UC Cooperative Extension | Agricultural Experiment Station

Shearing students, ranchers flock to livestock advisor Harper

John Harper gives sheep shearing pointers. Most of the sheep shearers currently working in California have graduated from his sheep shearing school, which started in 1993.

UCCE livestock advisor John Harper retires after 32 years "If you know how to shear, you'll never be poor," Stephany Wilkes remembers John Harper, University of California Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for Mendocino and...

UC Delivers

California produces more than 10 million tons of grass clippings, tree leaves, limbs and twigs, vegetable cuttings and other organic wastes every year. The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 939) required a 25% diversion of this waste stream from landfills by 1995, and a 50% diversion by 2000. Mushrooms grow and produce effectively on highly lignified and composted material. From 1985 to 1999, mushrooms--mostly white button mushrooms (Agaricus spp.)--were the number one cash crop in Santa Clara County. California produces about 40% of all mushrooms in the United States. Mushroom production worldwide has increased in the last 15 years from about 350,000 tons to about 9.9 million tons.

Read about: Mushroom Production and Waste Management | View Other Stories

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