- (Public Value) UCANR: Promoting economic prosperity in California
- Author: Peter Ako Larbi
UC ANR supports California's crop protection workforce to become more qualified through hands-on Airblast Sprayer Calibration Training. 100% of participants reported learning professional skills that also can improve the sustainability and profitability of California ag.
The Issue
As a best practice in pesticide spray application, growers and pesticide applicators should calibrate their sprayers to ensure accurate application rates and compliance with the law as represented by pesticide labels. However, proper understanding of sprayer calibration objectives...
- Author: Peter Ako Larbi
Upon attending the Citrus Spray Field Day in November 2022 at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension (KARE) Center, 93% of participants reported learning much or very much about spray application best practices, which can lead to increased agricultural efficiency.
The Issue
Because of the complex nature of spray application under field conditions, growers and pesticide applicators have difficulty in recognizing or using best practices that result in desired application efficiencies. Therefore, applications often fall short. Developing and disseminating science-based recommendations from field trials and decision support tools...
- Author: Zheng Wang
UC ANR research on watermelon grafting helps growers produce 15-20% more watermelons while using 25-40% fewer plants than the traditional system under the same amount of water and fertilizers, contributing to economic prosperity for the agricultural sector.
The Issue
As the statewide water scarcity and rising inflation hit the California agriculture, food production with reduced inputs while maintaining productivity and controlling production cost heighten the necessity of using environmentally-sustainable farming practices. For watermelon growers, grafting, a thousand-year-old...
- Author: George Zhuang
30,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley vineyards have adopted mechanization using UCCE research-based guidelines, potentially saving $15 million per year and promoting economic prosperity in California.
The Issue
Grape is the second largest commodity of California agriculture in terms of value ($6.25 billion in 2018) with approximately 900,000 acres. Currently, increasing labor costs and severe labor shortages are starting to damage...
- Author: Surendra K. Dara
UC ANR Cooperative Extension Advisor Surendra Dara's new IPM model is considered a practical and sustainable approach by educators and practitioners around the world, with an estimated benefit of $33.5 million from improved returns or savings.
The Issue
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a concept of pest management in an ecologically sustainable manner. Although IPM implementation has been promoted for decades and many farms apply IPM practices to some extent there are certain deficiencies in the understanding of IPM and its components and finding non-chemical management options or exploiting cultural practices to...
