Agriculture

It's bee-ginning to look a lot like Christmas... All hail our littlest agricultural worker. European colonists brought the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to what is now the United States in 1622. Specifically, the bees arrived at the Jamestown colony (Virginia).

Back in 2010, UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (1944-2022) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and yours truly, department communications specialist, wondered why no insects appear in "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Zero. Zilch. Nada.

It has been many years since UC Cooperative Extension aka Farm Advisors have done an educational interest survey and updated our client contact database.

This from the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner's Office: Basically the baiting treatment (for growers) involves 2 options: For conventional farms the material is Malathion 8 Aquamul mixed with Nulure Insect Bait and for organic growing the available product is Spinosad GF 120 Naturalyte whic...

Effective December 19, 2023, the Department is expanding the HLB quarantine boundary in the Santa Paula area of Ventura county in grid 437. A map of the proposed boundary can be found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests_diseases/hlb/regulation.html.

It's a week before Christmas and it's not just the geese that are getting fat. If you're thinking that the bathroom scale and you are not good friends, not to worry.

Who will spot and photograph the first bumble bee of the year in the two-county area of Yolo and Solano? The Bohart Museum of Entomology is sponsoring its fourth annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble Bee-of-the-Year Contest, which begins at 12:01, Jan. 1, 2024.

The invasive pest spotlight focuses on emerging or potential invasive pests in California. In this issue we are covering the Oriental fruit fly. The Oriental fruit fly (OFF) is an invasive pest that attacks over 230 crops including citrus and other fruits, nuts, vegetables, and berries.

Maybe eucalyptus? So you thought there were only three species of eucalyptus? Well there are a lot more and they all grow differently. Here's an interesting study evaluating their performance in the Central Valley which probably has value along coastal Southern California, as well. https://www.nrcs.

SWEEP 2023 opening soon! The State Water Efficiency Enhancement Program READ ALL ABOUT IT https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/ Get your paperwork ready! SWEEP 2023 will release $23 million in funding this round, looking to open by the end of this year.