Agriculture

'Attention is the beginning of devotion' --Mary Oliver This quote resonates this month, amidst a variety of environmental holidays and celebrations including World Environment Day, World Ocean Day, California Invasive Species Action Week, and finally National Pollinator Week (this week) and Month.

After providing 34 years of service to the California tree crop industry, UC Cooperative Extension advisor and director in Tulare County Kevin Day retires July 1. Day has deep roots in Tulare County.

Alfalfa seed, an agricultural crop critical to the world food supply, shaped the 31-year career of UC Cooperative Extension advisor and director Shannon Mueller. Mueller will retire July 1.

As we move into the dry season on our annual rangelands, I thought it might be useful to post a few resources on feeding supplemental protein to livestock to maintain forage intake! Annual Rangeland Forage Quality (UCANR Publication 8022) - this 2001 publication provides a useful overview of the sea...

I love cover crops. I really do. No, I don't think they are the solution to everything or that they work magic in every scenario. But for the scenarios they work in, they are marvelous. Why are these plantings so interesting, you ask? Well, let me tell you about my love interest with cover crops.

If you visit the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone--and you should, especially during National Pollinator Week--you'll see honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, among other pollinators.

When was the last time you sighted a bumble bee? Photographed it? It's National Pollinator Week and one of our favorite bumble bees is the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii.

Did you know that next week is National Pollinator Week? It is. June 17-21 is the week set aside to celebrate pollinators and how we can protect them. Actually, National Pollinator Week should be every day. Launched 12 years ago under U.S.

Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is a newly selected Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a group of world-class scientists known for their scientific impact or outstanding contributions.

Insects played a key role in the recent awards announced by the international Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). Five entomology-related entries from UC Davis won awards.