- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Dairy feed production is particularly amenable to conservation agricultural practices, according to four dairy operators featured in Part 4 of the Conservation Agriculture documentary series, released today on the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation website. (The video is also posted below.) Planting equipment for production of winter small grains like wheat and triticale and summer corn and sorghum are readily available and production processes have been widely used.
“We’re producing more crops with less input,” says Hanford dairy farmer Dino Giacomazzi in the video. “That’s a win-win.”
Giacomazzi said one of the most important things he has learned in converting from conventional farming to conservation agriculture is that it’s a whole new system and requires a whole new way to think about farming.
Farmers willing to share their experiences with conservation agricultural systems will be part of the annual Twilight Conservation Agriculture field day, to be held at 4 p.m. Sept. 13 at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center, 17353 W. Oakland Ave. in Five Points. To register, go to: http://ucanr.edu/TwilightRegistration. For more information about the field day, see the field day announcement.
View the video here:
Earlier episodes of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation documentary series are available on the table of contents.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Research by UC Cooperative Extension has shown there are even more production improvements to be realized with the incorporation of conservation agricultural systems in processing tomato production. Using conservation agriculture in processing tomatoes is the focus of the third installment of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Documentary, available on the program's website today at http://CASI.ucanr.edu. (The video is also posted below.)
Using conservation agricultural systems, tomato growers stand to cut production costs by $70 to $140 per acre, reduce fuel use and dust emissions and increase soil carbon by growing winter cover crops.
In the video, Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, shows a research trial where no-till tomatoes grown in cover-crop residue is demonstrated side-by-side with no-till tomatoes in a field where a winter cover crop was not grown.
Mitchell will be available to answer specific questions about conservation agriculture at the annual Twilight Conservation Agriculture field day to be held at 4 p.m. Sept. 13 at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center, 17353 W. Oakland Ave. in Five Points. To register, go to: http://ucanr.edu/TwilightRegistration. For more information about the field day, see the field day announcement.
Video three is posted below:
To view segments one and two of the Conservation Agriculture documentary series, go to the table of contents.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Farmers and other members of the public are invited to the free event to see the system in operation and learn how overhead irrigation can be combined with no-till or minimum-till farming methods to create a more sustainable, profitable and environmentally sound agriculture industry. The field day includes a free barbecue dinner. To register, go to: http://ucanr.edu/TwilightRegistration.
Overhead irrigation systems, such as center pivot systems, are the most prevalent form of irrigation nationwide; however, they have not been widely adopted in California to date. Recent technological advances in overhead irrigation – which allows integration of irrigation with global positioning systems (GPS) and management of vast acreage from a computer or smart phone – have boosted farmers’ interest in converting from gravity-fed surface irrigation systems, which are still used on 5 million acres of California farmland.
“We see tremendous possibilities for overhead irrigation in cotton, alfalfa, corn, onions and wheat production,” said Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. “There is also great potential for overhead irrigation in California’s $5 billion dairy industry for more efficiently producing feed crops like alfalfa, corn and sorghum.”
Use of the new system at the West Side Research and Extension Center, valued at about $100,000, was donated by Reinke Manufacturing of Hastings, Neb. Reinke will also sponsor the installation of its OnTrac irrigation monitoring system, which will give farmers and the public a real-time, online window of observation on crops growing and being irrigated by the new center pivot.
To begin with, the center pivot will irrigate an 8-acre half-circle of alfalfa and an 8-acre half-circle of cotton. All aspects of production – including irrigation system performance, weed control, fertilization, soil salinity and economic viability – will be monitored by a diverse team of researchers from UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno State University and UC Davis, plus farmer cooperators and industry members.
“In cotton and alfalfa, we will study deficit irrigation,” Mitchell said. “By controlling the speed of the pivot, pie-shaped segments will get either full irrigation, three-quarters of the full amount or about half of the full irrigation quantity.”
At the Sept. 13 field day, researchers will share what they have already learned about using center pivot systems in California. Participants will hear how overhead irrigation systems operate, how they are optimally managed, how soil water sensors can be used in conjunction with overhead systems and how overhead systems can result in higher application efficiencies and uniformities.
For more information, contact Jeff Mitchell, jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu, (559) 303-9689.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In the 8-minute video, viewers will be introduced to a new way of looking at plant residues. In California, many farmers manage crop residues to make them essentially "disappear," due to concerns about pathogens and in order to make clean planting beds.
"The crop residues used to be viewed as trash," says Phil Hogan, district conservationist with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, in the video. "It's not trash, its a resource to be used which helps increase soil organic matter, which helps increase soil moisture."
The next segment in the documentary series, to be released Aug. 20, looks at conservation agriculture in tomato production systems, which cut production costs, reduce dust emissions and store more carbon in the soil.
Participants in the field day will see the latest 21st Century center pivot and linear systems being adapted for California’s complex dairy waste disposal and silage production systems and the latest low-pressure precision emitters, which allow farmers to ‘spoon feed’ their crops.
View all the videos that have been released to date and the titles of upcoming installments here: http://ucanr.edu/documentary
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The presentations provide information about the evolution of CASI, its recent research and development work on conservation agriculture systems and its new capacity-building initiatives to increase the adoption of competitive and sustainable production systems in California’s Central Valley.
The videos can be viewed using a computer, smart phone, iPad or other tablet. The following presentations are available:
Introduction to Conservation Agriculture Cropping Systems 12:51
Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
The History of CASI: Conservation Agricultural Systems Innovation 18:00
Ron Harben, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
CASI's Merge with the Conservation Tillage Workgroup 21:19
Dan Munk, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County
History of California's Center Pivot Industry and CASI's 21st Century Goals 6:58
Harold Hughes, Overhead irrigation specialist with Reinke Mfg. (retired)
KEYNOTE: Adapting to Change: Agriculture in the 21st Century 38:32
Dino Giacomazzi, dairyman/farmer, Hanford, Calif.
Sprinklers and Applications on Pivots 12:35
Dan Schueler, Southwest District Manager, Senninger Irrigation Inc., Clovis, Calif.
California's Historic 40-year Stalemate of its 5 million acres of gravity irrigation systems 8:55
Jerry E. Rossiter, President/CEO CISCO Ag, Atwater, Calif.
