Kern County Grower Talks About Harvest
With a Rain Storm in the Late Afternoon
By Patrick Cavanaugh,
Editor
TODAY, Ed Camp a third
generation farmer in Kern County was on his last day of his almond harvest. And
he was feeling good about it. But was feeling any better was the rainstorm that
came up at the end of the day. “It’s a reminder of what can happen and
hopefully we will get a lot of rain in near future,” he said.
He noted that he was also in
the middle of mechanical wine grape harvest, which mainly consists of Muscat of
Alexandria, which is destined to fill the Moscato wine demand. “We have had
them forever and it has been interesting to see what has happened with the
Moscato craze,” said Camp, whose family has been farming the area since 1936.
He’s also in the middle of
table grape harvest with late varieties
such as Red Globe and Autumn Royal.
Camp also has carrots in the
ground with harvests scheduled for December, January and February and they all
for the local Kern County packers. He is also about to start planting garlic
for harvest next year.
He farms in several water
district that bank wet year water, so he is optimistic of his water needs being
met next season.
“Labor this year was
noticeably tighter especially if you did not have your crews set and kept
busy,” said Camp. “Trying to get back crews with any kind of a lull has been
extremely difficult.”
Labels: a third generation farmer in Kern County, Ed Camp, Moscato wine, Muscat of Alexandra