Agriculture

Farmers and ranchers are typically the first to feel droughts, a condition that seems to be impacting California on an increasing basis, reported Dustin Klemann on KSBY News on California's Central Coast.

February is Pesticide Safety Education Month The second annual National Pesticide Safety Education Month gets underway February 1st, to 1) reinforce core principles of safe handling and use and 2) to raise awareness/support land-grant university Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs).

The foundation of an effective extension program is an understanding of needs.

You gotta love those tarantulas at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis. If you don't love them, then at least you'll love their names.

Water and water management are crucial to the continuing agricultural prosperity of the San Joaquin Valley. Consequently, the region is lucky to have not one BUT TWO symposia this month discussing water quantity, quality , and management in the Central Valley. Please consider attending if you can.

Bugs rule, but other critters do, too, on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day! You won't want to miss the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16. The free, family friendly event will feature 13 museums or collections.

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Have you ever seen a chocolate tree loaded with fruit? Or a plant that folds its leaves when you touch it? No? Ever seen a Humboldt squid, a giant predator that's also known as a jumbo squid? How about a Peruvian sling shot? Or fossils more than 550 million years old? No?

Much like other parts of California, the Southern Sacramento Valley has seen some substantial rainstorms this season. The weather patterns left growers with a few narrow planting windows spread out over the last two months.

UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist Jeff Mitchell is issuing a standing invitation to the public to visit the site of an ongoing conservation agriculture research project and see for themselves the results of long-term soil-building practices.