- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Bakersfield Californian reported that it isn't just the listless economy ravaging Kern County agriculture. The industry's woes are pinned on water.
Reporter Courtenay Edelhart spoke to the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, Dan Sumner, about the national economic downturn's impact on ag. With the exception of the dairy industry, Sumner said, agriculture prices haven't been that bad over the past year.
The state of California has, however, suffered three years of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The idea was dropped after grower Andy Wilson raised objections to the plan saying the reclaimed water contains trace amounts of boron and sodium, which could accumulate in the soil and eventually kill trees. Instead, the city will sponsor a 10- to 15-year UC Riverside study to learn how boron affects trees and fruit.
According to the article, written by David Danelski, UCR soil...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A frequent research collaborator with UC Cooperative Extension, West Side farmer John Diener made the front page of the Fresno Bee on Sunday with a story about the potential for water savings with a center-pivot irrigation system.
On airplane flights over middle America, passengers have for decades seen large circles made by center-pivot irrigation on the quilt of farmland landscape below. The system is just beginning to catch on in California, and Diener, working with UC, is an early adopter.
Diener told Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez that the pivot system is 10 to 20 percent more efficient than furrow irrigation.
"One of our challenges is how...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Happy New Year! UC ANR experts are off to a running start in the New Year, with appearances in a number of well-read publications.
The Associated Press moved a story on the wire about the use of lasers for irrigation. The article was picked up widely in the news media over the holiday weekend, including the Los Angeles Times. The article, written by John Rogers, said a UC San Diego professor of environmental engineering is pointing a laser beam across an alfalfa crop in Southern California's Imperial Valley, looking for a better way to conserve the millions of gallons of water sprayed each year on thirsty crops. The objective is to give...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
To close out this short Thanksgiving week, there are a number of UC Ag and Natural Resources hits in the media:
Capitol Press covered an agritourism seminar held recently in Stockton and developed a detailed article with much information drawn from a presentation by Holly George, UCCE's Sierra and Plumas county livestock and natural resources advisor.
Besides the more conventional agritourism ventures - pumpkin patches, corn mazes, wineries and U-pick operations - "serious" farms can benefit from the trend by opening their farms to the public for activities such as hunting, bird watching and...
