- Contact: Pamela Kan-Rice, (530) 754-3912, pskanrice@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Brenda Dawson, (530) 754-3912, bldawson@ucdavis.edu
The new Rod Shippey Educational Facility and Field Laboratory at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center is currently under construction, scheduled for completion in June. The facility is being constructed to meet standards equivalent to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, per University of California requirements of new buildings.
“We want this building to be educational itself,” said Bob Keiffer, superintendent of the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center. “We are trying every which way possible to incorporate ‘green aspects’ into this building.”
As early as October the building will welcome visitors to learn about natural resources, agriculture and science. It is expected to comfortably seat 180 to 200 people.
“We envision this building as being used by the entire community of the North Coast. There’s no other large meeting facility of this kind in Mendocino County that we know of and that will have this connection to the outdoors,” Keiffer said.
Community members are also contributing to the project. Six 27-foot tall reclaimed Douglas fir posts will greet visitors at the entry of the Rod Shippey Facility, a feature made possible in part to a donation by North Cal Wood Products, a Ukiah company that specializes in reclaimed and recycled wood. These posts, with 13 smaller timbers along the breezeway, have been reclaimed from the Pacific Lumber Company mill in Scotia, once the largest redwood mill ever constructed.
“We went out to the yard and saw them slice open the first timber,” said Shawn Tibor, director of facilities for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “With the timbers being 100 years old from another structure, we had to decide on-site where to position each post’s face. They have character, let’s put it that way. But all of them are standing now and have been stained.”
The Penofin wood stain was donated by another Ukiah company, Performance Coatings.
Woodpeckers welcome
“We have one of the densest populations of acorn woodpeckers anywhere in the state. The woodpeckers form granaries where they store acorns, sometimes in trees — and sometimes in buildings,” Keiffer said. “They can actually be quite destructive, with a series of half-inch holes all over the place.”
Impervious siding seemed like a requirement for the new building, until designers praised the weathered characteristics of historic barns on the property.
“We really tried to design this building so that it ties people to the natural world,” Keiffer said. “We want a very close relationship between the building and what’s outside—and the acorn woodpecker is a major part of that.”
So the building materials actually encourage woodpeckers to make use of the building. Cedar siding, soft enough to welcome woodpeckers, was sourced from UC Berkeley’s Blodgett Forest Research Station and fitted to a waterproof membrane that will help further protect the building.
First UC building with siding from a UC-managed forest
No other University of California building has sourced wood directly from the Blodgett Forest before, according to Robert York, research stations manager with the Center for Forestry at UC Berkeley.
The Blodgett Forest in the Sierra Nevada near Georgetown in El Dorado County, is harvested each year in the context of the station’s research, usually with contractors harvesting the trees and commercial sawmills purchasing the logs. Tracking wood from a single forest through a commercial mill would be difficult, so instead logs for the Hopland facility’s 7,500 board-feet of 1-inch siding went to the station’s own small sawmill, which is more commonly used for educational demonstrations.
“It was actually me out there doing most of the milling of the siding,” York said.
“I think it does represent the kind of collaboration that we can have between research sites in California,” York said. “We're all trying to improve ways of managing and understanding natural resources. Whether it's a forest or a grassland, we all have this objective that's shared between us.”
Efficiency within a narrow budget
Plans for the building have evolved when it comes to funding, efficiency and green design. The building was originally slated for $1.7 million capital funding in the state’s 2007 budget, which was later frozen until January 2010. Private donations, including an anonymous $750,000 pledge, have helped make the building a reality.
Budget restrictions have meant cutting back on some of the more innovative systems that could further lower heating costs, reduce water needs and improve the building’s overall eco-friendliness. Passive heating, cooling and indoor-comfort measures have been implemented in the meantime, and construction has moved forward keeping as many other options open as possible. For example, the building’s restrooms are plumbed with separate grey-water and black-water pipes, which would make plans for on-site black-water treatment more feasible in the future.
“We’re situated so that if next year we get funded for something more integrative or progressive, the possibilities remain,” Tibor said. “There’s no limit to great, innovative ideas; it’s the budget that drives things.”
Get construction update and more details about green features at the facility's website http://ucanr.org/sites/Rod_Shippey_Facility.
- Author: John Stumbos
The projects address water quality, reproduction, animal welfare, greenhouse gases, weed control, and extending knowledge. The endowment is administered through the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). Priorities are established by an advisory committee comprised of range cattle industry representatives and UC academics.
“The goal of this program is to promote collaboration and strengthen the continuum between range cattle producers, Cooperative Extension specialists and other research faculty, and county-based Cooperative Extension advisors,” said DeeDee Kitterman, CA&ES executive director of research and outreach. “Ultimately, this helps provide practical answers to critical issues and challenges facing the industry.”
Funding has been made available for this problem-solving research and outreach by endowment earnings from a gift to the university from the estate of Russell Rustici, a Lake County cattle rancher who passed away in 2008.
“Mr. Rustici worked closely with our scientists for many years,” said Neal Van Alfen, CA&ES dean. “His legacy is an enduring commitment to university research that will help us address issues of concern to the California cattle industry for a long time to come.”
This is the first year grant awards are being conferred to UC researchers through an annual competitive process. Grants for this year’s projects totaled more than $339,400. Three of the projects may receive second-year funding totaling nearly $105,000. Projects and lead researchers include:
- Statewide coordination of scientific research information regarding livestock grazing and microbial water quality (Edward R. Atwill, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine)
- Effects of road transport on physiological stress and pathogen shedding in adult beef cows (Xunde Li, Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, UC Davis)
- Development and testing of a recombinant heat shock protein vaccine for epizootic bovine abortion, commonly known as “foothill abortion” (Jeffrey Stott, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine)
- A new producer-friendly tool to diagnose bovine respiratory disease virus infections (Beate Crossley, California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, UC Davis)
- Coordinated electronic extension of research-based information to cattlemen (Glenn Nader, UC Cooperative Extension, Yuba/Sutter/Butte counties)
- Testing of new management tools for controlling medusahead (a rangeland weed) in California (Josh Davy, UC Cooperative Extension, Tehama/Glenn/Colusa counties)
- Evaluation and validation of a PCR assay to detect Tritrichomonas foetus (trichomoniasis pathogen) in modified media (Kristin Clothier, California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, UC Davis)
- Beef cattle welfare: assessment of pain relief and healing after hot-iron branding and castration (Cassandra Tucker, UC Davis Department of Animal Science)
For additional information about these research projects, please contact DeeDee Kitterman, (530) 752-9484, dmkitterman@ucdavis.edu.
Media Contacts
- DeeDee Kitterman, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 752-9484, dmkitterman@ucdavis.edu
- John Stumbos, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 754-4979, jdstumbos@ucdavis.edu
- Contact: Jeanette Warnert, (559) 646-6074, jewarnert@ucdavis.edu
- Contact: Pam Kan Rice, (530) 754-3912, cell (510) 206-3476, pskanrice@ucdavis.edu
UC Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station researchers are working with growers on fertilizer management, irrigation efficiency and other farming practices to provide options for protecting groundwater, which serves as a primary drinking water source for many rural communities. The following are some examples of ANR research and extension projects under way. The scientists’ names are hyperlinked to their contact information.
Quick nitrate test guides fertilizer management
Michael Cahn and Richard Smith, UC Cooperative Extension advisors in Monterey County, and Tim Hartz, UCCE specialist in the department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, have developed a quick test to measure soil nitrate in the field so growers can match fertilizer rates with plant needs. The test has reduced nitrogen-loading rates by an average of 70 pounds per acre in lettuce. On-farm demonstration trials have shown that by testing the soil, growers can reduce their fertilizer use by about 30 percent. Major growers in Monterey County, who manage a significant number of vegetable acres in the Salinas Valley, have begun using the quick nitrate test in their operations. For more information read the summary article on p. 5 and fine tuning article on p. 12 of Crop Notes.
Assessing plant nutrient status
Leaf sampling is a common method of determining when a nut tree has a nutrient deficiency. Patrick H. Brown, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and Agricultural Experiment Station pomologist, and his colleagues are studying other ways of assessing plant nutrient status to help almond and pistachio growers manage fertilizer applications with more precision. For more information, see Crop Nutrient Status and Demand.
NBOT aids dairies in nutrient planning
The Nitrogen Budget Optimization Tool (NBOT) is a planning tool being developed for dairies by David Crohn, professor and UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Sciences at UC Riverside. NBOT is an algorithm that uses a daily time step to represent crop nitrogen demand, nitrogen mineralization and losses from leaching, denitrification and ammonia volatilization. Typical nitrogen application charts tell how much nitrogen a crop needs during the growing season, but they do not say when the crop will need it. With NBOT, dairy operators input information about the crop they are growing, how much they expect to harvest and when they can apply manures. NBOT’s output gives an idealized management strategy that helps dairy operators decide what they should do all year round.
N-Ledger software addresses nitrogen management
A software program under development by a team headed by Marsha Campbell Mathews, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Stanislaus County, will help dairy operators and other farmers improve nitrogen management by calculating when nitrogen applied in manure is expected to be released from organic form into a form that the crops can use. Nitrogen applications are tracked, release rates are estimated and adjusted for expected losses, and the calculated total is compared to the expected daily crop need for nitrogen. The program helps the user choose an application strategy that will meet the crop’s needs and result in the least possible amount of nitrate in the soil during periods when it is vulnerable to leaching or other losses. For more information, see the UC Cooperative Extension in Stanislaus County Manure Nutrient Management website.
Adjusting field length can reduce irrigation levels
In his research on how dairy operators can reduce water applications to their crops, Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, has found that allowing less water to percolate will reduce impacts on groundwater. With shorter furrows, water applied per acre was cut nearly in half. In addition, manure water is often added to fresh water as part of dairy irrigation and fertigation practices, so being able to reduce the applied water also significantly reduces the amount of nitrogen applied. For more information, see Schwankl's Irrigation Management website.
UC helps dairy industry manage nitrogen on the farm
It is common practice for dairy operators to use cattle manure as fertilizer for their silage crops. UC Cooperative Extension advisors throughout California routinely provide reliable information to dairy operators and consultants so they can efficiently manage nitrogen on the farm and comply with pending state regulations. This information includes how to install and calibrate flow meters, how to measure nitrogen levels in manure ponds, how much nitrogen crops need and when they need it, and how to properly sample the crops that are harvested to know how much nitrogen is being removed. “We’ve developed protocols to ensure accurate information gathering, and we can share these with the dairy industry,” said Carol Frate, UCCE advisor in Tulare County. For more information, contact a UC Cooperative Extension dairy advisor.
To see other ANR projects and publications aimed at limiting nitrate leaching, please visit http://ucanr.edu/News/Healthy_crops,_safe_water.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Research by Jim Stapleton, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor based at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, was published as Feasibility of solar tents for inactivating weedy plant propagative material in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Pest Science.
Stapleton, who specializes in plant pathology and integrated pest management, was inspired to conduct the study when a fire crew came upon a patch of Iberian starthistle growing along a stream in the Sierra foothills near Mariposa. Iberian starthistle is a robust, spiny weed native to the Middle East that, left unchecked, can dominate entire landscapes.
“Crews were going through and cutting dried plants and stacking them, but the seeds survived,” Stapleton said. “If you start moving plant material around with viable seeds, seeds are liable to spread, making the problem worse instead of better.”
Iberian starthistle is only one of many exotic, invasive plants that are capable of transforming California’s open areas into useless and unsightly tracts of land. On rangeland, for example, such weeds diminish desirable annual rangeland feed for cattle and wildlife. Weeds can shade out native wildflowers, make recreational areas inaccessible and, in dense infestations, become a fire laddering fuel.
In the past, such weeds may have been stacked and burned, but fire danger and air quality regulations have forced land managers to find alternatives.
“You wouldn’t want to try this on a 40-acre area,” Stapleton said. “Eradication of weeds with solar tents is best suited for small-scale weed infestations in warm climates.”
For the research project, Stapleton constructed three replicate solar tents with concrete rubble, mulberry shoots and clear plastic tarps. He placed johnsongrass rhizomes inside black trash bags along with about one cup of water. The sample bags were left inside the solar tents for 72 hours.
“Regardless of where you are, regardless of financial resources, you should be able to construct a solar tent,” Stapleton said. “Most of the materials needed – rocks and sticks – are easy to find on site.”
Air temperature inside the sample bags rose to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the three days of the experiment, the rhizomes were exposed to temperatures 140 degrees and higher for 10 hours. None of the rhizome segments treated for three days in the solar tents sprouted. In contrast, rhizomes maintained in clear vegetable storage boxes and kept indoors for comparison all sprouted.
UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Carl Bell, a San Diego area weed expert, tested the process in Lakeside, east of the San Diego metropolitan area, where a group of volunteers were working on restoration of the San Diego River.
“There are a lot of sites in California where volunteer groups are going into canyons and other remote spots to clean up weeds,” Bell said. “They’re going to places with no roads or trails, scrambling over rocks to clean up these areas. They could construct one of these tents and return in a week to find everything in the bags overheated to a point where seeds won’t germinate and rhizomes are dead. They only have to carry out the plastic bags and tarps.”
For the demonstration, volunteers pulled weeds and built solar tents on a parking lot. They invited the public to a workshop at the site a week later.
“When we pulled out the bags of treated material after a week of cooking, it was a gooey mass of vegetative material incapable of regenerating the weeds,” Bell said.
Diagram of suggested solar tent construction:
(a) closed, black plastic trash bag, e.g., 40 gal volume, containing targeted plant material and one pint to one quart of water for free moisture presence; (b) interior framework of woody plant shoots, sitting on (c) rocks, to elevate trash bag above soil surface and allow heat to surround target; (d) sheet of black plastic film on soil surface to assist with heat accumulation and preclude escape of propagative material onto the soil; (e) clear plastic sheet, supported by (f) hoops of woody plant shoots to form a tent over the treatment bag; (g) exterior rocks, soil and/or logs sealing edges of tent canopy to minimize heat loss and preclude escape of propagative material.
(Graphic by Cynthia Stapleton, adapted from Journal of Pest Science 85:17-21. Graphic may be reprinted with credit. High resolution version.)
/span>Even on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, where average rainfall is a mere 7 inches per year, farmers can reap the benefits of winter cover crops without the expense of irrigation, University of California research has found. Growing a winter cover crop helps retain soil nitrogen – keeping it from leaching into groundwater – improves water infiltration, reduces runoff, increases soil organic matter and boosts long-term soil fertility.
Moreover, a vigorously growing cover crop can smother winter weeds, reducing or eliminating the need for herbicides or tillage between crops.
“Despite the many and varied benefits of cover cropping that are increasingly seen by farmers in other parts of the country, the vast majority of Central Valley farmers currently do not use them,” said Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Mitchell, a cropping systems expert, is based at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, Calif.
The costs and benefits of winter cover crops are being examined in an ongoing trial at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points, Calif. Initiated in 2000, the trial is led by Mitchell, William Horwath, a professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, and Dan Munk, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County, a cotton and soils expert.
Mitchell said the West Side trial addresses valley farmers’ primary concern about cover crops – water.
“When water is short, as it has been in many recent years, farmers wonder how inserting an extra crop that doesn’t bring an immediate return on investment makes sense,” Mitchell said. “But our work over the last 12 years has demonstrated that cover cropping ‘on the cheap’ – relying only on rainfall for irrigation – supplies many benefits and doesn’t cost much.”
Rainfall during the November to March winter growth period in Five Points averages 7 inches, slightly less than the 30-year average annual rainfall of 7.6 inches for the site. Winter rainfall has varied considerably during the trial, from a low of 2.9 inches in 2003 to a high of 11 inches in 2006.
From 2000 to 2010, a cover crop mix of triticale, ryegrain and pea was grown at a seed cost of $55 per acre (2012 dollars). In 2011 and 2012, the researchers used a mixture of fava bean and “tillage radish” for the cover crop, at a cost of $50 per acre.
Tillage radish is a large-rooted winter annual being marketed for its ability to improve soil condition. It’s thick, tuberous roots break up the soil surface. When it is killed in the spring and the roots decompose and shrivel, it leaves behind channels that help with aeration and water infiltration.
Over the course of the UC trial, an average of 3,400 pounds of dry biomass per acre was produced by the cover crops each year with rainfall alone. Productivity generally related to the amount of rain, with as little as 65 pounds of dry biomass per acre in 2007, when rainfall was 5.2 inches, and 6,400 pounds in 2005, when 10.1 inches of rain fell.
The timing of rainfall was also important. Rain is needed early to establish the crop and late in the season to sustain its growth when the temperature warms.
Over time, growing cover crops results in a significantly higher amount of carbon in the top foot of soil. Following eight years of cover cropping, soil carbon values in the standard tillage cover crop system, in which the cover crop was treated as a green manure and incorporated into the soil at a depth of 10 inches, was 12.2 tons of carbon per acre. Where cover crops were combined with conservation tillage, the researchers measured 12.8 tons per acre. In areas managed with conservation tillage and no cover crop, 11.7 tons per acre of carbon was in the top foot of soil. Under standard tillage and no cover crops, currently the common practice in the San Joaquin Valley, soil carbon came in at 9.9 tons per acre.
In addition to improving soil quality, farmers are investigating whether storing extra carbon in the soil will make them eligible for selling carbon credits under California Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act.
“Sequestering carbon in farmland could be a means of mitigating global warming from greenhouse gas emissions,” Mitchell said. “We are working with farmers to develop a record of performance so they can document their potential for storing more carbon using conservation tillage and cover crops.”