California's fall weather is getting rangeland grasses growing

A report in Capital Press about California's fall 2011 weather pattern - sunshine and valley fog occasionally punctuated by several days of rain and snow - included comments from UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Josh Davy about the effect of this year's weather on rangeland.

Germination occurred as a result of the season's first rains in October, but it didn't hold in some pastures because of the lull in precipitation, Davy said.

"This ought to get it up and going," Davy said of the rain that fell before Thanksgiving. "It usually takes between half and 1 inch in a week to get it sparked up and going, and we have definitely had that."

California farmers efficient, study finds
Tim Hearden, Capital Press

A Fresno State Center for Irrigation Technology research report says California farmers are more efficient in managing their water supplies than they're sometimes given credit for. As a result, large volumes of "new water" cannot be developed through agricultural water conservation.

The Fresno State irrigation experts' yearlong study aimed to update a 1982 University of California Cooperative Extension report, "Agricultural Water Conservation in California with Emphasis on the San Joaquin Valley." The new study says the 1982 report correctly framed the potential for agricultural water-use efficiency.

Read more