- Author: Jasmin Del Toro
On August 25, Lindcove Research Center hosted the first field event of year 2021! A field day was dedicated to discussing information on citrus thrips biology, damage, and management options available. Event kicked off by asking questions to the 42 participants about their pest management needs. Dr. Sandipa Gautam talked about citrus thrips biology and fruit scarring damage on different citrus varieties. Data on citrus thrips resistance to Delegate showed that resistance in San Joaquin Valley populations of citrus thrips is increasing and this is confirmed by PCA and grower observations. This year seemed to be a problem year for citrus thrips, with growers spraying up to five times to control thrips. Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell discussed citrus thrips trials screening different chemicals and emphasized the importance of using different class of pesticides for resistant management in citrus thrips. Participants observed thrips and the scarring damage caused by citrus thrips.
Dr. Sandipa Gautam lecturing about citrus thrips
Dr. Grafton Cardwell talking about management options for citrus thrips
Participants observing citrus thrips
Observing thrips scarring and collecting percentage scar data for tangos and clementine's
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Applications for the director of Lindcove Research and Extension Center are still being accepted with a closing date of April 24.
The position is open to all ANR academics including Agricultural Experiment Station faculty.
“We are extending the deadline because of COVID-19 related issues,” said Mark Lagrimini, vice provost for research and extension.
Candidates should submit their CV and Letter of Interest to Joan Warren at jtwarren@ucanr.edu no later than April 24, 2020. Letters should highlight how your passion, skills and past experiences will contribute to the future success of Lindcove REC. Applications will be evaluated by the search committee, and a recommendation made to the Vice Provost of Research & Extension.
The Lindcove REC director position description can be downloaded at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/323399.docx.
UC ANR leadership is proud of its outstanding network of nine Research and Extension Centers across the state. Including academic salaries and temporary funding, UC ANR invests close to $14 million annually in the REC system. We are committed to continuing to make an investment of this magnitude, recognizing the importance of each individual REC, and the REC system to our research and extension missions.
A freeze on state operations and maintenance funding since 2006, and a virtual absence of deferred maintenance funds, necessitates a close look at how the annual investment is used so as to position the RECs for a long, successful future. UC ANR leadership is taking the long view to its programmatic collaboration and growth. As a result, we are developing a strategy for cost recovery to continue to operate and improve the facilities so that we can better serve researchers and their research and extension activities – well into the next decade, not just the next three to five years.
Key attributes of the strategy include:
- improved clarity of how full-cost research rates are calculated and how researcher costs are derived, based on a researcher's specific and agreed upon needs for labor and facilities,
- establishment of rates four to six months in advance of the effective date for the rate (i.e. rates published in January for projects beginning in July, or some variation of) in recognition of the need to project costs in advance of research start date,
- development of a cost structure that reflects different project needs and differences in costs required to support the needs, and
- ability to confirm researcher costs for specific, itemized research needs over a multi-year timeframe at time of proposal submission to a funding agency.
A move to this new way of calculating research rates will take some time to establish across all nine RECs. Our goal is to have this rolled out between January and March 2018 and to go into effect for any projects (new, renewed or expanded usage) beginning July 1, 2018. This is an ambitious goal given the review and approval process in place that ensures fairness of proposed methodology and charges. However, we are committed to making this a high priority in order to improve the research experience.
To assess feasibility of the approach, the Desert REC will move to a new model in the very near term and serve as a pilot study for the July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018 timeframe. The new model includes different rates for different services (land, water, pesticides, labor, etc.). The new model applies at Desert REC for both new and continuing projects and provides the opportunity to identify any issues early on and make the necessary adjustments. The remaining RECs will develop research rates for REC services over the next few months and the new model will be refined and adapted in 2018-2019 for the remaining eight RECs.
For 2017-2018, researchers continuing projects at all RECs, except Desert REC and West Side REC, should plan on an additional 10 percent to their 2016-2017 research rate to cover increases in salaries and benefit rates and reflect a reduced subsidy by center funds applied to the full cost rate. New and renewed projects will be billed at a researcher rate of $27.46 per hour. A new project is one that has not been submitted to, and approved by, the REC previously. This higher rate reflects the need to reduce the subsidy applied to the full cost rate.
Researchers at West Side REC will be billed at a rate 10 percent above the 2016-2017 West Side REC research rate for all projects.
Developing a new strategy for setting research rates based on different rates for different services will take time, thus the decision to move forward as outlined above. The pilot assessment at Desert REC will illustrate the impacts of a new strategy on both researchers and business operations and help identify best practices to support the transition to a new strategy. We are committed to maintaining a system of RECs that are positioned to address present and emerging research needs for the long term and meet the planning needs of researchers.
Research and Extension Center |
New projects and |
Continuing projects |
Desert |
Charges based on services utilized (acreage, water, labor etc.) |
|
West Side |
2016-17 rate + 10% |
2016-17 rate + 10% |
Hansen, Hopland, Intermountain, Kearney, Lindcove, Sierra Foothill, South Coast |
$27.46 |
2016-17 rate + 10% |
Wendy Powers
Associate Vice President
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
- Author: Roberta Barton
- Contact: Elizabeth E Grafton-Cardwell
High schools are looking for business and community partners that can provide "linked learning" opportunities to students as they prepare for college and careers. Lindcove REC recently engaged freshmen students from Woodlake High School Ag Academy in a full morning of hands-on, experiential learning that linked them to real-world ag science research and ag mechanics. Ag science students participated in an experiment to determine the best pesticide treatment for citricola scale. Ag mechanics students learned about irrigation, how the fruit grading system on the packline functions and they learned about shop tools. The outreach was well-received by both the teachers and the students who rated the visit as outstanding! We look forward to sharing Lindcove REC with more local high school Ag Academy programs in Tulare County.
- Author: Alison L Kent
Lindcove REC hosted a citrus tasting event and tour of the facility in mid-December. Included in the tour was the Compac and Taste Tech fruit grading system on the packline, which allows a large amount of citrus to be graded and evaluated quickly and very accurately. This is very important for researchers, who want to know how the treatments applied in the field studies have affected fruit number and fruit quality. Fruit is unloaded one tree at a time onto the line and each piece of fruit passes through three sets of light systems, is photographed by multiple cameras that collect data and is weighed. The cameras takes 30 pictures of each piece of fruit as it rotates along the belt, and the data output reports each of ten colors as a percentage of the total fruit surface area, as well fruit width and length, weight and size. Taste Tech’s Near Infrared technology can measure Brix (providing a sugar/acid ratio) and internal problems such as granulation. Experiments are underway to determine if the near infrared system can differentiate freeze damaged fruit from undamaged fruit – which would be extremely helpful in a year such as this when packinghouses are struggling to sort out damaged fruit.
Compac and Taste Tec have been providing technical support to Lindcove and working with Lindcove researchers and staff to make improvements in the software modeling. This kind of collaboration is typical of the kinds of partnerships that can flourish at the Research and Extension Centers to help improve our food and how it is delivered.