Agriculture

They look as if they belong in a circus or in a cartoon. Long dangly legs, elongated body, and long, four-segmented antennae topped with a small club. But there they were, stilt bugs, foraging on evening primrose at dawn in our "living laboratory"--a pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.

My name is Giuliano Galdi, and I am the new UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Agronomy and Weed Management Advisor located in Merced County, and also with responsibilities in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. In San Joaquin county, my primary responsibility will be in weed management.

Growers are said to be one of the most surveyed groups in the US. This is understandable as only around 2% of Americans work in agriculture and there is an intrinsic lack of understanding of what is needed to help growers develop their operations.

The Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program is hosting three free training workshops for field crew supervisors and farm labor contractors in San Diego, Ventura and Tulare counties this month.

I recently went looking for our copies of Walter Ebeling's book on pests of subtropical tree crops. It was created over 40 years ago, but is still a great reference for past pests and those that still pop up with less frequency than avocado thrips and persea mite do today.

Preliminary grain and forage yield results for our fall-planted common wheat, triticale, durum wheat and barley trials are now available on the UC Small Grains Research and Information Center website: https://smallgrains.ucdavis.

Are you interested in learning about the management of sap-sucking pests and ants in citrus orchards? Lindcove is organizing a full-day workshop to bring you recent research advances on sap-sucking insects and ant management. The workshop will focus on ants.

The Secret Life of Vineyards depicts what you may never see: the life that inhabits a vineyard. A UC Davis team created the insect-themed ceramic-mosaic mural that was recently installed at the Matthiasson Winery, 3175 Dry Creek Road, Napa.

2023 Citrus Growers Educational Webinar Series The Citrus Research Board's (CRB) 2023 Citrus Growers Educational Webinar Series took place from June 6 to June 27, 2023. Each webinar highlighted valuable research and practical discussions for growers.

The Secret Life of Vineyards, an insect-themed ceramic-mosaic mural created by a UC Davis team and recently installed at the Matthiasson Winery on Dry Creek Road, Napa, won't be a secret much longer.