Posts Tagged: rice

UC announces new $1 million UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for California Grown Rice

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) has established a $1 million UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Presidential Chair for California Grown Rice, announced UC ANR associate vice president of business operations Tu Tran. The endowed chair will provide a UCCE scientist a dedicated source of funds to support scholarly activities focused on improvement of California rice production and quality.

View the announcement and scenes from the Rice Field Day.

Half the funds for the endowed chair was provided by UC President Janet Napolitano; the other half was donated by the California Rice Research Board. The announcement was made at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, Calif., on Aug. 31.

“The establishment of this endowed chair strengthens the long-standing public-private research partnership UC Cooperative Extension has had with the California rice industry,” Tran said. “Continued research advancements will help the rice industry maintain its reputation for supplying a premium product for domestic and world markets.”

The California rice industry has a long history of supporting research, said Seth Fiack, Glenn County rice farmer and the past president of the California Rice Research Board. As president of the board, Fiack shepherded the establishment of the new presidential chair.

“We, as an industry, have always taken it upon ourselves to fund research we see as significant,” Fiack said. “More than 100 years ago, rice growers established the Rice Experiment Station to keep them viable and sustainable. California rice chooses to have the highest investment in research on a per-unit basis among rice producing states.”

The Rice Experiment Station in Biggs is operated by the grower owned and funded California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation, in close collaboration with UC Cooperative Extension, UC Davis and USDA.

UC Cooperative Extension and UC Davis scientists focus on rice production research issues such as weed, disease and insect pest management, nutrient management and water conservation. They also conduct the Statewide Yield Tests, testing varieties and experimental rice lines in grower's fields, all with funding support from the California Rice Research Board.

Don Bransford, third-generation Sacramento Valley rice grower, praised the formation of the new UC Cooperative Extension Presidential chair for California Grown Rice.

“This is a partnership that has gone back many, many years,” Bransford said. “Much of the success of the California rice industry is due to our relationship with Cooperative Extension. Working hand-in-hand with UC, we've been able to supply markets with an extremely high quality rice and support the environment by providing critical habitat to more than 200 wildlife species.”

The new presidential chair will be awarded by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources to a UCCE specialist or advisor currently working in rice research or to recruit an external candidate to UCCE. The chair appointment will be for a five-year term, and then reviewed and renewed or offered to another specialist or advisor working on California rice.

Napolitano created the Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs in 2014 for UC campuses and UC ANR to use as an incentive to encourage donors to establish endowed chairs to fund research. Endowed chairs help attract and retain top-flight academics.

UC studies estimate cost of production for six crops

Six new studies outlining the cost of production and estimated revenue for orchard and field crops have been released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The crops include lemons and oranges, field corn, paddy rice, silage corn and strawberries.

Each analysis is based upon a hypothetical farm operation using practices common to the region. Input and reviews were provided by growers, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and other agricultural associates. The authors describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for individual crops, material inputs and cash and non-cash overhead. A ranging analysis table shows profits over a range of prices and yields. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.

The studies for establishing orchards to produce lemons and oranges estimate costs for growing in Kern and Tulare counties. Revenue for the citrus is based on estimated sales to the fresh packaging market.  

The study for organic strawberries takes into consideration growing conditions on the Central Coast of California and complying with the National Organic Program. In particular, it focuses on growing organic strawberries in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties for the fresh packaging market.  

The study for producing paddy rice in the Sacramento Valley focuses on the costs of growing medium-grain rice, under a rice-only rotation in Butte, Colusa, Glenn and Yolo counties.  

The field corn study focuses on the production costs of a full-season corn crop in the Sacramento Valley and the northern San Joaquin Valley. This region would include Colusa, Glenn, Sacramento, Sutter and Yolo counties. The study based costs on a farm using furrow irrigation and Roundup Ready-GMO seed.

The study on silage corn, double cropped under conservation tillage methods, focuses on production costs of corn silage using minimum tillage operations in the northern San Joaquin Valley. The corn is planted in the spring after a winter forage crop is harvested. The study is based its costs on a farm using border/flood irrigation and Roundup Ready-GMO seed.

These new study titles are

• “Sample Costs to Establish an Orchard and Produce Lemons in the San Joaquin Valley-South-2015”
• “Sample Costs to Establish an Orchard and Produce Oranges in the San Joaquin Valley-South-2015”
• “Sample Costs to Produce Organic Strawberries in the Central Coast Region-2014”
• “Sample Costs to Produce Rice in the Sacramento Valley-2015” 
• “Sample Costs to Produce Field Corn in the Sacramento Valley and Northern San Joaquin Valley-2015”  
• “Sample Costs to Produce Silage Corn-Conservation Tillage Practices in the Northern San Joaquin Valley-2015”

These cost-of-production studies can be downloaded for free from the UC Davis Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics website http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample costs are also available for many other commodities. Many earlier production cost studies for agricultural commodities are also available at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu/archived.php.

For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the studies, contact Don Stewart, staff research associate in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at UC Davis at (530) 752-4651, destewart@ucdavis.edu.

 

New UC studies examine cost of producing beef, alfalfa hay, corn silage, rice, prunes, raspberries and avocados

New studies showing production costs for beef, alfalfa hay, corn silage, rice, prunes (dried plums), raspberries and avocados (conventional and organic) are now available from the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Each analysis is based upon hypothetical farm operations using practices common in the region. Input and reviews were provided by farm advisors, researchers, growers, farm accountants, pest control advisers, consultants and other agricultural associates.

Assumptions used to identify current costs for the individual crops, material inputs, cash and non-cash overhead are described.  A ranging analysis table shows profits over a range of prices and yields.  Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment, and business overhead costs.

The new studies are:

Sample Costs for Finishing Beef Cattle on Grass, 2012, Sacramento Valley, by Larry C. Forero, Roger S. Ingram, Glenn A. Nader, Karen M. Klonsky, and Richard L. De Moura.

Sample Costs to Produce Corn Silage, 2012, San Joaquin Valley by Carol A. Frate, Brian H. Marsh, Karen M. Klonsky, and Richard L. De Moura.

Sample Costs to Produce Rice, 2012, Sacramento Valley by Christopher A. Greer, Randall G. Mutters, Luis A. Espino, Paul Buttner, Karen M. Klonsky, Richard L. De Moura and Kabir P. Tumber.

Sample Costs to Establish a Prune Orchard and Produce Prunes, 2012, Sacramento Valley by Richard P. Buchner, Joseph H. Connell, Franz J. Niederholzer, Carolyn J. DeBuse, Karen M. Klonsky, and Richard L. De Moura.

Sample Costs to Produce Fresh Market Raspberries, 2012, Central Coast by Mark Bolda, Laura Tourte, Karen M. Klonsky, and Richard L. De Moura.

Avocado Sample Establishment and Production Costs and Profitability Analysis for Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, 2011, Conventional Production Practices and Avocado Sample Establishment and Production Costs and Profitability Analysis for San Diego and Riverside Counties, 2011. Conventional Production Practices by Etaferahu Takele, Gary Bender and Mao Vue.

Avocado Sample Establishment and Production Costs and Profitability Analysis for Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, 2011, Organic Production Practices and Avocado Sample Establishment and Production Costs and Profitability Analysis for San Diego and Riverside Counties, 2011, Organic Production Practices by Etaferahu Takele, Gary Bender and Mao Vue.

All cost of production studies are available online at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu, at UC Cooperative Extension offices or by calling (530) 752-3589.  For additional information on the studies, contact Richard De Moura at rdemoura@ucdavis.edu in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

$1.3 million donated to fund UCCE specialist

Barbara Allen-Diaz, University of California vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources, is pleased to announce that the California Rice Research Board has agreed to fund a UC Cooperative Extension specialist position for six years.

“This is a pioneering step in a new direction for funding public research,” said Allen-Diaz. “I want to thank the California Rice Research Board for being the first. This innovative partnership between the agricultural community and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources recognizes the immediate importance of rice research and the need for this new funding model.”

The $800 million rice industry makes California the nation’s second largest rice producer. UC conducts research on weed control, pest management and variety testing for rice crops to keep California growers competitive in the world marketplace.

“The rice specialist was identified as a priority position for UC ANR in our position planning process, and the Rice Research Board has taken a bold step to enable us to launch this position sooner rather than later,” Allen-Diaz said. “This generous gift by the Rice Research Board will enable UC ANR to begin recruitment immediately and the six-year commitment gives the position stability. After six years, UC ANR will assume financial responsibility for the position.”

The board will donate $212,000 each of the next six years for a total of $1.272 million to support a UC Cooperative Extension specialist to conduct rice-related research. The Rice Research Board is funded by grower assessments that are based on the amount of rice each grower produces. This specialist position, which will be based in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, will help UC ANR fulfill its mission as well as serve the rice industry’s needs.

“The Rice Research Board recognized the value of having a rice specialist serving the industry,” said Dana Dickey, executive director of the California Rice Research Board. “This service includes acting as a bridge for the efforts of the rice ‘team’ at UC Davis and ANR, performing research on issues vital to the industry, being a resource for linking new research directions with researchers, and overseeing the variety trials for the industry.”

Dickey added, “The Rice Research Board chose this avenue to ensure the position will continue without interruption and be filled in coordination with the retirement of the present specialist.”

“Hiring outstanding academics to do research and deliver new knowledge is critical to the sustainability of farmers and to the future of California,” said Allen-Diaz. “This new funding model will enable us to act now to work on needed research and deliver science-based solutions.”

To discuss potential partnership opportunities to fund academic positions, contact Cindy Barber at Cynthia.Barber@ucop.edu or (510) 987-9139.

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