Food And Farm News
July 29, 2026
Avocado farmer helped revolutionize the modern skateboard
Long before Larry Balma was tending avocado trees in San Diego County, he helped transform the sport of skateboarding. In 1975, he co-founded Tracker Trucks, a San Diego-based company that designed and manufactured stronger, wider, more durable skateboard trucks-the T-shaped metal piece that connects a board's wheels to its deck and allows riders to steer. At a time when skateboarding equipment frequently broke under the demands of the sport's emerging tricks, Tracker's engineering advances gave riders unprecedented stability and resilience, setting a new standard for skateboards. "All the innovations on the original Tracker trucks have ultimately been adapted to every other skateboard truck designed since," Balma said. Today, Balma is just as likely to be found discussing crop yields and water costs as skateboard design. He and his wife, Louise Balma, manage 25 acres of agricultural land, with 16 acres devoted to avocados.
Smart sprayers slash farm labor and herbicide costs
An increasing number of specialty crop farmers in California are minimizing labor and chemical costs through the adoption of high-tech herbicide sprayers used for weed control. "When I talk to growers, it's getting good reviews," Walt Duflock, vice president of innovation at the Western Growers Association, said of the emerging technology used to power various smart sprayer machines. "I think spraying does have a moment in the next couple of years to come." Brothers Justin and Joe Ritchie, who farm about 1,300 acres of pistachios and almonds in Kern County, purchased a smart sprayer that differentiates between the green of growing plants and the brown of soil or dead plants, applying herbicide to only the green plants. "With the size of our operation, it's paid for itself the first season just in chemical savings," Justin Ritchie said.
Commentary: California's pest prevention system needs an update
While California has developed new strategies to prepare for wildfires, protect water supplies and respond to public health emergencies, the state's agricultural pest prevention system has fallen behind even as producers face more threats than ever before, Lindsey Carter, executive director of the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association, said in a recent Ag Alert® commentary. "The stakes could not be higher. For growers, invasive pests don't just threaten yields-they jeopardize export markets, increase production costs and create uncertainty that can last for decades," Carter added. To address the issue, Carter said the association in the coming year will invite growers, commodity organizations, environmental interests, university researchers, state and federal agencies, and other stakeholders to help develop a comprehensive Statewide Pest Prevention Plan.
In case you missed it: Researchers study potential of agave crop
Agave, a succulent long grown in parts of Mexico to make tequila and mezcal, has in recent years attracted the attention of California farmers seeking options as they face water shortages and the prospect of fallowing land. The drought-resilient crop has demonstrated commercially viable yields with less than a tenth of the water usage needed for many tree crops. To help farmers, experts are ramping up research on cultivating agave in California and exploring various potential markets for the crop. According to researchers, the long-term potential of California's budding agave sector may depend on learning which practices traditionally used to grow the plant in Mexico need to be altered for the state's various growing environments and which varieties grow best in California. "We want to see which ones, depending on the variety, will thrive in the Central Valley so we could take the risk for the farmers," said Ángel Reyna, president of Madera Community College, which earlier this year planted 20 agave varieties in a test plot.
For more information about any story in Food and Farm News, contact the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division at 916-561-5550 or email news@cfbf.com. Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram: @CAFarmBureau.
.svg.png?cacheid=0.9616018850896426)
