Blogs: Agriculture and Natural Resource

Mark Bolda's Berry Blog

Major Conference on Biological Control in the Works for Santa Maria
Pretty interesting conference on biological control cooking for March 5 in Santa Maria overseen by colleague Farm Advisor Surendra Dara. I was invited too, but had to decline because of conflicts.  Even so, pretty stellar list of speakers...

Whoopsa!
Just thumbing through a mail order catalog from a high end retailer yesterday afternoon for a Valentine's Day gift (don't forget all that this day is also our big annual strawberry production research meeting in Watsonville!) for my one and...

2019 Annual UCCE Caneberry Meeting Planned for February 21 in Watsonville
My colleague Oleg Daugovish has been super generous and is offering his annual caneberry meeting this year up in Watsonville so we can all be together and mites (including Lewis mite), substrates from an expert, plant nutrition, tunnel management, new...

Dried Strawberries in White Chocolate from Japan
Just sampled some strawberries in white chocolate from Japan this afternoon for lunch (picture below).  What's interesting is how dehydrated the strawberries are inside, they couldn't be bigger than the tip of my pinky finger.  Great texture...

Confirmation Bias: A Story from the Field
The idea of "confirmation bias", which is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories, has been covered before in the abstract in this blog as being a route to erroneous judgment and mistakes on the...

Livestock and Range Update Blogs

Cattle Improvement / Beef Producer Symposium

Seeding Part 1: Sow, You Want to Seed Your Rangeland or Irrigated Pasture
Over the past couple years, I have received many questions from ranchers and also from landowners with small (1 to 10-acre) parcels who want to seed their fields. They want to know what to seed, how to seed, and where to get seed. This article has...

Resources from Weed Meeting
We had a great 17th Annual Continuing Education Seminar for Ranchers on December 5! There were about 80 people. We had lots good discussion, particularly about ground squirrels and prescribed burning for medusahead. If you missed the meeting or want...

Rancher Seminar - December 5
Please join the San Benito County Weed Management Area for our 17th Annual Continuing Education Seminar for Ranchers on December 5 from 8:00 am to 12:15 pm at the Hollister Veterans Memorial Building: 649 San Benito Street, Hollister. This is a free...

Tools for Conserving Working Lands: Easements, Mitigation, and Other Strategies
Here's a message from the Pajaro Compass about their upcoming meeting. WHEN:Wednesday, October 24th, 8:30 am – noon WHERE: Veterans Memorial Building, Room 218, 649 San Benito Street, Hollister RSVP: Please follow the link HERE to RSVP, or...

Salinas Valley Agriculture

2019 Ag Tech Summit Flyer
For more information: https://svagtechsummit.com/    

2019 UCCE Annual Strawberry Production Research Meeting

Viticulture and Enology On the Road in Monterey County
UPCOMING MEETING EVENT: UCDavisViticultureand EnologyOn theRoad in Monterey County Monterey County Cooperative Extension Office 1432 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA March 8, 2019, 8:30 am-1:30 pm   8:30 -...

3rd Ag Innovations Conference: Biologicals

SWEEP GRANT OPPORTUNITY WORKSHOP, Salinas CA February 13th
Cosponsored by  UCCE-Monterey County, UCANR, RCDMC   Why: Apply for CDFA funding- State Water efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP). Receive up to  $100,000 in grant funding to improve your on-farm water and energy...

Small Farm News

Exploring Bay Area Wholesale Market Options
On June 13, the Small Farm Program partnered with UCCE Small Farm Advisor Margaret Lloyd to conduct a tour of wholesale produce markets for Sacramento region farmers. During the bus ride from Woodland to San Francisco, I described the packaging and...

Ag labor management seminars offer keys to success in times of labor uncertainty
UC Cooperative Extension will hold workshops in Temecula Feb. 1 and 2 to help California agricultural employers facing many challenges including labor shortages, wage & hour laws, joint liability, worker safety, workers comp insurance, and...

USDA Announces Streamlined Guaranteed Loans and Additional Lender Category for Small-Scale Operators
USDA recently announced the availability of a streamlined version of USDA guaranteed loans, which are tailored for smaller scale farms and urban producers. The program, called EZ Guarantee Loans, uses a simplified application process to help beginning,...

Economic Impact of Local Food Marketing in the Sacramento Region
Consumers often say that they buy locally produced foods because they want to support their local economy. Our newly released report confirms that buying locally produced foods does support the local economy. Our University of California Cooperative...

UC Small Farm Advisor works with grower to push the "Horticultural Envelope"
This article by Matt Kettman was published in the Santa Barbara Independent on October 6, 2015.  UC Small Farm Advisor, Mark Gaskell, has been providing technical assistance to small-scale growers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties for...

Bug Squad

'Bearing' a Close Resemblance
You've heard of the California Bear Flag, the one with the grizzly bear" right?  It's lettered with "California Republic." But have you heard of the "other" bear flag that's on a hooded sweatshirt at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the...

A Mid-Winter Gathering of Lepidopterists at Bohart Museum
Identification. Collaboration. Camaraderie. The scientists and butterfly/moth enthusiasts who gathered Saturday, Feb. 9 for the Northern California Lepidoptera  Society meeting in the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California,...

Of Presidents and Monarchs
Happy Presidents' Day. It's day we honor not only George Washington and Abraham Lincoln but all the men (no women yet!) who have served as President of the United States. "The federal holiday honoring Washington was originally implemented by an Act of...

Tardigrades Aren't Microscopic Any More
Tardigrades, also known as the water bears, are microscopic animals but they're not microscopic any more! They're featured prominently on the newly available Bohart Museum of Entomology hooded sweatshirts, the work of artist Charlotte Herbert...

Bee My Valentine!
Remember receiving valentine cards that read "Bee My Valentine?" Well, every day can be Valentine's Day when there are bees in your garden. We captured this image several years ago of a queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a spiked...

Food Blog

Food policy councils are emerging as a model to address gaps in local policies
In a growing number of communities, food policy councils (also called “food system alliances”) have emerged to address gaps in local policies that focus on food. Most communities have transportation, housing or land use policies, but food...

Citrus: Preserve it now to serve it safely later
Winter is the time when many backyard citrus trees and roadside fruit stands are laden with mandarins, lemons, navel oranges and limes. A UC Cooperative Extension expert is traveling the state to teach how the fresh taste of citrus can be preserved for...

Pests and pathogens place global burden on major food crops
Farmers know they lose crops to pests and plant diseases, but scientists have found that on a global scale they are reducing crop yields for five major food crops by 10 percent to 40 percent, according to a report by a UC Agriculture and Natural...

4-H member is a winner from curly haired cavies to chocoflan
From cavies to chili to chocoflan... Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harrison, a fourth-year member of the Sherwood Forest 4-H Club, Vallejo, shares her expertise about chili and cavies (guinea pigs), but she's also a pro in the kitchen and at making a...

How to support your breastfeeding employees when they are out in the field
New parents returning to work after the birth of a child face a lot of questions and uncertainties, particularly around breastfeeding. Should I continue to breastfeed? Will there be a space for me to pump milk in private? What will my boss and co-workers...

Blog de Alimentos

Miembro del club 4-H gana concurso con su receta de chocoflan.
In English De conejillos de Indias a chili y chocoflan... Celeste Harrison, de 13 años y miembro durante cuatro años del Club 4-H de Sherwood Forest, en Vallejo, comparte su experiencia sobre la preparación de chili y el cuidado de...

Cómo apoyar a las empleadas lactantes cuando trabajan en el campo
  Las madres que regresan al trabajo después del nacimiento de un hijo se enfrentan a muchas preguntas e incertidumbres, particularmente en lo que se refiere a la lactancia o amamantamiento. ¿Debería continuar amamantando?...

Visita una granja en el invierno: encontrarás diversión y regalos para todos
In English Los granjeros de todo el estado abren las puertas al público para que vengan a visitarlos, a sacudirte un poco la ciudad y aprender y disfrutar de tus compras navideñas a la antigua; directo de los productores de frutas de la...

Con pruebas de agua y limón inicia una investigación sobre el sabor de los cítricos
In English ¿Qué sabores se revelan en un sorbo de agua con limón? ¿Hay toques de dulzura, acidez, sabores raros o un sabor de cítrico fresco? Los científicos del Centro Kearney de Investigación...

Miel de abeja: un verdadero milagro
In English. “¡La miel de abeja, por favor pasen la miel!” Esa simple petición, precedida de una expresión de cariño, por si acaso, significa que hay miel de abeja en la mesa. Y debe de haber. Como hija, nieta y...

Forest Research and Outreach

UC Cooperative Extension ramps up its climate change response
Return to UC Cooperative Extension | Agricultural Experiment Station While scientific reports continue to mount confirming that global climate change is increasing temperatures, causing more frequent weather extremes and raising the sea level in...

New Cannabis Research Center to explore environmental, social impacts of legalization
Return to UC Cooperative Extension | Agricultural Experiment Station     Cannabis is unlike any other agricultural crop. Because of its circuitous history — once illegal to grow, and now legal but heavily regulated —...

Livestock grazing helps California tackle wildfire
Reposted from the UCANR news California is searching for solutions to the wildfire crisis. Livestock ranchers believe they can help. At the 14th Annual Rangeland Summit in Stockton in January, more than 150 ranchers, public land managers and...

What can we learn from the 14,000 homes lost during the Camp Fire?
Shades of brown and grey cast over bricks, cement, remnants of metal roofs and steel beams from manufactured and modular homes, collapsed stucco walls, BBQs, shells of washers and driers, along with an occasional tea pot—that is what you can see in...

How Climate Change Is Affecting Small Sierra Nevada Lakes
Reposted from UC Davis News Scientists at the University of California, Davis, are taking the temperature — and other measurements — of lakes of all sizes and shapes throughout the mountains of California to see how climate change...

Oak Conservation

Proceedings Available - 7th California Oak Symposium: Managing Oak Woodlands in a Dynamic World
Overview: Beginning in 1979, there have been a series of symposia held every 5 to 7 years addressing the state of our knowledge about science, policy and management factors affecting California's oak resource. This program, held November 3-6, 2014 in...

Irrigating Oaks in the Drought
To water or not to water….an oak. That's the question. If only Shakespeare could answer our questions as eloquently as in his plays. In a state where the motto has become “brown is the new green” as people allow irrigated lawns to...

Call for Papers: 7th California Oak Symposium - Nov. 3-6, 2014 - Visalia, CA California
The 7th California Oak Symposium: Managing Oak Woodlands in a Dynamic California, will be held November 3-6, 2014 in Visalia, California. Complete details on the Symposium can be viewed on the website.  We are requesting abstracts for oral...

7th California Oak Symposium: Nov. 3-6, 2014 - Visalia, CA
General Overview Beginning in 1979, there have been a series of symposia held every 5 to 7 years addressing the state of our knowledge about science, policy and management factors affecting California’s oak resource. This upcoming program...

Oaks in the Urban Landscape - October 10
  Oaks in the Urban Landscape: Selection, Care, and Preservation is the most current and comprehensive handbook available for the management of oak trees. Join authors Larry Costello, Bruce Hagen and Katherine Jones, along with UC...