'Wild' speaker planned for gala

TV star to deliver Almond Board's keynote speech

By John Holland

E-Mail

reprint or license

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

A guy who's a little, well, nuts will be in Modesto on Dec. 9 to speak to the Almond Board of California.

It has booked adventurer Bear Grylls, host of "Man vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel, to be the keynote speaker at an evening gala.

The event is part of the board's 37th annual conference, Dec. 9 and 10 at Modesto Centre Plaza.

AP - Everything I know about surviving in the wild, I've learned from Bear Grylls. (HO/Courtesy of the Discovery Channel)

On his show, Grylls goes to far-flung places around the globe and puts his survival skills to use. He is a British special forces veteran whose pursuits include mountain climbing, skydiving and motivational speaking.

"In June 2005, Bear broke a world record by hosting a dinner party at a table suspended below a hot air balloon at 24,500 feet," the channel's Web site says. "He rappelled from the balloon's basket to the table, where in full naval uniform he ate a three-course meal before saluting the queen and skydiving to Earth."

Grylls is featured on the Almond Board Web site, explaining how the nuts can keep people nourished whether they're in survival mode or not.

As usual, the conference will have sessions on almond irrigation, pollination, fertilization, marketing and other topics, along with displays on equipment and services.

The Dec. 10 lunch will feature a talk on the economy by Richard Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine. It is his second-straight appearance at the conference.

The gala is $60 and the lunch $25. More information is at www.almondboard.com/conference.

Modesto also hosted this month's annual meeting of Blue Diamond Growers, the state's largest almond processor.

Board chairman Clinton Shick said grower prices likely will be strong for the current crop, thanks to a modest carry-over from last year's harvest, the recovery of the global economy, and increased demand in India, China and the Middle East.

"Even during early spring, when major financial indexes were at their lowest levels in several years, almond shipments began to set records and continued through last summer, which helped to give cooperative growers an excellent competitive return on the 2008 crop," said Shick, a grower in Kern County.

He also noted the 600 percent increase in sales for Blue Diamond's North America consumer product division over the past seven years. It includes flavored almonds and other products.

The cooperative, founded in 1910, processes most of its nuts in Salida.

Shick was re-elected at the meeting, and vice chairman Dale Van Groningen of Ripon was re-elected as vice chairman.

Board members Kevin Fondse of Ripon, Charles Crivelli III of Turlock and Dan Cummings of Chico also won new terms.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or 578-2385.