Agriculture

After 13 years of telling the UC ANR story through written articles and video production, Norma De la Vega retired on June 29. De la Vega joined UC ANR's News and Information Outreach in Spanish team in 2009 as a senior writer.

If you're a student in a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology class taught by UC Davis Distinguished Professor James R. Carey, you'll learn from the pro how to write a research paper or term paper, a requirement in his classes.

This spring more scientists joined University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources to share their practical knowledge in counties across the state.

Avocado fruit set is lousy up and down the coast this year. The trees were flowering in many places from January to June. They kept trying to set fruit, but nada.

Brake On! is a preemergence herbicide registered in blueberry and other horticultural crops in Oregon and Washington but not in California. Fluridone, the active ingredient of Brake On! inhibits carotenoid biosynthesis in the phytoene desaturase enzyme step.

Ever seen a honey bee packing red pollen? Rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) is one flower that yields red pollen. It's a drought-tolerant perennial, a succulent. But the most striking part is its color: a neon pink that could stop traffic.

Save the dates! The seventh annual International Monarch Monitoring Blitz will take place Friday, July 28 through Sunday, Aug. 6.

Rachael Freeman Long grew up in Berkeley but was fascinated by farming. The UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor has spent the past 37 years doing research on crop production, pollination and pest control and collaborating with farmers.

It seems like the simplest thing is the hardest. Recently, I was called out to evaluate why newly planted trees were failing at two sites and they both had a common problem. In one case, the trees had been planted too deeply at the beginning.

Scholar, teacher, mentor, researcher, author, collaborator, leader, optimist and administrator. Those are some of the roles of Professor Joanna Chiu, molecular geneticist and physiologist, who advanced from vice chair to chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on July 1.