Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
Canadian bees picking up the slack for locals
Solitary, hard working leafcutter bees are being imported from Canada to help pollinate seed alfalfa, making the crop profitable in the San Joaquin Valley, according to an article published today in Western Farm Press.
“Economically, seed alfalfa cannot compete with other crops without the leafcutter bees,” the story quoted Bob Sheesley, an alfalfa breeder who is a former UC Cooperative Extenion farm advisor and county director. Working together with honeybees, leafcutters boost alfalfa seed yield 250 pounds to 300 pounds per acre, Sheesley said.
The story was written by Dennis Pollock, who is now doing freelance ag writing after retiring from the Fresno Bee last year. For the leafcutter story, he spoke to UCCE farm advisor Shannon Mueller, who said leafcutter bees are more efficient pollinators than honeybees because they don't seem to mind being slapped in the face by the alfalfa flowers' reproductive structure as they forage for pollen.
Leafcutters won't be putting honeybees out of work, however. Honeybees are less susceptible to pesticides and are kept by professionals, unlike leafcutters, which farmers must manage and care for themselves.
Alfalfa seed.
Put that dropped pacifier back in baby's mouth?
A comment by UC Davis professor of medicine, Dr. M. Eric Gershwin, will probably give many moms the shivers. In a CNN story today, he says that if your child's pacifier falls on the floor, put it right back in his or her mouth.
OK, that's really hard to do, but it does draw attention to his point: The human immune system will offer a child better protection in the future if it is exposed to germs and allergens at a young age.
In the story, written by Elizabeth Landau, Gershwin called the immune system "a complicated, multiorgan, chemical and genetic nightmare" that evolved about 250,000 years ago and is unlikely to improve just by eating certain foods.
The CNN story originated at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, being held this this week in Chicago. The article opened with futuristic musings about diets personalized for individual health profiles, saying that blanket dietary recommendations are missing the mark.
In his AAAS presentation, UC Davis food chemist Bruce German said food manufacturers' profits depend on lowering the cost of production and making their products cheaper.
"No one's getting healthy in this model," he was quoted. "It's clear we have to move toward a consumer-driven food supply."
In a consumer-driven food world, he said, the industry would focus on improving all aspects of the consumer's health. People would receive dietary recommendations based on a very specific individualized health assessment, taking into account age, sex and medical history.
A question not addressed in the story: Even if people know exactly what they should be eating, will they be willing to give up fried chicken, donuts, french fries and ice cream?
Baby with balloons.
Master Gardener program doesn't lose ground
An article in the Redding Record Searchlight advises Master Gardeners to "Put away the pitchforks." A rumor that the program's training session at Shasta College would be dropped is false.
According to the story, horticulture instructor Leimone Waite called current and former Master Gardeners to arms (metaphorically) a few weeks ago saying the program's training class could be eliminated along with other college programs to deal with a budget shortfall. She urged supporters of the Master Gardener program to share their thoughts with college officials.
Shasta College President Gary Lewis said he received numerous letters from Master Gardeners, but told Record Searchlight writer Laura Christman the Master Gardener training class was never targeted for cuts.
"I was surprised I heard from people. It really wasn't in jeopardy," Lewis was quoted.
The Shasta College Master Gardener program is unique in California. Because the county UC Cooperative Extension program lacked a horticulture advisor, Shasta College took on Master Gardener administration and training in 2003.
"The program wouldn't exist in Shasta County without Shasta College," the story quoted Pam Geisel, UC ANR statewide Master Gardener academic coordinator.
Christman, a Master Gardener herself, wrote that Geisel considered it important to bring the Shasta program into the UCCE fold.
"If you speak with one voice as a group, you speak with a much louder voice," Geisel said.
Recently, the Shasta program became part of UC Cooperative Extension, although it still retains "Shasta College" in its name and the college continues to handle the training and oversight, according to the article.
The memorandum of understanding that was finalized in the fall means more structure and paperwork for the local group, but it also will allow for better access to UC experts and resources.
UCCE Master Gardener logo
Ventura County volunteer encourages residents to garden
A Ventura County UC Cooperative Extension master composter, Lorraine Rubin, wrote a guest column published in the Ventura County Star over the weekend about the increasing popularity of food gardening. She attributed growth in the age-old hobby to high food costs, job losses, hunger, concerns about food quality, climate change and dwindling energy supplies.
Rubin wrote that the acting county director in the Ventura office, Rose Hayden-Smith, is a nationally recognized leader in the effort to boost home gardening. Hayden-Smith, Rubin wrote in the article, "has been crisscrossing the nation giving speeches, granting interviews and blogging like crazy to push the message that our country needs to invest, once again, in local gardening."
The story reported that Hayden-Smith wrote a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture suggesting a victory garden conference be convened in Washington, D.C., this spring, using as a model the National War Garden Defense Conference held there in 1941, less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The conference, Hayden-Smith suggested, could outline how a national victory garden program could once again offer food security to Americans by supporting edible gardens in our schools, homes, workplaces and communities.
A World War II Victory Garden poster.
CDFA decides to try gypsy moth eradication in Ventura
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has decided to spray a natural pesticide commonly used on organic farms in the Ventura County community of Ojai to knock down a local infestation of gypsy moths, according to an article in the Ventura County Star.
The gypsy moth was deliberately introduced into the United States in 1868 by French scientist Leopold Trouvelot, who wanted to breed a disease-resistant, silk-spinning hybrid caterpillar. Some moths escaped from his Massachusetts lab and the insect became a notorious pest of hardwood trees in the eastern United States, according to a Wikipedia article on the moth.
Four gypsy moths were trapped in Ojai in June 2007; 15 months later, CDFA placed a five-acre area under quarantine. Among other trees, gypsy moths' presence in Ventura County threatens California native oaks. Star reporter Stephanie Hoops contacted UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Ben Faber for information about CDFA's planned eradication program.
Faber told the reporter that the pesticide to be used, bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, is safe and a good way to stop the gypsy moth from defoliating oak trees.
“The thought of our hillsides without oaks is scary,” Faber was quoted. “I hope people would consider the ecological consequences if we let the gypsy moths get away.”
Gypsy moth larvae