- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Last Friday, the Associated Press picked up and ran with the climate change stories in the current issue of California Agriculture journal. Reporter Tracie Cone opened her widely published article with the prediction that rising temperatures could make pears, peaches, pistachios and other crops that need winter chill unsuitable for California farms, and others crops would suffer lower yields.
Cone went on to write that articles in California Agriculture "predict temperatures in California will increase by 7 degrees Fahrenheit by...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Wildlife is not a primary source of E. coli 0157:H7, according to a press release distributed last week by the California Department of Fish and Game. The release reported preliminary results of ongoing research aimed at understanding the risk of fresh produce contamination by wildlife on the Central Coast. The research was prompted by the deadly and well-publicized 2006 E. coli contamination incident in spinach.
From 2007 through 2008, the research team collected 866 wildlife samples, including 311 black-tailed deer, 184 wild pig, 73 birds, 61 rabbits, 58 tule elk, 52 ground squirrels, 51 coyotes, 24 mice, 19 raccoons, 17 opossums and 16...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Coincidentally, two news releases were distributed yesterday with information from UC Ag and Natural Resources about climate change.
One news release announces the current issue of California Agriculture journal, which is devoted to news and research on climate change and how it will alter California’s environment and landscape, agriculture and food quality. The cover of the magazine says climate change is "unequivocal," a word pulled from the 2007 report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
J.G. Boswell, the founder and head of the enormous family-owned farming concern J.G. Boswell Co., passed away last week at the age of 86. As an innovative cotton farmer in the San Joaquin Valley and influential advocate in land and water resource policy, Boswell's path often intersected with UC Cooperative Extension.
Boswell inherited the company when he was 29 from his uncle, also named J.G. Boswell, according to an obituary published today in the Los Angeles Times. His farm spans 150,000 acres near the San Joaquin Valley town of Corcoran. In addition to farming, the company...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An article in the Martinez News-Gazette said "vocal lobbying by the Contra Costa 4-H members and their parents" influenced the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors to maintain its funding support for UC Cooperative Extension until June 30.
Indicators had been that funding would end immediately. The board's decision gives the program time to seek “other funding mechanisms," wrote reporter Greta Mark, attributing the comment to "4-H officials."
Mark wrote that supervisor Gayle Uilkema told the newspaper the board planned to discontinue its "$352,000 in annual funding to the 4-H in an...