- 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
While federal agencies are faulted in a recent study for not doing enough to reduce the fire hazard in areas where forest and chaparal wildland abuts human-inhabited communities, another study points to the greater importance of the homeowners themselves in reducing fire danger.
The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2002 was supposed to cut annual fire-fighting expenses by, for example, thinning forests, eliminating ladder fuels and creating buffers, according to an Associated Press story that was circulated yesterday. However, federal agencies have fallen short of the Act's goals.
Some scientists are now saying more effort...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An article in the July 2009 issue of Prevention magazine is based on information from UC Davis Cooperative Extension post harvest specialist Marita Cantwell. The magazine, with a national circulation of 3.2 million, doesn't appear to put all its articles in the online version; I couldn't find this one.
The two-page feature, titled "Keep Produce Fresh Longer" and written by Stephanie Breakstone, gives up-to-date advice on preventing fruit and vegetable spoilage with specific information about watermelon, grapes, fresh herbs, tomatoes, berries and leafy greens. Cantwell suggests grapes, fresh herbs and leafy greens be wrapped in paper towels to absorb moisture....
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Marin Independent Journal ran an article in yesterday's paper announcing that the director of UC Cooperative Extension in Marin County, Ellen Rilla, is taking a sabbatical leave beginning June 30 to update her 1997 book "California Agritourism Handbook for Farmers and Ranchers."
According to the story, written by Rob Rogers, she expects to work elsewhere in the University of California Cooperative Extension system after her writing sabbatical ends.
Rilla has served as county director for 21 years, coming to the University from Circuit Rider Productions of Windsor, where she worked on a $1.2 million...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An array of scientists are working together to help the U.S. Forest Service determine the best way to ensure the long-term health of California forests. One aspect of the wide-ranging effort - called the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project or SNAMP - is to define a healthy forest. UC Berkeley scientist John Battles is leading a group of researchers who have been extracting core samples from thousands of trees in the Sugar Pine and Nelder Gove areas over the past two years to analyze their health.
A recent public field trip in the experimental area was covered by Sierra Star reporter Jill Coppler. Her article said people...
