Things To Do Before The Day Of The Harvest

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Kari Cameron

Sonoma Wine Harvest 2014 For someone with a home vineyard the most important and what is also probably the most hectic and stressful task, is harvesting time.

Harvest comes once every year and making the necessary preparations is the key to a successful harvest day. You can shop for vineyard supplies at Cameron &Cameron Inc. for the most reliable products.

Not At The Last Minute

Your prep starts 7 days before the harvest time. Your job is to get the weather report, get a week’s forecast. You are looking for whether the day you picked for harvest is under threat by Mother Nature. If it is you will have to make small changes to your harvest plans. Getting the fruit out of the field before the weather conditions present a torrent of rain over the field is one additional thing that you may have to do.

Tend To Your Vineyard

There is no point picking in a vineyard that is suffocated by weeds and the equipment that you allow lying around just because it is more convenient for you. Remember the basic rule of anything, the cleaner the place the easier the task. Apart from de cluttering the rows you need to make sure that you fill holes in the ground so that your busy pickers do not trip and hurt themselves.

You Need Pickers, Start With Volunteers

Anyone can volunteer as pickers. Remember when you are deciding on the date of the harvest don’t pick one according to when you are free but a date that suits the fruit that will be harvested. Let all your friends know that you are looking for volunteer pickers. Put out an email, professional pickers do the standard ton a day but volunteers can usually do up to a quarter of that. Offer a brunch or something after an hour of picking. The idea is to make the whole practice look as fun as possible.

You can also attract pickers by offering them a morning of wine education and vineyard fun.

Check Again

You need to confirm the details one last time. The 24 hours before you time of harvest make sure that your fruit is in perfect condition. You can do this by making sure one last time that the fruit has the accurate level of ripeness.

This also helps you decide whether you will have to pick the grapes earlier than the time you decided if you see the acid plummeting in the fruit. If you are practicing home wine making than a refractometer should be good enough to give you an exact measure of for making a Brix based decision.

Drought Tips to Ease Water Worries

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Kari Cameron

US Drought Monitor 2013 Long, hot summers in California—especially in the interior valleys—tend to spread worries and fears across the state. That’s because running low on water makes farmers everywhere question how well their crops will do and how much money they stand to lose as a result of irrigation water cutbacks.

According to AgAlert, “the season’s final survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack … found only 17 percent of average levels. At the same time, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported its water transfer pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were operating at about 20 percent of capacity, due to the dry conditions combined with restrictions intended to protect fish species. San Luis Reservoir, a summer supply pool for both the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, stood only about 50 percent full.”

These low water levels often force farmers, ranchers, and vineyard operators to find ways to conserve water and make the most of what they have available. Take a look at the tips for conserving water below, and know that the process isn’t always a quick fix, but ultimately your efforts will produce noticeable results.

Water Conservation Techniques

Effective watering techniques – This is a great place to start when trying to save water, and Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditors can assist you if need be. Effective watering techniques include watering early in the day to reduce evaporation loss and watering less frequently (but for longer amounts of time). It’s also imperative to regularly check all hoses and sprinklers for leaks, and you can easily reduce water waste by making sure all sprinklers are positioned correctly and watering plants only. You can even ask your water provider if they’re currently offering any coupons or discounts on water-saving irrigation equipment.
Eliminate weeds – Weeds compete with your other plants for water. Placing landscape fabric between the soil and your mulch will minimize weeds and allow for more of the water to go where it’s supposed to.
Rain barrels – This is another good way to minimize the effects of a drought. Collecting rainwater will certainly increase the amount of available water.
Water-conserving irrigation systems – There are several options to consider if you’re planning a water-conserving irrigation system: (1) A drip system, (2) furrow irrigation, (3) alternate furrow irrigation, and (4) surge irrigation—to name a few. IrrigationTutorials.com states, “While sprinkler systems are around 75-85 percent efficient, drip systems typically are 90 percent or higher.” Implementing the right irrigation system will not only reduce soil percolation, but also will minimize surface runoff losses.
Reduce fertilizer use – Using compost instead of fertilizers will increase water retention and decrease erosion. Moreover, adding mulch to the soil surface will increase the penetrability of clay soils, increase the water-holding capacity of sandy soils, and reduce the amount of water lost by evaporation.
Provide partial shade – If you have plants in containers, then you can prevent them from drying as quickly as they would in warmer, windy areas by providing some shade.

Farm Employers and the “Pay-or-Play” Mandate

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Kari Cameron

The “pay-or-play” mandate is a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare”. It is a new law aimed at expanding health care coverage by requiring certain employers to make a choice: pay or play.

The mandate applies to “large employers” only, meaning farms, ranches, vineyards and the like who employed an average of 50 or more full-time employees – or full-time equivalent employees – per month in the calendar year prior, or for new employers who intend to employ that many in the current calendar year. The choice these large employers must make is simple: offer minimum essential coverage to all full-time employees, or pay an excise tax.

Below is some useful information for farmers and ranchers concerning the “pay-or-play” mandate and the health insurance requirements going into effect on January 1, 2014.

The Difference Between Full-Time Employees and Full-Time Equivalent Employees

The “full-time equivalent,” or FTE, concept is intended to dissuade employers from replacing full-time employees with additional part-time employees in an effort to side step the “pay-or-play” mandate.
A full-time employee is anyone who works at least 30 hours per week, or 130 hours per month. So, the FTE is calculated by adding together all of the hours worked by part-time employees in one month and then dividing that number by 120. This means an employer who has 12 part-time employees working a total of 1,200 hours per month between them (100 hours per month per employee) is considered to have 10 full-time employees, and thus is using 20 percent of the 50 full-time employee total.

The Rules Regarding Seasonal Employees

Seasonal employees do not count toward the 50 full-time employee total.
Seasonal employees are employees who worked 120 days or fewer in one year.

Time Constraints and Requirements

Hiring and firing decisions made in 2013 by applicable large employers may affect the necessary coverage required on January 1, 2014.
The IRS allows large employers to use a measurement period of 3 to 12 months of employment history to determine whether or not a certain employee is full-time.
Any new employees are subject to an administrative period. This allows applicable large employers up to 90 days to determine whether or not the new employee is eligible for coverage.
After January 1, 2014, all eligible employees must be provided coverage.

If a large employer chooses not to provide health insurance coverage to any or all of their full-time employees, fines could total $2,000 or $3,000 for each full-time employee. However, there are many factors and situational differences that can affect a large employer’s decision to “pay” or to “play”. For example, the first 30 employees are excluded from the total when penalties are calculated, so it may be economically beneficial for a large employer to choose to “pay”. This is because sometimes the health insurance coverage for the year totals more than the fine itself.

If you fall into the large employer category, seek the advice of a tax professional or insurance broker for specific details on your unique situation.