- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
- Contributor: Brad Hanson
- Contributor: Kurt J. Hembree
With generous donations from seed companies and support from the California Dry Bean Advisory Board, we're working on two research projects in garbanzo beans this year.
One is focusing on the herbicide Tough 5EC (pyridate) for broadleaf weed control in established garbanzo stands. Currently there are no herbicides registered for use in garbanzos after crop emergence except hooded sprays or directed sprays (not on the crop). Tough by Belchim Crop Protection, is currently being registered for use in garbanzos in other states.
We're conducting two trials with Tough in garbanzos; one at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center and the other at UC Davis. Hopefully this will lead to Tough being registered for use on...
- Author: Mark Bell
We are increasingly drowning in a sea of information. In 2020, we will see more than 2 trillion web searches drawing on information from 1.7+ billion web sites. If the number of web sites is not staggering enough, we now also have a staggering 4+ million apps to choose from for our mobile devices. What's the hope of finding what we need?
And so here is where we introduce “chunking.” Now, I admit my use of the term “Chunking” may not be strictly correct – but I really wanted to try and use it in an article. What is chunking? Strictly speaking, a “chunk” (in cognitive psychology) is “a collection of basic familiar units that have...
- Author: Dan Macon
Like any livestock management tool, livestock guardian dogs come with both costs and (hopefully) benefits. Some of these are easily calculated - for example, through today, we've spent $624.70 on dog food and veterinary costs related to our livestock guardian dogs this year. We currently have 3 dogs (Bodie, a 3-year-old I purchased as a pup for $350; Elko, a 2-year-old given to me as a pup; and Dillon, a 9-month-old pup purchased for $500). Some of the costs and benefits are less easily calculated, however; how do I know how many sheep didn't die because we had dogs with them? What is the value of my own peace of mind? A recent paper by Dr. Ellen Bruno (Cooperative Extension specialist in agriculture and resource economics at UC...
- Author: Lynn Wunderlich
Recently, I have answered more and more inquiries from those who own a parcel and are wondering about agricultural development or those who are looking to purchase. The foothills, it seems to me, are becoming impacted by a growing California population and those who may be priced out of other locations and seek a rural lifestyle.
But the "what can I grow?" question, as I call it, is more complicated to answer than some anticipate. The key is to not have any preconceived notions (this isn't the Valley nor is it the North Coast) and to be open to exploring the opportunities, and challenges, the foothill landscape offers. The foothills are kind of like Nebraska, whose new slogan is "Honestly,...
- Author: Dan Macon
Direct marketing, for some farmers and ranchers, can be a way to capture more of the consumer dollar. By bypassing the middlemen - wholesalers, distributors and retailers - direct marketing can allow a producer to receive retail value for his or her product. But direct-market meat is a different story. Direct-market meat requires substantial processing - the harvest and cut-and-wrap services provided by processing facilities and butchers require significant skill and capital investment. Over the last 50 years, we've lost local meat processing capacity - small local butchers simply don't exist in very many places. Many of us assume that increasing this processing capacity would solve the problem. In my experience, the solution isn't...
