- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Panic-buying groceries and hoarding food in homes is impacting the U.S. supply chain and putting a strain on low-income families who don't have the financial ability to spend hundreds of dollars on groceries at once, reported Ganda Suthivarakom in the New York Times.
“That is probably about half of us, especially during this time when many of us are not working or can't work, with limited incomes or no incomes coming in,” said Lorrene Ritchie, director of the UC Agriculture and Natural...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Mien farmers get advice for growing strawberries in Yolo County
(Woodland Daily Democrat) ANR news release, May 31
Abnormal Weather Takes a Toll on California Olive Crop
(Ag Net West) Brian German, May 30
The late winter freeze caused significant issues for several different commodities throughout the state and has been especially problematic for the California olive crop. The fluctuating temperatures have created substantial...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Unprecedented Study Discovers what Urban Coyotes Really Eat
(Care2) Laura Goldman, March 30
Hiking boots, avocados, candy wrappers and fast-food containers. These aren't a few of my favorite things, but they are some of the items found inside the stomachs of dead urban coyotes in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
…Since the study began over a year ago, the researchers, led by Dr. Niamh Quinn, the human-wildlife interactions advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, have discovered that cats make up only about eight percent of a coyote's diet.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A perennial bane in many California gardens, brown snails were intentionally introduced into a vineyard in the mid-1800s in Santa Clara County "with an eye to the pot," reported Dan Brekke on KQED News. The snails are highly prized in Europe as escargot. The brown snail joined many other species of native and non-native snails and slugs that are detailed on a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources website dedicated to the slimy mollusks.
Approximately 280 species...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Bats prey on insects and can consume as much as their body weight in insects per night. Rachael Long, UC ANR Cooperative Extension farm advisor, discussed how bats protect walnut orchards with Capital Public Radio show Insight host Beth Ruyak. Long's research has found that each bat provides about $10 worth of pest control savings for walnut growers.
California farmers produce most of the nation's walnuts, about 500,000 tons of walnuts on 290,000 acres, with an annual crop value of $1.8 billion.
Long, who works on field crops and pest control in Yolo, Sacramento and Solano counties, noted...