Agriculture

What does the increase in the overwintering Western monarch population along coastal California mean? The number of Danaus plexippus sightings showed a 100-fold increase as compared to last year, according to the Thanksgiving count initiated by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Huanglongbing (HLB) and its causal agent Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) are a serious problem for the US citrus industry, with Florida and Texas already heavily affected, and California at an early stage.

You know those dratted aphids, those little pests that suck the very lifeblood out of your prized plants? Well, have you ever watched them give birth? They do, you know. Live births. The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program says that "Aphids have many generations a year.

Nov 30 Figs, like many other fresh fruit, suffer from postharvest loss due to fungal pathogens and shrivel. Leili Afsah Hejri, a scientist working in food safety, has been examining the use of ozone as a post-harvest treatment for sanitation as well as improving fruit quality.

Talk about a full schedule! Nematologist Shahid Siddique, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, not only excels at research, teaching and public service but he serves as the coordinator of the department's weekly seminars for the 2021-22 academic year.

Topics for the winter quarter seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology range from the alfalfa weevil to the yellow fever mosquito. The seminar series will take place on Wednesdays at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall beginning Jan. 5 and continuing through March 9.

Over the last ten years or so, I've had the opportunity to help teach farm and ranch business planning courses (first, as a collaborating producer; more recently, as an extension advisor).

Spotted: A lady beetle (aka ladybug) feasting on aphids in her winter wonderland. It dines uninterrupted until it sees the shadow of what could be a predator. Swoosh! It quickly slips beneath a strawberry leaf and remains there, hidden and silent until the photographer leaves.

When California experiences drought due to a lack of rain and snow and the reservoirs don't fill up, people pump water out of the ground to meet their needs.

Citrus greening, or Huanglongbing disease, HLB, is the most devastating disease for orange and grapefruit trees in the U.S. Prevention and treatment methods have proven elusive, and a definitive cure does not exist.