Strawberries and Caneberries

I was holding some strawberry fruit a few weeks ago to check on a pathogen for a local grower (it's very likely anthracose, but more to come on that account), and of course this being late season had a lot of leak rot showing up.

My colleagues and I just finished our revision of the Organic Strawberry Cost of Production Study. The previous study was from 2014 and really not up to date. This new one incorporates a lot of what is going on with labor as well as updates on fertility and pest managment practices.

One of the tasks of the UCCE Farm Advisor is to assist his or her colleagues from the UC with their outreach to growers, at the same time they help growers interpret information coming to them from these sources.

June 5, 2019 has been designated by my organization UC Agriculture and Natural Resources "Big Dig Day", which basically means dig in the soil, dig in your heart and dig in your wallet for the programs you care about.

The fairly heavy rains over the past weekend (1.06" from CIMIS station #111 in Watsonville), have given people concern about what sort of damage our strawberry crop has sustained.