United States Congressman Jim Costa visited the UC West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points last week to introduce his new legislative director, Nick Choate, to west side farming practices. A focus of the visit was conservation tillage, a farming system in which growers minimize tractor work and plant crops in the residue of a previous crop.
UC research has shown that CT practices have numerous benefits, including water conservation, dust suppression, reduced runoff, lower labor needs and costs, fuel savings and carbon sequestration. Members of the Conservation Tillage and Cropping Systems workgroup asked Costa for federal funding to study the adoption process and fund CT extension activities.
Costa is a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, which is laying the groundwork for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill in 2012.
He shared the following comments about the value of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources programs: