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Posts Tagged: nitrate
Milk prices going up; nitrate report gets more coverage
A story about USDA milk production forecasts for 2012 and 2013 included commentary from Leslie "Bees" Butler, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics as UC Davis.
Rising feed prices have caused some producers to sell cows rather than bear the expense of feeding them. Another option is to slaughter cows. Dairies have been doing that a lot -- to the chagrin of glut-wary beef producers -- since 2009 when the all milk price dropped to as low as $11.30 per hundred pounds, the story said.
A strong dollar at the time made foreign goods cheaper and domestically produced goods more expensive, Butler told reporter Courtenay Edelhart. That dried up the export market for American milk and led to oversupply at home that still hasn't been entirely corrected, he said.
Water agency urges farmers to test ground water for contamination
KTVU.com
Landmark new rules adopted by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will require farmers to test ground water for nitrate contamination and report their fertilizer usage, according to the KTVU report.
The story mentioned that a recent UC Davis study showed 254,000 people in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley were at risk of drinking water contaminated with nitrates, much of which came from fertilizer.
San Joaquin Valley residents learn more about groundwater nitrate problem
Creedon spoke yesterday at a conference arranged by Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology. Also on the panel was Thomas Harter, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at UC Davis, who described his recently released research report on nitrates in Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley groundwater.
The conference featured panels and speakers on many of California's water issues, including underground water banking and Southern California's quest for new water sources, Grossi reported. However, no issue was bigger than Harter's study, he said.
Earlier Thursday, Harter and his research team presented details of the report to an audience of about 150 at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Two local television stations, ABC affiliate Channel 30 and CBS affiliate Channel 47, provided their viewers with live reports from the scene.
Pump-and-fertilize a potential solution to groundwater nitrate
By itself, pump-and-fertilize won't be enough, said Thomas Harter, the lead author of the report, Addressing Nitrate in California's Drinking Water. It won't work in areas where there is too much salt in the groundwater, for example. Also, more fresh water must be allowed to seep into the underground aquifer. The fresh water will replace the tainted water and refill underground areas that have been overpumped in the past.
Dare to be different: Think beyond tomatoes, peppers
Laura Christman, Redding Record-Searchlight
When planning a summer garden, try some unusual vegetables, like heat-tolerant greens and odd tubers, the article suggests.
"Most people love tomatoes and a good sweet pepper, but that's not the be-all, end-all of summer nutritional health," said Sean Kriletich, a gardening expert with University of California Cooperative Extension Sierra Central.
Mixing things up in the garden yields different flavors, more nutrition, additional colors, textures and beneficial insects.
Nitrate report covered extensively in news media
Drinking water risk in the Central Valley
KGET - TV, Bakersfield
Canella statement on report about nitrates in drinking water
Sen. Anthony Canella, The Merced Sun-Star
Project assesses management of nitrate on farms
Kate Campbell, AgAlert
UC nitrate report prompts calls for action
Central Valley Business Times
Nitrate pollution beginning to affect Salinas water quality
Larry Parsons, The Monterey County Herald
Nitrates in California drinking water, study finds
Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle
Groundwater nitate contamination grows in California farm areas
Bettina Boxall, The Los Angeles Times
Study: Drinking water at risk from California agriculture
Donna Jones, The San Jose Mercury News
Widespread nitrate contamination reported
United Press International
UC study: Cropland threatens drinking water for 250,000 in Valley
Mark Grossi, The Fresno Bee
(Also in the Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee)
Report: Calif. nitrate contamination spreading
Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press
Study Cites Risk For Farm Belt Drinking Water
Sasha Kocha, The California Report
Viewpoints: Risks, costs will rise from contamination of drinking water
Thomas Harter and Jay Lund, UC Davis, The Sacramento Bee
(Also in the Modesto Bee)
Farming communities facing crisis over nitrate pollution, study says
Stett Holbrook, Food & Environment Reporting Network, MSNBC
Report: Nitrate from Fertilizer Polluting Drinking Water in Ag Regions
Lon Abbott, Public News Service
UC nitrate *quick test* protects water quality
Lettuce farmers can use less fertilizer - saving money, cutting back water use and reducing nitrate groundwater contamination risk - without sacrificing crop yield by employing a "quick test" developed by UC Cooperative Extension, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today.
With the quick test, growers can determine how much nitrogen is in the soil and use only as much fertilizer as their lettuce needs to grow.
UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Michael Cahn told reporter Julia Scott that he helped one company use 70 pounds less fertilizer per acre and get the same yield.
The Chronicle story was focused on imposing regulations to ease water nitrate contamination in California. Cal State East Bay earth and environmental science professor Jean Moran pointed to agriculture as the primary source of the problem.
"It covers a much larger area, it's a constant input of nitrates in groundwater and you have constant irrigation and over-irrigation, which drives the nitrates deeper into the groundwater," Moran was quoted. "But if you look for new evidence of regulations on nitrate issues in groundwater, you just don't find them."
Lettuce irrigation.
