Last fall, long before the first pump kicked on, Jimmy Nichols at Nichols Farms had already made some of the season’s biggest decisions.

A new surface water infrastructure upgrade.

An early irrigation budget.

A refined fungicide strategy.

All of it driven by one thing: the California Annual Precipitation (CAP) forecast from Weather Tools, issued before Thanksgiving.

For a vertically integrated pistachio grower with thousands of acres, that early insight wasn’t just helpful—it was a competitive advantage.

“We updated our water budgets with the assumption we’d have surface water available,” Jimmy said. “That helped us apply a little more water early… which helps reduce pest pressure later.”

Instead of reacting to conditions, Nichols Farms started planning with confidence months in advance.

Their team even initiated a surface water infrastructure upgrade.  

“It was a fairly heavy capital project, but the forecast gave us the confidence to act early and have it ready for the season,” Jimmy said.

They didn’t wait for allocations.

They didn’t hold off on infrastructure improvements.

They didn’t hesitate.

They had a trusted forecast, and they moved.

Read the full story on WaterWrights:

Forecast-Driven Farming: How Nichols Farms Turned Data into Decisions

‍