Salinas Valley Agriculture

In collaboration with the Resource Conservation Service of Santa Cruz County we will have an in-person training on the CropManage online irrigation and nutrient management decision support tool at the UC Cooperative Extension Office in Watsonville (500 West Ridge Dr, Watsonville CA) on March 27 from 10:30 to…

 Carrie Brown joined UC Cooperative Extension in February 2026 as the Environmental Horticulture and Controlled Environment Agriculture Advisor serving Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Mateo, and San Benito Counties. Based in Watsonville, she is developing an applied research and extension program to support…

A late-summer test on a farm near Soledad, CA, looked at eight biological product programs for romaine lettuce compared to a standard method used by growers, with normal irrigation and nutrients in the Salinas Valley. The marketable stand was the same in all treatments, and the amounts of fresh and dry…

Reflections on thrips and INSV during the 2025 Lettuce Season Dylan J. Beal, Daniel K. Hasegawa, Yu-Chen Wang INSV: Early Spring and Summer: isolated, small INSV outbreaks were observed. These outbreaks were associated with adjacent, unmanaged weedy sites.Late Summer and early Fall: more…