- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
- Contributor: Peter B Goodell
Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center has provided a strong research presence to meet the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources strategic vision of helping ensure that California has healthy food systems, healthy environments, healthy communities and healthy Californians.
As part of that continued commitment, research and extension programs will be strengthened in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) through the appointment of Dr. Kris Tollerup. Dr. Tollerup was recruited to develop and deliver IPM strategies and practices to nut, fruit and vine growers and pest control advisers in the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas. This position, located at Kearney, will build on the excellent work of Bill Barnett and Walt Bentley and is dedicated to the 30 year mission of Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM) . Kris will start his new position at Kearney on October 15, 2013.
Dr.Tollerup earned a B.A. in Pomology, Tree and Vine Culture from California Polytechnic State University and an M.S. in Entomology, Integrated Pest Management and a PhD in Entomology, IPM and Insect Behavior from UC Riverside.
From 2010 until joining UCCE, Kris Tollerup worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis. Through October of 2012, Kris collaborated with Dr. Larry Godfrey, specialist in the Department of Entomology, Rob Wilson, Farm Advisor and Director of Intermountain Research and Extension Center, and Dr. Dan Marcum, Farm Advisor in Shasta County on a project to develop arthropod IPM programs for peppermint in California. From November 2012 to October 2013, Kris and this same group of collaborators continued working on peppermint to integrate the use of biopesticides into arthropod IPM programs. Prior to coming to UC Davis, Kris worked with Dr. Peter Shearer (currently at Oregon State University, Hood River Experiment Station) to develop effective mating disruption strategies to manage oriental fruit moth on peaches and apples in New Jersey. He served on an inter-agency committee that worked with chemical companies, researchers, growers, and the Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4) to promote the development and registration of ant baits for use in California agriculture.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Free Twilight Field Day and bus tour 1 to 8 p.m. Sept 12, 1 pm to 8 pm September 12.
Sustainable agricultural systems involving precision irrigation and conservation tillage will be featured at the University of California Cooperative Extension's annual "Twilight Field Day," which will feature a new farm tour.
"We want to introduce more farmers to these proven technologies," said field day coordinator Jeff Mitchell, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. "We've done research here, and there's a lot of work from other areas showing that these systems work and they save water, reduce dust, store carbon in the soil and save farmers money."
Specific innovative technologies that will be presented include:
- Proper irrigation application package selection for specific soil types and conditions
- Salinity and irrigation management to avoid penetration and surface sealing problems
- ‘Innovative Boomback’ technologies for maintaining dry wheel tracks with ‘tire-to-tire’ production
- Economic comparisons of irrigation systems
- Innovative soil and crop residue management practices to improve long-term soil properties and function
The program focuses on both the potential benefits of combining these practices to achieve greater profits and resource conservation as well as specific strategies for avoiding problems.
This year, the event has been expanded to include an afternoon bus tour to three San Joaquin Valley farms where conservation agriculture systems are already being successfully implemented. Registrants will gather at 1 p.m. at the UC Westside Research and Extension Center, 17353 West Oakland Ave., Five Points, to load the buses.
The farm tour visits include:
- Johnny and Joann Tacharra Dairy in Burrel. The Tacharras will explain their plans to apply dairy waste water through an overhead irrigation system to grow forage crops.
- Armando Galvan of Five Points Ranch. Galvan will show how he refined his irrigation system to apply water to vegetable and row crops. Galvan installs special nozzles and boom configurations on his overhead irrigation drop lines that are designed to improve water infiltration and avoid ponding and crusting on the soil surface.
- Scott Schmidt of Farming 'D' Ranch in Five Points. Schmidt will discuss the new management strategies that must be applied to successfully implement new agricultural systems.
Following the tour, the participants reconvene at 4 p.m. at the UC Westside REC for a workshop on the economic and environmental benefits of conservation agriculture systems. The event continues with a free barbecue dinner, entertainment by the Wheelhouse Country Band and a keynote address by Suat Irmak, director of the Nebraska Water Center and professor of biological systems engineering. The Water Center was established at the University of Nebraska by congressional mandate in 1964. Nebraska farms currently lead the nation in adopting precision irrigation systems.
Following Irmak's presentation and discussion, Mitchell will name the 2013 Conservation Tillage Farmer Innovator of the Year award winner.
The expanded event coincides with a concerted effort by the Conservation Agricultural Systems Innovation (CASI) Center to grow the conservation agriculture movement in California. CASI is a diverse group of UC researchers, farmers, public and private industry and environmental groups formed to develop and exchange information on sustainable agricultural systems for California row crops.
"In each century, there are just a handful of times when agriculture can transform itself in revolutionary ways," Mitchell said. "There is growing evidence that today presents one of those rare chances for agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley to reinvent itself."
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Dry beans are an important rotational crop in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. They are not a high value crop, so effective growing and marketing practices are a priority. The dry bean meeting held at Kearney on August 27, 2013 attracted about 30 attendees. It focused on many aspects of new crop management and marketing strategies to improve the return per acre of dry beans.
There were four field presentations. Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and Carol Frate, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Tulare County, alfalfa, dry beans, corn and plant pathology, discussed a subsurface drip irrigation trial for blackeye production. Carol Frate discussed the evaluation of insecticides for lygus bug management. Phil Roberts, chair and professor in the Department of Nematology at UC Riverside, nematode host-parasite relations, genetics and pest management in field and vegetable crops, discussed screening bean varieties and breeding lines for root knot nematode resistance. Phil Roberts and Bao Lam Huynh discussed developing new varieties of beans for insect and disease resistance.
Indoor sessions included PowerPoint presentations and related discussions. Gary Luckett, manager of the Cal-Bean & Grain Warehouse, provided an update on the blackeye market. Bao Lam Huynh discussed using marker-based techniques for developing new blackeye varieties. Kurt Hembree, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County, weed management strategies in crop and non-crop settings, discussed past, present and future methods of weed control in dry beans.
The meeting provided:
- PCA hours: 1.5 hours of “other”
- CCA hours: 1.5 hours of IPM; 0.5 hours of crop management
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
The Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis is recruiting for a faculty member in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, and located at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, California. The plant pathology department has a research, teaching and outreach mission to develop and disseminate comprehensive basic and applied knowledge regarding the interactions among plants, pathogens and their environment. A Cooperative Extension (CE) Specialist is being recruited to conduct original applied research with the goal of achieving more effective management of diseases affecting nut and fruit trees. The successful candidate will bring visibility and cohesion to CE academics and other researchers and educators involved in the study of nut and fruit tree diseases. Research and outreach activities will be closely integrated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), county-based CE colleagues and clientele as well as campus based CE and ladder rank faculty.
Closing date: September 30, 2013
Job description: Download
Download application: Word | PDF
Applications should be submitted on-line at https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Over 115 people came to the 2013 Grape Day at KARE on August 13. Attendees visited a wine grape plot where Larry Williams, professor and plant physiologist in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis and Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, demonstrated and discussed the effects of water deficits on water relations and productivity of about 20 different red wine grape cultivars grown in the San Joaquin Valley. The field tour was followed by PowerPoint presentations. Teresa O’Keefe and Jeffrey Palumbo, scientists at USDA-ARS, provided information on the ecology of mycotoxin-producing aspergilli in raisin vineyards. Matthew Fidelibus, associate CE specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, provided information on the effects of pre-harvest calcium chloride and chlorine dioxide applications on fruit quality of crimson seedless table grapes. Philippe Rolshausen, assistant CE specialist at UC Riverside, shared information on wood disease management options for grapevines in the San Joaquin Valley. David Haviland, academic advisor, Kern County UC Cooperative Extension, provided information on Movento in table grapes: understanding use patterns and expectations. Andrew Waterhouse, professor in the department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, discussed understanding wine oxidation. More information can be found at the California Ag Today blog.