When betrayed by someone you trusted, anger inevitably surges higher than at any other time.
Frederick first sent Raymond home.
“Boss, please hear me out first.”
“Just go home for now. I’ll contact you once I’ve figured out the situation.”
To avoid giving him any chance to destroy evidence, Frederick took his two children and me and barged into the office Raymond had been using.
“If we cross-reference all the documents with the actual inventory, something will turn up.”
“Right.”
And so, Frederick and I gathered up every purchase order, delivery slip, and invoice in the office. Naturally, Brandon and Chloe carried the load. Then we went back to the warehouse where the fertilizer was stacked.
“Check last year’s and this year’s all together.”
We could tell at a glance, but checking the labels one by one, most of them were marked [UREA 46-0-0].
“As expected... it’s all urea.”
Looking at the purchase orders and invoices, they clearly stated [SOP 0-0-50] and showed an order for 50 bags, yet in the corner of the actual warehouse, there were only about 10 bags.
“Look here. The documents say 50 bags. The actual count is 10.”
Frederick frowned upon hearing my words.
“You’re right.”
Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise.
“So he brought in cheap urea in bulk and only bought a portion of the expensive SOP, pocketing the difference?”
“To be precise, he billed your father at high prices while actually ordering mostly cheap fertilizer. He did bring in some DAP since it’s inexpensive... but it seems the cheapest urea makes up over 70% of the warehouse. At least there’s a fair amount of lime and gypsum.”
As I finished my rough assessment of the warehouse, Frederick asked, seemingly struck by a sudden curiosity.
“In your opinion, what would be the optimal ratio?”
“It depends on the season. For example, in winter, you need to apply lime and gypsum to correct soil acidity and supplement calcium so the fruit sets firmly. In spring, you need to apply trace amounts of boron (B) and zinc (Zn) to stabilize flowering and pollination and promote leaf and stem development.”
Frederick, listening, gestured with his eyes toward Brandon as if telling him to listen well.
“And then?”
“In early spring, you need to apply phosphate fertilizers like DAP or MAP (monoammonium phosphate) to aid initial growth. Right after germination, you need nitrogen (N) like urea to develop new shoots and leaves, and after flowering, you need potassium (K) like MOP (potassium chloride) or SOP (potassium sulfate) for the fruit to grow larger and to get the right sugar content, color, and firmness. The reason you’re getting aphid infestations like this is because you’re only applying things like urea at this stage.”
Around 2004, there were virtually no farms that fertilized this meticulously according to each season. The fact that he had ordered 50 bags of SOP made it clear that he didn’t properly understand its importance. At this time, cherry orchard owners largely believed that as long as they gave nitrogen, the trees would grow well and the farming would go fine.
I shrugged my shoulders at him, who was letting out a low exclamation of admiration, and asked Chloe,
“Did you write it down?”
“...No.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”
“Say it again.”
“I’m thirsty, so ask me again while bringing me some juice.”
“Shall I do that? Dad, let’s go home now.”
At his daughter’s suggestion, Frederick left the warehouse with a conflicted expression. Then, driving back home, he spoke to me.
“If it weren’t for you, I would have been in serious trouble. Thank you.”
“It wouldn’t have been catastrophic. There were fluctuations every year, but it wasn’t something that would bankrupt the farm.”
“I also receive training every year from the UC Cooperative Extension at UC Davis. I learned fertilizer-related knowledge there, and they said exactly what you just said. What I did wrong was that even though I learned it, because a certain amount of harvest came in every year, I neglected it and left it to Raymond.”
As expected, since he had learned at UC Davis, he seemed to have prepared some lime, gypsum, and SOP to some extent. He probably kept an appropriate amount of DAP thinking it was just inexpensive nitrogen. Raymond had failed to understand that properly and merely saw it as an opportunity to skim.
Frederick looked at Brandon in the back seat through the rearview mirror and said,
“Brandon! Do you understand now why I told you to learn well from him?”
Perhaps because Brandon had been equally blindsided, he had worn a dazed expression the entire time before answering with a look of coming to his senses.
“Yes!”
“Then from now on, get your act together and learn well from Brian.”
When I raised an eyebrow at Brandon, he answered obediently, though looking somewhat aggrieved.
“Got it.”
Smirking with satisfaction, I said to Frederick,
“From that perspective, Frederick, you are quite lucky. Because you’ve formed a strategic partnership with us. From now on, Brandon and Chloe will probably accumulate so much knowledge in their heads that they won’t be able to forget it even if they want to. After all, hands-on knowledge isn’t easily forgotten.”
At those words, a hint of fear crossed the faces of Chloe and Brandon, who could guess what their future held.
---
In the end, it was revealed that Raymond had been skimming $20,000 every year for the past three years. Frederick handed all the documents to a lawyer for review and then reported him to the police. Considering how long he had worked at the farm, Frederick said he would write a letter requesting leniency if Raymond just returned the embezzled money. He seemed to be a soft-hearted man, contrary to his looks.
The person most affected by this process seemed to be Brandon. Brandon, who used to sulk and show his unwillingness openly whenever given even a small task, lately did what he was told without complaint. His grumbling had decreased significantly as well.
“Something really is different.”
Frederick bent down, scooped up a handful of soil, and let out a slight exclamation of admiration. Smooth, fine dirt flowed between his fingers instead of the coarse sand grains that had been there before.
“Right?”
“It wasn’t this moist before.”
As he muttered in admiration, Chloe and Brandon also nodded slightly, stepping on and touching the ground.
“Something really is different.”
“Hmm... A fluffy feeling?”
I smiled and walked toward the vacant lot. Today was the day to show them something new.
“Now, look.”
What I took out was a tensiometer, a soil moisture sensor. When I stuck it deep into the soil, numbers immediately appeared on the small screen. Next to it, I had set up an EC meter (Electrical Conductivity, a device that measures salt concentration in soil via electrical conductivity).
“I told you it would grow in stages, right? The first step in developing the farm was the soil. And that’s been completed. From now on, if you just apply fertilizer according to each season as I taught you and manage it well, next year’s yield will increase quite a bit compared to this year, and the condition will be good too. Now, then, this is the second step. Water.”
I continued my explanation very slowly and in detail, as if teaching students in a lecture.
“Until now, water management on the farm has mostly relied on experience. Like your father just did, you feel the soil and if it seems dry, you water it. Right?”
Frederick nodded in a fluster.
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Good. But that isn’t very efficient. First of all, you end up using a lot of water. That wastes groundwater and causes salts to accumulate in the soil.”
“Salts accumulate in the soil?”
“Ah, you didn’t know. The groundwater in California’s Central Valley and Delta regions contains small amounts of salt (NaCl), sulfates (SO₄²⁻), bicarbonates (HCO₃⁻), and so on. Also, river or canal water can increase in salt concentration as it undergoes evaporation and mixing while being used as agricultural water.”
“Ah... I see.”
“Trees absorb mostly pure water, so the salts dissolved in the water remain around the roots and accumulate in the soil. When this happens, osmotic stress occurs, and as a result, the trees have more difficulty absorbing water.”
Frederick focused his mind on my lecture as if bewitched.
“So, what should we do? The optimal method isn’t watering based on feeling alone, but checking and managing with numbers through equipment like this. Then what improves when managed this way? First, water costs decrease. By roughly 30 to 40%.”
“Oh—”
“What was one of the advantages we gained from laying down charcoal? That charcoal holds onto moisture and nutrients, so we can use less fertilizer. Costs go down. This is the same. Since the charcoal already retains not only fertilizer but also moisture, and we use even less water on top of that, annual fixed costs decrease. I told you that costs would go down while production increases, right?”
Frederick nodded.
“That is exactly because of aspects like this. It wasn’t nonsense. Then what is the second advantage gained from water management? The quality of the fruit improves.”
I wished I had a blackboard in front of me to write it down; it was a shame I didn’t. Instead, Chloe, sitting behind Frederick, was writing diligently.
“As you may have heard, a significant number of American grape farms place great importance on water regulation. But until now, cherry orchards have lagged far behind in that regard.”
Even though they were in the same California at roughly the same time, a considerable number of renowned, well-maintained grape farms placed extreme importance on irrigation. But cherry orchards were not yet using those techniques.
The actual introduction of SWP combined with drip irrigation in cherry orchards was so late that it only began in the early 2020s. Until then, virtually most farms did not practice water regulation.
“Isn’t water regulation only used in grape farms?”
“That’s because people think it only works on grapes, but that’s not the case. If water increases too much, the fruit can split easily; conversely, if there is too little water, the fruit becomes smaller and the taste deteriorates. Maintaining consistent moisture keeps fruit quality stable while deepening cherry color and increasing acidity.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Now that you know water management helps cherries, you’ll be thinking you need to introduce a water management system, right?”
“Y...yes?”
“Well, now there is another hurdle.”
At those words, Frederick immediately frowned.
“Don’t tell me...?”
“That’s right. Money. I can’t draw up the exact estimate, but I asked roughly by phone before coming... They said installing a drip irrigation and sensor-based system for 200 acres costs approximately $250,000 to $350,000.”
“Damn...”
Frederick made a tearful face at the thought of having to spend money again. In 2004 terms, this meant an additional sum of roughly 300 million Korean won.
“So you must decide. As I mentioned, it is fine not to apply the water management system. If you improve the soil and apply balanced fertilization according to the season, you will see noticeably improved results from that alone.”
“...... Just by saving on water costs, we should be able to cover the installation expenses, right?”
“By my calculations, I think most of the installation costs could be recovered in about 5 years. Of course, that’s a conservative estimate.”
“Five years...”
Frederick, lost in thought for a moment, soon nodded.
“Alright. I’ll do it.”
“Very well. It would be better for you to find the relevant company yourself. Since the area is large, you’ll be able to negotiate the unit price down. The Cooperative Extension office will probably introduce you to a good company.”
“I’ll do that.”
Having decided on yet another investment, Frederick returned home and was lost in thought for a long while. Since he had made up his mind to improve the farm anyway, investing around $300,000 was something he could afford; however, he couldn’t say he wasn’t anxious since no cherry grower had ever attempted such a thing before.
At that moment, a call came in for him. It was William Hartford of the Brentwood Cherry Growers Cooperative.
“Good heavens, what have you done to your farm? Are you trying to open a pizzeria to supply all of California?”
He must have seen the makeshift oven built on the spacious vacant lot.
“Ah, that... I’m trying to introduce a new farming method.”
“Hahaha! What a pointless thing to do. Instead of wasting money on such nonsense, remember what I told you before?”
“Ah, you mean about bundling under the association brand?”
“Exactly. When will you give me an answer?”
For several years now, William had been demanding that they bundle together not as individual farms but as Brentwood Cherry. He claimed that was the only way prices would rise. For Frederick, whose fruit quality was among the better ones in the vicinity, it had been a request that gave him pause.
But now, he thought there was definitely no need to do so. No, he had reached a situation where he must not.
“I’m sorry, but we’ll be doing our own thing.”
“What? Do you really think you can get a much higher unit price doing it that way? This is problematic!”
Frederick did not back down despite William’s aggressive insistence. The farming method he was attempting now was born of great money and great resolve; he could not share it with other farms.
“I’m sorry, but take us out. We don’t want to be evaluated at the wholesale level with the other farms.”
“Hmph! Fine. Let’s see just how good a price you get.”
Frederick felt a bit of pressure from William’s forceful attitude in hanging up, but he soon steeled his resolve. If he hadn’t started, it would be one thing, but since he had made up his mind to change the farm, he could not back down.
“Let’s see. Just how this turns out...”