T.G. Schmeiser Offers New Grader Blade Series

California Ag Today Supports New Products for Agriculture!

T. G. Schmeiser Intros SGB Grader Blade Series

Fresno-based, T. G. Schmeiser Co., Inc. introduces the Schmeiser Grader Blade (SGB) Series now available in 20’, 30’ and 40’ working widths.

The SGB Series Grader Blade offers high-quality grading where laser and precision scrapers are not necessary, as well as performing a superior final seedbed preparation for small grains.

Built to maximize daily productivity, the 40’ wide working blade is ideal to cover more land with fewer passes in less time, saving both fuel and labor costs. The smaller widths are designed to fit into smaller areas where tight turns and passes are necessary. The folding tongue reduces the transport width for all units to 8’ allowing the graders to be easily transported to multiple sites for optimum efficiency.

All Grader Blades are built tough and durable in the United States with reliable construction by T. G. Schmeiser Co., Inc. They feature a reversible cutting blade, self-lubricating bushings on high-impact pivot points, 27” curved bucket height to promote optimum soil roll and easy-to-adjust reversible guage wheels. Hydraulic depth control is standard.

T. G. Schmeiser Co., Inc. is a privately held company. For over 80 years, T. G. Schmeiser Co., Inc. has been manufacturing and delivering versatile solutions for progressive soil management. Equipment is designed to work in conjunction with many other farm implements to help save time and money.

Years of proven performance in the demanding agricultural arena also bring efficiency and reliability for other specialized soil management needs. Contact your local T. G. Schmeiser Co., Inc. dealer to find the right piece of equipment to meet your demanding requirements.

2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED FOR ACCREDITATION OF THIRD-PARTY AUDITORS

FDA Extends Comment Period to January 27, 2014


Department Of Health And Human Services Food and Drug Administration announced TODAY it is extending the comment period for the proposed rule, ‘‘Accreditation of Third-Party Auditors/Certification Bodies to Conduct Food Safety Audits and to Issue Certifications’’ to January 27, 2014.


FDA is taking this action in response to requests for an extension to allow interested persons an opportunity to consider the interrelationship between this proposed rule and the proposed rule announced in October 2013 entitled “Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals.’’


For further information, go to: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-11-20/pdf/2013-27644.pdfor to: http://www.regulations.gov and insert docket number FDA–2011–N–0146.
2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT RECEIVES USDA GRANT

CCCD Receives $200,000 to Establish Cooperatives
 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced TODAY the selection of 34 organizations for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA’s) Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) program grants to help rural cooperatives and small businesses expand and strengthen their capacity to serve rural citizens and communities.

The California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD) received a $200,000 grant to establish cooperatives. CCCD supports a myriad of cooperatives in California (agricultural, child care, energy, housing, etc.) with start-up, management, and other technical assistance.
Agricultural cooperatives, user-owned and user-controlled businesses, are organized to help farmers gain market power by joining together to market their crops, increase their bargaining power by achieving economies of scale, processing their commodity to add value, and/or to purchase supplies and services. California has approximately 200 agricultural cooperatives and there are more than 4,000 nationwide.
Agricultural Cooperatives differ from other types of businesses in that they are owned by farmer-members, democratically controlled, run by professional management overseen by an elected board of directors, designed to distribute economic benefits to members on the basis of the member’s use of the cooperative (e.g. if more product, more economic gain).

2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

FUNDING TO IMPROVE CITRUS PRODUCTION AND HEALTH

UCR Geneticists to Develop Tool for Genotyping Citrus

To address exotic diseases like HLB, breeders need sophisticated tools that rapidly characterize citrus varieties and hybrids and locate genes for disease resistance, fruit quality, and other essential traits.

Mikeal Roose is a professor of genetics 
and the chair of the Department of
Botany and Plant Sciences at UCR.  
 Photo credit: L. Duka


Two plant geneticists at the University of California, Riverside have received a $450,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a genetic tool that citrus breeders can use to improve the efficiency with which citrus varieties are bred.
Mikeal Roose and Timothy Close, both professors of genetics and the principal investigator and co-principal investigator, respectively, of the two-year grant, will lead the project on developing a “high-density SNP genotyping array” for citrus — an important tool that geneticists and molecular breeders use to do genetic analyses of animals and plants.
“We will use this tool to study essentially all trees in our Citrus Variety Collection and several large citrus families in which individuals vary for traits of economic importance,” said Roose, chair of the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. 
“A valuable outcome of this project will be a comprehensive understanding of relationships among citrus varieties and how these relate to economically valuable characters,” Roose said.
Timothy Close is a professor of genetics at
UC Riverside. Photo credit: I. Pittalwala

UC Riverside has a long tradition in citrus research, with a major focus on citrus production and development of new varieties. Used extensively to solve citrus disease problems and improve commercial varieties, the university’s Citrus Variety Collection is one of the world’s most diverse living collections of citrus and related types with approximately 1,000 different varieties (including mandarins, blood oranges, navel oranges, citrons, clementines, tangos, grapefruit, Valencia oranges, and pummelos).

In total, NIFA announced nearly $9 million in grants for research into issues affecting plant breeding and production, leading to improvements in plants that are critical to the sustainability and competitiveness of American agriculture. 
Other California research institutions receiving the grants are: University of California, Davis, $900,000, and USDA Agricultural Research Service, Albany, $500,000.
The awards were made under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Foundational Program priority area of plant breeding for agricultural production.
Source: Iqbal Pittalwala of UC Riverside
2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING ON FARMLAND CONSERVATION

Saving Farmland from Urban Sprawl

American Farmland Trust reported TODAY the Agriculture Committee of the California State Assembly, chaired by Member Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), held an information hearing at the state Capitol earlier this month, November 6, on farmland conservation. It was the first hearing on the subject in the legislature in a decade, and it focused on how state policy can best support the protection of agricultural land.

“Agriculture is by far the most important industry in San Joaquin County, and the loss of farmland threatens our way of life, our prosperity and the food security of the whole country,” Eggman said. “We have a responsibility to find a balanced solution that protects farmland without stifling other growth.”

Edward Thompson, Jr., American Farmland Trust California Director, was among the witnesses who discussed the status of farmland and the effectiveness of state and local policies at conserving the resource.

Thompson outlined 10 state policies that “at best, send mixed signals to local governments, which make most of the decisions about land use.” He said that, despite the good intentions of the Williamson Act, the California Farmland Conservancy Program and other state laws aimed at reducing urban sprawl, “we continue to lose 30,000 acres of farmland a year to wasteful, inefficient development—with no end in sight, unless our policies are strengthened and local governments are held accountable.”

Assemblymember Eggman stated that continuing at this rate would entail another two million acres of agricultural land lost by the year 2050. As population will also continue to increase, losing that much of the state’s farmland base would severely limit California’s capacity to provide one-eighth of the nation’s food and half of its produce, as is presently the case.

Additionally, land converted for urban use has been shown to account for seventy times more greenhouse gas emissions than the same amount of unconverted agricultural land.

On November 5, California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN), Central Valley Farmland Trust, American Farmland Trust and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers collaborated to organize a farm tour with Assemblymember Eggman, her staff, other politicians, state and local Farm Bureau representatives and the Farmland Working Group.

The group visited two farms in the Stockton area that have put their land in permanent agricultural easements with the Central Valley Farmland Trust. The two farmer hosts — John Galeazzi and Jon Branstad —spoke eloquently and passionately about their reasons for wanting to protect their land for future generations of farmers and discussed the business and personal advantages of doing so.

Sources:  American Farmland Trust, State Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman’s Website, California Climate and Agriculture Network

2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

LAND SUBSIDENCE RISKS WATER INFRASTRUCTURE IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY

USGA Press Conference on Groundwater Land Subsidence in the Valley


Extensive groundwater pumping from San Joaquin Valley aquifers is increasing the rate of land subsidence, or sinking, that could result in serious operational and structural challenges and repairs to water infrastructure, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey.


This photo shows the approximate location of 
maximum subsidence in the United States, 
identified by research efforts of Dr. Joseph F. Poland
 (pictured). The site is in the San Joaquin Valley 
southwest of Mendota, California. Signs 
on pole show approximate altitude of land 
surface in 1925, 1955, and 1977.
This subsidence is reducing the capacity of the Delta-Mendota Canal, the California Aqueduct, and other canals that transport floodwater and deliver water to agriculture, cities, industry and wildlife refuges, potentially causing damage and requiring expensive repairs.


To help public agencies and resource managers minimize risk and damage to California’s infrastructure, the USGS is studying and providing information on groundwater conditions and land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley.


A press conference about the release of a scientific report and results of a study on subsidence in California’s San Joaquin Valley will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at the U.S. Geological Survey, Modoc Hall, Willow Conference Room 1, 3020 State University Drive East, Sacramento. 

Following the conference will be a site visit and photo opportunity at 2:00 p.m. at Delta-Mendota Canal, south of Los Banos.


Speakers include:

Michelle Sneed, USGS Hydrologist and lead report author

Eric Reichard, USGS California Water Science Center Director

Richard Woodley, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Assistant Regional Director


2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 21st, 2013|

TODAY, DWR ANNOUNCED INITIAL 2014 WATER ESTIMATE

Five Percent Allocation, Expected to Increase

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced an initial conservative estimated allocation of five percent of requested deliveries to State Water Project (SWP) contractors in calendar year 2014.

“We hope things improve with this winter’s storms,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin, “but there is no guarantee that 2014 won’t be our third consecutive dry year. Today’s allocation is a stark reminder that California’s fickle weather demands that we make year-round conservation a way of life.”

Initial water delivery estimates are conservative because they are made before the wettest period of the year. It is still early in the water year; DWR will update the allocation as the winter progresses based on mountain snowpack accumulation. On average, half of California’s annual precipitation occurs in December through February, and three-quarters occurs from November through March.

The lowest previous initial SWP allocation, also five percent, was for calendar year 2010. Made on the heels of the 2007-2009 drought, the 2010 allocation was eventually increased to 50 percent of the slightly more than four million acre-feet of water requested by the 29 public agencies that receive SWP water. Winter storms increased the second-lowest initial allocation of 10 percent for calendar year 1993 to 100 percent of requested deliveries.

Storage levels in the state’s major reservoirs largely dictate the initial SWP allocation. Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal reservoir, is at 41 percent of capacity (66 percent of its historical average for the date). Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir, is at 37 percent of capacity (61 percent of average). San Luis Reservoir in Merced County –a vital south-of-Delta supply pool for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project –holds only 25 percent of capacity (42 percent of average for the date) due both to dry weather and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping restrictions to protect Delta smelt and salmon.

The final State Water Project allocation this year was 35 percent of the 4.17 million acre-feet requested by agencies that collectively deliver water to more than 25 million Californians and 700,000 acres of farmland in the Santa Clara Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California.

In 2012, the final allocation was 65 percent. It was 80 percent in 2011, up dramatically from an initial allocation of 25 percent. The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.

The last 100 percent allocation–difficult to achieve even in wet years because of Delta pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish–was in 2006.

DWR is convening its annual winter outlook science workshop this week to develop an experimental seasonal forecast which will be posted on DWR’s website later in the month.

Regardless of whether the experimental forecast suggests wet or dry conditions, DWR will continue to prepare for the possibility that water year 2014 may become a third dry year.

If 2014 is dry, the greatest risks for public health and safety impacts stem from the increased chances for major wildfires and from drinking water shortages in some rural small water systems relying on fractured rock groundwater.

Minimal surface water allocations to some agricultural areas, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, can result in economic impacts to growers and increased land subsidence where groundwater overdraft occurs.

As provided for in Governor Brown’s May 2013 Executive Order to expedite review and processing of voluntary water transfers, DWR has been working to streamline the process by improving contracting procedures for transfers dependent on SWP facilities, facilitating fast-tracking of transfers with appropriate supporting documentation, and improving coordination with other agencies involved in approving transfers, including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and State Water Resources Control Board.

In partnership with the National Integrated Drought Information System program, DWR organized four classes this fall on drought preparedness and water conservation for small water systems.

DWR co-sponsored a drought preparedness workshop for urban water agencies with the National Water Resources Institute. Presentations from the workshop are available at: http://www.nwri-usa.org/drought.htm.

DWR and California State University Fresno will hold an agricultural drought preparedness workshop in December.

Electronic reservoir readings are available here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf

The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs.

2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 20th, 2013|

2013 PLANT DISEASE CONFERENCE

Many Topics Discussed in Salinas

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor


Steve Koike
Steve Koike, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, plant pathologist, opened up University of California Cooperative Extension—Monterey County 2013 Plant Disease Seminar talking about new soil born diseases affecting strawberries.

Koike said the new soil born disease problems surfaced in 2006 in Ventura and Orange Counties where they stopped using the traditional Methyl Bromide/Chloropicrin fumigation application. That’s when the problems arose, such as Charcoal Rot, or Macrophomina, as well as Fusarium.
Koike noted that Macropomina and Fusarium are bad news for the industry because they are so damaging to strawberries, easily spread from field to field and may be a long-term challenge. There are no truly resistant strawberry cultivars, alternate fumigants are not completely effective, bed fumigations are insufficient and post-plant fungicides do not work.

Breeders are trying to produce cultivars with resistance to these diseases.

Krishna Subbarao
Krishna Subbarao, a UC Davis Plant Pathologist reported that Verticillium wilt is spreading throughout Monterey County. It was discovered in 1995 on lettuce in the Watsonville area and made its way to Salinas Valley 6 years later, and eventually to Kings City.

Plant Disease Crowd
Infestation has reached new highs, new areas, and with increased losses. Subbarao and his team are trying both to identify all the different species of Verticillium through DNA testing and to breed Verticillium resistance into lettuce cultivars.

Trevor Suslow, UC Extension Research Specialist with statewide responsibilities in food quality and safety, spoke about emerging produce safety issues regarding human parasites and viruses.

New equipment at UC Davis can help eliminate false positives of pathogenic toxigenic E. Coli possibly eliminate a recall on products.

Trevor Suslow and Drew Mather
On the subject of Listeria, Suslow reported that the more likely point of entry for Listeria is the processing and handling environment and not really the product. It is seen in product tested after its use-by date, as Listeria has the ability of to grow in refrigerated storage over long periods of time.

Research has shown that Listeria numbers fall off very quickly, 32 days, after a field is inoculated.

Alec Gerry
Alec Gerry, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist UC Riverside discussed protecting leafy greens from contamination with Filth Flies, also known as bottle, blow or garbage flies.

Filth flies carry E. Coli from a manure source such as a dairy into a lush field of lettuce and contaminate the crop. Desiring sugar (carbohydrates), the insect seeks to find it in a field where honeydew secretion has been left by other insects.

Gerry suggested growers plant a tree line barrier, place stinking bottle traps on the fence line, improve fly attraction with better odors and develop screens to deter, catch or kill the Filth flies.

Tatiana Simkova and Steve Klosterman
Steve Klosterman, USDA Research Molecular Biologist, spoke about the spinach’s primary disease, Downy Mildew (DM). Fungicides effectively control DM in conventional fields; organic growers rely on resistant varieties, but the breeders may not be able to keep up.

Klosterman’s lab is working on specific detection and quantification of DM. Knowing what DM races are present may prevent spraying, thus avoiding resistance.

For extended coverage on this meeting, see upcoming issues of Vegetables West Magazine.
2016-05-31T19:43:07-07:00November 20th, 2013|

EATING TREE NUTS REDUCES PANCREATIC CANCER RISK

Research Shows Reduced Pancreatic Cancer Risk from Consumption of Pistachios And Other Tree Nuts


Judy Hirigoyen, Director, Global Marketing for American Pistachio Growers released TODAY study results showing that women in a long-term health study who ate tree nuts two or more times a week had a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, compared to those studied who did not include nuts in their diet. Published in British Journal of Cancer, this is the first study to measure the association between pancreatic cancer risk and nut consumption. Pistachios were among the tree nuts included in the study.

More than 75,600 women were followed in the widely-recognized Nurses’ Health Study. Those who consumed a one-ounce serving of serving of nuts, two or more times per week, significantly reduced their risk of developing pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause for cancer-related deaths in the U.S.

In addition to pistachios, the nuts consumed included almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts and walnuts. The study also showed that women with more frequent nut consumption were generally leaner, more likely to exercise, and less likely to smoke. Earlier studies have linked tree nut consumption to a reduced risk for diabetes.

The long-running Nurses’ Health Study, from 1980 to 2010, with follow up every two to four years, was funded by research grants from the National Institutes of Health with additional support in part by a micro-grant from the Biomedical Research Institute at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, state cancer registries, and by an International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation grant for the tree nut component.
Pistachios are nutrient rich and full of antioxidants, vitamins, protein and fiber. A one-ounce serving of pistachios equals 49 nuts, more per serving than any other snack nut. They are cholesterol free; contain a significant amount of potassium, 300-mg per serving; and comprised of just 1.5 grams of saturated fat and 13 grams of fat per serving, the majority from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat.

The “Official Snack” of USA Water Polo, and sponsor of other sports, American Pistachio Growers (APG) is a non-profit voluntary agricultural trade association representing and funded entirely by more than 550 grower members in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
2016-05-31T19:43:08-07:00November 19th, 2013|

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