- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The site’s launch coincides with the announcement last month by the California Department of Food and Agriculture that six more psyllids were found in three Tulare County yellow sticky traps. In 2012, three psyllids were found on two traps and an eradication program ensued.
The new website was developed by Beth Grafton-Cardwell and Matt Daugherty, UCCE specialists in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside, Karen Jetter, economist with the UC Agricultural Issues Center, and Robert Johnson programmer with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Informatics and GIS Statewide Program program. Funding for the site was provided by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The website includes information on the psyllid's distribution in California, monitoring methods and treatment options. For example, the website suggests citrus farmers and homeowners not rely on yellow stick card traps to monitor for the pest.
“At certain times of the year, the yellow sticky cards are totally unattractive to Asian citrus psyllid,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “The cards are just color, but citrus flush is an attractive color and also emits irresistible volatiles or smells.”
The website advises farmers to regularly conduct systematic visual surveys along the margins of their orchards looking carefully at new green shoots and conducting tap sampling. To tap sample, spray a plastic surface with soapy water, position the plastic sheet underneath a branch and tap the branch above to dislodge adult ACP. The insects will stick to the filmy plastic where they can be studied with a magnifying hand lens to determine if they are psyllids.
If psyllids are found, the UC website outlines the immediate action that is required.
Adult psyllids should be placed in a container with 90 percent alcohol and reported to the county agricultural commissioner’s office so the insects can be tested for huanglongbing disease. Immature stages of the pest should be left on the tree so the ag commissioner’s office can make an official regulatory collection.
“Florida and Texas don’t have exactly the same insecticides that are available in California and the environmental conditions are different,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “Over time we will compare different treatments and determine how long they will protect the trees. Any new developments will be posted to the website.”
Because the goal in the San Joaquin Valley is eradication, Grafton-Cardwell recommends aggressive action against a psyllid infestation.
“The best approach is using two broad-spectrum insecticides within a short period of time,” she said. “No one insecticide will kill all the stages of the pest."
Another key to successful eradication is area-wide treatment coordination. Grafton-Cardwell suggests farmers work closely with their treatment liaisons and treat their orchards in a coordinated manner.
“The bigger the area being sprayed at the same time, the better,” Grafton Cardwell said. “If we get a blanket effect over the whole area, that’s been shown in Florida and Texas to have the greatest impact on the psyllid populations.”
The aggressive psyllid treatment aims to buy time for researchers to find long-term strategies for maintaining the California citrus industry in the presence of ACP and, especially, with the incurable and fatal citrus disease they spread, huanglongbing.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
“We want to introduce more farmers to these proven technologies,” said Jeff Mitchell, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and field day coordinator. “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.”
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:
- 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.”
The event is free but pre-registration is requested to help with planning for the bus tour and dinner. Please R.S.V.P. by email to Diana Nix at dlnix@ucdavis.edu or by completing the online survey.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The July ACP find prompted the California Department of Food and Agriculture to quarantine 178 square miles in the Porterville area, placing severe restrictions on the movement of local citrus nursery stock and citrus fruit outside the area. It also prompted several hundred farmers and pest control advisers to gather July 30 at the International Agri-Center in Tulare for an update on the threat.
Like a scene from the film “Scared Straight,” Ken Keck, former executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus and now director of the California Citrus Research Board, admonished the California farmers to learn from the Sunshine State’s mistakes.
“I feel like the ex-con in front of a room of 17-year-olds,” Keck said. “All I can say is, ‘prevent, prevent, prevent.’”
Asian citrus psyllid is established in Southern California. Efforts in the southern part of the state are focused on managing the psyllids to reduce the likelihood they will find a tree infected with huanglongbing. Huanglongbing (HLB) is an incurable and fatal disease of citrus spread by ACP.
By working together and following science-based treatment strategies, UC Cooperative Extension specialist Beth Grafton-Cardwell believes farmers and CDFA can still eliminate ACP in the San Joaquin Valley, where the bulk of the state’s commercial citrus is grown.
At the Tulare meeting, Grafton-Cardwell explained the eradication strategy she developed by studying Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing disease management programs in Florida and Texas, another state where the pest is well established.
“We want to slow the spread of psyllid into new areas,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “We want to prevent psyllids from finding HLB infected trees.”
Although it is unlikely the pest and disease can be kept at bay indefinitely, Grafton-Cardwell said the battle will buy time for researchers to discover long-term approaches for maintaining California’s citrus industry in the presence of ACP and HLB.
Developing citrus varieties resistant to HLB through traditional breeding or genetic modification will take too long, she said. Scientists are considering such futuristic solutions as inserting HLB resistance into a mild form of the Tristeza virus and inoculating trees with the virus to fight HLB.
“Everyone is racing to come up with tactics to fight ACP and HLB,” she said. “I believe we will eventually be using multiple approaches, such as a repellent spray to keep ACP off the trees and perhaps breeding ACP that can’t transmit HLB and then flooding the population with these incapacitated psyllids.”
To fight ACP and HLB, growers and homeowners can access detailed information on the pest’s distribution, monitoring methods and treatment options on a new website created by Grafton-Cardwell with funding from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
For tap sampling, spray a plastic surface with |
The website advises farmers and homeowners to regularly conduct visual surveys and tap sampling (see video on right) in their orchards. “Yellow sticky card traps are not very attractive to psyllids,” it says.
If psyllids are found, immediate action is required.
Adult psyllids should be placed in a container with 90% alcohol and reported to the county agricultural commissioner’s office so the insect can be tested for HLB. Immature stages of the pest should be left on the tree so the ag commissioner’s office can make an official regulatory collection.
An ACP find should also trigger rapid and wide treatment with the most effective pesticides possible.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
“Dan is the epitome of a farm advisor,” said Jack Cowley, president of the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association. “He advised us on all kinds of issues.”
Cowley has worked with Drake for nearly 30 years. After 29 years of practice as an ophthalmologist in Sacramento, Cowley pursued his dream of becoming a cattle rancher and has consulted Drake on many occasions.
“He helped us with animal health records, organizing breeding, animal nutrition and water issues,” said Cowley. “He helped everybody with farm issues and never turned us down.”
Back in the 1980s, before computers were in every home, Drake co-authored a UC Cooperative Extension publication on how to use computers.
“He was a computer wiz,” Cowley said. “Most of us older farmers and ranchers didn't know much about computers so he helped us navigate computer issues.”
Drake earned a bachelor's degree in zoology at California State University, Long Beach, in 1974 and a master's in animal science at UC Davis in 1977 before starting his career with UC Cooperative Extension in 1978. He later earned a Ph.D. in animal science from Oregon State University in 1988.
Early in his career, Drake helped introduce to Siskiyou County no-till planting methods, intensive grazing management and triticale forage systems. He identified a new rangeland plant, Monte Frio rose clover, an annual clover suited for cold, mountainous areas such as Siskiyou County.
White muscle disease, a disease cattle get from insufficient selenium in their diet, was well known but he further defined its implications on growth and championed alternative and multiple selenium supplementation methods. He also began testing animal and plant tissue and soil at ranches to identify where adding selenium might pose environmental problems.
“When he started, I was 17 and a 4-H exhibitor at the fair,” said Cliff Munson, now CEO of the Siskiyou Golden Fair.
“He led efforts that improved beef production,” said Munson, who is also president of the Siskiyou County Cattlemen's Association. “Carcass data continues to get better and better. For example, he was instrumental to moving the fair to ultrasound data.”
With Jim Oltjen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, Drake developed procedures for using ultrasound in youth beef carcass contests. The practice is used statewide nowadays. Using an ultrasound device, like those used on pregnant women to view unborn babies, Drake showed ranchers and 4-H youth how to evaluate the quality of meat on a live animal. They can determine the size of the ribeye, fat thickness and marbling.
4-H members dramatically improved their results using ultrasound data. In 2010, 93 percent of the 45 carcasses entered by 4-H members in the Siskiyou Golden Fair were graded Choice minus or better, compared to 36 percent to 68 percent in previous years.
“This aspect is very important as it is part of the transition that has occurred with producers from raising cattle to raising beef,” Drake said. “It ties in with all of the special niche markets as well.”
For further refinement in breeding beef cattle, Drake studied DNA with Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, testing national DNA prediction equations in local commercial beef ranches.
“In the last few years, he's helped us understand genetics of the animals,” said Cowley. “We can select our animals to improve the production and quality of the product so that it's healthier for humans.”
Cowley explained, “My medical background helped me understand animal genetics. We can modify the genetics to improve the quality of the beef to make it more heart healthy.”
Throughout his career, Drake wrote a monthly newsletter called the Siskiyou Stockman to keep ranchers apprised of the latest research. He served as co-editor of the UC beef publication “Fundamentals of Beef Management.”
Recently Drake and Van Eenennaam finished on a three-year project studying the parentage and animal genetics of Cowley's and two other Siskiyou County ranch animals. With the data, they will evaluate DNA prediction equations and hope to develop economic models to identify which animals are likely to be worth more money based on their genetics.
The American Society of Animal Science honored Drake with their Western Section Extension award in 2007. UC Cooperative Extension recognized his teaching accomplishments with a Distinguished Service Award.
Drake has also volunteered to help producers in other countries. He visited cattle producers in Kazakhstan three times, showing them how to keep records on a computer and update their artificial insemination practices. In Mali, he advised a women's cooperative on accounting and other business practices.
“They used animals as a bank account. When they needed funds they would sell the animals,” Drake said. He advised the women to sell their sheep and goats when they were ready for harvest and to invest their resources in raising another animal for optimal economic return and better use of their scarce natural resources.
In retirement, Drake looks forward to doing more international consulting. “I have particularly enjoyed international volunteer work for animal producers and will do more,” he said.
He also intends to spend time playing baseball (hardball not softball), dog training, duck hunting and traveling for pleasure.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
After systematically compiling the literature and reviewing a sample of about a third of the articles, the team identified three recurring strategic challenges facing practitioners: (1) an economic challenge of finding prices that balance farmers' incomes with food access for low-income consumers, (2) a social challenge to confront racial and class injustice, and (3) a political challenge of reconciling incremental and systemic change strategies. The authors elaborate on these challenges, giving examples such as the debate surrounding conventionalization of organics, and the issue of cultural privilege, referencing articles from the bibliography to demonstrate the ways they are framed by practitioners and academics.
"Our hope is to foster a conversation about community food systems in which research and practice are mutually reinforcing," says co-author David Campbell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Human and Community Development at UC Davis. "We started compiling the bibliography to help researchers focus on the most pressing questions for practitioners, but it's also a resource that practitioners can use to find academic work that speaks to the promise and limits of existing strategies. Already we are seeing a significant improvement in the quality and utility of research being done by UC Davis graduate students."
The paper concludes with suggestions for research that responds to the challenges and unites practitioners and academics. Campbell and co-authors Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst for the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, and graduate student Ildi Carlisle-Cummins, invite others to use and build on the community food systems bibliography to add to the dialog between theory and practice. The bibliographies compiled by the UC Davis researchers are available at http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/sfs/CFSresources.
The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development article "Community food systems: Strengthening the research-to-practice continuum," can be downloaded for free until Aug. 31, 2013, at http://www.agdevjournal.com/volume-3-issue-3/343-community-food-systems.html?catid=136%3Aopen-access-aug-2013.