- Author: Kendra T Rose
Dear Colleagues,
The California Governor's Office of Planning and Research seeks applications from University of California/California State University researchers to lead the development of California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment Topical Synthesis Reports. While only UC/CSU affiliates will be considered for the Coordinating Lead Author role, other funded roles will be available to a broad range of individuals or organizations to support the scoping, research, and development process.
The Topical Reports will uplift issues of statewide significance, focusing on climate change impacts and risks in California as well as opportunities to build adaptation capacity and resilience to those impacts. The focus of these reports is to uplift and synthesize existing research and resources alongside the findings from the Fifth Assessment's Original Climate Research programs, where relevant. These reports are not intended to generate completely new research (except where necessary).
Priority topic areas include (see page 4 of the call for more detail):
- Racial Equity & Climate Justice: The effects of current and projected climate change impacts on racial equity and climate justice in California.
- Climate-Induced Human Displacement & Migration: The effects of current and projected climate change impacts on human displacement and migration in California.
- Climate Impacts to the Economy: The fiscal and economic impacts of current and projected climate change events and trends in California.
Please review the Call for Topical Report Coordinating Lead Authors for further details about the author team roles, compensation, expectations, and how to apply to an author team.
Applications are due: July 31, 2024
Amount: $250,000
Thank you.
ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Cindy Yee
It's going to be a sizzling 100°F day today, so I'm outside watering the yard at 7:30 am and notice all the bees also making an early start. Here are some of the bee magnets in my backyard.
Salvia microphylla' Hot Lips' is a perennial favorite. It is not a native, but you wouldn't know it from the number of carpenter bees kissing Hot Lips.
I love the brilliant blue of this sapphire sage. I am always happy to provide the carpenters with a welcome distraction. Otherwise, they would be diligently boring into my hole-studded wood pergola!
Right now, this Crassula tetragona is covered in clusters of white blossoms, and bees are humming around it. It is extremely low maintenance and does spread.
Calandrina spectabilis' stunning magenta flowers make perfect little bowls for visitors to rest and savor the pollen. In May,Calandrina provided a glorious riot of color.
Lastly, Salvia 'Pozo Blue' would be a strong contender in a pollinator popularity contest. Several bees are navigating its many blue-violet blossoms (there is no picture of a bee because it's up high in the retaining wall). Being a native, Pozo Blue does not need much water.
Keep up the good work, bees. Buzz on! Cheers!
- 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>Chilopsis linearis, the desert willow or desert catalpa, is prized in dry gardens for its showy, fragrant blossoms which cover the tree in summer. When many native bloomers are past their spring glory and entering semi-dormancy to protect against heat and drought, the desert willow is just getting started; this tree loves the long hot days of summer. It does best in full sun, becoming leggy and thin in part shade. It is extremely drought resistant and will succumb to root rot if not planted in a well- drained, seldom-irrigated location. In the wild, it will grow in certain riparian conditions, particularly in desert regions along streams, washes, and channels that are ephemeral, drying up between rains. Deciduous in winter, desert willows may shed some leaves in extreme summers to help conserve energy and food.
Although the tree normally doesn't grow taller than 25 feet, the registry of Big Trees has recorded a specimen in Porterville that is 40 feet tall, with a canopy spread of 36 feet and a trunk circumference of just over six feet. That's pretty big for a tree billed by multiple sources as a “small accent tree” for native landscaping.
There are many common names for this lovely tree: flowering willow, desert catalpa, willow-leaved catalpa, willowleaf catalpa, bow willow, flor de mimbre, and mimbre. Mimbre is a Spanish word that is sometimes translated as willow or wicker, but technically means the twigs and sprigs of willow trees that were woven into baskets or furniture.
The desert willow is native to the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico; its native range in California is restricted to the arid southern portions of our state, primarily San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The US Department of Agriculture notes that it can occur naturally as far east as southwest Kansas and eastern Oklahoma. Anywhere that's hot, sunny, dry, and not above 5,000 feet in elevation will support this hardy tree with a life span of between 40 and 150 years.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
- Author: Maureen Clark
Now is the time I dig out the Purple Goat's Beard. The ground is still wet, and the leaves are not too large yet. The Salsify plant somehow made it into my front yard garden. I originally thought it was lovely because I knew this plant was edible. After it bloomed, I knew that it was a terrific reseeding plant and not my garden. It initially came in on the wind from the puffball seed heads, which can travel hundreds of feet.
Most people consider this edible, biennial plant a broadleaf weed. But some foragers harvest wild plants. They eat them raw or make dishes using the roots or leaves. Other people grow large areas of these plants and cultivate them. NOTE: Please do not eat anything you haven't been identified by an expert.
This plant is part of the Asteraceae family and contains three Tragopogon species.
T. dubius, T. porrifolius and T. pratensis. ‘Tragos' means goat in Greek and ‘pogon' means beard. This plant originates from Eurasia and Northern Africa.
It has several common names: Purple Goat's Beard, because of the longer bracts that stick out along the flower petals and look like a goat's beard with purple petals; Oyster plant, because its roots are supposed to taste like oysters; Noon flower, because the blossoms open early at dawn and close at noon; Western Salsify, which has pale yellow flowers; and Meadow Salsify, which has bright yellow flowers.
Salsify starts with a basal rosette of gray-green, grass-like foliage. It has hollow, milky stems and a deep, 1 to 3-foot tap root. It will develop 5 to 6 flowers per plant and grow 2 to 4 feet tall.
The flower arrangement is solitary with an upright habit. The 3 to 4-inch, daisy-like flowers emerge from large, long, narrow pointed buds. Interestingly, these Asteraceae flowers do not have a center disk and only have ray florets. The Florets sit on top of a series of pointed bracts, which encase the flower and from the seed head when closed. So next time you find the Tragopogon plant in bloom, look closely at how the bracts emerge. Do they extend past the petals? Then it is the T. dubius species. If the bracts are equal to the petals in length, then it is the. pratensis. If the plant has a purple flower it is Tragopogon porrifolius.