Agriculture

UC Davis medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo's tiny research subjects in Tupper Hall are receiving widespread attention on a very large scale. In less than 48 hours, nearly 500,000 people have seen thembut not in his restricted-access lab.

The California Plant and Soil Conference will be held in Fresno CA at the DoubleTree Hotel and Convention Center on February 4-5, 2020. This is a very comprehensive conference with talks from speakers invited from industry, government agencies, and universities.

Ranching has a long history in California, starting when Spanish missions were established in the early 1700s, continuing as ranchos under Mexican rule, and persisting as a solid industry today with about 38 million acres of range and pasture lands in the state.

Several years ago, I started a social media project I called Sheep 365. Every day for a full year, I posted a photo of something we were doing in our sheep operation. At first, I thought it would simply be a fun way to share my shepherding year with friends and family.

Trapdoor spiders can hide, but not for long. Jason Bond, professor and the Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has received a 4-year, $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant to study trapdoor spiders in the California Floristic Province.

If you're a beekeeper or scientist and want to know more about bee breeding, you should access the newly produced video, "Selecting Methods for Honey Bee Breeding.

Come and hear some new ideas to improve soils in Ventura County. Register Here: https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=29019 For more information: ceventura.ucanr.

Public concern regarding the risk of illness from long-term exposure to glyphosate is on the rise.

What are the effects of fire and smoke and ash and heat and all the other potential things that might affect plants and animal products that we eat?????? Can you simply wash off contaminants? What impact on the soil, itself? Does anything special need to be done to start producing food again?

As the 2020 growing season approaches, California growers, PCAs and handlers will have new regulations to take into consideration. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced new requirements for handling paraquat (paraquat dichloride).