Wildfires take a major toll on impacted areas, but almond growers miles away tell AgInfo.net that they are feeling the impact, too, but in a different way.
“This is not something that is really a surprise to me. I am an almond grower myself, and when we went through some of these events. You go back to, for example, 2020 and I think going into 2021, we had weeks on end where it was just you did not see the sun like you should. I mean, it was just very terrible air quality. We saw immediate impacts when it came to the drying of our raisins in the grape, which led me to believe that, hey, this is going to be affecting the almonds, too, and that’s what the most recent studies showing,” said Ryan Jacobsen.
Jacobsen says it all boils down to photosynthesis, with the smoke stunting that process. He says while the fires themselves can cause obvious damage to ag lands, the impacts are largely felt miles away, taking a toll on already delicate bottom lines.
