ACF: The next appraisal chapter in the continuing fleet emission technology story The California Advanced Clean Fleets regulation intends to convert nearly 30% of the medium- and heavy-duty fleet vehicles operating in the state—including 100% of drayage vehicles—to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Equipment appraisers need to be aware of vehicle categories affected, technology hurdles that must…Read More
Equipment Fire Loss: Compiling a List for Insurance Claims
Compiling a List for Insurance Claims Devastating fires in the Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa areas have burned thousands of homes, businesses, and other structures. In the wake of the damage, fire loss claims are inevitable. It’s not always an easy process to assess what’s been lost, especially in the midst of sometimes overwhelming grief…Read More
Specialty Equipment: Orchards & Vineyards
Big changes are happening in California agriculture! As farmers convert massive amounts of acreage to orchards and vineyards, abandoning annual crops like tomatoes and rice, farming equipment is changing as well. As one would expect, orchard and vineyard crops use entirely different machinery types, especially for harvesting. This is an interesting transition for appraisers of…Read More
Are Your Wine Tanks Excessively Taxed?
What would you think if I told you that the value of wine tanks increases annually? That the longer you use them the more they’re worth? You’d think I was out of my mind! It just doesn’t sound reasonable, does it? How can it be possible that the value of equipment as standard as wine…Read More
Drought and its Impact on Valuing Agricultural Equipment
Several equipment appraisal report clients have recently asked me to include information on California’s on-going drought conditions and how current and continuing conditions might affect the value of the equipment appraised. It’s an interesting situation for an equipment appraiser to be in. As a rule, equipment appraisal reports state that the opinion of value provided…Read More
Valuing Ag Equipment in California
Had a chat this morning with a fellow from a governmental lending agency who wanted to know if I’d like to be their go-to equipment appraiser for agricultural equipment in California — from the Mexican border up to the edge of Oregon. Would I? Yessir, I believe I would. Thanks for asking! I’ve written before…Read More
CARB Tractor Rule: Rumors & Reality
As a machinery and equipment appraiser working in the Central Valley of California, I appraise a fair amount of mobile diesel-powered agricultural field equipment: tractors, of course, but also harvesters, sprayers, shakers, sweepers, and on and on. As anyone with an interest in diesel equipment knows, over the last several years the California Air Resources…Read More
Appraising Electrostatic Spraying Systems
Most equipment appraisers are captivated by some of the equipment they appraise and that’s certainly true of me. Earlier this year on an equipment appraisal inspection in the Salinas Valley I had the pleasure of chatting with a couple of agricultural mechanics who had modified several dozen ESS (electrostatic spraying systems) sprayers especially for berry…Read More
Rice Harvesters in the Sacramento Valley
Rice harvest is underway! As usual, there’s concern about the weather, but harvest started last month with the early maturing varieties and will continue right into November. It’s fun to see all the videos of rice harvesting rolling onto the internet. Most of those videos are from the Sacramento Valley, where most of the rice…Read More
The Central Coast Supports an Amazing Number of Agricultural Operations
Equipment Appraiser extolls the beauty and industry of agriculture in California’s Central Coast, including the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura, perhaps one of the most highly mechanized agricultural areas in the world. Read More
Ag Appraisal at the Colusa Farm Show
Northern California ASA Equipment Appraiser has a field day researching agricultural equipment at the Colusa Farm Show and comes home with a new project–YouTube videos for the NorCal Valuation youTube channel. Read More