Read with a Farmer Recording Available

Through the generous donations of the Imperial County Farm Bureau, Imperial County Vegetable Growers Association, Farm Credit West, Imperial Valley Water, and California Women for Agriculture-Imperial Valley there are a limited number of grants available to Imperial County Educators! Educators who attend the 2020 Free Virtual CA Ag in the Classroom Conference on September 25-26 are eligible to apply for the available grants.

These grants are to support the integration of agriculture into regular classroom instruction or after school programs with an academic focus. May be used for initiating new projects or to expand existing projects that promote ag literacy in Imperial County. Grants can be used to fund innovative lessons, activities, classroom resources, guest speakers, outreach programs, field trips, and other projects. For more information and a link to register for the conference, please visit http://drec.ucanr.edu/farm_smart/grant/

If you have ever enjoyed Barilla pasta in your favorite Italian dish, you have most likely consumed Desert Durum wheat from Imperial County. The success of the Desert Durum wheat is due to research of UC Davis Distinguished Professor and HHMI Researcher, Jorge Dubcovsky. Desert REC is the central testing location for the University of California Durum Wheat breeding and Regional testing program. The Imperial Valley is the main location for the production of the Desert Durum ®, a special type of durum with excellent quality that is highly demanded by different local and international buyerslikeBarilla Pasta. Through testing at Desert REC, the UC Durum Wheat breeding and Regional testing program developed the successful variety Desert King in 2005, which was followed in 2011 by Desert King-HP. This varietal incorporated a gene from wild wheat that significantly increased grain protein content.  To satisfy the quality requirements of the international buyers the UC programreleasedMiwok in 2013 with reduced cadmium levels. Recently, in 2018 the program released Desert Gold, which combines the high yield potential of Desert King, low cadmium levels, and a superb pasta quality. The durum wheat varieties developed in collaboration between UC Davis and Desert REC currently cover 43% of the durum wheat acreage in California. In addition, UC Davis and Desert REC have collaborated with industry to incorporate the high grain protein content into their varieties. Considered together, the UC varieties combined with the varieties from industry developed with the help of Desert REC and the UC Davis Breeding program currently cover 80% of the durum wheat acreage in California. This number documents the high value that the UC Davis-Desert REC collaboration brings to the California Wheat Industry in general.

 

 

 

Further reading:

Dubcovsky's Lab Website

UC Small Grains Research & Information:(Research result from Imperial Valley Trials)

UC Davis Wheat Breeding Program

For more information on the UC Durum Wheat breeding and Regional testing program, please contact Jorge Dubcovsky at  jdubcovsky@ucdavis.edu

For more information on DREC and its educational program, please contact our Center Director, Jairo Diaz at jdiazr@ucanr.edu or our Farm Smart Program Manager, Stacey Amparano, at scwills@ucanr.edu. You can also reach us at (760)356-3060

 Water has always been a precious commodity in Imperial County. With rainfall averaging less than 3 inches per year, this arid desert region depends on irrigation water from the Colorado River to continue its production of over 100 different commodities on its deep, rich soil. While water flowed has freely since the early 1900's, water transfers and growing metropolitan cities have put increased pressures on Imperial County to conserve and meet the demands of the future. Imperial County is the top producer of Alfalfa in California, and it is one of the top commodities in Imperial County, with over 150,000 acres of alfalfa harvested annually and shipped across the world. Alfalfa has also been Imperial Valley's biggest user of water as well as IV's most valuable field crop, with a gross value of $218 million in 2018 according to the Imperial County Crop Report.

Dr. Aliasghar Montazar joined UCCE on June 1, 2017, as an Irrigation and Water Management Advisor. His research has included irrigation management of Alfalfa; a crop typically irrigated through flood irrigation. Because of Ali Montazar's work on utilizing subsurface drip irrigation and improved irrigation water management in alfalfa at UC DREC, growers reduced water and fertilizer uses by 25% and 10%, respectively, and increased alfalfa hay yields by 28%.

The scientific findings from UCDREC and UCCE will continue to play a critical role in forming successful solutions to Imperial Valleys emerging water issues related to agriculture and alfalfa.

For more information on DREC and its educational program, please contact our Center Director, Jairo Diaz at jdiazr@ucanr.edu or our Farm Smart Program Manager, Stacey Amparano, at scwills@ucanr.edu. You can also reach us at (760)356-3060

 

Further reading/viewing:

The Early History of Water in Imperial Valley: Video

Early History of Water in Imperial Valley- Presentation and Study Guide

A stop at the feedlot to observe the cattle is always a highlight of the day for the over 8,000 visitors to Farm Smart each year through school field trips and field tours. Cattle has been the #1 commodity in Imperial County(IC) for over 60 years and IC is among the top 5 producers in California. The University of California Desert Research and Extension Center (UC DREC) is a leader in feedlot cattle research and has one of the largest university feedlot facilities. The Desert REC feedlot can hold approximately 600 head of cattle and includes a feed mill and metabolism barn. With the extreme summer heat in our unique desert region, Dr. Richard Zinn's research on nutrition, health, and management of feedlot cattle has been an integral component of the success of the cattle industry in Imperial County. Dr. Zinn, a UC Davis Animal Science professor, has been with Desert REC since 1981. In addition to his extensive work at Desert REC, he collaborates with the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC), in Mexicali, Mexico, which is just over the border from UC DREC.

In his recent work, Dr. Zinn's research has investigated corn processing for feed in feedlots producing calf-fed Holstein steers at DREC, indicating feed values for corn increased by 18%, improving average daily gain and feed efficiency while decreasing the cost of feed to produce high quality beef. This methodology is widely used throughout feedlots in the Imperial County and desert southwest of the US.

Additionally, Dr. Zinn's analysis of sugarbeets as a partial replacement of up to 40% of corn in feed rations has demonstrated feed costs can be decreased by 15-40% when corn costs are high while maintaining animal productivity. While only used opportunistically depending on feed costs, this research allows for a reduction in feed costs while maintaining production.

 

 

In 2017, Brooke Latack joined the UC Cooperative Extension as a Livestock Advisor for Imperial, San Diego, and San Bernardino Counties.  In addition to her research, she provides support and assistance to livestock producers through programs covering livestock nutrition, management techniques, environmental factors affecting producers and the community, and other critical topics.

Joining the team in August 2020 as the Feedlot Management Specialist is Dr. Pedro Carvalho. Dr. Carvalho will report to UC Davis Animal Science Department. Having Latack and Carvalho in our Center will enhance our mission and continue a long and rich history of support to our local/regional/world cattle industry.

For more information on DREC and its educational program, please contact our Center Director, Jairo Diaz at jdiazr@ucanr.edu or our Farm Smart Program Manager, Stacey Amparano, at scwills@ucanr.edu. You can also reach us at (760)356-3060