Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing (HLB), is devastating the citrus industry. Florida alone has experienced a 50 to 75 percent reduction in citrus production. There are no resistant varieties of citrus available and limited disease control measures.
As you know, we have been monitoring armyworm flights with pheromone traps across the valley since 2018. This year, the first set of traps were put out on 4/10 near Princeton, and today we put out a few more. We checked the first traps today, and we got an average of 2 moths per night per trap.
A great source of information on what's happening to produce around the world, including citrus, avocado, blueberries and occasionally cherimoya and star fruit but all things strawberry and lettuce and whatnot, I check daily on Fresh Plaza to see what's going on.
When California was part of the Wild West, it took a certain amount of guesswork to move cattle from their home range to summer pastures while making sure sufficient forage was left behind to hold the cattle over till fall rainfall spurred new growth.
Just got a note from Dawn Afman, the District Conservationist at USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. She says: USDA Farm Services Agency is working like heck to help all our producers who are hurting due to markets closing for COVID.
Even as Californians shelter in place to contain the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, nutritious food remains vital to the health and well-being of our communities.
Benjamin Franklin reportedly said: "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." What about the sleeping patterns of bumble bees? Bumble bees are definitely early risers--if the weather cooperates.
