The number of farmers with Internet access on a variety of digital gadgets has dramatically increased, changing the way farms do business, reports Gosia Wozniacka of the Associated Press. Despite the enormous benefits to using the new technology, barriers remain for many farmers, said Richard Molinar, a small farm advisor at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Fresno. Older farmers and immigrant farmers tend not to use the Internet or digital devices. And while the cost of computers, phones and Internet connections has fallen, for small farmers the expense can be prohibitive.

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Researchers closing in on nematodes
Tim Hearden, Capital Press

University of California researchers are trying to perfect a treatment for nematodes, a ubiquitous pest that can damage walnut trees and other crops. UC Cooperative Extension scientists have been working with a foliar applied systemic nematicide called Movento, a new product from Bayer CropScience that replaced the abandoned Nemacur. A team led by Michael McKenry, a specialist at the UC's Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, achieved a 50 percent reduction in lesion nematode populations in walnut orchards over about a six-month period using variations in applications and timing.