Agriculture

What do honey bee colonies do when a raging wildfire heads straight toward their hives (bee boxes)? No, the bees do not abscond with their queen and relocate, says Norman Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.

Over the last several months, I've had several conversations with ranchers about capital expenditures purchases of durable, relatively expensive assets.

Six UC Cooperative Extension research projects were awarded funding ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 each from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Healthy Soils Program.

Dr. Mark Hoddle will discuss the problems caused by invasive species in California. Invasion statistics of importance to California will be discussed along with relevant aspects of invasion biology that drive invasion pathways, establishment likelihood, and subsequent spread after establishment.

Getting ahead of marketplace demands What farmers can do - August 31, 2020 https://youtu.

If you think there's a butterfly invasion in the three-county area of Yolo, Solano and Sacramento, wait until you hear what Art Shapiro, distinguished professor evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says about that.

There are always new things to see in the field. Some things show up on occasion, but reliably, like citrus leafminer starts damaging new leaves in the fall. You start to see the leaf spots from Persea mite in the fall, even though they started their nesting/feeding activities in the late spring.

Honey bees just can't get enough of our tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. We plant three species of milkweed (the host plant for the monarchs), but both the monarchs and the honey bees gravitate toward A. curassavica, a non-native.

Entomologists have a unique toolbox of gadgets designed to trap and collect otherwise hard to nab insects. Beating, sweeping, sucking, and carefully brushing, these scientists have no lack of creativity when it comes to collecting what most people can't even see.

As some may know, I've been doing a weekly podcast called "Sheep Stuff You Should Know" with my friend and fellow sheep producer, Ryan Mahoney.