Salinas Valley Agriculture

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Figure 2. Applicator for dosing granular PAM into drainage ditches.

New approaches to using polyacrylamide (PAM) to reduce sediment and sediment bound pesticides and nutrients in runoff and improve chlorine efficacy: Part II—an auger applicator for treating irrigation runoff in farm ditches

September 29, 2023
By Michael D Cahn
Minimizing suspended sediments in irrigation runoff is desirable for several reasons. For growers reusing tailwater for watering their crops, they must assure that the water has minimal food safety risks by testing it for generic E coli and/or treating it with chlorine.
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Cost Studies Updated

August 25, 2023
Sample costs to produce and harvest the following commodities are now complete: Romaine hearts Film wrapped iceberg lettuce Broccoli bunched 14's Broccoli crown cut The cost studies are now posted on-line at the UC Davis Cost Studies website (https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu/en/ ).
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root maggots

What’s with all of the trash bugs this season?

July 17, 2023
I have received a handful of calls this season with concerns about trash bugs, a catch all term for various soil invertebrates. These soil invertebrates include root maggots, springtails, bulb mites, and symphylans, all which will happily feed on decomposing plant debris, i.e., trash.
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