Blogs: Agriculture and Natural Resource

Mark Bolda's Berry Blog

First Time I've Seen Strawberry Marketed by Variety
Posted 6/1/2018 - Here's a first for me, maybe for a lot of you as well.  By way of colleague Laura Tourte, we have an example of Chobani Yogurt being marketed as a having a taste of a specific strawberry variety in it - in this case the UC variety Monterey....

New Cost Study for Fresh Market Raspberries Now Avaiable
Posted 5/25/2018 - When growers are considering a new crop to plant, and penciling out their expenses and income, cost estimates from the University of California may help. A new cost and return study for commercially producing raspberries released by UC ANR Agricultural...

Example of Full Automation - Ocado Fully Automated Warehouse
Posted 5/20/2018 - Ocado just got picked up by the supermarket chain Kroger in a bid to enhance the grocer's online business so it's been in the news. In particular the operation of its warehouse has been getting some attention.  People in...

Bacteria Sourced Organic Ammonium Takes a Step Closer to the Market
Posted 5/14/2018 - Very important news for organic berry growers, actually all organic crop growers. As most of you know, nitrogen is pretty limiting in berry production, and those of you who follow this blog are also aware of the discussions of including...

Moravec's Paradox
Posted 5/3/2018 - As we continue on our thought study on what might be a successful approach to machine harvest of berries: Great little note from The Economist on the limits of AI in the physical world.  The brief article describes a test in Singapore using robots...

Livestock and Range Update Blogs

Selenium Deficiency and White Muscle Disease in California Beef Cattle
Selenium deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in beef cattle in California1. It can cause diarrhea, reduced weight gain/loss of weight and can cause vaccines to be less effective2. Cows may not expel the placenta in a timely...

Computers for Cattlemen Workhsop - May 17 in Hollister
Are you a rancher who is frustrated with computers? Join us on May 17 to learn some fun and easy ways to use computers and mobile devices to improve your business. Date: Thursday, May 17, 2018 Time: 8:00 am to 11:00 am Location: Hollister Veteran's...

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 -...

Salinas Valley Agriculture

Dress right for work – check out the new UC IPM online course on personal protective equipment
Posted 6/1/2018 - Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner. If you work in agricultural, turf, landscape, or structural settings, you are probably at your busiest. If you handle pesticides as part of your work, you most likely wear some sort of...

Scouting for bagrada bug and an update on a biological control project for this pest
Posted 5/10/2018 - With warming weather come contemplations of bagrada bug. This is the time in the past when we start to find bagrada bug populations on flourishing shortpod mustard plants or patches of pepperweed in the Salinas Valley. We thought this would be a good...

Red aphids in organic lettuce
Posted 4/30/2018 - I have been receiving phone calls about the presence of “red aphids” in organic romaine lettuce that is resistant to the lettuce aphid, Nasonovia ribis-nigri (Hemiptera: Aphididae, Fig. 1). The lettuce aphid is considered a difficult pest to...

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...

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

Love Makes the World--and the Bugs--Go 'Round
Posted 6/18/2018 - Consider the lovestruck praying mantis. If you've ever watched a mating pair of mantids and seen the male lose his head, or seen other insect mating rituals, then you ought to read entomologist Emily Bick's review of the play, An Entomologist's Love...

Everybody Loves Bugs, Right? Here Are the Top 25 Bug Blogs in the World
Posted 6/15/2018 - Everybody loves bugs, right? Well, no, they don't. Some folks scream, smash them, or sprint away from them. Other folks--including yours truly--sprint toward them, not unlike firefighters racing into a burning building while everyone else is dashing...

On Flag Day, Both Flags and Monarchs Flutter
Posted 6/14/2018 - Today, June 14, is Flag Day, a time when we celebrate and commemorate our American flag. Our Continental Congress adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as our nation's flag on June 14, 1777. Historians tell us that President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14...

It Came Down to One Question to Determine the Championship Team
Posted 6/13/2018 - It all came down to a question about a Dutch scientist, a microscopist from the 17th century. Which team--the UC Berkeley-UC Davis team or the Washington State University team--would win? That was the white-knuckle scene at the Linnaean Games...

Pollinator Gardens Make Us Happy: Get Ready for National Pollinator Week!
Posted 6/12/2018 - Are you ready for National Pollinator Week, June 18-June 24? A spectacular pollinator garden that's a "must-see" is Kate Frey's pollinator garden at Sonoma Cornerstone. Kate Frey, a world-class pollinator garden designer, pollinator advocate and author...

Food Blog

UC Master Food Preserver volunteers in tribal communities
Posted 6/5/2018 - Throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties, the UC Master Food Preserver Program is actively engaging with tribal members. In fact, the UC Master Food Preserver volunteers have been “jamming it up” since 2017 with over 15 workshops for tribal...

Strawberry stands sell berries fresh from the field
Posted 5/30/2018 - Slugs, snails, ants, aphids, spider mites and inclement weather conspire against strawberry growers harvesting perfect red berries to sell.  “Farming is hard work,” said Fam Lee, as she pulled a weed from a row of strawberry plants....

A Sacramento coalition wants to serve 1 million healthy meals to children this summer
Posted 5/23/2018 - When school's out, many children who live in poverty no longer eat nutritious meals like they do during school as part of the free and reduced-cost school lunch program. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program...

Growing gardeners and nourishing communities
Posted 5/18/2018 - Spring is here, and oftentimes the busiest season of the year for gardeners to plant edibles with dreams of ripe tomatoes and rows of juicy strawberries. But what about the “non” gardeners, you know the people who struggle to keep a cactus...

Growers get help from UC in estimating raspberry production costs
Posted 5/7/2018 - When growers are considering a new crop to plant, and penciling out their expenses and income, cost estimates from the University of California may help. A new cost and return study for commercially producing raspberries released by UC ANR Agricultural...

Blog de Alimentos

Voluntarios del Programa Maestro para Conservar Alimentos de UC trabajan con comunidades tribales
Posted 6/5/2018 - In English El Programa Maestro para Conservar Alimentos de UC mantiene una participación activa con las comunidades tribales de los condados de Humboldt y Del Norte. De hecho, los voluntarios de este programa han estado preparando mermelada...

Los puestos de fresas venden bayas frescas y directamente del campo
Posted 5/30/2018 - In English Las babosas, caracoles, hormigas, afidios y ácaros arañas y un clima inclemente conspiran en contra de los productores de fresas que desean cosechar las frutas perfectas para su venta. .  “El cultivo es un trabajo...

Coalición de Sacramento desea servir un millón de comidas a niños durante el verano
Posted 5/23/2018 - In English Cuando terminan las clases, muchos niños que viven en la pobreza no tienen accesoa comidas nutritivas como las que les sirven en las escuelas como parte del programa de almuerzos gratuitos o a costo reducido. El Programa Ampliado de...

Formando a nuevos jardineros y nutriendo a las comunidades
Posted 5/18/2018 - In English La primavera ya está aquí y a menudo es la estación del año más ocupada en la que los jardineros plantan frutas y verduras con el sueño de cosechar tomates maduros y jugosas fresas. Pero,...

Los granjeros cuentan con la ayuda de UC para calcular los costos de producción de la frambuesa
Posted 5/7/2018 -  In English A los granjeros que estén considerando plantar un nuevo cultivo y empiecen a calcular los gastos e ingresos, la ayuda por parte de la Universidad de California, podría venirles bien. Un estudio sobre costos y...

Forest Research and Outreach

Berkeley Forests: New Future for UC Center for Forestry & Center for Fire Research & Outreach
Posted 6/13/2018 - The Center for Forestry and Center for Fire Research and Outreach are merging to become Berkeley Forests! As we all know, forests and fire are inextricably linked in California. Historically, both Centers have carried out research, outreach, and...

Trauma and resilience in California disaster response and readiness
Posted 4/24/2018 - Reposted from the Confluence, blog of the California Water Resources Institute  Maryam Kia-Keating, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at UC Santa Barbara and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Her work focuses on coping and...

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...

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...