- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The plight of the honeybee continues to make headlines, and reporters continue to seek out UC experts for comment. Today, the Sacramento Bee noted that colony collaspe disorder "hits agriculture hard."
Acccording to the story, many adult bees have mysteriously disappeared – leaving only the queen and the young brood bees – and researchers don't yet know exactly why.
"As a research community, we're just scrambling," the story quoted Susan Cobey, a UC Davis researcher and bee breeder.
According to the article, researchers and beekeepers nationwide collected samples of affected hives in 2007. Most of them were also hit by...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Sonoma County UC Cooperative Extension office is in the news today for launching a meat-buying club. Reporter Michelle Anna Jordan of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat praised the idea in her food column.
"What I find so innovative about the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club is that it benefits not one but many local farmers and ranchers, and that is a great thing from any perspective," Jordan wrote.
UCCE is sponsoring the startup of the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club, which will later be turned over to a non-profit organization. Members will receive boxes of frozen local meats, delivered monthly to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Stockton Record agricultural writer Reid Fujii wrote an entertaining piece on 2008's designation as the International Year of the Potato. While acknowledging that San Joaquin County isn't generally thought of as a potato capital, county farmers cultivate 2,000 to 3,000 acres of potatoes a year, generating a harvest worth an estimated $22.7 million in 2006, according to the story.
"That would put potatoes at No. 3 in terms of vegetable crops in the county, behind tomatoes and asparagus," Fujii quoted Brenna Aegerter, UC Cooperative Extension vegetable crop farm advisor in San Joaquin...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Los Angeles Times reported that PG&E will be handing over 100,000 acres of ecologically rich and endangered watershed lands in California to new owners that are aiming for conservation. For the story, reporter Tami Abdollah spoke to UC Cooperative Extension forestry specialist Bill Stewart of UC Berkeley.
"You're basically looking at lots of free real estate," Steward was quoted. He also pointed out some concerns associated with the land transfer.
"The truth is, when you have to manage land, it costs money," Stewart said.
"Those are real costs, and that's...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an obituary on Ed Weber, which included quotes from family, colleagues and growers. Weber, the UC Cooperative Extension county director and viticulture farm advisor in Napa County, died Dec. 31 while riding his bike.
Here are some of the comments:
"He was not only the lead guy in providing vineyard and viticulture advice, but also had oversight of the Master Gardeners program and 4-H activities in the county. Ed was a quiet, solid, good-natured deliverer of knowledge and competence, and he did it in a way that never ruffled anyone's feathers. He was always perceived as being helpful...
