Your support of local food producers strengthens your local food system. Strong local food systems provide fresh food for their communities; foster the connection between cities and countryside; keep local money in the community, strengthening the local economy; reduce pollution and oil dependence; reduces potential food safety problems; and much more.

Eating local foods is a great way to get good nutrition, help the planet, and support your local economy. It’s easy and tastes great, too! To find a Farmer’s Market near you try using the USDA’s Farmer’s Market locator.

More information can be found on our previous Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food post!

The USDA has a collection of tools designed to help farmers and ranchers identify areas in their operations in which they can save energy, and in turn money. For non-food producers, the site provides a small glimpse into the complex business of farming and ranching, highlighting a few of the powerful economic impacts and potential risks of those in the business.

Information and suggestions are divided into the following categories:

• The Energy Estimator for Animal Housing tool covers energy use in lighting, ventilation, heating, air circulation, milk cooling, water heating, and milk harvesting.
• The Energy Estimator for Irrigation allows users to estimate potential energy savings associated with pumping water for irrigation. The site provides information for farm-specific crops, pumping requirements and energy prices.
• The Energy Estimator for Nitrogen tool enables calculations related to nitrogen use on your farm or ranch.
• The Energy Estimator for Tillage tool estimates diesel fuel use and costs and compares potential energy savings between conventional tillage and alternative tillage systems. The crops covered are limited to the most predominant crops in 74 Crop Management Zones (CMZ's), allowing users to get an idea of the potential savings.

As previously mentioned on our blog, the spotted wing drosophilia (formerly known as the cherry vinegar fly) has caused much damage to fruit in some California counties, including ours. UCCE scientists have worked hard since its arrival to find ways to minimize the damage to crops.

A UC Pest Management Guidelines publication for the spotted wing drosophila has recently been released. It can be downloaded for free. Other free UC Pest Management publications, arranged by crops, can be found here. Free pest information for homeowners and natural environments can be found at UC’s IPM home page.

Did you know that in addition to providing the water on which farmers rely, rain flushes salts from the soil?

Irrigated water in much of Ventura County is pumped out of the ground into which naturally-occurring salts such as sulfates and chlorides as well as molecules of individual elements such as calcium, magnesium, and sodium are dissolved. Without adequate rain, these salts accumulate in the soil; this may cause damage to plants, especially trees.

Rain, on the other hand, is free of salts except for a little dissolved nitrogen.  We absolutely rely on it to leach the salts out of the soil that comes with irrigation water, reducing soil salinity.

Current Ventura County UCCE research into irrigation practices to manage salinity and conserve water will be presented at the Strawberry Irrigation Field Day on Feb. 18.