SJC and Delta Field Crops

UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension will host the UC Dry Bean Field Day on Thursday, August 15, 2024 from 9:30am to 11:45am. The field day will begin at the Agronomy Field Headquarters (2400 Hutchison Drive) on the UC Davis campus.

UCCE is monitoring armyworms in rice again in 2024. Our monitoring involves scouting for damage and deployment of pheromone bucket traps that catch the moths (Fig. 1). I have traps at three Delta locations, and my colleague, Luis Espino, is monitoring fields in the Sacramento Valley.

With funding from the CDFA Healthy Soils Program and CA Rice Research Board, we are evaluating how well different cover crop species establish, provide soil coverage, affect soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics, and/or impact rice yield in subsequent growing seasons.

We evaluated blackeye bean varieties in a commercial field in Stanislaus County. The season began with cool and wet spring conditions, which lasted through the month of June and delayed planting. Seven varieties from the University of California blackeye breeding program were planted on July 7th.

UC Cooperative Extension will host a Healthy Soils Program field demonstration day on cover cropping in rice systems. The meeting will take place on Thursday, February 29th, from 9:30am to noon, on Staten Island in San Joaquin County (23319 N. Staten Island Road, Thornton).