- (Public Value) UCANR: Promoting economic prosperity in California
- Author: UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Land use change in agricultural frontiers can have far-reaching social and environmental implications, such as habitat loss, water contamination, or worker demographic shifts — particularly when it involves the rapid expansion of a new industry such as cannabis production. A recent study published in Landscape and Urban Planning offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the drivers of cannabis production in rural areas, using interviews with farmers and spatial modeling to uncover key factors.
Led by researchers from UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) and the...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice

UC Cooperative Extension will host its first industrial hemp field day at UC Davis on Thursday, Sept. 22. The meeting will be held at the UC Davis Agronomy Field Headquarters on Hutchison Drive in Davis.
Industrial hemp is defined as Cannabis sativa L. and required not to exceed 0.3% THC, the intoxicating substance in marijuana.
University of California research on industrial hemp – which can be grown for oil, seed and fiber – began after the...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice

Wildfires are an increasing threat to people's lives, property and livelihoods, especially in rural California communities. Cannabis, one of California's newer and more lucrative commercial crops, may be at a higher risk of loss from wildfire because it is mostly confined to being grown in rural areas, according to new research by scientists in the Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management at UC Berkeley.
"Our findings affirm that cannabis agriculture is geographically more threatened by wildfire than any other agricultural crop in California,” said Christopher Dillis, lead author of the
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice

California water-rights holders are required by state law to measure and report the water they divert from surface streams. For people who wish to take the water measurements themselves, the University of California Cooperative Extension is offering a virtual training to receive certification on May 26.
At the workshop, participants can expect to
- clarify reporting requirements for ranches.
- understand what meters are appropriate for different situations.
- learn how to determine measurement equipment accuracy.
- develop an understanding of measurement weirs.
- learn how to calculate and report volume from flow...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

Adding to a growing body of research about hemp cultivation, UC Cooperative Extension advisor Sarah Light and UCCE weed specialist Brad Hanson studied the symptoms of herbicide drift on this high-value commodity that is now being produced in many parts of California.
The results are available in a free downloadable publication in the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources catalog at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8689.
Hemp was legalized for production nationwide in the United States under the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp has many uses – from...