermeyer adopted a cover crop system, now sowing wheat between rows of carrots. The wheat, emerging more quickly than early-season carrots, provides erosion protection before being killed with a selective herbicide when carrots reach the two- to three-leaf stage.
Jim Klaustermeyer Jr. peels a carrot for an in-field taste test.
Seeing the Progress
Looking ahead, Klaustermeyer sees the importance of efficiency on the farm. Although the industry is already fairly automated, higher production costs and new labor laws in Washington state will likely lead to more mechanization. The grower also expects new carrot cultivars to be developed and hopes the new releases might include varieties that grow more evenly across the bed in order to increase crowning uniformity.
For now, Klaustermeyer appreciates the opportunity to farm with his dad and values the contributions of his crew, including employees who have been on the farm for 20 to 25 years.
“I really enjoy working in the dirt and being able to measure my progress daily. I have a great crew that helps me accomplish this every day,” he says.
The UI Extension Ag Talk Tuesday sessions will once again be held virtually in 2023 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT. The webinars, held the first and third Tuesdays of May, June, July and August are free.
Stokes Seeds has announced the hiring of Frank Kern as territory manager for Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
In this position, Frank will be responsible for seed and service to growers in the region, providing commercial vegetable seed recommendations and collaborating with growers to match seed options to their production and profit goals.
“Frank’s strong agricultural background, experience with commercial vegetable crops, and enthusiasm for supporting growers will allow him to make an immediate impact in this region”, stated Bruce Ulmer, US Sales Manager for Stokes Seeds.
Frank earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Widener University and is a certified custom applicator. An active participant in the NJ agricultural community, he is a member of the N.J. Vegetable Growers Association and N.J. Food Processors Association. Frank brings a wide skill set to the Stokes Seeds team with experience in chemistry sales, fertilizer, and vegetable crop production. He resides in Woodstown, N.J.
For more information, contact Stokes Seeds at (800) 263-7233 or www.StokeSeeds.com.
Certis Biologicals has launched its new copper product Kocide 50DF (copper hydroxide) for specialty crops in all states. The high-load copper bio-fungicide is designed to serve as both a preventative and curative product to combat a variety of fungal plant diseases, including Alternaria leaf spot and Cercospora leaf spot in carrots. The new Kocide 50DF formulation mixes with low dust residue, is easy to pour and disperses into the mix solution quickly, producing even coverage during application, according to the company. The product can be applied through foliar, aerial spray, sprinkler chemigation or ground boom application methods. Visit www.certisbio.com.
President Biden issued his proposed 2024 budget that would include a 14.3% increase in discretionary funding for USDA to $30.1 billion in FY24.
Highlights of the proposed budget include:
An increase in agricultural research to more than $4 billion in FY24, or $299 million more than FY23;
$7 billion in climate-related funding – an increase of $2 billion increase over FY23;
$400 million in new funding for rural broadband through USDA’s ReConnect grant and loan program; and,
Expanded use of a “community eligibility provision” to allows schools to increase access to free school lunches in high-poverty areas, which would benefit nine million children at a cost of $14.6 billion over 10 years.
USDA Secretary Vilsack said the White House budget “provides USDA with the tools needed to serve all Americans by providing effective, innovative science-based public policy leadership at home and around the world. It contains critical investments that will help rural communities provide the fuel, food, and fiber upon which our nation depends and will drive solutions that will lead to more market opportunities for producers.”
The President’s proposed budget is typically used as a starting point for congressional budget negotiations for the next fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1 for FY24. House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said the President’s budget “DOA in the Republican House.” Meanwhile, Democrats applauded the proposed increase in USDA programs.
Snack foods company Dirt Kitchen Snacks has added Air-Dried Carrot Crisps with Smoky Barbeque Seasoning to its portfolio of products. The snack, which the company bills as a new veggie-based twist on BBQ potato chips, is made from crispy, crunchy air-dried carrots tossed in extra virgin olive oil and a bold, smoky barbeque seasoning. The new product contains 35 calories per serving and is vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free and kosher. The carrot crisps contain no artificial flavors, colors, preservatives or added sugar.
Dirt Kitchen Snacks, a business launched in 2020, also sells a carrot and apricot pressed bar. The carrot snacks are available online at www.dirtkitchensnacks.com.
Carbon Robotics is being recognized for the development and impact of its state-of-the art LaserWeeder, a robot operated by artificial intelligence and computer vision that utilizes lasers to remove weeds efficiently and sustainably. Since its launch in February 2022, the LaserWeeder has eliminated more than 500 million weeds and helped growers reduce their weed management costs by up to 80%.
In February 2022, Carbon Robotics launched the LaserWeeder, a pull-behind robot that utilizes sophisticated AI deep learning technology, computer vision, robotics and lasers, to identify weeds and target them for elimination. The LaserWeeder’s 30 high-powered CO2 lasers use thermal energy to destroy the meristem of the weed with millimeter accuracy, without disturbing the soil or damaging nearby crops.
Farmers are invited to share their thoughts on cover crops in an online survey at bit.ly/CoverCrop23. Why do you plant cover crops…or why don’t you? What do you want to know? Your insight will help guide research, communications, seed development, and more.
This National Cover Crop Survey is the seventh since 2012 conducted by the USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) and the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), with the help of Informa/Farm Progress.
“Since 2012, the National Cover Crop Survey has been extremely valuable in helping guide research priorities, direct communications and education efforts, provide data to researchers, and illustrate the effects of policy on cover crop use and adoption,” says Dr. Rob Myers, regional director of extension programs for North Central SARE and director of the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture. “Data from previous surveys have been used in scientific papers, business planning, extension efforts, media coverage of cover crops, and even included in testimony to Congress.”
Please take a few minutes to contribute your voice at bit.ly/CoverCrop23. After completing the questionnaire, you may enter a drawing for one of three $100 Visa gift cards.
Darin Moon, owner, founder, and CEO of Redox Bio-Nutrients was among the honorees at the Idaho Ag Summit, presented by Leadership Idaho Agriculture.
Moon was honored for technical innovation as part of the 28th annual Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Agriculture. Since founding Redox Bio-Nutrients nearly 30 years ago, Moon has guided his company to be at the forefront of technological advancements to help farmers.
“This is a wonderful, absolutely well-deserved honor for Darin” remarked Dr. Michael Parrella, University of Idaho Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “When I think of what he has accomplished at Redox, I think of a research-based program that’s backed up by scientific data collection and validation. When he talks about a product that’s going to be used by farmers, it’s backed up by science.”
Agriculture is a vital industry in Idaho, with $8.45 billion in total production value in 2021, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The state has nearly 25,000 farms and ranches, producing more than 185 different commodities. Nearly one-fifth of Idaho’s sales are generated by agriculture, food and beverage processing each year, according to the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience.
Privacy settings
Privacy Settings
This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.
NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.
Google Analytics
This site uses to cookies to improve customer expierence
