Agriculture

Policy advocate at the California Farm Bureau Federation, Taylor Roschen, wrote a 736-word commentary, published in AgAlert today, praising the value of UC Cooperative Extension advisors and advocating for an additional $20 million annual funding from the state of California.

IMMOKALEE, Fla. University of Florida scientists are working toward establishing a new biological method that may help farmers control the insect that transmits the deadly greening disease into citrus trees.

If you've ever watched flameskimmer dragonflies (Libellula saturata) zip-zagging around your yard looking for prey, you've probably marveled at the wings.

The shut downs and self isolation sweeping across the country to curb the spread of coronavirus likely will not impact agricultural staple foods, but high-end wines and specialty ag products grown in California may suffer, reported Tim Hearden in Western Farm Press.

The popular Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, is a favorite destination of adults and children alike but that won't happen for awhile. And rightfully so. We all need to take precautions.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, is closed to the public until further notice, announced Lynn Kimsey, Bohart director and UC Davis professor of entomology, today (March 16). However, researchers may contact the museum for their specific needs, she said.

A welcome sign of spring each year for grape producers is budbreak, the moment when tiny buds on the vine start to swell and green leaves appear.

Citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing (HLB), is deadly, incurable, and the most significant threat to the citrus industry. Most HLB research focuses on the tree canopy, but scientists in California studied the impact of HLB on root systems.

"Why Are the Monarch Butterflies Declining in the West?" Professor Elizabeth Crone of Tufts University who researches monarchs (as well as bumble bees), drew a standing-room only crowd when she presented a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on the decline of Western monarchs.

Producers experiencing this damage may be eligible for assistance. Crane flies, Tipula oleracea, are once again present on Sonoma and Marin County's range, pasture and cultivated lands this season.