- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
One of the forces driving agricultural experiments in California's fertile San Joaquin Valley is climate change, reported Mark Schapiro on Grist.org. Although some sources still don't feel completely comfortable with the concept.
"Whether it's carbon built up in the atmosphere or just friggin' bad luck, the conditions are straining us," said John Duarte, president of Duarte Nursery.
The state's fruit and nut orchards are taking the most heat as conditions change. A fruit or nut tree planted today may be ill-suited to climatic conditions by the time it begins bearing fruit in 5 or 10 years. Between 1950 and 2009,...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Longtime local UC Cooperative Extension advisor retires
(Appeal-Democrat) Jake Abbott, June 30 [Page A1]
After nearly four decades as the Yuba-Sutter area's tree crops and environmental horticulture advisor for the UC Cooperative Extension, Janine Hasey recently announced that she would leave the position at the end of June.
Strawberry Growers Lean on Biologicals to...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
In Full Bloom: Choose natives adapted to our climate to cut down on watering
(Virginian Pilot) Allissa Bunner, June 15
Mulching is also a great way to help your garden beat the heat. The University of California Cooperative Extension Center for Landscape and Urban Horticulture in a review submitted a long list of the benefits mulch can give a garden. Besides reducing weeds and increasing soil nutrients, mulch will retain moisture and lower soil temperatures by dissipating radiant heat. Organic, low density mulches like pine straw are great for this, but hardwood mulch will get the job done as well. Lay mulch thickly, around four inches deep, keeping it pulled away...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
KQED reporter Mark Schapiro discovered a "center of insurrection" at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points, where UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist Jeff Mitchell has been building soil on a research plot for 20 years.
Schapiro's story was part of a series titled "Reckoning in the Central Valley," a collaboration between Bay Nature magazine and KQED Science examining how climate change is exposing...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As California grappled with a record-breaking heatwave last week and 236 wildfires, officials are bracing for the worst, reported Maanvi Singh in the Guardian.
The fires have been mostly fueled by grass and brush that came up during the state's especially wet winter and mild spring, according to a CAL FIRE official. UC Cooperative Extension fire advisor Lenya Quinn-Davidson said California's annual wildfire season is growing longer – beginning earlier in the spring and stretching later in the...
