- (Focus Area) Pest Management
- Author: Michael Hsu
Organic Agriculture Institute needs assessment refines how it can address pressing challenges
The explosive growth of organic agriculture in the U.S. – reflected in a 90% increase in organic farms from 2011 to 2021, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics – has come at a cost for some farmers. With new farming operations increasing the supply of organic commodities, along with consolidation of buyers, growers report that their profit margins are not what they used to be.
Those market size considerations are among the challenges highlighted in a new report detailing the initial findings by the University of California Organic Agriculture Institute on the most pressing needs of the state's organic sector. OAI gathered and analyzed data from 423 responses to an online grower survey, over 60 interviews with stakeholders across the organic community, and additional observations from farm visits and workshops.
The report describes other frequently mentioned systemic priorities, such as maintaining integrity of the term “organic,” developing a market for organic seeds, spreading consumer awareness, and alleviating the burdens of organic certification and reporting.
Shriya Rangarajan, the postdoctoral researcher with OAI leading this statewide needs assessment, said that the reported challenges varied by organic status (fully certified, transitioning to organic, or a mixed farm with some conventional), type of crop, as well as size of the operation. She noted survey respondents were roughly representative of the sector overall – 70% small-scale growers and 30% medium and large.
“Organic is not a homogenous industry, to say the least – small growers and large growers are very different; for small growers, their challenges tend to be financial and regulatory, especially relating to certification requirements and labor,” said Rangarajan. She added that larger growers mentioned different types of challenges, weeds and pest pressures for instance, given the difficulty in controlling managing these at scale without the use or availability of organic inputs.
Organic Agriculture Institute key to sharing resources across state
Another common theme from the assessment is that the organic sector needs more accessible resources to address those myriad concerns. For OAI, established in 2020 under UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the initial findings validated and refined the direction of its research and extension programs.
“As a new organization, we've been trying to figure out where we fit into this ecosystem and how we can support it,” said Houston Wilson, a UC Cooperative Extension entomology specialist who has served as OAI's director since its founding.
Because OAI was envisioned as a hub of resources and connections for California's organic community, Wilson and his colleagues are especially interested in understanding how its constituent members obtain information – and how OAI can improve their access.
“Growers are finding it difficult to navigate the resources that exist for organic agriculture, like technical information, financial support, compliance and certification support,” Wilson said. "While we'd like to see more resources for organic in general, those that currently exist can sometimes be hard to navigate or it can be hard to know where to go for the right thing – that became really apparent early on.”
While some producers are contacting OAI directly with their questions, Wilson is eager to develop tools and systems that can serve the community more broadly. For example, Wilson and Krista Marshall – OAI's policy and partnerships coordinator – are currently beta-testing a new map tool, built in conjunction with UC ANR's Informatics and GIS (IGIS) team. The map, expected to be ready in fall 2024, will enable users to click on their county and see all available resources related to organic agriculture.
Wilson added that OAI will have four full-time staffers by fall, further expanding its research, extension, and education efforts. After holding four field events this past year, OAI aims to offer further increase activities in the coming year, including not just field events but also online resources, webinars and more. Also, a new training and technical assistance coordinator will be tasked with bringing Cooperative Extension advisors and other technical assistance personnel across the state up to speed on a range of organic topics, so they can more effectively answer questions from clientele in their region.
New survey aims to trace crucial organic knowledge networks
Although the OAI team has gained a sense of how information is shared across the organic community (and started to formalize those interconnections through a California Organic Agriculture Knowledge Network), they are now developing a survey to study those relationships more systematically.
“We're trying to understand what kind of knowledge resources people tap into, which is something that has come up repeatedly in our needs assessment,” Rangarajan said. “We're trying to understand who people are speaking to because, at the end of the day, organic is still a relatively small part of agriculture in California, and that makes it more fragmented. So trying to connect those different parts becomes important.”
Once Wilson has a more nuanced understanding of organic knowledge networks, he will be able to strategize and position OAI – and the UC – as a more effective partner and contributor in the sector.
“Given the history of organic, growers have had to rely on each other a lot,” Wilson explained. “We understand that the university has unique expertise to bring to the table, but we also acknowledge that there's all these other knowledge holders out there, so one of the roles that we see ourselves having is helping to facilitate those connections, strengthen them and increase the frequency of interaction.”
That may include further supporting efforts that connect transitioning organic farmers with experienced growers (a mentorship program led by Certified California Organic Farmers, or CCOF), or giving more structure to grower-researcher partnerships that can help address a host of production challenges. In OAI's grower survey, weed management topped the list, followed by water and disease issues, all exacerbated by climate variability.
“I think a lot of the real innovation changes are coming through growers experimenting with their own practice,” Rangarajan explained. “From a research perspective, one of the best ways to take this forward would be to formalize those experiments in some way so that knowledge becomes more reportable.”
And collaboration on “organic topics,” such as finding alternatives to synthetic pesticides, are a boon to the entire agricultural sector – conventional growers included.
“Everyone is trying to reduce pesticide use; everyone is trying to reduce environmental impacts,” Wilson said. “You don't have to be certified organic to benefit from organic research, these practices can be used by anyone.”
The report with OAI's initial findings on organic needs can be found at: https://ucanr.edu/sites/organic/files/396228.pdf.
/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Belinda Messenger-Sikes
Nutsedges are aggressive and persistent weeds that commonly infest lawns, vegetable and flower gardens, and landscapes. These perennial sedges are a problem in lawns because they grow faster than turfgrasses and result in non-uniform turf. In landscape beds, nutsedge can grow up through mulches–even plastic mulches!
Yellow nutsedge grows throughout California while purple nutsedge can be found mostly in the south of the state and the Central Valley. Once established, nutsedge is difficult to control because it forms tubers in the soil that can live up to three years. The best approach is to prevent the weed's spread.
To help you identify and better manage this troublesome weed, UC IPM has updated the Pest Notes: Nutsedge. This fact sheet was revised by UCCE San Diego Area Integrated Pest Management Advisor Emeritus, Cheryl Wilen. Updates include additional nonchemical control methods and herbicides that are effective for early nutsedge infestations.
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
As vacation season begins, people will be traveling much more in the coming months. Whether you'll be staying at a hotel, hostel, motel, rental home, or summer camp, you should always be on the lookout for bed bugs. A bed bug check takes only a few minutes to complete and can give you and your family peace of mind when staying at new places.
Bed bugs are small insects, but big enough to see with the naked eye. They are oval shaped, wingless, and reddish brown. Bed bugs feed only on human blood, usually at nighttime while we are sleeping.
It's important to remember that bed bugs can occur anywhere and are not always an indication of poor hygiene or care. Bed bugs can be moved to new places on furniture, luggage, clothing, and bedding.
Follow these steps to do a simple bed bug check:
- Leave luggage in the lobby, hallway, outside the door, or bathtub while you inspect the room.
- Check the bed. Look for signs of live bed bugs, shed skins, blood stains, or eggs.
- If staying in a pre-made bed, pull back the sheets and look around mattress seams, the boxspring and headboard, and behind the nightstand. A flashlight can be helpful when doing this. If there is just a mattress, such as at camps and hostels, inspect the seams of the mattress pad and lift it up to also look underneath.
- Check other areas of the room. Inspect any upholstered furniture, behind picture frames, and along baseboards. Most bed bugs will be around the bed if they are present.
When you return home from your stay, inspect any luggage for bed bugs that may have hitched a ride. People can pick up bed bugs while traveling on buses, trains, airplanes or other locations with upholstered seats. Clothing from your trip can be laundered on the hottest setting to kill any bed bugs that may have gone unnoticed.
Don't let bed bugs ruin your summer fun!
- Watch this short video to learn how to do a bed bug inspection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCc3Mngo7E&t=2s.
- Learn more about bed bug identification and control in UC IPM's Pest Notes: Bed Bugs https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7454.html.
- Author: Denise Godbout-Avant
Pollinators receive food in the form of nectar (source of sugar) or pollen (source of protein, fat, and other nutrients). In the process of moving from flower to flower to feed, pollinators disperse pollen grains among plants of the same species, enabling the plants to reproduce. Flowers have evolved over long periods of time into many colors, shapes and scents to attract their pollinators, thus creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
The Pollinators
While bees are the primary pollinators, other insects including butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, some birds such as hummingbirds, and bats also play important roles.
Honeybees & Native Bees
Honeybees (genus Apis) are the bees we are most familiar with. However, honeybees are just one species of a very diverse group with over 20,000 species worldwide, 4,000 species in the USA and 1,600 in California. Native bees come in a variety of shapes, colors, sizes and lifestyles that make them very efficient pollinators. Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, which are social bees living in colonies, native bees are solitary with 70 percent nesting in the ground with the rest nesting in wood and plant stems.
Butterflies
Butterflies are daytime flying insects who often have gorgeous colorful wings. Their larvae sometimes require a specific plant to feed on, though most adults will get their nectar from many plants.
Moths
Moths are mostly evening and nighttime fliers, though some are out in the late afternoon or early morning. They are attracted to sweet-smelling flowers. Less colorful than butterflies, they are easily differentiated from butterflies by their “feathery” antennae.
Flies
Flies are not generally thought of as pollinators, however many are, particularly hover flies (family Syrphidae) and bee flies (family Bombyliidae), both of which are generalist pollinators. Generalist pollinators visit a wide range of plants, making them important inhabitants of gardens and fields.
Beetles
Beetles are a large group, with up to 28,000 species in the USA. Most beetles are not pollinators, but some do visit flowers for nectar or pollen and help fertilize some flowering plants, particularly magnolias.
Wasps
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are the most prominent pollinating birds in the Americas. With their long beaks, they can reach deep into flowers while sipping nectar. In addition to nectar, they also forage on insects and spiders.
Bats
Bats are nocturnal pollinators that play an important role in pollinating cacti and agave, as well as many tropical and subtropical plants including bananas, avocados, century plants and cashews. Species such as Mexican long-nose bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) have evolved heads and long tongues to access light-colored flowers which open at night, often producing abundant nectar and pollen.
How You Can Help Pollinators
Pollinators need a diversity of flowers with lots of nectar and pollen. They require easy access to flowers blooming throughout the seasons, particularly during late winter, early spring, and late autumn seasons when fewer flowers bloom. Different flower species provide differing amounts of nectar. Native plants generally provide more nutritious nectar for pollinators, so they attract more pollinators. Download the Xerces Society Recommended Plants for the Central Valley Region for a list of plants.
To help protect pollinators, if you choose to use a pesticide, select one that are less toxic, such as an insecticidal soap or oil. Avoid broad-spectrum sprays that kill numerous insects. Spray on non-windy days in the early morning or late evening when pollinators are not present. Use UC Integrated Pest Management for information on pests and pest management (https://ipm.ucanr.edu/).
Citations
- The Pollinator Partnership https://www.pollinator.org/
- Xerces Society book: Attracting Native Pollinators: https://xerces.org/publications/books/attracting-native-pollinators
- California Native Plant Society (CNPS) native planting guides: https://www.cnps.org/gardening/choosing-your-plants/native-planting-guides
Free Resources from University of California and your local UC Master Gardeners
- CA Friendly Friendly Garden Recipes https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8518
- How to Attract and Maintain Pollinators in your Garden https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8498
- UC Stanislaus County Master Gardener: Butterflies in Your Garden with list of plants that attract butterflies: https://ucanr.edu/sites/CEStanislausCo/files/345791.pdf
- Gardening for Pollinators and Diversity from UC Davis Arboretum: https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/pollinator-gardening
- Bees in the Neighborhood: best practices for urban gardeners. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8596
Books and ID Cards for Purchase
Common Plants to Attract California Native Bees https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=3557
Want both cards? Bundle and save $10 at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=3557BUN
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Garden in Stanislaus County since 2020.
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Rats can contaminate our food, damage structures, and spread diseases. To help residents and urban pest professionals safely and effectively manage rats, UC IPM has updated the Pest Notes: Rats publication. This revised fact sheet is authored by UC Cooperative Extension Human-Wildlife Conflicts advisor Dr. Niamh Quinn, a recognized expert in urban rat management. Updates include additional information on rat damage, specific sanitation tactics for both Norway and roof rats, tips for rodent-proofing your home, and new illustrations to clearly show correct placement of traps. Rules and regulations regarding rodenticide use in California are constantly changing, so up-to-date information about rodenticides are summarized in tables including their availability to residents and licensed professionals.
Visit Pest Notes: Rats to learn more and register for our November webinar on rat management!