Blogs: Agriculture and Natural Resource

Mark Bolda's Berry Blog

So This is What Hail Does
Posted 4/20/2018 - Below is a picture of what hail can do to strawberry.  A friend forwarded me these pictures of what a freak hailstorm a few days ago over his field left behind.  Shredded leaves, pitted and bruised fruit right down to pretty undeveloped...

Wittgenstein's Lion and Machine Learning
Posted 4/14/2018 - I wouldn't assume many of the readers of this space are enthusiasts of the game of Go, a game popular in Asia that has some pretty simple rules but is remarkably complex partly because of the large board and consequently a huge number of possible...

Root Asphyxiation in Strawberry
Posted 4/11/2018 - Interesting farm call here that at first piqued my attention as a possibly serious disease situation but in the end turned out to not be. See the photos below.  Affected strawberry plants presented with discolored leaves and stunted growth...

Fusarium Strikes Early in 2018
Posted 4/6/2018 - Waaaay too early to be seeing Fusarium infecting strawberry plants, but here it is. I was contacted two weeks ago by the grower who was seeing some plant collapse in his field (Photo 1) and had him submit samples and then went out personally to...

Robots Don't Do Squishy
Posted 3/25/2018 - Doing some more weekend reading in "Machine Platform Crowd" the popular and well quoted tract on what we are looking at this second phase of the machine age. Some of you might be familiar with restaurant Eatsa in San Francisco where all the food is...

Livestock and Range Update Blogs

Backcountry Horsemen: Weeds and Grasses
Last week the Backcountry Horsemen of California had their Rendezvous at the Paso Robles Event Center.  It was a wonderful event with great people and fun activities. In case you missed my talk on toxic plants and forage value of grasses, here's my...

Gabilan Ranch Tour -- Wednesday, April 25th
The Pajaro Compass Network is hosting their Spring meeting at the Gabilan Ranch (Rancho Cienega del Gabilan) April 25th from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm (lunch provided). The 11,000-acre cattle ranch in San Juan Bautista is featured as a Pajaro Compass Case...

Workshop: Conservation Easements to Keep Ranches Working
Come to a joint meeting of the Central Coast Rangeland Coalition and the California-Pacific Section of the Society for Range Management.  The meeting is titled: Conservation Easments to Keep Ranches Working. Date: April 19, 2018 Time: 8:30 am -...

Range Camp: Applications Due 4/27/2018
What is Range Camp: Range Camp is a week-long summer camp that provides high school students an opportunity to learn about rangeland ecology and management, and livestock management.  They learn from academics and professionals in a variety of...

Backyard Poultry Owners Needed for Study!
Maurice Pitesky is a UC Cooperative Extension Specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with a focus in poultry health and food safety epidemiology. He is working on a study looking at various contaminants (lead, PCBs etc.) in eggs...

Salinas Valley Agriculture

Release of mineral nitrogen from organic soils and fertilizers investigated
Posted 4/20/2018 - Summary These studies provided insight into nitrogen (N) management of leafy green vegetables. Organic fertilizer evaluations showed that 4-4-2 and 12-0-0 released about a third of the N when left on the soil surface, and 54 and 86% over the course of...

Denomination of Pfs: 17, a new race of downy mildew in spinach
Posted 4/16/2018 - A new race of the downy mildew pathogen (Peronospora farinosa f. sp. spinaciae = P. effusa) on spinach was first identified in 2014 in Yuma, Arizona, U.S. This race was able to overcome the resistance of important spinach varieties. First, one isolate...

Developing Baby Leaf Spinach with Reduced Cadmium Accumulation
Posted 4/9/2018 -      Spinach is an accumulator of cadmium (Cd) and an important crop in the California Salinas Valley, where some agricultural soils have naturally high levels of Cd. Soil Cd content is a major factor determining Cd uptake by crops,...

CropManage Hands-on Workshop in Salinas on April 24 2018
Posted 4/3/2018 - CropManage Hands-on Workshop: Bringing Irrigation and Nutrient Management Decision Support to the Field Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 8:00am – 12 pm Location: Monterey County Agriculture Conference Room 1432 Abbott St. Salinas, CA...

Healthy Soils Program grant workshop and technical assistance available
Posted 3/26/2018 -

Small Farm News

Exploring Bay Area Wholesale Market Options
Posted 6/26/2017 - 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
Posted 1/17/2017 - 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
Posted 11/17/2016 - 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
Posted 7/14/2016 - 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"
Posted 11/10/2015 - 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

Who Invited Bugs to the UC Davis Picnic Day?
Posted 4/20/2018 - Who invited bugs to the UC Davis Picnic Day? Well, UC Davis officials and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology did! Yes! All systems are "go" for the 104th annual UC Davis Picnic Day, an all-day event on Saturday, April 21 when scores...

You Won't Believe What You'll See at the Bohart Museum on Picnic Day
Posted 4/19/2018 - Take heed. The 104th annual UC Davis Picnic Day theme is “Where the Sun Shines.” The sun is expected to shine throughout much of the campus on Picnic Day, Saturday, April 21, but it won't be shining in this place. Not a chance. It's where...

Honey Tasting at UC Davis Picnic Day: Berry, Berry Good!
Posted 4/18/2018 - Honey has been called "the nectar of the gods" and "the soul of a field of flowers." Whatever it's called, it's all good. And when the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology hosts a honey tasting on Saturday, April 21 as part of the UC Davis...

Just Buggin' You at UC Davis PIcnic Day
Posted 4/17/2018 - Let's do the alliteration: Bugs at Briggs and bugs at the Bohart. That's what's on tap on Saturday, April 21 during the 104th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day, when faculty, staff and graduate and undergraduate students in the Department...

Kent Daane Seminar: Spotlight on Spotted Wing Drosophila
Posted 4/16/2018 - (Editor's Note: If you missed the seminar, you can view it here on YouTube at https://youtu.be/KVTGmDo2LLQ). Recorded by George Terry of UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) The spotlight is on spotted wing drosophila, a major fruit crop...

Food Blog

New labor laws factored into UC cost studies for table grape production
Posted 4/17/2018 - To help table grape growers make decisions on which varieties to grow, the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Agricultural Issues Center has released four new studies on the costs and returns of table grapes in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. The...

NPI study finds that prices for fruits and vegetables may be higher in low-income neighborhoods
Posted 4/4/2018 - Shoppers purchasing fruits and vegetables in stores located in low-income neighborhoods in California may pay more for those fruits and vegetables than shoppers in other neighborhoods, according to a study that examined prices in a large sample of stores...

What's that in your cornmeal?
Posted 4/3/2018 - You're thinking about making Grandma's Southern Cornbread. You head for your pantry. You remember that six months ago you purchased a bag of cornmeal from a local supermarket and that you immediately emptied the contents into a glass jar with a...

Got backyard chickens? Get their eggs tested for free
Posted 3/28/2018 - Californians who raise poultry outdoors are invited to get their eggs tested for contaminants. To find out if harmful substances on the ground that are eaten by birds get passed along in the eggs they lay, Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension...

Urban farming workshops start soon in Sacramento and San Diego
Posted 3/5/2018 - Are you an urban farmer in the Sacramento or San Diego region? Are you a gardener thinking of selling some of your produce to neighbors, restaurants or at a farmers' market? Are you part of a non-profit organization growing and distributing food in...

Blog de Alimentos

Estudios sobre costos de producción de la uva de mesa toma en consideración las nuevas leyes laborales
Posted 4/20/2018 -   In English Con el fin de ayudar a los productores de uva a tomar la decisión sobre cuáles variedades deben cultivar, el Centro sobre Asuntos Agrícolas de la División de Agricultura y Recursos Naturales de UC...

El precio de frutas y verduras puede ser más alto en los vecindarios de bajos recursos.
Posted 4/4/2018 - In English Los consumidores que compran frutas y verduras en tiendas localizadas en vecindarios de bajos recursos de California podrían pagar más por esos productos que quienes los adquieren en otros vecindarios, según reveló...

¿Qué hay en tu harina de maíz?
Posted 4/3/2018 - In English ¿Estás pensando en preparar ese pan de maíz estilo sureño de la abuela? Vas a tu alacena. Recuerdas que hace seis meses compraste una bolsa de harina de maíz en un supermercado local y que la vaciaste de...

Llevarán a cabo seminarios sobre agricultura urbana en Sacramento y San Diego
Posted 3/5/2018 - In English. ¿Eres un granjero urbano en las regiones de Sacramento o San Diego? ¿Tienes un huerto y estás pensando en vender tus frutas y verduras a los vecinos, restaurantes o en el mercado de granjeros? ¿Eres parte...

Se inaugura la primera Semana para la Prevención del Desperdicio de Alimentos
Posted 3/5/2018 - In English. La División de Agricultura y Recursos Naturales de UC y el Instituto de Políticas sobre Nutrición se complacen en anunciar la inauguración de la primera Semana para la Prevención del Desperdicio de...

Forest Research and Outreach

UC study seeks street trees that can cope with climate change
Posted 4/18/2018 - Reposted from UCANR News The changing climate predicted for California – including less rain and higher day and nighttime temperatures – is expected to cause chronic stress on many street tree species that have shaded and beautified urban...

In memoriam: Doug McCreary
Posted 4/5/2018 - Reposted from the UCANR news     Douglas DeWitt McCreary, UC Cooperative Extension natural resources specialist, died on Feb. 15 in Grass Valley. He was 72. “Doug was the epitome of what a CE specialist should be - a...

Walleye fish populations are in decline
Posted 3/29/2018 - Reposted from UC Davis Climate Change News Quick Summary It now takes 1.5 times longer to produce the same amount of walleye as it did in 1990 Walleye decline accompanied rise in lake temperatures Anglers, agencies and tribes need to...

Utility to turn off power when fire risk is high
Posted 3/28/2018 - During periods of "extreme fire conditions," PG&E will shut off electric power lines to prevent wildfires, reported Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee. The reporter spoke to Lenya Quinn-Davidson, UC Cooperative Extension area fire...

California Indigenous perspectives on water and fire management
Posted 3/27/2018 - Reposted from the Confluence - Blog of the California Institute for Water Resources  Don Hankins is a professor of geography and planning at Chico State and a Miwkoʔ (Plains Miwok) traditional cultural practitioner. He has spent his...

Oak Conservation

Proceedings Available - 7th California Oak Symposium: Managing Oak Woodlands in a Dynamic World
Posted 12/10/2015 - 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
Posted 7/15/2015 - 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
Posted 2/14/2014 - 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
Posted 1/8/2014 - 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
Posted 9/16/2013 -   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...