- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
After attending the 6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in June, Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, and Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, stated, "Focusing on soil care will improve soil water intake and storage...Reducing soil water evaporation can be achieved by preserving surface residues. Together these steps reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions – very important goals.”
Mitchell is the chair of the UC Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center. CASI is exploring options to help support the implementation of conservation agriculture in California. Read more.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Pacific Ethanol, Inc., Chromatin, Inc., CSU Fresno's Center for Irrigation Technology and the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources received a $3 million matching grant for the California Energy Commission to collaboratively develop a sorghum feedstock program in California. This includes the California In-State Sorghum Program that facilitates California's production of low-carbon ethanol from Californian feedstock so that we can meet the state's renewable fuel and greenhouse gas reduction goals mandated by the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and the Californian Low-Carbon Fuel Standard.
Jeff Dahlberg, Ph.D., the director of Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, is part of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources sorghum research group. Collaborative efforts of the group will be managed from KARE.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
This week, Anthony Cornel, a UC Davis entomologist based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, started a new mosquito surveillance and control program in Clovis. The goal is to abate populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitos, which appeared in the Clovis, Madera and San Mateo communities last year. The Ae. aegypti, which has the ability to spread the yellow fever, dengue fever and Chikungunya viruses, survived the winter and is now being actively tracked and eradicated by mosquito abatement officials in an effort to prevent Ae. aegypti from getting a strong foothold in California.
Cornel is working with Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District to deploy new inexpensive and safe "black bucket traps" that do not require power. Read more.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
In June, Woodlake's Bravo Lake Botanical Garden hosted a berry day, which attracted over 500 people. Many UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources groups helped make the event an enjoyable day of learning about a healthy lifestyle, including growing and eating fresh produce. The UC ANR groups contributing to the program's success included some of UC Cooperative Extension, Tulare County's Master Gardener volunteers, Healthy Families staff, and advisors; Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center; and Lindcove Research and Extension Center. Attendees were provided prepared samples of fresh produce, including cherries, peaches, oranges, figs and berries. Attendees were also able to pick and eat produce directly from the plants as they strolled along the agricultural botanical garden's pathways.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, retired at the end of June after 28 years of service to UC Cooperative Extension.
Schwankl's research emphasis was in drip, sprinkler, and flood irrigation. He worked on irrigation system maintenance and chemigation, irrigation scheduling using soil moisture monitoring and evapotranspiration techniques.
For information about academic positions now under recruitment, see the employment opportunities page of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources website, http://ucanr.edu/Jobs/Jobs_990/.
For 100 years, the University of California Cooperative Extension researchers and educators have been drawing on local expertise to conduct agricultural, environmental, economic, youth development and nutrition research that helps California thrive. UC Cooperative Extension is part of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Learn more at ucanr.edu.