- (Focus Area) Agriculture
- Author: Ben A Faber
Unlock the Secrets to HealthyAvocados:
Learn about Avocado Sunblotch Viroid
September13,2024
9am-12:30pm
The Farm Bureau,Escondido
420SBroadway,Escondido,CA92025
Registration link:
https://forms.gle/12LxUUdkPb8DmNdm8
Fatemeh Khodadadi fatemehk@ucr.edu(845) 901-3046
Presentations:
- FatemehKhodadadi: Understanding ASBVd: from discovery to diagnostic hurdles
- ElizeJooste:An overview of ASBVd in SouthAfrica:transmission challenges and how to mitigate the spread
- PeggyMauk:Protecting California's avocado genetic resources through sunblotch viroid detection
- MehdiKamali:Rapid and sensitive detection of Avocado Sunblotch Viroid Disease (ASBVd) using our digital methodology
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The bees.
When longtime beekeeper and retired teacher Ettamarie Peterson displayed a bee observation hive at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party, the youngsters, ages 3 to 9, got a taste of what it's like inside a bee colony--along with a taste of honey.
The youngsters singled out the queen bee, worker bees (females) and drones (males). They asked such questions as "Where's the queen?" and "Can they get out and hurt me?" and "How many bees are in there?"
Ettamarie, known as the "Queen Bee of Sonoma County," described the queen and pointed out "Look, she's laying eggs--she can lay 1000 eggs a day."
And she assured them that yes, the bees would be staying inside.
"I like to tell the public how they have a pipe through my barn wall so when they are not visiting events and schools they can fly if they are over three weeks old and then explain how in the spring and summer they live only three or so more weeks and make just a tiny bit of honey," she related. "Another question I usually get asked is if there are more than one queen and then I explain how there can be a daughter queen if the old one is about to die and show the photo of the queen cell with the royal jelly."
As for the number of bees, "Maybe 2000 but I told a guy on Saturday to count their legs and divide by 6!"
Ettamarie taught school for 37 years, has kept bees for 30 years, and has volunteered as the leader of a 4-H beekeeping project for the Liberty 4-H Club, Petaluma, for the past 25 years. Already this year she has caught 19 swarms and given them to the 4-H'ers.
Ettamarie said she "started beekeeping before I retired in 1998 from 37 years of teaching. “My teaching career was mostly in special education, following a few years teaching second and first grade. I became one of the first resource teachers in California back in 1980 after getting my master's degree in special education."
Ettamarie is also a longtime friend and supporter of UC Davis. She delivered a tribute to the late Eric Mussen (1946-2022), a 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty.
Active in the beekeeping industry, Ettamarie has served as president and treasurer of Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association (SCBA) and currently edits the SCBA newsletter, The Monthly Extractor. She and her husband, Ray (a non-beekeeper), enjoy life on the Peterson Ranch. "We've been married for 65 years and have 3 children, 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren! What a wonderful life I have!”
While she chatted with the children and the adults, Dr. George Stock, a retired Vacaville-Fairfield physician costumed in a California Master Beekeeper Program bee suit, handed out honey sticks, gifts from the Z Food Specialty/The Hive, Woodland.
Peterson also shared scientific information (some the work of UC Davis emeritus professor Norm Gary), and a cut-out bee from the Sonoma Farm Bureau. Youngsters delighted in posing for pictures as a bee. They also switched to a butterfly (a cut-out banner of the California dogface butterfly loaned by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis).
Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin co-chaired the children's party, themed "Fun on the Farm." The activities? The children petted the Vaca Valley Grange animals, blew bubbles, planted seeds, played a ring toss game, created chalk drawings, decorated paper crowns, and engaged with Mother Goose and the Vacaville Public Library staff. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Girls painted faces and the School of Rock presented a live perormance. A special treat: The Vacaville Police Department, Solano County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol provided them with replica law enforcement badges and other gifts. The CHP fitted the kids with free bicycle helmets.
All in all, it was a buzzworthy event.
- Author: Elizabeth J Fichtner
Mireya Molina, a rising senior at El Diamonte High School, joined UCCE Tulare County as a 2024 summer research intern serving the nut, olive, and prune research and extension program. Mireya has a strong science background and is an active member of her high school horticulture and FFA programs. She has served as a volunteer at fundraisers for the local SPCA and at Happy Trails Riding Academy as well as at a youth science fair hosted by the Visalia Unified School District. Mireya has taken advantage of the AP and agricultural education coursework at El Diamonte High School and expresses an interest in pursuing a BS in animal science at Chico State University in fall 2025. During the summer of 2024, Mireya served as a volunteer intern in the research and extension program of Elizabeth Fichtner, UC ANR Farm Advisor, working on enumerating insects for a pest management study on walnuts. Mireya's work contributes to the understanding of the best timing for application of insect growth regulators (IGR) for management of walnut scale, specifically determining the value of dormant applications versus delayed dormant application of Centaur®, an IGR produced by Nichino America. Her work will help walnut growers gain the maximum value out of each application of the insecticide, thus reducing overall insecticide inputs for management of the pest.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Yes!
That was the scene at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Annual Children's Party, held Thursday morning, Aug. 8 in the museum courtyard on Buck Avenue.
The event, open to children ages 3 and 9, drew a capacity crowd. One of the highlights was The Honey Bee, with a smile as wide as the Sacramento River.
Inside the smiling bee costume was Dr. George Stock (retired physician), who practiced in the Fairfield/Vacaville area for more more than 30 years. A native Californian, he was born and raised in San Diego.
He lives in Vacaville with his life partner, Debbie, for 40-plus years, and "two dogs that changed our lives." He describes himself as a "Sierra hiker, itinerant gardener and wine aficionado."
And now, a honey bee. "Dr. George" handed out honey sticks donated by "Queen Bee" Amelia Harris of the Z Food Specialty/The Hive, Woodland, retired director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. He stood near a bee observation hive displayed by beekeeper Ettamarie Peterson of Petaluma, known fondly as "The Queen Bee of Sonoma County." A retired teacher, she is a past president of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association and is a longtime beekeeping leader with the Liberty 4-H Club.
"That was fun," Dr. George said. "I think the Mickey Mouse/Disney routine worked well. Don't say much, dance and wave your hands, pat ‘em on the head, hold still for photo ops. Thank you for this opportunity." Vacaville residents Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin co-chaired the event, themed "Fun on the Farm."
The California Master Beekeeper Program, directed by associate professor of Cooperative Extension Elina Niño, based in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, loaned the costume to the Vacaville Museum Guild for the day. The Bee has appeared at special events, including the annual California Honey Festival in Woodland.
And now at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party, where there was a doctor in the house, the courtyard and in the bee costume.
Bold moves needed for California agriculture to adapt to climate change
University of California report details farming's needs for climate resilience
California should take urgent and bold measures to adapt its $59 billion agriculture sector to climate change as the amount of water available for crops declines, according to a collaborative report by University of California faculty from four campuses.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the report provides a roadmap for more water capture, storage, and distribution systems that are in harmony with climate projections and ecosystems. It further considers how runoff and groundwater can be used repeatedly as it flows generally from mountainsides to coastal lands.
“The availability of water for consumption is decreasing because of climate change, partly due to increased evaporation and transpiration but also because we don't have the system set up to capture and use the larger and more variable flows that are now the norm,” said Kurt Schwabe, a public policy professor at UC Riverside and co-author of the report.
A warmer planet means fewer but larger rain and snowstorms in California. The rising temperatures and shorter winters also result in smaller volumes of water stored in mountain snowpacks that have historically replenished California's reservoirs each spring. And a greater amount of water is getting lost through evaporation.
This means that agriculture, which uses about 80 percent of the water consumed in the state, will need to adjust to a future with less water available for irrigation.
To help reduce the overall impact on agriculture and society from climate change, the report's authors envision a more nimble and responsive system that can capture and store water from big storms before it goes to sea to prevent floods and keep crops growing through the hot, dry summer months.
To do so, California must increase its water storage capacity, but that doesn't necessarily require building more dams and reservoirs, Schwabe said. Great storage capacity now exists in the state's depleted aquifers below the Central Valley and the coastal plains.
“It's really a huge win,” Schwabe said. “We can start taking more of those flood flows, and unexpected overflows, and put them in these groundwater aquifers. We've got plenty of capacity there, and you don't suffer from the evaporation rates that you do with the surface reservoirs.”
Capturing the flows would involve diverting torrents from heavy rains and accelerated snowmelts to farm fields or to habitat lands where controlled flooding would cause no harm, and the water would percolate down to aquifers. Farmers would then have more groundwater to get through drier periods while also reviving wildlife habitats.
Farmers also should take advantage of new crop varieties, so they have more flexibility to deal with different water situations. Changing crops, unlike changing irrigation systems, is a practice that can lead to reduced overall water use.
“It's obviously an economic decision confronting the growers,” Schwabe said.
However, switching from a water-intensive practice such as flood irrigation to something like drip irrigation, doesn't necessarily save much water at the system level, he said. Flood irrigation may be appropriate if it helps recharge aquifers, or the runoff is used again by other farms.
“Sometimes the runoff water appears later in the system for use,” Schwabe said
California also needs to build more flexibility into its water delivery systems. The state's three major aqueducts — the California State Water Project, the Central Valley Project, and the Colorado River Aqueduct — for the most part transport water from north to south. A greater ability to move water from east to west and vice versa would allow for more efficient water use. Farmers who have more water than they need for a particular season could sell to others in need. With prices based on scarcity plus delivery costs, such a marketplace would have incentives for storage and efficient use, Schwabe said.
The report's title is “Cultivating Climate Resilience in California Agriculture: Adaptations to an Increasingly Volatile Water Future.”
In addition to Schwabe, the report's co-authors are Josué Medellín-Azuar at UC Merced, Alvar Escriva-Bou at UCLA, and Amélie Gaudin and Daniel Sumner at UC Davis.
“When I moved to California over 20 years ago, someone told me, “Don't let people tell you there isn't a lot of water in California because there is. The problem is that it's just managed really poorly,” Schwabe said.
That said, Schwabe believes the state is making progress by developing policies that can lead to more efficient and sustainable outcomes, such as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014.
“Today more than ever before we're seeing partnerships across environmental, agricultural, and municipal sectors to address water scarcity issues,” Schwabe said. “And that's a good thing.”
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