- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The dragon sleeping underneath Central Valley almond orchards is yawning and stretching its legs. The dragon is salinity, says UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor David Doll. “You don't notice it until it's too late, and that's when we have a problem,” he said.
Saline accumulation in the orchard soil profile is a recurring headache. But it becomes more acute during droughts, when farmers use more groundwater – which is generally more saline than surface water – or their surface water supply is more saline than normal.
Salinity accumulates in the soil when the tree is growing quickly and almonds are developing throughout spring and summer. When water...
- Author: Brad Hooker
California's severe drought is entering a fourth year. With that, scientists met with ranchers to give background and gain feedback on a key climate indicator: the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The November 7 workshop held at the University of California, Davis, and webcast to 15 satellite locations across the state posed questions to a panel of experts who help publish the weekly analysis. UC Davis researchers also discussed new findings from in-depth rancher interviews along with strategies for maintaining the nutrition of cattle during the water shortage.
Read the full article at the UC Davis...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Two Asian citrus pysllids (ACP) were found in a trap near Exeter in November, just 10 miles away from the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center. That brings to 29 the number of locations in the central San Joaquin Valley, from Bakersfield to Dinuba, where Asian citrus psyllids have been trapped.
Perhaps still more unsettling is the fact that reproducing populations of ACP have been found in urban areas in Tulare County, confirming that the pest is established in a county where farmers produce citrus valued at more than $1 billion annually.
“The psyllid is here, it's established, but still at low levels,” said Beth...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In order to slow global climate change and achieve greater energy independence, Americans are showing an increasing interest in switching over to clean, renewable fuels made from home-grown crops. In fact, Congress has mandated that at least 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol be added to the U.S. fuel supply by 2022.
However, estimates suggest that growing crops to produce that much biofuel would require 40 to 50 million acres of land, an area roughly equivalent in size to the entire state of Nebraska.
“If we convert cropland that now produces food into fuel production, what will that do to our food supply?” asks Maggi Kelly, UC Cooperative Extension...
- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
When you think of “amber waves of grain,” do you think of wheat?
You should. It's not only part of “America, the Beautiful,” (lyrics penned in 1893 by Wellesley College professor Katharine Lee Bates), but it's part of California's agricultural landscape.
California annually grows about 800,000 acres of wheat, with about half used for human consumption and the rest for animal feed. It's a highly sustainable rotational crop.
Wheat growers seed the crop in the fall and winter, and harvest it in late spring or early summer. That's when we see the “amber waves of grain.” In the winter, weather conditions permitting, it's emerald green.
Since this cereal crop relies heavily on...
