Family-owned Bullseye Farms dates back to the 1900s. Committed stewards of soil health, the farm plants winter cover crops, sources green compost, and returns crop waste products back to the orchard floor.
Improving uniformity in variable terrain
Bullseye Farms
"Since we started using Ceres Imaging, we have less mummy nuts left in the trees."Nick Edsall, Orchard manager
CROP TYPE
Almonds, Walnuts
LOCATION
Yolo County, California
CATEGORY
Irrigation management
HIGHLIGHT
$98,000 in improved uniformity
The problem
The slope and soil variability in Bullseye Farm's large almond orchards meant that orchard manager Nick Edsall often struggled to achieve uniform irrigation distribution. With the harvest fast approaching, the issue weighed on Nick: nuts that were too green or too dry meant lost profits and a higher risk of navel orange worm the following season.
The solution
Reviewing imagery with the Ceres Imaging customer support team helped Nick pinpoint areas to target and make corrective actions leading up to harvest. "We could look at the imagery, and clearly see differing levels of stress within the orchard, and correlate that with the maturity at harvest. This allowed us to increase stress uniformity and also saved us a ton of time since we didn’t have to do as much surveying of individual fields in preparation for harvest."
The outcome
Ceres Imaging helped Bullseye Farms achieve yield improvements valued at $98,000.
The reduction in red and yellow areas in these water stress images—taken a few months apart—shows how Bullseye Farms successfully increased uniformity in the orchard.