Agriculture

Let's celebrate National Pollinator Week. And what better time for the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology to host an open house than during National Pollinator Week? It's from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Will machines replace the romance of the hand-cultivated wine grape vineyard?

Consider the lovestruck praying mantis.

The United States Biochar Initiative 2018 Conference will be in Wilmington, DE August 20-23. While the conference focuses on water quality, it will cover the waterfront of biochar production, use, etc. I have been to several and have enjoyed them all and learned a lot.

New report with market analysis projects growth between 2012 and 2025. Summary is free: www.goo.

Guest authors Tunyalee Martin, with the UC IPM Program, and Gene Miyao, farm advisor, describe a parasitic plant that has been found in some parts of Yolo County and the Delta.

Alan Wilcox of Wilcox Agri-Products and UC Cooperative Extension specialist Jeff Mitchell debated the challenges and opportunities for increased implementation of conservation tillage practices on California farms during the World Ag Expo in February, reported Alan Stenum in Farm Equipment magazine.

According to the CalFlora website (http://www.calflora.org/), 21 species of amaranths occur (to some extent) in California. While many are non-native, a few, including prostrate pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides) and Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri), are indigenous.

Whether you need continuing education credits or are interested in keeping abreast of the latest weed science-related research occurring in California (or both), you should be aware that there are three excellet extension events coming up in July of 2018.

The UC Berkeley-UC Davis Linnaean Games Team, comprised of graduate students from UC Berkeley and UC Davis, won the championship at the regional Linnaean Games hosted by the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA) at its meeting June 10-13 in Reno.