Posts Tagged: pollination
Pomegranates, figs and honey!
And honey? The Golden State ranks second in honey production, eclipsed only by North Dakota.
So why not combine all of them into a dessert? And add some walnuts and goat cheese for good measure--and good taste?
That’s exactly what Julie Loke of the Davis Food Co-Op did at the debut event of the newly established Honey and Pollination Center of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI) at UC Davis.
The event, held Oct. 27 in the RMI’s Silverado Vineyards Sensory Theatre, drew talks on honey and pollination, and showcased a bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
The Honey and Pollination Center, approved earlier this year by the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, aims to “make UC Davis the nation’s leading authority on honey, honey bees and pollination by combining the resources and expertise of RMI and the Department of Entomology’s Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility,” said RMI executive director Clare Hasler-Lewis.
The center's goals include:
- Expand research and education concerning nutrition, health, quality and appreciation of honey
- Develop useful information for California’s agricultural bounty that depends on insect pollination
- Help the honey industry establish labeling guidelines to guarantee pure and unadulterated varietal honey
- Coordinate a multidisciplinary team of experts in honey production, pollination and bee health
- Promote the use of locally procured honey in the home, food industry and restaurants
Loke, the Davis Co-Op Teaching Kitchen coordinator, says she’s been obsessed with food for as long as she can remember. With 10 years of experience following “foodie adventures” (her repertoire includes running a kitchen on an eco-cruise, working in an organic garden, and teaching kids how to cook from scratch), she now teaches cooking classes at the Davis Co-Op, where she works full-time doing marketing, education and events.
The pomegranate is one of her favorite new foods.
“I’m from the East Coast and Midwest and had very little exposure to them growing up,” she said. “I love the act of breaking open the skin and having the arils (the juicy seeds) pop out, like a beautiful present! I love to eat them just out of hand but have incorporated them in everything from grains with toasted almonds to tossing them in most any salad and especially in desserts for a fun pop of tartness."
So when Loke delivered her presentation on how to make Baklava-Inspired Napoleans with fresh figs, pomegranate, honey and chevre mousse - and then served the dessert to the crowd - the crowd clamored for more.
This pastry serves 6 to 8 people, but “depending on how you cut the baklava and how much mousse you use, it could feed even more,” Loke says. She describes it as "crispy layers of phyllo dough, walnuts and spices, balanced atop dollops of tangy goat cheese mousse with fresh local figs, drizzled in California orange blossom honey."
Baklava Inspired Napoleans with Fresh Figs, Pomegranate, Honey and Chevre Mousse
Ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter
10 sheets whole wheat phyllo dough, thawed
10 fresh figs, sliced into thinnish rounds or thin wedges, tossed in a little thinned honey
2 cups chevre mousse (see recipe below)
1/4 cup honey, such as Moonshine Trading Company’s California orange blossom
1 cup finely chopped raw walnuts or pistachios
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Directions:
Thaw phyllo dough in the refrigerator overnight. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. You can melt the butter in the preheating oven or in short bursts in the microwave or in a pan on the stove—watch it closely. Set aside in a warm spot on the stove.
In a food processor, finely mince the nuts, sugar and all of the spices. It should be fairly fine easy to sprinkle over the dough. Or chop by hand and mix. Set aside. This will be layered between each sheet of phyllo dough. Prepare two sheet pans that are large enough to hold the phyllo sheets or close to it; you can always trim the phyllo to fit. Gently unwrap the phyllo and cover with a clean, damp fuzz-free dishtowel. Lift a whole sheet of phyllo from the pile and carefully lay out over the sheet pan. Replace the damp dishtowel over the pile. Using a pastry brush, lightly butter the first layer and lightly sprinkle with the spiced nut filling. Repeat and continue until you’ve done 4 sheets. Now carefully cut into 4-inch x 4-inch squares, or any other size or shape you can imagine. Then repeat the whole process on the other pan. Place into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown and flaky. Let cool and then using your figs, honey and chevre mousse, layer into little towers. Drizzle all over with honey.
Chevre Mousse
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup goat cheese (chevre), room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and/or orange zest
2 tablespoons sugar
In a mixing bowl, whip the goat cheese with the whisk attachment until it starts to soften. Add the cream and orange zest and continue mixing until soft peaks just begin to form. Be careful you don’t overheat.
(Editor's note: If a pomegranate perplexes you, Julie Loke will be teaching a short introductory class on pomegranates at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9, in the teaching kitchen of the Davis Food Co-op. She’ll show folks how to select, cut open, and juice pomegranates, and she'll provide a few recipes as well. The cost is $7. See http://davisfood.coop/education/cookingclasses.)
California is the sole producer of 99 percent of the pomegranates grown in the United States. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility was showcased at the Honey and Pollination Center event. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of Baklava-Inspired Napoleans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC, CSU team up on agricultural, environmental research projects
Leadership of California’s higher education systems made the funding available to jointly address issues in agriculture, natural resources and human sciences. Project criteria include collaborative research, teaching, or course development; development of student internship opportunities; and workshops, conferences, and symposia. Eight projects totaling more than $79,500 were selected from 30 proposals submitted.
“These research projects will help leverage limited resources to produce quick results on important issues in California,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. “They are also building stronger connections among researchers throughout the state and providing hands-on learning opportunities for students.”
Researchers involved in this year’s projects are from UC Davis, UC Berkeley and California State University campuses at Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Pomona, Sonoma, San Marcos and San Luis Obispo. The awarded projects, with principal investigators, are listed below:
- “Estimating residential water demand functions in urban California regions” — Economists from UC Berkeley and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will estimate residential water demand of municipalities and water companies that serve 19 million people in the Bay Area and Southern California. (Maximilian Auffhammer, Stephen Hamilton)
- “Reintroduced mammals and plant invaders as key drivers of ecosystem processes in coastal and interior grasslands” — Researchers from Sonoma State University and UC Davis will study how reintroducing tule elk and reducing invasive Harding grass affects the availability of soil nutrients and the composition of plant communities. (Caroline Christian, J. Hall Cushman, Valerie Eviner)
- “Genetics of plant defense responses to pesticides and spider mites on grapes” — Scientists from UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will conduct laboratory, greenhouse and field studies to learn more about factors affecting grapevine response to spider mites, including cultivar resistance, drought impact and pesticide exposure. (Michael Costello, Richard Karban, Andrew Walker, Jeffrey Wong)
- “Defining the functions of polyphenol oxidase in walnut” — Through genetic analysis, researchers at CSU San Marcos and UC Davis seek to learn more about an enzyme involved in the postharvest browning of cut or bruised fruit. (Matthew Escobar, Monica Britton, Abhaya Dandekar)
- “Modeling the costs of hazardous fuel reduction thinning treatments and removal of woody biomass for energy” — Researchers from Humboldt State University, UC Davis, and the U.S. Forest Service will develop a model to estimate the costs of removing hazardous wildland fuels with different equipment and systems over a wide range of forest stand, site and road conditions. (Han-Sup Han, Bruce Hartsough)
- “Restoration of pollinator communities and pollination function in riparian habitats” — Researchers from California State University, Chico, and UC Davis will characterize native pollinator communities at restored riparian habitats within the Central Valley and test whether successful restoration of pollinator communities also leads to restoration of pollination. (Christopher Ivey, Neal Williams)
- “Estimating alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets and nitrate leaching losses in the Central Valley of California” — Researchers from California State University, Fresno, and UC Davis will collect alfalfa and non-legume plants from irrigated fields and also identify San Joaquin Valley farm sites for a multi-year study of alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets, groundwater nitrate leaching, and nitrogen requirements of rotation crops. (Bruce Roberts, Stuart Pettygrove, Daniel Putnam)
- “Community and ecosystem response to elevated nitrogen in managed grassland ecosystems” — Restoration ecologists from Cal Poly Pomona and UC Berkeley will investigate how elevated nitrogen levels affect competition among native and exotic plant species with regard to fuel characteristics at UC’s South Coast Research and Extension Center. (Erin Questad, Katharine Suding)
Reports on project outcomes are expected in December 2012.
New resources for backyard gardeners
Whether you’re trying to garden at home more sustainably (minimizing water use or using pollinators), or whether you want the most up-to-date information on beautiful new plants, new gardening practices, or new hardiness zones, I have assembled some practical information for home gardeners.
Arboretum All-Stars
The horticultural staff of the UC Davis Arboretum have identified 100 tough, reliable plants for California that are easy to grow, don’t need a lot of water, have few problems with pests or diseases, and have outstanding qualities in the garden. Many of them are California native plants and support native birds and insects. Most All-Star plants can be successfully planted and grown throughout California. The Arboretum All-Star website not only provides cultural information on each of the plants, but also has a searchable database, photographs, and an audio slideshow.
For those of you outside of California, if you have a similar climate (see the section below on hardiness maps), these All-Stars may grow well for you, too.
Arboretum plant sales
The UC Davis Arboretum and the California Center for Urban Horticulture are working with wholesale and retail nurseries in California to make sure that the All-Star plants are available for home gardeners. Check with your local retail nursery to see if they carry All-Stars, check the online list, or go to one of the Arboretum’s plant sales if you are in Northern California. These plant sales draw gardeners from all over Northern California who want unique, specialty, or All-Star plants that perform well in California: plant sale dates.
Pollinator gardening
If you want to create a pollinator paradise in your landscape, you might want to attend the Pollinator Gardening workshop at UC Davis on April 28, 2012. Sponsored by the California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis, this full-day workshop will have entomologists, horticulturalists, and design experts present to inspire gardeners and equip you with the tools to provision pollinating insects in your own landscape. Learn what you can do to support healthy bee communities.
Roses, roses, roses
Rosarians and garden amateurs will all enjoy the annual Rose Day workshop at UC Davis on May 5, 2012. Sponsored by the California Center for Urban Horticulture, the program features rose-breeding experts Dr. James Sproul and Jacques Ferare, rose tours on the UC Davis campus, and a rose plant sale.
The New Sunset Western Garden Book
The ninth edition of the legendary garden book, The New Sunset Western Garden Book, was recently released, and features over 2,000 color photographs (goodbye, little hand sketches!), a complete redesign, an encyclopedia of 9,000 plants, and a “plant finder” section.
Debbie Arrington, garden writer for the Sacramento Bee, and Debra Prinzing at the LA Times provide additional information and reviews of the new edition.
New plant hardiness maps
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released a new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990 with greater accuracy and detail. The new map is available online. The map offers a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based interactive format and is specifically designed to be Internet-friendly. The map website also incorporates a "find your zone by ZIP code" function.
While the map is useful in many areas of the U.S., some gardeners in California find it not specific enough for our multitude of microclimates (Mediterranean, maritime, mountainous, and more), so many California gardeners still rely on Sunset’s climate zones.
Lack of pollination due to insecticide use affects onion seed yields, study finds
A lack of pollination by honey bees — brought on by increased insecticide use to control onion thrips — was linked to a sharp decrease in yields of California onion seeds, according to research published in the July-September 2011 issue of the University of California’s California Agriculture journal.
“Honey bee visits to onion flowers were negatively correlated with the number of insecticides applied per field and field size,” wrote the study’s authors, Rachael F. Long of UC Cooperative Extension in Yolo County and Lora Morandin of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. “Reduced onion seed yields in recent years could be associated with the increase in insecticide use, which may be repelling or killing honey bees, important pollinators of this crop.”
The research was conducted in May and June 2009, in 13 commercial hybrid onion seed production fields in Yolo and Sacramento counties. At each of six sampling sites per field, the researchers observed the numbers and types of insects visiting onion flowers that were potential pollinators of onions. To assess onion seed yields relative to insect pollinator activity, they collected onion umbels from the sampling sites and counted the seeds to obtain average yield data. Ground mapping was done around each field to determine whether other preferred floral resources were available to honey bees, perhaps luring them away from onion flowers.
Onion thrips were previously of minor importance in onion seed production. However, iris yellow spot virus is a new pathogen for California onions that is vectored by onion thrips, and it can cause significant onion seed yield losses if left unmanaged. The insecticides used by growers at these field sites to control onion thrips included spinosad, spinetoram, methomyl, cypermethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and sodium tetraborohydrate decahydrate. The number of insecticides applied per field ranged from one to seven, including tank mixes, with all pesticides applied prebloom. The number of bee hives per acre ranged from four to 14, with the exception of one field that had resident hives at 42 per acre.
“This study found that the number of insecticides applied and field size were the strongest predictors of honey bee activity and onion seed yields,” the authors wrote.
Long and Morandin cautioned that to confirm a causal relationship, more information is needed on the specific effects of different classes and rates of insecticides on honey bee activity. In addition, cultivar can play a role in honey bee activity and needs to be further investigated with respect to pesticide use and bee activity.
“Our study suggests that growers should exercise caution when using insecticides, applying them only when needed as opposed to preemptively, to better protect both wild and honey bee pollinators,” the authors wrote. “Also, the negative correlation between field size and honey bee activity suggests that spreading honey bee colonies around onion fields rather than grouping them may increase honey bee activity and pollination in larger fields.”
Onion seed is primarily grown in Colusa County and the Imperial Valley on about 2,000 acres. The value of the seeds is $12 million to growers, according to agricultural commissioner county crop reports, and they generate an additional $40 million in subsequent retail sales.
“While clearly a specialty, small-acreage crop, onion seed production is important to the rural economies in California where onion seed is primarily grown,” Long and Morandin noted.
Rachael Long monitors pollinator activity in a hybrid onion seed field. Honey bee hives (foreground) are placed in fields to promote pollination. (Photo: Edwin Reidel)
Rangelands conservation helps farmers
As it turns out, the farmer and the cowman should be friends, as the classic “Oklahoma!” song suggests. According to a just-published UC Berkeley study, wild bee species pollinate California crops to the tune of $937 million to $2.4 billion per year. That amounts to more than one-third of all pollination “services” to the state’s crops.
Many of those crop-pollinating wild bees live in rangelands – chiefly ranches that graze cattle.
“This means that preserving rangelands has significant economic value, not only to the ranchers who graze their cattle there, but also to farmers who need the pollinators,” said Claire Kremen, UC Berkeley associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, and senior author of the study.
The assumption that wild pollinators were not a significant source of crop pollination is more than just conventional wisdom – it’s business: a majority of farmers rent European honeybees to ensure crop pollination.
But beekeepers have suffered high rates of colony losses due to diseases, pesticides and management factors, increasing the uncertainty of both supply and rental prices.
And wild pollinator species have also shown declines in abundance and diversity on farmlands, most likely due to habitat loss from the intensive monoculture, or single crop, production system that typifies much of California’s agricultural lands.
The result? They are most scarce precisely where they are needed the most.
“Currently, wild pollinators are least abundant in intensive monoculture production areas such as sunflowers, almonds and melons, where demand for pollination services is largest,” said Kremen.
Kremen equated depending mainly on one species – the European honeybee – with putting all our retirement savings in one stock.
“The wisdom of diversification holds true for agriculture as well and yet, many Calfornia farmers rely solely on European honeybees for crop pollination,” Kremen said, adding that the unpredictability associated with climate change amplifies the importance of diversification.
“Some insect species will thrive in changed climate conditions, and other won’t. Maintaining a biodiverse stock of pollinators is like the insurance that a diversified stock portfolio brings: some will be up, some will be down, but having a portfolio of many different species ensures viability into the future,” Kremen said.
While it’s common sense that healthy crops result in a healthy food supply, a separate study led by Kremen, also just published, put a number on the human health benefit of ensuring the viability of pollinators. The researchers estimated that up to 40 percent of some essential nutrients provided by fruits and vegetables could be lost if there were no pollinators around to do the job.
Payment for services rendered
Placing a value on ecosystem services is an established part of conservation science, and this new finding comes at a time when there is growing interest within the ranching community in providing ecosystem services. For example, as part of conservation efforts, California ranchers have been asked to maintain flowers for endangered butterflies and to keep small spring wetlands known as vernal pools healthy – using grazing as a tool to manipulate the grassland.
Darrel Sweet, a fifth generation cattle rancher from Livermore and a former president of the California Cattlemen's Association, said that placing a dollar value on rangelands pollination services lends powerful support to these efforts.
“The value of grazing and other land stewardship practices of California’s ranchers is being increasingly acknowledged as not only a preferred land use, but also as an essential resource management tool,” said Sweet. “I hope this study is just the beginning of comparable findings that show how ranching is a critical – and multifaceted – element of California agriculture.”
The state’s rangelands have been decreasing steadily, as the foothills and oak-dotted grasslands can be highly desirable for residential development. California lost 105,000 acres of grazing lands to urbanization between 1990 and 2004, according to the state Department of Conservation. The California Oak Foundation projects that the state could lose another 750,000 acres by 2040.
Kremen said the findings suggest that if farmers paid ranchers to stay on the land and maintain the habitat, the farmers would be increasing their sources of pollination and developing critical diversification to support their agricultural practices.