- Author: Jeffrey P. Mitchell
November 10, 2021
Fresno State Plant Science researchers begin year 5 of cover crop roller study
New paradigms for crop production are being tested in what has now evolved to be the fifth straight year of research by Fresno State researchers on the use of a roller crimper to kill winter cover crops ahead of spring-planted silage corn.
In a campus field at the northeast corner of the intersection of Bullard and Cedar Avenues, under the direction of Dr. Anil Shrestha, Chair of FSU's Department of Viticulture and Enology, and with Robert Willmott, the project's field director, a series of different winter cover crop species and mixtures have recently been seeded under the University's center pivot irrigation system and will be grown with largely winter rainfall through March of 2022. The cover crops will then be evaluated in terms of the ability to kill them using a roller-crimper implement and without herbicide.
Shrestha and Willmott have been in the trenches with the pioneering evaluations and now have four years of experience with the system under their belts. At first, the whole thing was a novelty with many open questions, but the team's recent successes in killing the cover crops have buoyed them with the confidence and hope that they may well be onto something with the production approach.
Both Fresno State researchers are part of a larger effort that is exploring techniques for growing crops organically with less overall soil disturbance. The "CIG Project," as it has been called, involves several experienced organic vegetable farmers throughout the State who have farm-based studies also underway in Hollister, Guinda, and Meridian, CA. The work being conducted at Fresno State is an important part of this overall effort and has made very interesting progress toward reducing soil disturbance while protecting the soil surface with residues - important principles of soil health management systems.
Tours of the site are available by contacting Dr. Anil Shrestha at ashrestha@mail.fresnostate.edu
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- Author: Jeffrey P. Mitchell
Fresno State agronomy students see no-tillage production up close and personal!
October 11, 2021
Students in the agronomy class of Dr. Ranjit Riar at Fresno State University had a rare opportunity to visit a working no-tillage research field as part of a field trip that they took to the NRI Project field at the University of California's West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points, CA. On what was the windiest day of the year, the students braved the uncomfortable and blistering wind to see not only equipment that is used for reduced disturbance production, but also no-till soils and residues, as well as live demonstrations of soil aggregation and water infiltration. Jeff Mitchell of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center at UC Davis hosted the group along with fellow CASI members Joy Hollingsworth and Dan Munk.
No-tillage is still very much in its infancy in California, but continuing research by the group in Five Points that includes farmers, university, NRCS and private sector partners has shown that it is possible to produce several annual crops that are part of Central Valley production rotations successfully with the reduced disturbance approach. In addition, the researchers have documented several positive changes in soil properties and function when the combination of no-tillage and cover crops is used consistently over time.
Students in Dr. Riar's class learned about the “3 E's of farming” – equipment, economics, and ecology, during their visit to the field station and they saw no-till drills and planters and strip-tillage implements. They learned how to determine % residue cover over the soil and compared residue cover under no-tillage with cover crops versus standard clean tillage. Dr. Riar mentioned how surprised he was when he first came to California to learn how little of the practice is actually currently used in the state.
Despite the horrendous wind, the field trip was a huge success and gave students much to think about as they carefully drove back to the Fresno State campus.
- Author: Jeffrey P. Mitchell
September 30, 2021
Our CASI Workgroup hosted Dr. Paul Sebesta, Instructor/Director, Agriculture and Natural Resource Initiatives in the Cochise (AZ) Community College system at the longstanding NRI Project field in Five Points on Friday, September 24. His visit was part of the evaluation process for his application to serve as the new joint Director of both the Kearney Research and Extension Center and the West Side Research and Extension Center. CASI's Jeff Mitchell hosted him for his short visit to our 22-year old study and fielded his questions.
- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
April 6, 2021
Four California organic farmers, Phil Foster of Hollister, Paul Muller of Guinda, Scott Park of Meridian, and Tom Willey of Madera, will participate in an hour-and-a half online workshop session on April 6, 2021 from 12:00 PM through 1:30 PM about the reduced disturbance work that they are conducting as part of an NRCS CIG project aimed at investigating and refining organic reduced disturbance techniques in California. The workshop will feature a Q & A session that follows a panel presentation that the four farmers made as part of the 2021 ECOFARM Conference in January. The workshop will be moderated by CASI Workgroup member, Dr. Cindy Daley of Chico State. An audio summary introduction to the workshop that ran on Don York's "Ag Report" radio program on KMJ580 on April 6th is linked below.
JEFF MITCHELL on KMJ 4-6-21
- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell