- Author: Michael Hsu
In 20-year study, UCCE specialist Mitchell, colleagues, growers advance no-till and cover cropping practices
In the 1990s, long before “regenerative agriculture” was a buzzword and “soil health” became a cause célèbre, a young graduate student named Jeff Mitchell first learned about similar concepts during an agronomy meeting in the Deep South.
Mitchell was astonished to hear a long list of benefits attributed to practices known internationally as “conservation agriculture” – eliminating or reducing...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
West Side farmer John Diener had flash of inspiration. Why not plant butternut squash?
Diener is a long-time research cooperator with UC Cooperative Extension specialist Jeff Mitchell, who has studied innovative, sustainable farming practices for 21 years at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center under four different treatments: no-till plus cover crops, no-till with no cover crops, conventionally tilled with cover crops and conventionally tilled without cover crops.
Since it was established, the research plots have been managed in an annual rotation of cotton, processing...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
There is just one commercial producer in California of endive, a missile-shaped French-Belgium sprout from a chicory root that boasts culinary versatility, but lacks popularity. Endive (pronounced on-deeve) adds a bitter bite to salads and stir-fries and its white leaves make little boats to hold other ingredients for dainty hors d'oeuvres.
The biggest challenge for an endive producer, said entrepreneur Rich Collins, is marketing a product unfamiliar to most Americans. On average, U.S. consumers eat four leaves of endive a year; in France per consumer consumption is about 8 pounds a year, and in Belgium double that. Collins spent this morning touring about 50 food bloggers who are in Sacramento for the
- Author: Chris M. Webb
In June of this year, three University of California scientists went to the Kitui District of Kenya on a USAID mission.
Food and water scarcity are simply a part of life for most in this region. Since 1992 the Sahelian Solution Foundation (SASOL) has been constructing dams and working with Kitui communities to address water scarcity and issues of community development and agricultural production.
Agricultural production in Kenya is full of challenges. Water is carried by hand from wells or dams for household and agricultural needs. Previous to this mission, crops were watered...
