SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Being excited about plants is not unusual for nursery owner Gary Gragg, but when it comes to tropical fruit plants like his 20 foot mango tree, his eyes really light up.
“These trees, not only are they really delicious tasting, but they’re just gorgeous, sexy plants,” Gragg said.
What You Need To Know
- Tropical fruits are starting to be grown in Northern California
- Plants only need a small 1-3 degrees change in temperature to become suitable for a climate
- Avocadoes and mangoes are big business in the agriculture industry
His excitement is also spurred on by the fact his tropical mango tree, Gragg said, should not be growing on his property that sits about 30 miles west of Sacramento.
But thanks to the planet’s rising temperatures, Gragg said things are changing in terms of what can grow where.
“We’re right at the critical threshold where just a few degrees of warmer temperatures are going to make a huge amount of difference,” he said. “And catapult us into a growing zone we weren’t able to enjoy before.”
A few miles east of Gragg’s property, Plant Physiology professor Louise Fergheson said the pistachio orchard she sometimes studies is a perfect example of farmers changing crops to suit the changing climate.
“It was previously thought that perhaps up here pistachios wouldn’t get enough heat in the summer, because it didn’t remain warm at night to actually grow the shell and fill the nut,” Ferghuson said. “But because the temperature’s rising, pistachios are starting to be planted in the Davis area.”
Fergheson said climate-change will open new opportunities to profitable crops previously out of reach of farmers in the North.
“Increasingly I think you’re going to see perhaps, depending upon markets and I’m not a market expert, but avocados,” Fergheson said. “Where it was previously thought, it’s a little bit too cold up here. Some citrus cultivars, especially the mandarins, because they can take a colder climate.”
Back at Gragg’s property, his full avocado tree has him agreeing with Louise’s prediction.
To further prove mangoes viability in Northern California, he’s already begun work to plant what could be the continent’s northernmost mango grove.
“We are just now drilling holes, getting ready to put the main citrus orchard in,” Gragg said. “But as part of that, we’re going to be trialing about 20-35 different mangoes out here.”
Gragg said once he knows what variety grows best, he’ll be able to show and sell it to commercial farmers.
The tropical revolution, a little silver lining, he said, to the issue of climate change.