From Farm Press

Please Come to the World Ag Expo Water Forum

Feb. 13, from 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the

International Agri-Center’s Heritage Complex, 4500 South Laspina St., Tulare, Calif.

San Luis Reservoir Early This Year

 Top city and water agency officials will address California’s historical drought, including its anticipated impact and water supply actions, during the World Ag Expo Water Forum.

The event will be held on the Thursday of World Ag Expo, Feb. 13, from 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the International Agri-Center’s Heritage Complex, 4500 South Laspina St., Tulare, Calif.

State and federal water representatives will participate. Governor Brown and Resources Secretary John Laird are invited. The master of ceremonies will be KMPH-TV News Anchor Rich Rodriguez.

As California faces the worst drought in decades, the Central Valley will once again be ground zero for water supply shortages and economic impacts due to the combination of lack of rain, snow, low reservoir levels, major declines in its groundwater levels and the ongoing shifting of its reliable water supplies to the environment.

City officials and farmers will discuss concerns, challenges, and ask for help from state and federal water departments through a panel moderated by Mario Santoyo of the California Latino Water Coalition.

The World Ag Expo Water Forum will also include high level policy and technical representatives from state and federal governments, plus key water agencies to discuss and answer questions through a panel moderated by Tim Quinn of the Association of California Water Agencies.

Time will be available for audience questions.

CSUF President Castro to Join Ag Ambassadors at World Ag Expo 2014

Dr. Joseph I. Castro, President, California State University Fresno,  will make his first visit to the World Ag Expo as Fresno State president when the largest annual agricultural exposition of its kind unfolds Feb. 11-13 in Tulare.

An estimated 100,000 visitors from 70 countries visit the World Ag Expo each year to learn about agriculture and the latest technologies.

Fresno State’s participation includes water researchers delivering seminars and student Agriculture Ambassadors staffing a booth in the Hilvers Career and Education Center (booths 8001 and 8002).

Castro and his wife Mary (whose father milked cows on a dairy farm in Laton for 40-plus years) will appear at the booth about 10-11 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, with Dr. Charles Boyer, dean of Fresno State’s Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. Their appearance will follow the California Agriculture Leadership Alumni breakfast from 6:30-8:30 a.m. where the president will be formally introduced.

The annual breakfast has raised more than $650,000 to benefit the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation.

After the breakfast, volunteers and organizers for the Ag Expo will provide the Castros with a tour of the grounds and exhibits before stopping at Fresno State’s booth to greet visitors as part of “Ice Cream with the Dean Day” Thursday. Fresno State’s popular student-produced ice cream will be served free at 10 a.m. until supply runs out. Dr. Sandra Witte, the Jordan College associate dean, will also be present.

Jordan College’s Agriculture Ambassadors will be working at the Ag Expo with Desi Molyneux, a University Outreach Services counselor, and Dr. Steve Rocca, associate professor in Agriculture Education, to share tips on admission and opportunities within the college.

“Schools from all over California will come for a field trip. It is a great place to advertise our programs,” Molyneux said. “It is also a great place to visit with alumni and supporters from the community.”

Fresno State’s booth will display products from the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market, University Farm and Floral Lab.

Prior to the expo, the student Ambassadors will staff a booth at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Feb. 8-9 at the baggage claim area to welcome guests and provide information about transportation, events and seminars.

A series of water and irrigation seminars will be presented from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 13 in the World Ag Expo Seminar Center by Fresno State’s International Center for Water Technology in partnership with Irrigation Association.

Bill Green, an education specialist with the Center for Irrigation Technology, will discuss, “Good Irrigation Efficiency by Increasing Distribution Uniformity” at 10:30 a.m.

The International Center for Water Technology is a research hub dedicated to providing developments and solutions to improve water use and efficiency. The program has a broad spectrum of research topics including water supply and quality, flood protection and environmental enhancement.

For information about the Agriculture Ambassador booths, contact adviser Steve Rocca, an associate professor of ag education, at (559) 278.5088 or srocca@csufresno.edu.

Soil Scientist Kerry Arroues Recognized by Agronomy Society

Kerry Arroues in the Soil Pit he references in story

At the recent American Society of Agronomy meeting in Fresno, Kerry Arroues was recognized for his extinguished service in Soil Science

Kerry Arroues grew up in northeastern CA in Susanville.  He received a BS degree in Agriculture specializing in Soil Science from Chico State in 1973.  He held the following professional positions:

SCS/NRCS Supervisory Soil Scientist (Soil Survey Leader, most recently covering the San Joaquin Valley and CA Delta), Hanford, CA, 1991-2012; SCS Soil Survey Project Leader, Hanford, CA, 1979-1991; SCS Soil Scientist, Hanford, CA 1976-1979; SCS Soil Scientist, Bakersfield, CA 1975-1976.

During his work as a soil scientist with Natural Resources Conservation Service he was co-author or author of the following soil surveys covering a total of about 4.5 million acres that include the top three counties in market value of agricultural production in the United States: Kings County, Published 1986; Tulare County, Western Part, Published 2003; Fresno County, Western Part, Published 2006; Yosemite National Park, Published 2007; Kern County, Northeastern Part, Published 2007; Kern County, Southwestern Part, Published 2009.  He has been a Certified Professional Soil Scientist for 33 years.

Kerry Arroues is author or co-author of more than a dozen publications.  He co-authored a November 2012 publication for the National Cooperative Soil Survey Newsletter titled “Field Investigations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”  In the fall of 1996 Kerry sampled soils in Uruguay with Dr. Warren Lynn and considers this one of the highlights of his career.

He also presented posters and papers at the 6^th International Meeting of Soils with Mediterranean Type of Climate in Barcelona, Spain in 1999.  He has been an auxiliary member of Kings County Agricultural Advisory Committee for many years.  He was a member of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and Earth and Soils Department Advisory Councils at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and provided input for 15 years on issues related to maintaining the viability of a soil science program.

Kerry retired from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service in late December, 2012 after more than 39 years of Civil Service.  In his retirement he has continued to work as a volunteer for NRCS.  This work involved digging pits and describing soils in July, 2013 on the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park Soil Survey in an area located in the upper part of the South Fork of the San Joaquin River watershed.

In receiving his award, Mr. Arrouses told this story:

I am grateful and truly thankful for this recognition.

Last July I was sitting on the edge of a soil pit I had just dug on the side of a glacial valley floor just below Martha Lake and near the headwaters of the South Fork, San Joaquin River.  I reflected on my 40 years of work as a soil scientist as I looked around at the incredible scenery and I understood how fortunate I had been to be able to work in so many diverse and wonderful places during my career.  That is one of the reasons that prompted me to volunteer for soil survey work on the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park soil survey on a 10 day backpack soil survey trip to elevations as high as 11,200 feet.

Thinking of the soils I had personally touched may seem a little weird, but it also brings a certain reality to work and life.  I think of the diverse soils I have worked with here in our valley, the peat and muck soils in the CA Delta, the glaciated soils in Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the high shrink-swell clay soils in the plains of Uruguay.  I also think of lacustrine lake bed soils in the Honey Lake area near Susanville where I was first introduced to soil mapping and soils in the Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake that illustrate what an incredible place this valley was and is.

As amazing as soils are however it is the many interactions with great people who also enjoy their work with soil in the field that have added  much more value to my work as a soil scientist.  My first supervisor as a soil scientist with the Soil Conservation Service was Kan Kim Chang in Bakersfield.  He instilled in me what a privilege it was to work on soil surveys.  Kim Chang was trained by the late Dr. Gordon Huntington while working on the Eastern Fresno Area soil survey.  Gordon became a mentor to me after I was a student in the University of CA, Soils 105 “Field Studies of Soils” class in 1984 that he instructed with 4 others (Gene Begg, Drs. Mike Singer, Randy Southard, and Ron Amundson.

I spent 6 weeks describing about 100 soils in California and Nevada and developed a deep respect for him that continues to this day.  A short time before his death he gave me a number of items related to his work as a soil scientist.  I brought his Master’s Thesis with me today.  It was signed by three individuals in 1954 and one of those was Dr. Hans Jenny.  Dr. Jenny, born in Switzerland in 1899, was the author of the book “Factors of Soil Formation” published in 1941 which neatly laid out a strong paradigm for soil formation factors responsible for differences in soil.  This book has been referenced repeatedly since 1941 in a multitude of soils-related publications.

In Hanford, Bob Beede and I have maintained this kind of a relationship over the decades.  Trees do grow in soil after all!  Another UC Extension Specialist who I depended on for assistance was Blake Sanden who helped write soil survey agronomy sections for published soil surveys in Kern County.  Another person who had a big impact on my work with soils was the late Carl Anderson, supervisor for my first four years in the Hanford Soil Survey office.  His love of soil chemistry and effects on soil salinity gave me a great foundation to build on in later years here in the San Joaquin Valley.  The list is long and I have appreciated all of the interactions with others who have the same passion for science and soils that I have.

As I reflect back on those who had an influence on my career it illustrates the importance of giving back to others in soil science some of the lessons I have learned and experienced.  Jackie Robinson had an appropriate quote for this idea when he stated:  “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”