- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Washing fresh produce may not be enough to make contaminated food safe, according to a report on KTVU.com about USDA findings. KTVU is the Bay Area Fox Television affiliate.
USDA found that irradiation could provide a reliable way to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses reported each year in the United States, according to the director of the study.
For the story, the TV station sought comment from UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist Christine Bruhn. Bruhn said some activists are opposed to irradiation, but the process is gaining consumer acceptance as studies have...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An article in the Los Angeles Times gardening section today takes on weeds -- especially those that were deliberately introduced by nurseries for landscaping purposes but have naturalized, spread wildly and are crowding out native species that provide wildlife habitat.
Freelance writer Emily Green centered her story on the UC ANR publication "Weeds of California and Other Western States" by UC Davis Cooperative Extension weed specialist Joseph M. DiTomaso....
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Cooperative Extension 4-H and environmental horticulture advisor Rose Hayden-Smith provided information about California school gardens to an Associated Press writer who was reporting on the growing popularity of school gardens in the United States.
The story focused on a concrete schoolyard in hurricane-recovering New Orleans that has been transformed into a garden. It appears that writer Janet McConnaughy was looking for national numbers on school gardens, but noted that difinitive data are scarce. She wrote that the National Gardening Association's online registry lists 1,500 school...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
KPIX in San Francisco noted that UC Davis entomologist James Carey told a San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee that the decision by the California Department of Food and Agriculture to conduct aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth is "scientifically misguided" and that there are "other tools" that can be used to control the agricultural pest.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Like paparazzi chasing a celebrity, Bay Area media have vigilantly followed the whereabouts and goings-on of California's newest exotic pest, the light brown apple moth. ANR scientists continue to be a valuable source of information.
Today, the Berkeley Daily Planet quoted UC Berkeley entomology professor Miguel Altieri. According to the article, Altiere said CDFA's plan to eradicate the light brown apple moth “is like the 9-11 terrorist policy applied to agriculture."
On Monday, the
