Conservation agriculture news

California Farm Demonstration Network

Wednesday, June 15^th, 2016

10:00 AM 

T & D Willey Farms, Madera, CA

The fourth in our series of five farm visits that are part of the California Farm Demonstration Network will be taking place this Wednesday, June 15^th, beginning at 10:00 AM and winding up at about 11:45 AM at the farm of Tom and Denesse Willey at the southwest corner of the intersection of Road 20 and Avenue 14 about five miles west of the town of Madera, CA.  As with each of the other farm visits that are being hosted during May and June by a variety of farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, the visit with Tom Willey will focus on his long-term goals for soil health and the practices that he uses to achieve those goals.  Participants will have an opportunity to learn what Tom has been doing at T & D Willey Farms over the years and what he has learned as a result of his soil care practices.  In addition, we will all also have an opportunity to contribute to some actual data collection following Tom's introductory discussion that will be part of the discovery process of the farm demonstration network and that will serve as baseline information for future comparisons and monitoring. 

If anyone is leaving the Davis, CA to come to the event and is interested in carpooling, please contact Jessica Rudnick at jrudnick@ucdavis.edu.

JM 2016 FmDmo-2

CASI on the Radio

CASI chair Jeff Mitchell discusses recent work that was done to evaluate the potential for using precision overhead irrigation for a variety of crops in California's San Joaquin Valley. This audio clip provides the interview that AM650 KSTE Radio's Farmer Fred Hoffman conducted with Mitchell, which aired on Sunday, June 5, on the Sacramento radio program.  In the clip, Mitchell provides a summary of research and recent experiences that were recently reported in the University's quarterly research journal, California Agriculture.

Click here to listen to the interview.

CASI's Eric Kueneman, formerly the director of Conservation Agriculture international programs on conservation agriculture, is interviewed by KSTE Radio's Farmer Fred Hoffman about conservation agriculture in California. This interview aired on Sunday, June 5, on Cap Radio 650 AM KSTE and provides a summary of the Outlook article that Kueneman and 28 other CASI members prepared for the most recent issue of the University's quarterly research journal, California Agriculture.

Click here to listen to the interview.

 

KMJ Radio with Don York
A radio interview about the June 9 California Farm Demonstration Network's farm visit at Triple C's Farm in Denair, Calif., aired on Don York's morning Ag Report on KMJ580 AM out of Fresno on June 8.  This interview provided background information related to the goals of the farm demonstration network and what participants will learn at this farm about how no-tillage and precision overhead irrigation are being used with interesting improvements in soil function.

http://casi.ucanr.edu/Video_updates/Radio_updates/

 

Formation of California Farm Demonstration Evaluation Network

We would like to let you know about the formation of the California Farm Demonstration Evaluation Network, - a grassroots, locally-based effort that has been developed by farmers throughout the State, the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) Center, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, the University of California Cooperative Extension, and a variety of private sector partners to address the simultaneous goals of better farm management, greater farm profits, and increased farm productivity and sustainability. 

The California network is modeled after a number of other farm networks that have been created in several states around the country as a means for providing opportunities for progress, the development of improved systems, and greater efficiency in face of the many challenges that agriculture faces today.  Key elements of the California farm demonstration network are 1) participatory learning and adaptive, improved management based on sound science- and experience-based principles, 2) the public, voluntary showcasing of innovative systems developed by experienced farmer leaders, 3) a program of farm demonstration evaluations that employ monitoring, data collection, and analysis of findings, and 4) the use of proven, creative methods for sharing, discussion and communicating results and findings so as to scale up broader adoption of improved systems. 

The network has a broad array of goals that it is pursuing that include the development of water-, climate-, and nutrient-smart systems for the State's diverse crop production environments.  An initial series of network-sponsored farm visits that showcase innovative soil health practices of five Central Valley farmers is being conducted in June of 2016. 

Information for these visits and for ongoing activities and opportunities of the network is available at the CASI website http://casi.ucanr.edu/ or by emailing or calling, Jeff Mitchell, CASI Workgroup Chair, at jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu or (559) 303-9689.

 

CASI members discuss conservation agriculture and overhead irrigation on Farmer Fred Cap Radio program 650 AM KSTE Sunday, June 5, 2016

The link to the Farmer Fred KSTE 650 AM Cap Radio program that was broadcast on Sunday, June 5^th, is provided here. 

https://twitter.com/farmerfred/status/738806795980832769 

In this segment of the Farmer Fred program, CASI's Jeff Mitchell talks with Fred about overhead irrigation and Eric Kueneman talks about conservation agriculture.

Farm Demonstration Network’s Soil Health Farm Visits

 

KMJ 580 radio's early-morning Ag Report which is produced by ag reporter, Don York, featured a short audio segment on the upcoming California farm demonstration network's series of farm visits featuring innovative soil care farmers.  You can hear the audio of the interview that York conducted with CASI's Jeff Mitchell about the farm visits here.

 

 

 

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