- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Oli Bachie, “person of the globe,” researches new desert crops to spur economic growth
While herding goats along dusty roads as a boy growing up in Oromia, Ethiopia, Oli Bachie began striving to improve his economic position in life. His path to a better life passed through the Philippines and Canada before reaching the United States. Now, carrying the mantle of Ph.D., the UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor is doing research to help California farmers...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
This is one of a series of stories featuring a sampling of UC ANR academics whose work exemplifies the public value UC ANR brings to California.
Farmers are already seeing the effects of warmer winter nights and hotter summer days on their crops. Climate change is gradual, but increasing overall temperatures affect many aspects of farming, including where and how crops are grown. Tapan Pathak, University of California Cooperative Extension specialist based at UC Merced, is doing applied research that farmers and ranchers can use to adapt to new conditions created by a variable and changing climate.
“You don't have to shift your practice tomorrow,...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
All California growers, ranchers, farm labor contractors and ag supervisors are invited to complete a short survey about their experiences addressing COVID-19 in the workplace. The survey is being conducted by the UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety.
The survey is anonymous, should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and is available in English and Spanish at https://bit.ly/agCOVIDsurvey.
“At the UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, we are working to respond to the COVID-19 crisis with practical resources for growers, ag employers, and farmworkers,”...
- Author: Diane Nelson, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Author: Tiffany Loveridge, UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
New report explores long-term effects of COVID-19 on state's cattle, dairy, produce, strawberry, tomato, nut and wine industries.
COVID-19 continues to affect parts of California agriculture in different ways. A new report from agricultural economists at the University of California examines the current and long-term impacts on California's leading agricultural industries.
Profiles in the report illustrate the different ways the pandemic has impacted dairy, beef and produce – industries that have scrambled to repurpose products from foodservice to retail – and tree nuts, an industry that saw a temporary spike in sales as consumers hoarded storable...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Empty grocery store shelves are troubling enough to California consumers who are accustomed to abundant supplies. To hear about farmers dumping milk, crushing eggs and plowing under crops when demand for food is strong just doesn't make sense to most consumers. Although the new coronavirus crisis has currently derailed the connection between supply and demand, “the food system in the United States is resilient and there is little reason for alarm about food availability,” write University of California agricultural economists.
Overall, neither food consumption nor the amount of food supplied by farms have changed much, they write in a
