Posts Tagged: Kent Daane

UC Cooperative Extension reaching out to NorCal cannabis growers

UC Cooperative Extension in Humboldt County has invited local cannabis farmers to meetings this week to discuss ways to reduce the industry's environmental impacts, reported Will Houston in the Eureka Times-Standard.

UC advisors and specialists will discuss future research aimed at reducing the impacts of pesticide and fertilizer use on cannabis grows.

The reporter talked to Deborah Giraud, UCCE advisor in Humboldt County, who said federal laws prevent UCCE from handling cannabis plants in their studies, but they are still able to test areas around cannabis grows for issues like pesticide runoff and soil and water quality.

At this week's meetings, Giraud said, "Mostly we just want to listen to folks who come to the meetings ideas and concerns. They're on the ground. We just want to know what could be planned with us."

The meetings will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 3 at Adriana's Restaurant, 850 Crescent Way, Arcata; and 12 to 2 p.m. Oct. 4 at Women's Civic Club, 477 Maple Lane, Garberville.

There will be brief presentations followed by group discussions. The UC participants include Van Butsic, UC Cooperative Extension land use science specialist at UC Berkeley; Kent Daane, UCCE biological control specialist at UC Berkeley; Houston Wilson, post-doctoral researcher at UC Berkeley; and Giraud.

'Great Day' morning program features UC Kearney Ag REC

The popular morning television program "Great Day," which airs daily on KMPH Channel 26 in Fresno, featured the work of scientists at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in six live segments during the five-hour program this morning.

Reporter Clayton Clark and photographer Ryan Hudgins arrived at the Kearney greenhouse at 4:30 a.m. to interview the scientists helping California farmers feed the nation and world sustainably.

See clips of the interviews in the one-minute video below:

Segments included:

• An overview of research and extension activities at Kearney by director Jeff Dahlberg.
  
  
• UC blueberry and blackberry research that has made these commodities important crops in the San Joaquin Valley with Manuel Jimenez, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Tulare County.
  
  
• Beneficial insects, pests and invasive species that are part of research by Kent Daane, UCCE specialist in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy Management at UC Berkeley. Daane shared a handful of leaf-footed bugs with the reporter.
  
  
• How global information systems are changing the way farmers and researchers are looking at farmings systems with Kris Lynn-Patterson, coordinator of the GIS program at Kearney.
  
  
• Just like people, plants get sick. UC plant pathologist Themis Michailides explained research efforts to cure plant diseases.
  
  
• Uncommon wine varieties that might lead to new fine wines ideally suited to be produced in the Valley's warm climate, with Matt Fidelibus, UCCE specialist in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis.
  
  
• The very real threat of West Nile virus in mosquitoes in the valley, with medical entomologist Anton Cornel.

Grape leafroll virus a headache for California farmers

Two relatively new variants of grape leafroll virus, known as V3 and V5, are alarming some winegrape growers in California's famed wine country, according to an article yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The virus is spread by grafting infected cuttings and by the feeding of vine mealybug. It won't kill the vineyard, but it will prevent normal sugar development and reduce yields.

The Chron article, written by Alice Feiring, said the late Ed Weber, Napa County's previous UC Cooperative Extension viticulture farm advisor, and Deborah Golino, director of Foundation Plant Services at UC Davis, in 2002 began a four-year study of the virus in an Oakville vineyard. During the study, there was a threefold increase in the number of infections in that vineyard alone.

UC Berkeley biological control specialist Kent Daane told the reporter that pesticides are not effective against vine mealybug because the bugs hide under leaves. A better control measure, Daane believes, is pheromone mating-disruption.

Nevertheless, Golino told the paper there will not be a fast fix. She encourages growers to purchase certified virus-free vines, "even when it means giving up field selections that have been a longtime part of a winemaking program."

The article also reported there is circumstantial evidence that shows vineyards managed organically might have natural predators for the vine mealybug.

"We don't see the problem in our organic vineyards as we do in our conventional," a farmer was quoted in the story. "But I'm not prepared to say that's the reason."

Vine mealybug feeding destroys grape clusters and spreads viruses.

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