Agriculture

The Hopland Research and Extension Center is soliciting proposals for new and continuing research projects for the period July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019. Hopland REC encompasses more than 5,300 acres of oak woodland, grasslands, and chaparral rangeland in southeastern Mendocino County.

ANR members are invited to participate in the California Specialty Crops Council's 2018 educational tour of specialty crop production and pest management in California. The tour will start on Monday, Aug. 6 in Visalia and will conclude in Sacramento in late afternoon Thursday, Aug. 9.

Ella Mae Noffsinger, 84, who retired in 1991 as the senior museum scientist in charge of the UC Davis Nematode Collection, passed away March 22, 2018 in Woodland. She was a longtime resident of Palm Gardens Assisted Living, Woodland.

VP Glenda Humiston moderated the closing plenary panel on March 23 at the California Water Policy Conference held at the UC Davis Conference Center. The panel discussed the Future of Agriculture in California.

VP Glenda Humiston, AVP Wendy Powers and several UC ANR representatives visited more than 30 congressional offices in March to brief lawmakers and staffers on the latest agriculture and natural resources research and outreach benefiting Californians.

Norm Knows... Western Subterranean Termites Western Subterranean Termites have a winter time activity period, but are year-round pests of wooden structures and dead trees. The winter activity is associated with their swarming habit. The winged adults are black/dark brown with opaque gray wings.

The boys are back in town! Well, at least one is. We don't know where the girls are. Neither, apparently, does he. A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, aka "the teddy bear bee," buzzed into our mustard patch Sunday and nectared on the blossoms for about 10 minutes.

The Research and Extension Center (REC) System is a key component of UC ANR (Cooperative Extension + Agricultural Experiment Station + Research and Extension Centers + Statewide Programs).

Integrated pest management (IPM) scientists affiliated with the University of California, Davis and the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources received high accolades at the 9th International IPM Symposium, held March 19-22 in Baltimore.

So you're a rural landowner thinking about planting cover crops in your fields or orchards. And/or, you want to learn more about beneficial insects. You're in luck.