- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California almonds are on a roll. In the last 20 years, scientific discovery and grower ingenuity have nearly doubled almond per-acre productivity. A good yield in the 1980s was 1,400 pounds per acre. The average yield for 2011 was 2,670 pounds of shelled almonds per acre.
Forty years ago, California farmers produced less than 100 million pounds of almonds on about 200,000 acres of almond orchards. Mechanization, improved irrigation efficiency, advances in insect and disease management, pruning research and fertilization studies have fueled explosive growth in the industry. Farmers in California’s Central Valley now tend 760,000 acres of almond trees, producing about 2 billion pounds of shelled nuts a year. The crop, which represents 100 percent of U.S. almond production and 75 to 80 percent of world production, was valued in 2011 at $3.87 billion, surpassing table, wine and raisin grapes, which were valued at $3.86 billion.
“Even with this record production, we have more demand than we have supply,” said Bob Curtis of the Almond Board. “The driver behind that is nutrition studies that show almonds are a healthy food and snack.”
A tremendous amount of UC research is behind the California almond success story, said Bruce Lampinen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, an expert in almond canopy management.
“Higher density plantings of almonds and a trend towards less pruning, and improved water management have led to much higher yields,” Lampinen said.
Many almond growers have replaced flood irrigation with micro-sprinkler or drip irrigation, said Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis. These irrigation systems increase the precision of water and fertilizer application. Over the years, UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists established demonstrations of micro-sprinkler and drip systems in many parts of the Central Valley and reached out to farmers to show how they could be managed to optimize production.
“Twenty years ago, we simply guessed at the amount of water that the trees needed and we applied it on a calendar basis,” said Joe MacIlvaine, president of Paramount Farming Company in Kern County, one of the state’s largest growers of almonds, pistachios and pomegranates. “Today, we are delivering water and nutrients directly to the root zones when they are needed.”
Two decades ago, a granular form of nitrogen fertilizer was generally applied to almond orchards in the fall to allow winter rain and irrigation to move it into the soil for use by the trees in spring and early summer. Nitrogen use efficiency was believed to be about 40 percent. Now, nitrogen fertilizer is applied through the irrigation system during the growing season, when the tree needs it.
“Today, our nitrogen use efficiency can be as high as 85 percent,” said Blake Sanden, UCCE advisor in Kern County, an irrigation expert. He and Patrick Brown, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, have conducted nitrogen trials in almonds with Paramount Farming.
“When you increase the conversion of applied nitrogen fertilizer to higher crop yield, there is significantly less potential for nitrogen to leach below the rootzone and contaminate groundwater,” Sanden said. “But each field is unique and requires site-specific management to achieve these high levels of efficiency.”
Another area where UC research has led to significant crop yield growth is in canopy management and tree spacing. Research by Mario Viveros, UCCE advisor emeritus in Kern County, and other scientists showed that a tendency among growers to over prune was taking a toll at harvest time.
“A lot of farmers who are now growing almonds had experience with fresh fruits, where you do need to prune to get light on the fruit for good color. In almonds more canopy generally means more yield,” Lampinen said. “Today, most almond growers only prune when branches are growing in the way of tractors or other equipment.”
UC research also found that orchards planted with traditional wide spacing between the trees weren’t making the most efficient use of sunlight on the farms. Older orchards had 60 to 70 trees per acre. Today, almond orchards are planted at an average density of about 110 trees per acre based on results of UC research.
However, studies have also shown that crowding still more trees into orchards triggers diminishing returns. In almond production, the nuts are shaken from the trees to dry on the ground before they are harvested.
“If the orchard floor becomes too shaded by trees planted too densely, the orchard floor temperature and humidity become optimal for growth of pathogens that could become a food safety problem,” Lampinen said. “You want enough sunlight to hit the orchard floor to reduce potential pathogens, like salmonella.”
MacIlvaine acknowledged the role of UC Cooperative Extension in helping the almond industry achieve the production milestone in 2011.
“The University of California has been a wonderful partner in improving our farming practices,” he said. “The whole system is not only more efficient, but more sustainable at the same time.”
Hear more of MacIlvaine's comments in the video posted below:
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Follow the event in real time from 5 a.m. to 12 noon Pacific Time on Twitter using the tag #whgarden.
White House Social is a series of in-person meetings of people who engage with the White House through social media, including Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Hayden-Smith has followed Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and the White House on Twitter since Obama's election in 2008. She won the invitation after entering a contest that asked contestants to describe in 140 characters why they wanted to visit the White House garden.
"I'm really excited to be part of this,” said Hayden-Smith, who is also a UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Ventura County, specializing in 4-H youth, family and community development. "The fact that the Obamas are cultivating a food-producing garden on the grounds of the White House says really wonderful things about our country. The First Family is showing its concern about the health of Americans and reducing childhood obesity. That's something we at UC Cooperative Extension care a great deal about.”
Hayden-Smith Tweets as "Victory Grower” (@victorygrower) a persona she created to reflect her interest in a national revival of the Victory Garden movement, in which increasing food production was considered vital to bolstering national security by creating a more secure food supply.
"It's a different 'victory' now, but many of the goals are the same," Hayden-Smith said. "Gardens connect people with food and food production. Food is fundamental. It's what everyone shares in common. As we are entering a more challenging era of increased population and pressure on resources, it is vital for people to understand how to cultivate food.”
Hayden-Smith travels to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 17. On Thursday, she and her colleague Rachel Surls (@rachelsurls), UCCE advisor in Los Angeles County, will tour urban garden projects in the nation's capital. They will be Tweeting about their tour on Thursday afternoon using the tag #urbanag.
Though not an official part of White House Social, Surls will have a brief tour of the White House Kitchen Garden on Friday. She will Tweet on Friday using the tag #whgarden.
Surls and Hayden-Smith are joining with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources to promote urban agriculture in California, an effort that is expected to generate multiple benefits. Gardening provides a way for people to be physically active, to improve food access, to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and to reconnect people with agriculture.
Following are background articles related to Victory Grower and urban agriculture efforts:
- Victory Gardens: A boon in hard times
- Summon us to service
- Kitchen table memories
- Urban Agriculture: A good model then, a good model now
- On the future of food
- UC helps you design your landscape and eat it, too
- Outlook: UC's land-grant mission fuels nation's growth, prosperity
- Setting agricultural science strategy in tumultuous economic times
- Author: Diane Nelson
“Sales of fruits and vegetables have remained strong, even during this recession when sales of other plants have lagged,” said Ron Hoffman, owner of Morris Nursery in Riverbank, Calif., echoing the sentiments of many in the state’s nursery industry. “People enjoy growing their own produce and they want plants that do double duty.”
And when they choose brightly colored edibles — like, say, Neon Lights swiss chard or Bronze lettuce — they can have their landscape and eat it, too. But designing and maintaining an edible landscape is easier said than done. How do you know what plants to choose? What if one plant needs different soil and more water than its neighbor? How do you keep the cat from pooping on your produce?
The folks at the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program, with assistance from California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis, are answering those questions and many more at 6 two-day, “train the trainer” workshops throughout the state. Funded by a two-year grant from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the program teaches the art and science of edible landscaping to master gardeners who, in turn, will help train the rest of us.
“Before you install an edible landscape, you need to assess the site and the user,” said Missy Gable, program manager for the California Center for Urban Horticulture. “How much time do you have to devote to gardening? What are your harvest needs? We brought together experts from diverse fields such as landscape architecture, horticulture, food safety and water policy to provide an overview of what’s possible with edible landscaping.”
The workshops are inexpensive — $35 for master gardeners and $65 for industry professionals. In exchange for their reduced rate, master gardeners sign an agreement to teach two classes within three months of their training — one for fellow master gardeners and one for the public. Cheryl Buckwalter, a professional landscaper and executive director of EcoLandscape California, attended an earlier workshop and called the experience “invaluable.”
“Today's landscapes need to work harder than ever,” Buckwalter said. “They need to be water and resource efficient, functional and aesthetically pleasing. The Edible Landscaping Workshop not only showed me how to design the multi-functional landscape of today by incorporating edibles, I also feel qualified to educate my clients, the public and other professionals.”
Will the workshops change the way people garden?
“As part of the project, we’ll be looking at that very thing,” said Pam Geisel, director of the UC Statewide Master Gardener Program and the project’s principal investigator. “We will evaluate the impact of train-the-trainer methodologies to determine whether participants adopt more productive, sustainable landscapes as a result of being trained or from training others.”
The benefits of edible landscaping are bountiful. Parents, for example, love exposing their children to both the joy of gardening and the value of healthy food. Farmers appreciate that more people realize produce doesn’t grow on grocery store shelves. But without a few pointers, it’s easy to err with edibles. Sometimes, for example, our eyes are too big for our stomachs.
“Like me,” Gable said. “I’m a plant nerd. This summer I bought four varieties of zucchini because they were so cool. Believe me, no one needs four varieties of zucchini.”
No two yards or gardeners are the same and the course helps people customize their plan to meet their needs. Do you work 12-hour days? Maybe it’s better for you to help out at a community garden than plant too many edibles in your own back yard. Is your garden in full shade?
“Grow blueberries,” Gable said.
There is still room in four Edible Landscaping Workshops this fall: Oct 11-12 in Santa Clara; Oct. 24-25 in El Cajon; October 26-27 in Los Angeles; Nov. 2-3 in Fresno; and Nov. 30-Dec. 1 in San Luis Obispo. You can register and find more details at http://cchu.ucdavis.edu/events/edible/edible
Media contacts:
- Pam Geisel, Director of the Statewide Master Gardener Program, (530) 865-1154, pgeisel@ucanr.edu
- Missy Gable, California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis, (530) 752-6642, mjborel@ucdavis.edu
- Diane Nelson, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 752-1969, denelson@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Rob Warren
- Contributor: Jeannette Warnert
Veterinarians at the University of California, Davis, warn pet owners to be careful about using rat poisons and similar compounds.
In recent weeks, veterinarians at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital have seen a spike in accidental rodenticide poisonings. In the last two weeks of August alone, they diagnosed and treated six canine cases.
If not treated, a dog can die within a week of ingesting rodenticides.
"This is an all-too-common occurrence," said Karl Jandrey, assistant professor of clinical small animal emergency and intensive care at UC Davis. "People are trying to get rid of unwanted rodents, but are not realizing what these toxins do to the other animals who share that environment."
Keeping pets safe
Using proper pest control techniques can help keep family pets safe, said Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension advisor with the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. Baldwin, a wildlife pest management expert, is based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
Dogs can be affected by rodenticides two ways: by eating the poisoned bait or by eating an animal that was poisoned. Both can have serious consequences.
Home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot, and even grocery stores, carry a variety of products that may be used to control unwanted rats, mice, pocket gophers and ground squirrels. If the unwanted animals are inside the house, Baldwin recommends using traps rather than poison.
"If a poisoned animal dies behind a wall, you can't get it out and you have to live with the smell for weeks or months," Baldwin said.
Also, before baiting outdoor pests, Baldwin suggests making sure they are not also going inside buildings. If they are, find all potential access points and close them up.
If resorting to poison baits, buy a new product at the store and carefully read the label to understand when, where and how it can be used. Because of rapidly changing restrictions in recent years, old products in your garage or shed could be outdated.
Pocket gopher bait must be placed in the gopher's underground burrow. Even there, Baldwin said, certain dogs will dig up dead pocket gophers if they are close enough to the surface. Families with digging dogs will likely want to choose gopher traps. For ground squirrels, baits can be placed in bait stations or scattered very thinly on the ground through broadcast or spot treatments.
"When you use broadcast or spot treatments, there is relatively little danger to dogs or cats," Baldwin said. "But I would opt to use bait stations in my yard if I had pets running around, just to be on the safe side."
Some rodenticides contain ingredients that are anticoagulants, which slow the clotting of the blood. When dogs ingest these poisons, the active ingredients concentrate in the liver where they interfere with vitamin K storage and the production of blood clotting factors.
At UC Davis' veterinary teaching hospital, dealing with accidental poisoning by an anticoagulant rodenticide can require around-the-clock care with treatments in the intensive care unit to replenish blood clotting factors with fresh frozen plasma and replace vitamin K. If administered early enough, this treatment usually leads to a full recovery. Other rodenticides (e.g., bromethalin, cholecalciferol, strychnine and zinc phosphide) do not have antidotes, so treatment is more difficult.
One patient recently treated at UC Davis was Mocha, a one-year-old Belgian Malinois from Winters, Calif. Mocha had gotten into d-CON, a common rodenticide available at hardware stores.
Luckily, Mocha was brought to the veterinary teaching hospital in time. She responded well to treatment and was able to go home in two days.
"We are grateful for the care Mocha received at UC Davis," said Ken Shaw, Mocha's owner. "Like most dogs, Mocha is adventurous and likes to get into things she shouldn't. But after the treatment at UC Davis, she was home within a few days, happy and playful once again."
- Author: Karen Nikos,UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu, cell, (530) 219-5472
The work by an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and members of the local community, is made possible by a $4.8 million grant last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The goal of the project, Ninos Sanos/Familia Sana ("Healthy Children/Healthy Family"), is to curb obesity among Mexican-heritage children ages 2-8.
In all, 400 children and their families in Firebaugh will be provided with practical tools, education and incentives to help them eat healthy diets and get sufficient exercise in a five-year program. Many of the programs and meetings will be held at a new center that will launch Thursday.
On Sunday, in celebration of Mexican Independence Day, a mural depicting the history and culture of the community will be unveiled on the wall of a community center in San Joaquin. The mural has been painted this month as a collaborative project by UC Davis students and San Joaquin residents, including youth.
A mural in progress, designed by Jaime Montiel, artist-in-residence at Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) at UC Davis, is created in the Fresno County community of San Joaquin. The mural painted Sept. 1-15 is based on the community's cultural and social history. Carlos Francisco Jackson, founding director of TANA, co-leads the Ninos Sanos/Familia Sana study. Photo by Gilda Posada, community art engagement project coordinator, TANA
