US-Japan trade accord good news for CA farmers. Rice, pistachio harvest details. Cover cropping.

Growers of walnuts, pistachios and prunes, along with many other California farmers, got some good news this past week: the trade pact between the United States and Japan has been ratified. Although not much different than the language in the old Trans Pacific Partnership, at least now California farmers can get back to the business of selling their products to the state’s fourth largest export market for agricultural commodities. It’s good news and bad news for California grape growers. There’s plenty of grapes to harvest this year. The bad news? There’s now too many grapes and not enough customers. We have updates on the rice and pistachio harvests. And we explore the benefits of cover cropping. All that, crop reports, the weather in the week ahead, and more…on this week’s KSTE Farm Hour.