Agriculture

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overhead irrigation 2

Why and How to Cool Avocado Trees

July 7, 2021
By Ben A Faber
If you missed the recent UC/CAS/CAC grower meeting on cooling avocado trees or just want to review the enormous amount of information or just want to wander other grower's orchards, Here is the video of the presentations: Speaker & Topic: Giulia Marino, UC Davis Tree Physiologist - How Heat Affects...
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leaf roller avocado
Topics in Subtropics: Article

No Longer a New Pest

July 2, 2021
By Ben A Faber
This article was first posted in July of 2020 when it wasn't clear what this leaf roller/leaf miner was going to do. In the last couple of weeks I have heard from two PCAs from Ventura saying that they are having to spray for it. So, it is back and it is probabl6y going to hang around for a while.
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A female sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua expurgata, forages on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Life Is Not Always Sunny for the Sunflower Bee

July 1, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Life is not always sunny for the sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua, a native longhorned bee. The gals have trouble foraging when a male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, targets them. The male M. agilis are very territorial--and their kamikaze-like maneuvers are spectacular.
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The new Net Zero Initiative project will examine the effects of value-added dairy manure products. Composted dairy manure used as fertilizer shown in an almond orchard. Photo by Sat Darshan Khalsa
Food Blog: Article

Dairy’s Net Zero Initiative gets boost with $10 million research grant

July 1, 2021
By Pamela S Kan-Rice
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research has awarded a $10 million grant to support U.S. dairy's Net Zero Initiative as a critical on-farm pathway to advance the industrywide 2050 Environmental Stewardship Goals set through the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.
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Adult California ground squirrel
From Soil to Science: Article

New online course on the management of ground squirrels and pocket gophers

July 1, 2021
Cheryl Reynolds, UC Statewide IPM Program UC Statewide IPM Program is pleased to announce that a new online course on managing ground squirrels and pocket gophers has been added to UC IPM's growing library of online training courses. This course consists of eight video segments recorded by Dr.
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Spotted Wing Drosophila Controlled? Naturally?

June 30, 2021
By Ben A Faber
Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are working to understand how something can be equally effective as both a government-approved food additive and as a pesticide. Methyl benzoate is a naturally occurring compound produced by plants. The U.S.
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