Dickey estimates it recently took less than half a day
to do all nine self-assessment modules on her 15-acre
block. The process, she said, helped her reflect on
her current practices, compare to other growers in her
area and around the state, and find potential areas of
improvement.
“I like to read the questions and see what I am doing in
comparison to other growers,” Dickey said.
The online CASP system also offers interactive tools,
including a nitrogen calculator and mapping tool to
develop nitrogen budgets and help meet Nitrogen
Management Plan requirements of the Irrigated Lands
Regulatory Program. An irrigation calculator also helps
develop irrigation schedules on individual blocks.
Dickey regularly relies on pressure chamber readings,
collected by a seasonally hired college student, along
with flow meters and CIMIS station readings to establish
irrigation set timing and duration. Filling out the Energy
Use module also helped her better grasp the timing
of irrigating during off-peak hours so she could more
efficiently run her irrigation pumps.
Completing the Nitrogen Management module on that
15-acre block helped Dickey understand that she could
better account for nitrogen inputs by testing her water
source and actually reduce the amount of applied N
during the season.
“When I went back after filling out the module, I
realized I almost over-fertilized on one block because I
wasn’t accounting for N in the water source,” she said.
“By participating in CASP I learned we could save
money and keep excess nitrogen out of the groundwater
in the process.”
Dickey says she enjoys sharing the agriculture story, especially
with consumers, and says CASP helps the almond industry tell its
story collectively.
Jennifer Dickey checks in on new almond trees at CR Orchards
near Turlock.
These are your consumers and if
you want people to be passionate
about what you do, you have to
explain it to them.
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