- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Madera County organic farmer Tom Willey weighed in yesterday with what I would describe as cautious appreciation for the decision to dedicate 10 acres at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center to research on organic farming. Willey’s comments were published in the weekly newsletter “What’s Growin’ On,” which accompanies the boxes of fruit and vegetables that go to his farm’s “subscribers.”
Willey runs a Community Supported Agriculture program, in which consumers pay a monthly subscription to receive a weekly box of fruit and vegetables. Here's a link to his farm's Web site. Since I am a subscriber, I receive the delicious fresh produce and the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The news media can't resist a great story. That tenant was confirmed this weekend when fascinating results of a UC Riverside research project were shared with the media and then published widely.
UC Riverside environmental microbiologist David Crowley and postdoctoral researcher Jong-Shik Kim discovered bacteria in the La Brea tar pits that are uniquely adapted to the harsh environment and contain three previously undiscovered classes of enzymes that can naturally break down petroleum products, according to a news release by Iqbal Pittalwala of UC Riverside news service.
/span>- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Call it a sign of the times. As I drive around
The recent dwindling of honey bees has been well...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Biodynamic farming takes organic agriculture one step further. In addition to rejecting synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, the practice involves adding soil and plant amendment "preparations" and even evoking astrological inspiration. As such, the system is considered poppycock to some, indespensible to adherents. Recently, biodynamic agriculture has been in the news. Insidebayarea.com food writer Jolene Thym published a story yesterday about biodynamic farmer Mike Benzinger of Benzinger Family Vineyards in Glenn Ellen.
"In commercial farming, you push nature out to the borders," Benzinger is quoted in the article. "Here, we have invited it...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The director of the UC Cooperative Extension Sea Grant Extension Program, Paul Olin, was cited in a story published today by the Marin Independent Journal. His expertise was sought about a decision made by the Marin County Board of Supervisors to ask Sen. Dianne Feinstein to help one of the county's largest oyster farms stay in business.
National Park officials say the oyster beds threaten an important habitat for harbor seals and shorebirds and damage the growth of native eelgrass.
According to the article, written by Rob Rogers, Olin downplayed the effects of the oyster company on native eelgrass.
"Every farm has impacts, but it also has benefits," Olin said. "In this case, those...