- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension will host the UC Dry Bean Field Day on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 from 9:30am to 11:30am. The field day will begin along Bee Biology Road on the UC Davis campus. The agenda is pasted below, and a downloadable version is attached to the bottom of this post. DPR continuing education (1.0) is pending. CCA continuing education credits have been approved (1.0 Crop Management, 1.0 Pest Management). Thanks for your interest, and we hope to see you at the field day!
Agenda:
9:30am Welcome and introductions: Christine Diepenbrock and Antonia Palkovic, UC Davis; Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, UC Cooperative Extension
9:35am How can we further improve lima bean? A project funded by the USDA to improve breeding resources: Paul Gepts, UC Davis
9:50am Walk through and discussion of lima breeding material: Antonia Palkovic and Christine Diepenbrock, UC Davis
10:00am Field diagnostics – bean pest identification and management: Sarah Light, Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, Nick Clark, UC Cooperative Extension
10:30am Travel to Veg Crops location (38.534222, -121.782222)
10:35am Blackeye varietal improvement - update on new pest-resistant varieties: Bao-Lam Huynh, UC Riverside
10:55am Results from round one of “speed breeding”, and testing nutritional alongside agronomic traits in limas: Christine Diepenbrock, UC Davis
11:00am From farm to (robot) stomach: what are the trait profiles of California beans after harvest?: Tayah Bolt, UC Davis
11:05am Screening for drought resilience in common and tepary beans: Matthew Gilbert, Tom Buckley, Troy Magney, Paul Gepts, Chris Wong, Antonia Palkovic, Travis Parker, UC Davis
11:20am Evaluating productivity and quality of cowpea and interspecific common/tepary bean in Davis and Parlier (contrasting temperatures): Sassoum Lo, Jonny Berlingeri, UC Davis
11:25am Developing low-cost phone apps/drone and rover platforms to measure agronomic traits: Earl Ranario, Heesup Yun, Vivian Vuong, UC Davis
11:30am Discussion and evaluation
Dry Bean Field Day Agenda
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
We can use trap counts and Growing Degree Day modelling (i.e. a temperature measure of time) to determine whether and when to treat fields. UC IPM provides treatment guidelines that include damage assessment and signs of the worms in the field. Earlier this year, Methoxyfenozide (Intrepid 2F) received full registration, so we now have a new tool in the toolbox when treatment is necessary.
The monitoring that I do in the Delta is part of a larger effort that is spearheaded by my colleague, Luis Espino, rice advisor in Butte and Glenn counties. Luis writes a weekly blog to provide real-time information on trap counts to help growers and consultants with scouting and decision making. In his blog announcements, he will link to an interactive mapping tool called Ag Pest Monitoring, where you can view counts across trapping locations. Please consider subscribing to Luis Espino's blog, but don't hesitate to reach out to me if you'd like to discuss what is happening in the Delta.
Good luck this season, and I hope to see you in the field!
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
University of California Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics collaborate on cost of production studies for commodities grown in California. The purpose of the studies is to provide sample costs for producing commodities and expected returns, based on current production practices and economic conditions.
We have recently published a study for Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta rice production, available here. The study is based on a hypothetical 1,100 acre farm, where 1,000 acres are annually planted to rice, and it details the unique production conditions and practices of the Delta. The study assumes the farm's soil has high organic matter and employs drill-seeding (Figure 1). This soil type and planting practice differs from Sacramento Valley conditions, where rice is water-seeded onto mineral soils with high clay content. Nutrient and pest management practices also differ between the regions; hence, the study will more accurately reflect the costs associated with Delta rice cultivation. The study details the operating costs associated with Delta practices and the total costs for farm operation and management. A ranging analysis presents potential returns based on typical yields and recent crop pricing.
The study also details the costs associated with converting land from other annual crops to rice, including levee construction and land leveling. Conversion costs are significant and can inhibit adoption of rice cultivation because they may take years to recuperate.
We thank the growers who contributed their time and expertise to informing this study. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any comments or questions.
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
The annual UC Davis Alfalfa and Small Grains Field Day will take place on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at the Department of Plant Sciences Field Facility (2400 Hutchison Drive, Davis, CA 95616). Registration opens at 7:30am, and the wagons leave for the field at 8am. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Lunch is sponsored by the CA Crop Improvement Association, and continuing education credits will be available. Directions are as follows:
The field day is located on Hutchison Drive, just west of Davis. Take the Hwy. 113 exit north from I-80, or Hwy. 113 south from Woodland. Exit west on Hutchison Drive. Take a right at the first roundabout, a left at the second roundabout, and the field headquarters is about ¼ mile down in a clump of trees and buildings on the left.
The agenda is as follows:
8:10 Alfalfa Breeding Efforts at UC Davis - Charlie Brummer
8:20 Choosing Varieties for Pest Resistance - Dan Putnam
8:30 IPM and Importance of Management of Insect Resistance in Alfalfa - Ian Grettenberger
8:40 Test your Weed IQ - Identification of Weeds - Brad Hanson
8:55 Use of Compost to Improve Soils in Alfalfa - Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
9:05 Sorghum Projects for Forage and Biofuels - Jackie Atim
9:15 Improving Agronomic and Grain Quality Traits in Sorghum under Well-watered and Drought Conditions - Christine Diepenbrock
9:35 Flood or Drought? Alfalfa Strategies for Coping with California's Future - Dan Putnam
9:45 Teff as an Alternative Summer Forage Crop - Dan Putnam
9:50 Overhead Irrigation Technologies for Improved Efficiency - Isaya Kisekka
10:05 Updates from UC Davis Small Grains Breeding Program - Jorge Dubcovsky
10:20 Effects of Genotype and Environment on Productivity and Quality in California Malting Barley - Maany Ramanan
10:30 California Grain Foundation and Research on Food Use of Triticale - George Fohner
10:40 Small Grain Research Update from Tulelake - Rob Wilson
10:55 Evaluating Digestate and Hydrolysate as Alternative N Sources in Small Grains - Valentina Roel
11:05 Biosolids as a N Fertilizer Source in California Small Grains - Konrad Mathesius
11:15 Helping Farms in the Central Coast get N Scavenging Credits for Cereal Cover Crops - Eric Brennan
11:25 DIY In-field Plant Tissue Tests to Determine N Sufficiency in Wheat - Karla Estrada
11:30 Updates on Small Grain Research and Production in the Central Valley - Mark Lundy
11:45 Tour Small Grain Variety Trials
12:10 Lunch
1:20 Small Grain Breeding Field Day
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
UC Cooperative Extension collaborates with the California Rice Experiment Station to evaluate commercial varieties and advanced breeding lines. The San Joaquin County Delta location was one of seven locations in the 2022 statewide trial. The Delta is a test site for very-early maturing varieties because it has cooler growing conditions than other rice growing regions of the state. The trial was drill-seeded on April 19th at a rate of 150 lb/acre and harvested on October 2nd. Plot size was 150 ft2, and varieties were replicated four times. Table 1 (below) shows variety results at the Delta location (advanced breeding lines omitted). Among the entries, M-206 is the most commonly planted variety in the Delta and across the state. It has good agronomic characteristics and consistent quality across different harvest moistures. Some Delta growers also plant M-105, which is a very-early variety that has yielded well in Delta trials but may be slightly more susceptible to rice blast disease than M-206. Among the newer varieties, M-210 is early maturing, blast resistant, and may be a good option for the Delta. Variety M-211 is not as well adapted to cooler environments, like the Delta, and quality appears to decrease below 18 percent harvest moisture. One of the advanced breeding lines, which is not shown in the table below, but which yielded better the M-206 in the Delta trial, will become CH-203. For a comparison of yield across all seven trial locations, please see the recent edition of the UCCE Sutter-Yuba newsletter. Special thanks go to our grower cooperators for hosting the variety trials. If you have questions about the Delta trial or about Delta rice production, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
UCCE will host two upcoming meetings for the rice industry:
1. The 2023 Rice Production Workshop will be held March 15-16 at the Lundberg Family Farms facility in Richvale (5311 Midway, Richvale, 95974). This is an in-depth workshop that covers the principles and practices of rice production in California. The workshop is directed toward folks who are new to growing rice or serving the rice industry. The program is available here. Registration is limited, so please sign up early. The registration fee covers the workshop manual and lunches both days. We have applied for DPR, CCA, and CDFA nitrogen management continuing education credits.
2. The Cover Crops in Rice Field Demonstration Day will be held March 27 from 10:00am to 12:00pm. The field day will be held at the corner of Hwy 45 and White Road, Colusa, 95932 (38.969148, -121.866552). At the field day, we will discuss the CDFA Healthy Soils Program, and attendees can walk through the cover crop trial. No registration is required. We have applied for CCA and CDFA nitrogen management continuing education credits. The agenda is attached below.
Table 1. 2022 San Joaquin County rice variety trial results.
2023 Rice Cover Crop Meeting Agenda