Improving Food Safety

Government, Academia and Farmers Join Forces to Improve Food Safety

By April Ward, LGMA Director of Marketing and Communication

On November 19, 2020 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the launch of a longitudinal study in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), University of California Davis, Western Center for Food Safety (WCFS) and agricultural stakeholders in the Central Coast of California.

In recent years several E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks have been linked to lettuce. In an effort to find the cause of these outbreaks and arm farmers with a way to prevent them, this multi-year project will examine how pathogens survive and move through the environment and possibly contaminate produce. FDA will work closely with water quality, food safety, and agricultural experts, representatives from various agriculture industries, and members of the leafy greens industry.

As a part of the project, research teams will aim to determine potential sources of contamination by collecting and examining samples from the environment including adjacent lands, well and surface waters, soil inputs that include compost, dust and animal fecal samples.

U.S. FDA:

The findings from this study will contribute new knowledge on how various environmental factors may influence bacterial persistence and distribution in this region, and how those factors may impact the risk of leafy greens becoming contaminated. Results from this collaboration will lead to improved practices to prevent or mitigate food safety risks, and ultimately enhance the safety of leafy greens grown in California.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross:

California leads the world in leafy greens production and innovation. Industry and food safety officials are proud to partner on this in-depth scientific study protecting public health.

Dan Sutton, Chairman of the California LGMA and General Manager of Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange:

The California LGMA completely supports this joint effort spearheaded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. LGMA members are committed to safe leafy greens and look forward to any findings that will help to make our crops safer for consumers. We are pleased to see wide participation from industry, academia and regulators. All of these stakeholders bring different strengths to the project and share a common goal of improving food safety for lettuce and leafy greens.

A similar study is being conducted in the Yuma, Arizona growing region.

California Ag Today2021-01-06T18:27:55-08:00December 30th, 2020|

Food Systems Continue for Consumers

Food Systems Remain Flexible Through the Pandemic

By Tim Hammerich with Ag Information Network

Throughout the pandemic we have occasionally been bringing you updates on how our agricultural and food systems are impacted. Here is another update courtesy of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

As the food system continues adjusting to changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers say the system has proven resilient so far. Supply chains have had to adapt as restaurants and other food-service facilities have been restricted or closed. The changes have tested food supplies and forced farmers and marketers to reconfigure some operations. But people involved in the food system say they’ve remained flexible to try to match demand and supplies.

The vitamin C content of citrus fruit has helped boost its popularity during the pandemic, and farmers who grow mandarins say they’ve seen more demand for their fruit. California Citrus Mutual says it expects increased volumes for this year’s mandarin harvest, which began last month and will continue for several more weeks. Recent cool, wet weather has helped the fruit gain color, and farmers say they’re expecting a good mandarin season.

College graduates with degrees in agriculture can expect strong job demand, according to a new report. The study estimates steady growth in job opportunities for agricultural graduates, and that employer demand for the available graduates will exceed supply. Although the study began before the pandemic, the report’s authors say they’re confident demand for agricultural graduates will remain “strong and steady.”

California Ag Today2020-12-29T18:02:21-08:00December 29th, 2020|

Agreeing on Water Needs

Sixth Generation Farmer and EDF Director Discuss Water Challenges

By Cannon Michael and Ann Hayden

Despite a seemingly endless era of upheaval – a surging pandemic, contentious election cycle and racial strife – we still have the responsibility to address pressing issues that cannot wait for calmer times. The future of California’s water is one of those issues.

While collaboration and relationship building have been made even more challenging due to distancing required by COVID-19, we believe that water is an issue where we can rise above party lines and entrenched perspectives.

Cannon Michael, Sixth Generation Grower

Water is the backbone of California’s agricultural economy, supports our iconic rivers, and of course, is essential to our survival. Simply put, water is a lifeline that binds us together, and without it, we jeopardize our future and that of coming generations.

Could now be the time to collectively start down a better path for managing this precious resource and roll up our sleeves to make it happen? We think so.

For decades, fighting over water has stalled progress and sown deep mistrust across different water users.

We have forgotten that we are all stewards of California – a special place like no other, a rich connected tapestry of environmental beauty, diverse communities and productive agriculture.

We need to come together as Californians – not just farmers, environmentalists, rural community organizers and urbanites. We need to come together as Californians working for our children and future generations who are depending on us to leave them with a better California than we have today.

We need to come together to solve some admittedly difficult water challenges that affect the future of rural communities, cities, wildlife, farming in the Central Valley and consequently our country’s food supply. Drought and water scarcity are high on the list of these challenges. During our last major drought, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was enacted as one major piece of the solution to ensure we have enough water for future generations.

Looking forward, 2021 will be an important year for moving ahead on implementation of this sweeping change to water law. The state will be rolling out its first assessments of sustainability plans developed by regions with the most critically overdrafted groundwater supplies.

Balancing groundwater supply and demand, as required by the law, will no doubt be challenging: Some models say San Joaquin Valley landowners may need to take equivalent acreage to Yosemite National Park out of production to balance groundwater supply and demand.

To reach durable, fair solutions to such large challenges, we need to drop the baggage we’ve amassed over time. We need to come together as Californians to start collaboratively tackling problems – not just talking and arguing them. We need to come together and break the cycle of mistrust and take the time to truly understand how each side views the challenges and potential solutions.

It’s unlikely we will agree on everything – if we did California wouldn’t be the dynamic, diverse state it is today. But there is significant common ground we can build from. For instance, we all agree every single person in California should have clean and affordable drinking water when they turn on their kitchen faucet.

We also agree that replenishing groundwater is one of many solutions we will need to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. But it’s not the only solution; it’s inevitable that we still will need to scale back some agriculture.

The question we need to address is, how can we make sure that agriculture can still thrive while some farmland becomes productive in new ways, whether it’s with less water-intensive ranching, low-impact solar projects, wildlife habitat or recreational areas for our families to enjoy on picnics and hikes?

Taking action to address these challenges may mean parts of our state and the very communities we live in will look different from how they look today. But if we can come together as Californians to get it right, California will evolve and endure as the special place it is today for generations to come.

We have decades of experience coming at water challenges from our silos. Let’s break down those silos, come together as Californians and see what happens. Isn’t it worth a shot?

Cannon Michael is a sixth-generation farmer and president and CEO of Bowles Farming Co., headquartered in Los Banos, cannon@bfarm.com

Ann Hayden is senior director of western water and resilient landscapes at Environmental Defense Fund, ahayden@edf.org

This document first appeared in WaterWrights.net

California Ag Today2020-12-14T11:32:24-08:00December 14th, 2020|

Canada Thistle Alert!

Canada Thistle: A Very Prickly Problem in Row Crop Ground

By Rachel Freeman Long, UCANR Farm Advisor, Field Crops

A very spiny plant was dropped off at my office here in Woodland, CA that turned out to be Canada thistle, a noxious weed.

This plant is commonly found in the Intermountain area in northern California where it has overtaken fields, but my first encounter here in the Sacramento Valley. It was found in row crop ground and the landowner was having trouble controlling it. He cut it 6-in below ground, but it resprouted and grew back more shoots. He spot-sprayed it with glyphosate and 2,4D, but the plants recovered (likely burned back the plants before good translocation happened).

Canada Thistle overtaking a ditch bank in Intermountain area of CA

Canada thistle is difficult to control because it is a perennial plant with a deep taproot (Photo 6). It also has the ability to spread by the root forming dense patches in agricultural land or natural areas. Like other rhizomatous perennial weeds, tillage can break up Canada thistle roots into fragments spreading them thought a field making patches larger! Herbicides are typically needed to kill the deep extensive roots of the plants.

Canada thistle spot sprayed with Glyphosate and 2,4 D

In rangelands research has shown that Canada thistle control can be achieved with applications of Milestone (aminopyralid); Stinger/Transline (clopyralid) can offer suppression. However, both of these herbicides have a very long residual activity restricting what can be planted into a treated area after application. There are few options for controlling Canada thistle in row crop ground. One can rogue it, but one has to be sure to pull up the entire root or it will regrow. One can also spray with glyphosate in the fall when Canada thistle is translocating carbohydrates down to the roots. A spring application when Canada thistle is actively growing in the bud stage is the next best time to hit it with glyphosate, but that is not possible if a crop is planted. Multiple years of treatment with glyphosate are often needed to eradicate a thick patch once established.

Canada thistle regrowing from a root that was cut 6-inches underground

Canada thistle also needs to be actively growing at time of application for good herbicide translocation. Dust on the leaves can also affect the application (watch for all that ash that was deposited on plants this year from the fires). If one is making a spot treatment be sure that the glyphosate concentration in the backpack sprayer isn’t too high or you’ll likely get burn back but less translocation down to the root and less control. A slow death is generally desired for those deep-rooted noxious weeds (and perhaps more satisfying!)

Keep this weed out of your fields!

Canada thistle is a prohibited weed in certified seed production, so check your fields regularly and keep it out. Don’t let it get established! The California Crop Improvement Association (CCIA) charged with certifying seed fields states the following: “We have a zero tolerance for prohibited weeds in any class of certified fields. If the grower does not remove the plants from the field, then that field is automatically rejected, no matter the stage of said plant.”

Other troublesome thistle species commonly found in the Sacramento Valley include Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) and slenderflower thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus); see the UC IPM resources below. Both Italian and slenderflower thistles are annual, or sometimes biennial species, different than Canada thistle which is a perennial. Additionally, we created Table 1 comparing key common traits to help with identification of these three thistle species. Both Italian and slenderflower thistles are classified as restricted weeds. CCIA states, “For restricted weeds there can be a number of those plants in the field. However, if any of the restricted weed seeds are found in the seed analysis then the lot is rejected.”

Tomas Getts, and Jose Carvalho de Souza Dias assisted Long in writing this report.

California Ag Today2020-12-01T17:22:26-08:00December 1st, 2020|

Thanks California Farmers!

We are Grateful for the California Farmer

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

It’s morning, and as the sun rises over the Sierra Mountains, the California farmer rouses early to plan the day and greet his or her employees alongside their pickup trucks.

Side-by-side, they

Walk the orchards of almonds, walnuts or pistachios;
Peruse the groves of citrus, peaches, plums, and nectarines;
Inspect the vineyards of table, raisin or wine grapes;
Survey the fields of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, celery or strawberries;
Raise forage to feed their healthy dairy cows.

We are grateful for the dedication of the California farmer:

Who may also be a rancher or dairyman.

Who takes NO days off from caring for their livestock and poultry.

Who follows the legacy of prior generations on the family farm.

Who contributes to our nation’s security by providing abundant, nutritious and safe homegrown food to eat.

We are grateful for the lawful vigilance of the California farmer:

Who checks their email for newly registered crop protection materials to prevent pests and diseases from destroying her crops.

Who adapts to ever-changing, complicated and costly regulations.

We are grateful for the responsible “buck-stops-here” accountability of the California farmer:

Who appreciates the dedication and experience of his employees.

Who follows preventive safety measures, such as providing work breaks, ample water, and shade from the heat.

Who pays her employees well and provides training for them.

Who ensures all equipment is well maintained and furnished with all safety features.

Who follows all best management practices whether industry-recommended or regulator-mandated.

Who adheres to all food safety laws and regulations to prevent food-borne illnesses.

Who tracks her produce every step in the process from seed to farm to fork.

We are grateful for the versatility of the California farmer:

Who farms more than 450 different crops—from artichokes, asparagus, and avocados, to

zucchini—which we all need to eat for great nutrition and vibrant health.

Who raises the wholesome foods that ought to dominate our plates to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases.

Who produces most, if not all, of the nation’s almonds, walnuts, pistachios, processing tomatoes, dates, table grapes, raisins, olives, prunes, figs, kiwi fruit, and nectarines.

Who leads the country’s production of avocados, grapes, lemons, melons, peaches, plums, and strawberries.

Who tends to his fields of stunning and delicate flowers that make so many people happy.

We are grateful for the ambitiousness of the California farmer:

Who produces award-winning, world-renown wine grapes, and vintages.

Who meets consumer demand for organic, gluten-free, low-fat, locally sourced, family-owned and farmed food.

Who increases the contributive value of California agriculture to the economy by stimulating secondary industries and jobs.

Who increases her yields to feed a hungry and growing world population.

Who contributes towards California’s 15% share of all U.S. agricultural exports (2015).

We are grateful for the conservation-minded California farmer:

Who uses drip or micro-sprinklers to conserve every drop of California’s water resources.

Who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in turnouts and valves to move floodwater onto their land, to build checks around open fields to capture runoff—all in an effort to recharge groundwater basins.

Who uses integrated pest management practices by following regulations and approved crop product directions, with an understanding of residues and the risk of pest and disease resistance.

Who uses fertilizers judiciously at the right time, for the right crop, in the right place, in the right amount, using the right methods.

Who installs solar panels to harness the abundant sunshine to power her operation.

Who floods her rice fields to conserve flyways for migrating birds and water for fish to thrive.

We are grateful for the savvy and social-minded California farmer:

Who advocates for his business and understands financing, accounting, insurance, and business and risk management planning.

Who reaches out to consumers (in her spare time) through social media to reassure excellent quality and safety control of their crops and to share their family’s farming legacy.

Who relays her challenges and achievements—the transparent, complex information that consumers want to know.

We are grateful for the accessible California farmer:

Who answers his phone to give directions on crop pruning, thinning and spraying.

Who responds to employee concerns with mutually beneficial solutions.

We are grateful for the generous California farmer:

Who contributes funding for local school gardens, agricultural curricula, harvest festivals, sports teams, Farm Bureaus, political action committees, and AgSafe.

Who donates to local food banks and homeless shelters.

We are grateful for the intelligent, knowledge-seeking California farmer:

Who regularly attends continuing education training on best practices, pest and disease management, and improved food safety practices.

Who stays current on scientific research and recommendations, and who chooses to fund such endeavors, plus industry associations and trade.

We are grateful for the deeply invested California farmer:

Who sends a text to her PCA to schedule a lunch meeting, then gets out of the truck and grabs a shovel to check soil moisture.

Who knows his field and weather conditions, trade and market variables, and employee concerns on a regular basis.

Who sustains the “California” brand known for exceptional quality, nutrition and safety.

We are grateful for the determination, stamina and perseverance of the California farmer:

Who stubbornly, painstakingly pushes for a good harvest despite growing challenges to his livelihood and way of life.

Who knows when to fallow a field, change a crop, or sell her business.

Who stewards her crop as best she can despite stormy weather, droughts, and floods.

Who relies on one paycheck per year, generally, which may or may not cover the cost of his operations.

We are grateful for the integrity of the California farmer:

Who checks his watch to make sure he arrives on time to his children’s parent-teacher meetings and extra-curricular activities.

Who is dedicated to her family, friends, and community.

We are grateful for the Optimistic California farmer:

Who realizes that hard times don’t last forever.

Who anticipates that next year could be better.

Who never gives up.

Who makes every effort to preserve his soil’s health, so it can produce the crop … for next year.

California Ag Today2020-11-25T06:58:34-08:00November 25th, 2020|

Full Court Press to Market Big Pistachio Crop

American Pistachio Growers Expands Marketing Efforts Ahead of Expected Record 2020 Crop

Trade organization pulls out stops with virtual harvest event and chef cook-alongs

American Pistachio Growers (APG) is mounting a full-court press to market the expected one-billion-pound harvest that is now filling bins in processing facilities. APG’s strategy includes a virtual harvest tour in California’s San Joaquin Valley and a schedule of live, interactive cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs catering to food writers and industry influencers in the U.S. as well as in six other countries.

This unique agricultural virtual tour will take participants from the pistachio orchards of California’s San Joaquin Valley into the kitchens of some of the most celebrated chefs in the country. The harvest segment features grower Rich Kreps, of LARK Farms in Madera, California, as he witnesses his first-ever harvest.

“Watching those delicious nuts falling out of our trees and into the catch frames was a literal dream finally realized. We were truly elated when it all came together in our first harvest,” said Kreps. “After five years of labor and investment in these pistachio orchards, we are finally seeing our first paycheck.”

APG has assembled an All-Star line-up of celebrity chefs who will make U.S.-grown pistachios the star of their dishes. Wolfgang Puck, Nancy Silverton, Gerald Hirigoyen and Martin Yan will guide journalists in the U.S., China, France, Germany, India, Italy and Spain through live, interactive cook-alongs via Zoom. The Zoom events are limited to journalists only. The schedule of chef events runs from Nov. 12 through Nov. 25.

“Our growers have done their part, producing the world’s largest supply of quality pistachios in history. It’s our job at American Pistachio Growers to generate consumer demand around the world,” said Judy Hirigoyen, APG Vice President, Global Marketing. “Given the large number of confirmed journalists we have for these events, we will likely make this an ongoing series.”

Exports of U.S. pistachios are essential to the economic health of the industry as, on average, about 70 percent of the U.S. crop is sold in overseas markets. While growers in three states of California, Arizona and New Mexico are expected to harvest a record crop in 2020, growers in Iran are expected to harvest about 484 million pounds, less than half of the projected U.S. production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

“There’s no bigger time of year than now as American pistachio growers bring in their 2020 harvest, so we created this virtual event to give agricultural reporters, food writers, and other food industry professionals the red carpet treatment to follow pistachios from the orchard to the kitchen,” Hirigoyen said.

Hirigoyen said pistachios have become a highly popular food due to their nutrient-dense, high protein content. Home cooks and professional chefs, alike, have embraced pistachios because of their growing reputation as a healthy, nutritious food for active lifestyles. Earlier this year, pistachios earned status as a “complete protein,” joining other plant proteins such as quinoa, chickpeas and soybeans. In July, a university study underscored the importance of pistachios as part of weight loss programs.

“Our marketing team is keenly aware that more and more families are preparing meals at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and attention is now focused on holiday meal planning in the coming weeks,” said Hirigoyen. “We’re excited to add these unique marketing elements to raise consumer awareness to the large U.S. crop and to the fact that in addition to their popularity as a snack food, pistachios are playing a bigger role in home-prepared recipes, on restaurant menus, and in a growing list of consumer food items.”

California Ag Today2020-11-17T14:24:49-08:00November 16th, 2020|

Kernza Is Recommended for Grain and Forage

UC ANR helps accelerate cultivation, marketing of the perennial grain Kernza

As part of its mission of sustainability in agriculture, the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) is interested in crops that hold environmental and economic promise — such as moringa, the drought-tolerant “superfood” grown by Central Valley farmers, or elderberry, offering carbon sequestration and pollinator benefits when planted in hedgerows.

In this vein, UC SAREP is part of a recently awarded $10 million grant from USDA focusing on the adoption of a perennial grain, Kernza®, as a means to shift U.S. agriculture towards reduced tillage and increased carbon sequestration.

The Kernza-CAP project is led by Jacob Jungers of the University of Minnesota. The project team includes researchers, farmers, educators, industry leaders, policy experts and climate scientists at 10 universities and 24 non-profit and farm and food organizations nationwide.

Kernza is the trademark name for the grain bred from intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium), a non-native perennial forage grass from Eurasia introduced to the U.S. in the early 20th century.

While intermediate wheatgrass has been grown for decades in the U.S. as a forage crop, its use as a commercial grain crop for human consumption is new. Breeding efforts with Kernza have focused on traits to make intermediate wheatgrass a profitable grain crop, including increased seed yield and seed size. (Kernza is traditionally bred and is not a genetically modified crop.)

Kernza has strong potential to benefit the environment and increase farm income by producing both a premium grain and a high volume of quality straw.

As a perennial, Kernza can be harvested for several years in a row, avoiding the cycle of annual tillage resulting in carbon loss, erosion and soil degradation. The deep roots of the crop — up to 10 feet in depth — is naturally occurring, promoting carbon sequestration and increased water infiltration and mimicking native prairie grasses.

Research and early production trials have shown that Kernza can reduce seed, fertilizer and machinery costs for farmers. And, because its grain is high in protein, fat and fiber, it can be used to make flour, crackers, tortillas, bread, pasta, granola, cereal, beer and whiskey.

Kernza is being strongly promoted to early-adopter growers as a dual-use crop for grain and forage. But because it is a new crop, strong relationships with businesses in various agricultural sectors are needed to expand early adoption of processing, transporting and incorporating Kernza into farmers’ operations and food products.

“A big stumbling block for getting emerging crops like Kernza off the ground is the capacity to build a community of growers, processors and sellers who can form that new supply chain,” says Gail Feenstra, UC SAREP director and Kernza-CAP team member.

“SAREP’s role in the Kernza-CAP project is as something of a ‘matchmaker,’ connecting the market potential in California to the nationwide Kernza coalition. We’ll be convening growers, millers, bakers and brewers to figure out practical steps for adoption,” says Gwenaël Engelskirchen of UC SAREP. “In the later years of the project, we’ll be looking for growers who might be interested in trialing Kernza in California.”

The Kernza-CAP project launched on Sept. 1, 2020. Results from the five-year project will include new cultivars that yield more grain and enhance critical ecosystem services, a better understanding of those ecosystem services, best practices for Kernza growers, supportive policy and educational tools, and multiple operating regional supply chains meeting increased national market demand for Kernza.

More information on Kernza, the project partners, updates and reports on research findings, additional press materials, and field day demonstration information can be found on kernza.org/kernzacap.

The Kernza trademark is owned and managed by The Land Institute, a non-profit research organization based in Salina, Kansas that is playing a critical role in developing Kernza and other perennial crops. This work is supported by AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Program (SAS-CAP) grant no. 2020-68012-31934 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

California Ag Today2020-11-12T13:24:19-08:00November 12th, 2020|

Sacramento Valley Pest Management Seminar Dec. 9

3-Hour Seminar To Focus on Pest Mgnt on Rice, Field Crops and Processing Tomatoes

December 9, 2020

University of California Cooperative Extension Sutter–Yuba–Colusa is holding a 3-hour pest management webinar on Wednesday, December 9^th, 2020 to provide pest management information and research updates on some of the major annual crops in the Sacramento Valley. The presentations are relevant to growers throughout California and are primarily focused on pest management of rice, field crops and processing tomatoes with a portion of the webinar devoted to updates on laws and regulation.

The December 9th webinar will feature an hour of rice presentations given by Luis Espino, Rice Farming Systems Advisor in Butte County and Whitney Brim-DeForest, Rice and Wild Rice Advisor in Sutter-Yuba counties. Espino states, “This was a year with severe rice blast in the northern Sacramento Valley; the presentation will cover blast biology and management information. I will also review arthropod issues such as tadpole shrimp and armyworms.” Brim-DeForest says, “The webinar cover the latest weed research in rice, including weedy rice, watergrass species, and the 2019 weed survey”.

Amber Vinchesi–Vahl, Vegetable Crops Advisor in Colusa and Sutter-Yuba counties, will provide information on pest management of processing tomatoes, the dominant vegetable crop in the Sacramento Valley. She states, “I will be providing information on important pest issues in commercial processing tomatoes and the latest research updates on disease and weed management.”

Sarah Light, Agronomy Advisor for Colusa and Sutter-Yuba counties will present information on area field crops. Light says, “My presentation will cover relevant pest management updates related to field crop production in the region.”

The webinar will also include a regulatory update for Sutter County by Scott Bowden, Deputy Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer. This portion of the program will include information on permitting and updates on chlorpyrifos and paraquat.

Enrollment is limited, so register early. The cost is $25 for the 3-hour webinar. For more details or to register, visit http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=32431. DPR CE and CCA credits are pending (2 “other” hours and 0.5 Laws & Regs hours).

If you have questions, contact Sarah Light [selight@ucanr.edu or call the UCCE Sutter–Yuba office at (530) 822-7515].

California Ag Today2020-11-10T16:53:40-08:00November 10th, 2020|

Almond Orchard Recycling Research

Farm Advisor and Almond Grower Working on Orchard Recycling

By Patrick Cavanaugh with the Ag Information Network

A farm advisor is working with a grower on an almond recycling program. Mae Culumber is a UCANR nut crop advisor in Fresno County. And she’s working on orchard recycling.

“ I have several different trials going on. One is on orchard recycling. We been working with a commercial grower where his trees have got to third leaf,” Culumber said. “And so they were doing their first shaking harvest of a Nonpareil and the Monterey variety and he was nice enough to when he planted the orchard, he let us set up a replicated experiment where we had control areas in the orchard where no chips were spread.”

Now, the chips are there because when the trees were pushed over and run through a chipper, the chimps were put back in the orchard as a orchard recycling program.

“They let us cordon off areas for different one acre plots where there were no wood chips applied. So now we’ve been able to go back in and look at yield differences between what would be like a normal planting versus one was wood chips,” she said. “And we’re still in the process of doing the crack out and analyzing the data. But we’ll be looking to see if there’s any early on yield differences.”

“We’ve been looking at differences in tree growth, you know, things like that,” she said.

California Ag Today2020-10-28T12:50:13-07:00October 28th, 2020|

Natural Habitats Help With Pest Control

How Surrounding Natural Habitats Can Shape Pest Outbreaks and Pesticide Use in Vineyards

Photo at top is Daniel “Dani” Paredes

Natural landscapes surrounding vineyards can decrease pest outbreaks and depress pesticide use, according to a UC Davis paper published in the current edition of the journal Ecology Letters.

A five-member team led by postdoctoral researcher Daniel “Dani” Paredes of the Daniel Karp lab, UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology (WFCB), analyzed a 13-year government database to assess how the landscapes surrounding 400 Spanish vineyards influenced European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana) outbreaks and insecticides application rates.

The article, “Landscape Simplification Increases Vineyard Pest Outbreaks and Insecticide Use,” is now online.

“At harvest, we found pest outbreaks increased four-fold in simplified, vineyard-dominated landscapes compared to complex landscapes in which vineyards are surrounded by semi-natural habitats,” said lead author Paredes, who holds a doctorate in environmental sciences (2014) from the University of Granada, Spain. “Overall, our results suggest that simplified landscapes increase vineyard pest outbreaks and escalate insecticide spray frequencies. In contrast, vineyards surrounded by more productive habitats and more shrubland area are less likely to apply insecticides.”

Vineyard in Montilla Spain

Landscapes around farms are rarely managed to suppress damaging crop pests, partially because researchers rarely measure the key variables that drive farming decisions. This paper, however “shows how using really huge datasets—in this case generated by government employees working with farmers in Spain–can reveal how natural habitats surrounding agriculture can shape pest outbreaks and pesticide use in vineyards,” said co-author Jay Rosenheim, distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Their results suggest that landscape simplification could affect not only farm yields, but also environmental and human health. They noted that insecticide applications doubled in vineyard-dominated landscapes but declined in vineyards surrounded by shrubland. “Habitat conservation thus represents an economically and environmentally sound approach for achieving sustainable grape production in Spain,” said Karp.

Why might pests be more of a problem on vineyards surrounded by more vineyards? One possibility is that vast stretches of vineyards allow pest populations to build up quickly. Another possibility is that simple vineyard landscapes may not contain enough resources to support predatory insects that natural control vineyard pests. Whatever the reason, it seems clear that “cultivating crops in monoculture creates the perfect conditions for specialist pest outbreaks,” they related, so “farmers have consistently turned to insecticides to maintain high yields under constant pest pressure.”

A solution? At an individual level, farmers may better control L. botrana populations through planting native vegetation in and around their farm. Ideally, they would coordinate with each other to maintain and/or restore large patches of productive, shrubland habitats in the surrounding landscape.

Other co-authors are Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Natural Capital Project, Stanford University; and Silvia Winter, Institute of Plant Protection, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

Their work was financed by the research project SECBIVIT, or “scenarios for providing multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity in viticultural landscapes,” and a National Science Foundation/USA grant.

California Ag Today2020-10-26T10:52:39-07:00October 26th, 2020|

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