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More than 100 members of California’s agricultural community came together on Dec. 4 at the Arbuckle Golf Club (Colusa County) to support the Nickels Soil Lab, enjoy a great Louie Cairo restaurant-styled dinner, and laugh with comedian Patrick McDermott.
The very successful evening was made possible by the collective support of growers, PCAs, and ag businesses including processors, nurseries and manufacturers. The list of ticket buyers and donors for this fundraiser reads like a who’s who of individuals and organizations committed to supporting agriculture and local communities in the Sacramento Valley and throughout California. The Fundraiser Steering Committee was anchored by Jason Scott and the excellent team at JCS Marketing and included JJ Gross, PCA with Colusa County Farm Supply, and Franz Niederholzer, Nickels Trust trustee and UCCE Orchard Systems Advisor for Colusa and Sutter/Yuba counties.
The goal of the evening was to raise money and awareness for the Nickels Soil Lab (NSL) in Arbuckle. A private, commercial farm operating since the 1960s to provide field trial sites for public-focused agricultural research, the Nickels Soil Lab has been largely funded through crop sales (almond, walnut and olive). More information on the Nickels Soil Lab is available online at: https://ucanr.edu/county/colusa-county/nickels-soil-lab.
Funding Challenges and Research Impact
Downturns in crop prices and upturns in input costs since 2020 have threatened the economic sustainability of the NSL. The Dec. 4 fundraiser was the second dinner and comedy night organized by the team at JCS Marketing in the last three years. Fundraiser donations, a one-time payment from CDFA and significant research support from the Almond Board of California have kept the NSL operating and hosting research projects. Current projects include assessing whole orchard recycling for soil and orchard health, almond planting spacings, organic almond production, walnut rootstocks for nematode management, and practices to manage poor chilling in walnuts. A list of publications from past projects can be found at the website listed above and provides a sense of the amount of research done at NSL over the decades.
The future looks brighter for the NSL following the fundraiser, which netted almost $40,000 to support current and future research. Combined with improving crop prices and visibility of the good work produced by the “we farm, you measure and tell” collaboration between NSL and public researchers (mostly UC and USDA), the future does indeed look brighter for the NSL and its mission to support local growers and communities and reach up and down the state. The annual Nickels Soil Lab Field Day will be held in mid-May. Details will be posted through UCCE newsletters, social media and this magazine.
A heartfelt “thank you” to all who have supported the Nickels Soil Lab. Best wishes and fingers crossed for a successful 2026 growing season.
