Nuts

AEA encourages nut growers to think in terms of long-term regeneration, not just short-term profitability.

To bring a nut crop to fruition, growers must combat pest pressure including the navel orange worm, flower and nut retention/development, biennial bearing, and water use efficiency challenges. Reliance on heavy applications of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides do not fully relieve these challenges. AEA provides an alternative solutions for nut orchards based on targeted mineral nutrition and biological applications to correct issues, even in the long-term planting setting.

AEA’s approach to nut crops includes consideration of the unique challenges and goals associated with every farm. We help growers better understand the long-term impacts of operational management practices.

Our farm services team assists nut growers to identify and address the greatest limiting factors to operational success, then create a plan to address them. We use existing agronomic information along with in-depth testing and data analysis to provide growers with a detailed blueprint of the nutrition needed for optimum yields and quality appropriate for each type of nut.

All perennial crops need a long-view approach and tree nuts are not different.

Using sap and soil analysis, AEA helps producers develop custom nutrition protocols for crop production to ensure the best ROI consistently without sacrificing future health of the orchard. Special focus is placed on nutrient applications for strong structural wood without creating excessive vegetative growth, while simultaneously supporting the trees during the season from bud break through fruit finishing.

It can take several years for mature trees to fully recover from mineral deficiencies, but we often find there are increasing improvements in yields while using AEA protocols during that period.

AEA’s regenerative approach helps nut producers to:

Break biennial bearing cycles
Improve yields
Create efficiency around input use
Discover alternatives to synthetic products

How can AEA’s regenerative approach help nut producers?

We strive to improve the metrics like increase in nut yield by reducing or eliminating premature nut drop; greater resistance to the effects of extreme temperatures; water use reduction; input efficiency; and increased soil health.
What specific challenges can AEA help fruit growers overcome?

Our nutritional recommendations can help to mitigate or solve challenges like biennial bearing, fungal issues, navel orange worm infestation, and root diseases.
What are among the most important CPIs for nut production crops?

Critical points of influence for all crops are complex and in nut crops that can take 3-7 years to mature, this complexity compounds. Each nut crop has their own nutrition during these developmental stages based on operational goals and challenges. Early season applications like bud break, flowering, and cell division are particularly influential for the retention of potential yield.

Nut Grower Success

It's exciting to see that we are suppressing the effects of alternaria and navel orange worm. We are also seeing excellent crop responses in the way of more vigorous leaf growth and overall healthier crops.
Richard Simas
AEA Regenerative Ag Consultant