- (Public Value) UCANR: Building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
Growers are said to be one of the most surveyed groups in the US. This is understandable as only around 2% of Americans work in agriculture and there is an intrinsic lack of understanding of what is needed to help growers develop their operations. I frequently hear growers express concerns about issues that need to be addressed, whether those stem from government agencies, local weather patterns, or regional markets. However, quantifying the significance of these issues without data can be challenging.
Surveys conducted by Cooperative Extension and local organizations give growers a voice and serve as the first step in collaboration between growers and researchers in addressing the issues at hand.
If you have found...
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
- Editor: Mark Lundy
Half the battle in learning and development is knowing what you don't know. I have been collecting a running list of different ag-related tools and technologies that I think growers, managers, and crop consultants could benefit from. Below are some notable tools:
Using Google Sheets to Manage Tasks Among Ag Teams:
https://www.google.com/sheets/about/
Google sheets is an incredibly simple and flexible tool, basically an excel spreadsheet that is housed in the cloud (online). This means that multiple people can be given access to it for organizational purposes to create a live project board that can guide field operations.
For example,...
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
A previous blog post advertised the Nutrient Management Alternatives meeting for later this month, but given the weather conditions and the high likelihood that the field and the parking around the field will likely still be wet, the meeting has been moved to Tuesday April 18th, 2023.
Join us next month (Tuesday April 18, 2023, previously March 22, 2023, rescheduled due to wet field conditions) from 8:40 until 10:30 for some quick updates on research. The field site is an experimental trial run by Cameron Pittelkow evaluating the use of digestate and hydrolysate as a N source in small grains.
Additional details below:
Nutrient Management...
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
- Editor: Mark Lundy
Long dry periods are not uncommon in the Sacramento Valley between January and February. Despite the early season downpours, rainfall for the 2021-22 water year is dropping back to below average (Figure 1), and there is no rain on the near-term horizon. As a result, wheat growers may be debating whether to irrigate. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Stress during the rapid growth phases can reduce wheat yield substantially
The amount of water needed to avoid plant stress at early vegetative growth stages is relatively little compared to later in the season (Table 1, see:
