- Author: Cris L. Johnson
Anna Howell, UC Ventura County Cooperative Entension's staff researcher and entomologist, will join UC advisors and California agricultural experts for a "Mite Pest Management in Strawberry" meeting in Salinas, California.
Presentations include management of destructive mites, chemical and alternative options for control and identification of mites.
Speakers will also focus on the two-spotted spider mite and Lewis Mite. Anna Howell has been part of a research project studying the Lewis Mite which has been known to cause damage in strawberry and raspberry crops. The two-spotted spider mite causes damage to strawberry in coastal areas.
Growers interested in attending:
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013
Time: 7:30 am to 11:00 am
Location:
UC Cooperative Extension Augitorium
1432 Abbott Street
Salinas, CA
Contact: Dr. Shimat Joesph, (831) 759-7359 or svjoseph@ucdavis.edu
View the agenda here.
- Author: Cris L. Johnson
The event will be located at Henry Ito's ranch where attendees will be able to view plots and see the experiments at work and hear guest expert speakers on a variety of irrigation related topics including regulations, methods and test results.
Refreshments will be included.
Date: Thursday, June 6
Time: 9:00 am - 11:15 am
Where: Henry Ito's ranch at 1835 Hueneme Rd. in Oxnard
Contact: Dr. Oleg Daugovish, 805-645-1454 or odaugovish@ucdavis.edu
Two hours of VCALIG educational credits have been approved from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
For an agenda and map, click here.
- Author: Cris L. Johnson
The $101 million in grant money will be apportioned to promote two areas:
- $55 million in specialty crop block grants to state that fund 748 initiatives to strengthen markets and expand economic opportunities for local and regional producers.
- $46 million to support new and continuing research and extension activities to address challenges and opportunities for growers and businesses that rely on a sustainable, profitable specialty crops industry.
Specialty crops include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, floriculture and nursery crops.
The key research areas for funding are:
- Improving crop charactistics through plant breeding, genetics and genomics
- Addressing threats from pests and diseases
- Improving production efficiency, productivity and profitabilitiy
- Developing new innovations and technologies
- Developing methods to improve food safety
These grants reflect the continuing efforts by the USDA to stimulate agriculture and food based economic development. UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension and statewide extension in turn provides the research, outreach and expertise to local and potential growers seeking specialty niches in agriculture.
Find out more about this grant program and read the USDA news release in its entirety here.
- Author: Cris L. Johnson
Here attendees will be able to visit stations staffed by UCCE experts who will speak on a variety of topics of interest to growers and horticulturists. The structure is informal and will allow for easy interchange between speakers and attendees.
Each station will feature informational talks on the following subjects:
- Effect of compost on long term disease control and fertility of soils in peppers
- Cultural management of Prime Ark 45 Blackberry
- Differential plant response of salts in summer strawberry
- Subtropical fruit collection
- Herbicide efficacy and safety in drip-irrigated celery
- Water quality and sensors
- Effect of pruning in landscape roses
Continous education credits from the Department of Pesticide Regulation and VCAILG credits have been requested.
The agenda with more details about the event can be found here.
For more information about the UC Hansen Agricultural Center, please click here.
- Author: Cris L. Johnson
The meeting focused on updating growers and interested members of the public on subjects relevant to producing strawberries in Ventura County and other areas. The agenda included topics on:
- Strawberry cultivar performance and research updates
- Management of Macrophomina and Fusarium and treatments
- Irrigation practices for strawberries in Oxnard and Watsonville
- Water quality monitoring results for strawberry production fields in Ventura County
- Fertility research updates
- Management of mites, thrips, corn earworm and spotted wing Drosophila
- California Strawberry Commission update on research and regulatory issues pertaining to strawberry production
The production meeting included lunch and attendees could receive continous education credits from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
For a list of this and other strawberry meeting presentations online, please click here.