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Posts Tagged: Beth Grafton-Cardwell

ANR meets the public at World Ag Expo

Surendra Dara explains how fungi kill insects.

People from across California and around the world got to taste new crops, see research demonstrations and learn about several UC ANR activities at the World Ag Expo Feb. 12-14. Despite the cold rainy weather, the world's largest agricultural exposition attracted 102,878 people representing 48 states, the District of Columbia and 65 countries to Tulare.

At an outdoor tent, Beth Grafton-Cardwell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, Greg Douhan, UCCE citrus advisor, and other researchers, handed visitors fresh Tango citrus grown at the Lindcove Research and Extension Center and told them about their citrus variety research.

Sal Barcenes, Lindcove staff research assistant, and Greg Douhan show citrus varieties.

Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, UCCE small farms advisor, and Michael Yang, small farms and specialty crops agricultural assistant, encouraged visitors to taste moringa tea. Surendra Dara, UCCE entomology and biologicals advisor, described how Bagrada bugs and other pests under the microscopes can be controlled by microbes. Roger Baldwin, UCCE wildlife specialist, and Niamh Quinn, UCCE urban wildlife conflict advisor, took turns showing taxidermy vertebrate pests and describing their management research.

Michael Yang and Lorena Ramos, staff research and marketing associate for the UCCE small farms and specialty crops program in Fresno and Tulare counties, offered visitors hot moringa tea.

Jeff Mitchell, UCCE specialist, and Jeff Dahlberg, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center director, gave demonstrations to show the superior health of soils managed with conservation techniques.  

Demonstrating the use of high-tech in agriculture, Sean Hogan, Informatics and Geographic Information System academic coordinator, Andy Lyons, IGIS program coordinator, and Jacob Flanagan, IGIS programmer, showed how they use drones and cameras in agricultural research.

A PBS news crew interviews Andy Lyons and Jacob Flanagan.

Inside Pavilion A, Teresa Rios-Spicer, UCCE nutrition program manager, andYeseniaMedrano, UCCE community education specialist, both from Tulare County, challenged visitors to test their nutrition knowledge by playing Jeopardy! Visitors could spin the UC Master Gardeners prize wheel to answer gardening questions and win seeds. 4-H members invited youth to peer into virtual reality goggles to give them an idea about the fun activities that can be part of joining 4-H.

Teresa Rios-Spicer, left, and Yesenia Medrano challenged visitors to test their nutrition knowledge at Healthy Jeopardy!

Frank Mitloehner, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, gave a seminar explaining confusion in the media about the amount of greenhouse gas livestock emit in California and globally. He reviewed the innovations in livestock production that are leading the way to a "greener future" for California and U.S. agriculture.

Niamh Quinn describes how the spotted skunk stands on its hands and shakes its tail.

Beth Grafton-Cardwell, UC Cooperative Extension citrus entomology specialist, and Victoria Hornbaker of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, gave an update on regulatory protocols relating to Asian citrus psyllid and HLB quarantines and the proper transportation of bulk citrus to prevent the spread of the pest and disease.

The California and Dutch AgFoodTech innovation partners reunited in Tulare for a networking luncheon to share their action plan with invited guests and scope the projects.

UCCE advisor Dan Munk, left, greets West Side farmer Joe Del Bosque and VP Glenda Humiston.
Jeff Mitchell, center, talks about soil health with Scott Brayton of Development Services, left, and Mark Bell, vice provost of of strategic initiatives and statewide programs.
UC Master Gardener volunteer Priscilla Girard answered questions about gardening.
From left, Liz Sizensky of UC Nutrition Policy Institute, and Julie Sievert, assistant KARE program and facility coordinator, assist 4-H members with virtual reality goggles.
Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at 3:16 PM

Lindcove REC citrus attracts a crowd

Lindcove REC held its annual citrus sampling.

Lindcove Research and Extension Center hosted its annual citrus variety tasting for growers and other industry members on Dec. 14. The following day, they welcomed members of the public to sample over 100 different citrus varieties. 

“We had nine high school FFA teams of 6 to 8 students each and lots of other people,” said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, Lindcove REC director. “I am guessing we had at least 250 people.”

Matt Rogers, district representative for U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, attended the event.

Matt Rogers tweeted about the event.

 

Julie Cates, former ANR nutrition educator, tweeted from the citrus tasting.
Posted on Monday, December 17, 2018 at 4:21 PM

Vice provost Lagrimini visits three Central Valley RECs in October

Lindcove REC director Beth Grafton-Cardwell shows vice provost Mark Lagrimini, left, around a citrus green house. Kurt Schmidt, the principal superintendent of agriculture, center, joined them on the tour.

UC ANR vice provost Mark Lagrimini visited the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, the Lindcove REC and the West Side REC in October as he continues to become familiarized with the diversity of resources in the Division.

After a morning meeting with Kearney director Jeff Dahlberg on Oct. 15, Lagrimini traveled 45 miles southeast to the Lindcove REC. At Lindcove, director Beth Grafton-Cardwell led Lagrimini on a tour of the facility's greenhouse, laboratories, office facilities, the screenhouse, conference facility and research packing line.

The next day, Lagrimini was 70 miles due west to visit the West Side REC, where director Bob Hutmacher showed him research projects at the center in pistachios, cotton and other row crops.

 
Mark Lagrimini views the shop at the West Side REC. From left, are Lagrimini, West Side principal superintendent of agriculture Rafael Solorio, senior farm machinery mechanic Mark Strole, and director Bob Hutmacher.
Posted on Monday, October 29, 2018 at 11:10 AM
Focus Area Tags: Agriculture

The Citrus Research Board and UC create a $1 million endowment for citrus research

The Citrus Research Board and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources have established a $1 million endowment to fund the Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection at the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center. The endowed researcher will provide a UC Cooperative Extension scientist a dedicated source of funds to support scholarly activities focused on the long-term sustainability of the citrus industry.

“I wish to thank the Citrus Research Board for establishing the Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection at LREC endowment,” said UC ANR vice president Glenda Humiston. “This gift, coupled with the $500,000 match from the UC Office of the President, will help to ensure the long-term success of exemplary research focused on the California citrus industry.”

UC President Janet Napolitano provided half the funds for the endowed researcher; the CRB donated the other half.

“We are gratified that President Napolitano has selected the CRB for this prestigious match program,” said CRB Chairman Dan Dreyer. “It will be invaluable in helping us to pursue critical research that will yield beneficial findings to support the sustainability of the California citrus industry.”

CRB chairman Dave Dreyer presents a giant check to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources representatives, left to right, LREC director Beth Grafton-Cardwell, associate vice president Tu Tran, UC ANR director of major gifts Greg Gibbs, and UCCE plant pathology specialist Georgios Vidalakis.

The new endowment supports the UC Citrus Clonal Protection Program, which distributes pathogen-tested, true-to-type citrus budwood to nurseries, farmers and the public to propagate citrus trees for commercial and personal use. The CCPP maintains blocks of trees that serve as the primary source of budwood for all important fruit and rootstock varieties for California's citrus industry and researchers.

The CCPP is a cooperative program between UC ANR, CRB, the California Citrus Nursery Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. CCPP director Georgios Vidalakis, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in plant pathology at UC Riverside, shared his appreciation for the efforts that led to the creation of the new endowed researcher position.

“My thanks to the citrus growers for their decades-long support, especially the members of the CCPP committee of the CRB for their vision, and UC's Greg Gibbs for coordinating all of the efforts,” he said. Vidalakis also praised Lindcove director Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell “for making the case to our growers about the importance of this endowment and for making plans to house the UC ANR endowment at the LREC.”

A selection committee will award the endowment to a distinguished UC ANR academic. An annual payout will be used to provide salary, graduate student and/or program support. The researcher will be named for a five-year term. At the end of that period, the appointment will be reviewed and either renewed or taken back to a selection committee to choose another UC ANR academic.

“I would like to thank the CRB for this generous gift and their continued support of our research for CCPP at the LREC,” said Greg Gibbs,UC ANR director of major gifts.

The CRB administers the California Citrus Research Program, the grower-funded and grower-directed program established in 1968 under the California Marketing Act, as the mechanism enabling the state's citrus producers to sponsor and support needed research. More information about the Citrus Research Board may be found at www.citrusresearch.org.

The Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection is the fifth $1 million UC ANR endowment to support California agriculture. The other endowments are:

Posted on Monday, October 29, 2018 at 10:55 AM

ANR has resources for protecting citrus from ACP and huanglongbing

Huanglongbing causes blotchy yellow mottling that is not the same on both sides of the leaf

The incurable citrus tree disease huanglongbing, or HLB, has been detected in Los Angeles and Orange counties and most recently in Riverside. The citrus disease is spread from tree to tree by Asian citrus psyllids, the insects that move the bacteria that cause huanglongbing.

Citrus trees infected with huanglongbing develop mottled leaves and produce fruit that is misshapen, stays green and tastes bitter. There is no known treatment for the disease, which usually kills the tree within three to five years, according to UC Cooperative Extension specialist Beth Grafton-Cardwell.

Huanglongbing, which is also known as citrus greening, has already devastated the citrus industries in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.

You can help prevent this disease from destroying California's citrus as well as your own trees.

Look for yellowed leaves on citrus trees. Nutritional deficiencies can also cause citrus trees to have yellow leaves so it is important to know the difference. Nutrient deficiency causes a similar pattern of yellowing on both sides of the leaf. HLB causes blotchy yellow mottling and is not the same on both sides of the leaf.

To identify the Asian citrus psyllid and the disease symptoms of HLB, see the fact sheets, videos in English and Spanish and other resources at http://ucanr.edu/acp.

If you see any trees that display symptoms of huanglongbing, contact your local agriculture commissioner.

To learn about the latest research, visit UC ANR's new Science for Citrus Health website at http://ucanr.edu/sites/scienceforcitrushealth.

Asian citrus psyllid

More resources on Asian citrus psyllids and huanglongbing:

 

 

 

 

Posted on Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 3:44 PM

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