- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
"Let it be" is the mantra of some Central Valley farmers when it comes to turning up the soil, wrote John Holland in the Modesto Bee. Holland was reporting on a recent UC survey that found more farmers are using conservation agriculture practices.
The survey was conducted by UC's Conservation Agriculture Systems Institute, made up of government, academic and environmental partners. It looked at land in nine San Joaquin Valley counties that was planted in silage and grain corn, small grains for hay, tomatoes, cotton, dry beans and melons.
In 2010, conservation tillage systems accounted for...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Rain and cool temperatures this week have prompted newspapers to see how the weather change is sitting with the state's agricultural industry.
The Woodland Daily Democrat reported that local rain and wind were good for some crops, and bad for others. The cool weather has postponed the harvest date for rice, while the rain has provided enough water for wheat to germinate, the story said.
UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Kent Britton told reporter Katherine Jarvis farmers should wait until Nov. 1 to plant their winter wheat to avoid frost damage later in the season.
The
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Doug Munier of UCCE in Glenn County and Kent Brittan of UCCE in Yolo County studied the herbicide-resistant oil crop to determine its potential for biofuel. However, they found that yields were too low to make canola a profitable irrigated California crop.
"They gave up on canola, but canola did not give up on California,"...