Agriculture

Focusing on current hot topics in farming and agriculture, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources academics will offer nonstop displays and demonstrations in its own tent at the World Ag Expo, Feb. 13-15.

Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei, Didymella rabiei) was recently found in volunteer garbanzos in the Sacramento Valley, so keep an eye out for this disease in your production fields and be sure to control all volunteer garbs on your farm (yes, these volunteers are now long gone).

Picture 1: Adult alfalfa weevil Alfalfa weevils, key pests of alfalfa hay, have been showing pyrethroid insecticide resistance within the Intermountain region, specifically in the Scott Valley area west of Mount Shasta.

Farms that sell only fresh produce are dependent on buyers for markets and pricing.

Pesticide Safety Instructor Training Workshops Update your knowledge of changing regulations! This course meets the requirements established by the revised Worker Protection Standard, which is mandated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

The bumble bee was hungry. She moved quickly from blossom to blossom on a jade plant at the Benicia (Calif.) Capitol State Historic Park, Solano County. As she foraged, you could see her tongue (proboscis) and her trademark yellow face and yellow stripe on her abdomen.

Warm and sunny winter days are no cause for celebration among the farmers, ranchers and forest managers who rely on UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' research-based information and expertise to make their work more profitable.

Farmers are still being urged to complete the Census of Agriculture surveys. Although Feb. 5 was the deadline, a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service representative said the Ag Census website https://www.agcounts.usda.

Well, it did what it was supposed to do. It walked. When Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology, glanced at a wall near the entrance of the Bohart Museum during a recent open house, she noticed something that wasn't part of the wall.

It's beginning to look a lot like...almond pollination season in California. Almonds usually begin blooming around Valentine's Day, but it's often earlier, depending on where you look or live. Take Benicia, Solano County.