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Specialty Crop School July 14-17 to Tour SJV Crops

San Joaquin Valley Specialty Crop School is July 14-17.

A compelling line-up of tours and speakers has been planned for the July 14-17 San Joaquin Valley Specialty Crop School.

This session will provide outstanding opportunities to delve into California specialty crop agriculture with its unique challenges and rewards. Tours will include almond and pistachio operations, citrus packing, table grapes and university research sites. Speakers will include Westlands Water District Public Affairs Director Gayle Holman and Mary Lou Polek with the Citrus Research Board.

This three-day course, organized by Visalia-based AgBusiness Resources has been designed to equip participants with a broad understanding of intensive crop production in California’s San Joaquin Valley- home to more than 300 different agricultural crops.

The classes will be of value to those new to horticultural crop production as well as seasoned agri-business professionals.

Pest Control Advisors and Certified Crop Advisors in attendance will receive 15 PCA and 15 CCA continuing education units.

Class size will be limited and seats are available on a first come first served basis. Early bird registration deadline is June 20.

The Salinas Valley Specialty Crop School will be Oct. 6-9.

For information about both schools, go to www.specialtycropschool.com.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:34:20-07:00July 3rd, 2014|

California Leads Nation in Floriculture Production – From the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service

California’s floriculture crop leads the nation with a value of $1.13 billion in sales, according to a new report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

In 2013, California producers increased their sales from $1.10 billion to $1.13 billion, an increase of 3 percent, giving California 26.6 percent of the total U.S. wholesale value.

California cut flower production accounts for 78.2 percent of the total cut flower wholesale value. The $327 million value was down 2.7 percent from the 2012 value of $337 million.

California leads the nation in potted flowering plant values for 2013 with a total value of $297 million, a 17 percent increase in value from $253 million in 2012. California potted flowering production accounted for 38 percent of the 15-state wholesale value.

The top cut flowers in California are lilies, daisies, roses, chrysanthemums and snapdragons. The top potted flowers are orchids, roses, poinsettias, spring bulbs and chrysanthemums. The top garden plants are vegetable varieties, pansies/violas, petunias, impatiens and marigolds.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:34:21-07:00June 27th, 2014|

TV Campaign for ‘Grapes from California’ Kicks Off on Food Network

A new television campaign for ‘Grapes from California’ launched in June on the Food Network.

“These commercials showcase the natural beauty, easy versatility and great taste of California grapes while communicating the value of sharing life’s special moments with family and friends, and the care that growers put into growing,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the California Table Grape Commission.

One of the two new commercials has a grower theme and the other has a dinner party theme. Watch them here: www.grapesfromcalifornia.com.

These 30-second commercials, the first two of a planned series of six, are seen during shows like, “Trisha Yearwood’s Southern Kitchen,” “Sandra’s Money Saving Meals,” “Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen,” and “Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.”

The Grapes from California commercials will run through December and and will be used in future seasons.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:34:21-07:00June 26th, 2014|

UC Gets FAA Clearance to Research Drone Use in Ag

A UC laboratory at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly dones at the Merced County Radio Control Club’s field, reported Thaddeus Miller in the Merced Sun-Star.

The unmanned aircraft are part of a project funded by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources that aims to study the possible use remote controlled aerial imaging to provide real-time information to farmers about water use and crop health.

The project leader, David Doll, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Merced County, has put together a project team that includes UC Merced professors and graduate students, and UCCE advisors and staff.

Drones are also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Doll believes small, basic UAVs can provide a platform for imaging hardware that can vastly improve crop surveillance to enhance water usage and pest control.

Doll’s project will test the potential of UAVs for water management and pest monitoring. He also plans to write a curriculum to extend information to farmers and demonstrate the use of small, remote controlled aerial vehicles as imaging platforms.

UC Merced also has other plans for using drone technology in research. They are seeking FAA approval to fly the aircraft over the university’s protected land, which includes 6,500 acres of grassland and vernal pools.

Dan Hirleman, dean of UC Merced’s School of Engineering, said the university’s use of drones and development of new technology could set it apart from other schools.

“We’re kind of at the ground zero for a lot of what’s going on in those areas,” he said. “It’s just a perfect fit with our sustainability theme and the application area.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:34:22-07:00June 25th, 2014|

Could more dryland farming be in California’s future?

By Todd Fitchette; Farm Press Blog

Slate.com’s “Thirsty West: The No-Water Way” is the latest in a string of popular press articles to suggest that California might be better off relying less on irrigated agriculture and more on dryland farming.

Generations ago, California settlers and residents established a system of water conveyance that allowed great cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco to be built and agriculture to flourish.

Modern irrigation paved the way for greater crop yields and the ability to feed a growing society that left the farm starting with the industrial revolution.

What would an article in the popular press be without a few gross misstatements, such as the oft-repeated meme that California agriculture uses 80 percent of the state’s water supply in an average year?

This is far from an average year. Still, agriculture typically uses about 43 percent of the water allotted while 46 percent is consumed by the environment. For California, that means much of that 46 percent is allowed to flow unimpeded to the Pacific Ocean.

Urban users consume the remaining 11 percent, according to the State of California.

With no surface water allotted to much of California agriculture this year, and the ever-shrinking ground water supplies, California agriculture will have a fraction of its typical annual supply of irrigation water for the few crops farmers can maintain.

We really do not know how much remains in underground aquifers, though it’s a safe bet to suggest “not enough.”

The premise behind dryland farming comes at a time when drought awareness has increased, though not entirely in practice as California lawns remain watered and cars are washed in driveways.

While dryland farming has its challenges, maybe it’s time for modern agriculture to consider the benefits of the water-thrifty practice and tackle the challenges with all the fervor of a sergeant told by his lieutenant “that can’t be done!”

While dryland farming is utilized to a small extent in California, its close cousin could be the no-till practices recommended by researchers Jeff Mitchell of the University of California.

Mitchell continually promotes the benefits of no-till and strip-till conservation practices that help hold in soil moisture and provide a host of other benefits to growers. He’ll readily admit there are challenges under California’s current farming systems.

While farmers elsewhere in the U.S. successfully employ the practice, California farmers seem reluctant to do the same.

Still, Mitchell works with California growers to employ conservation tillage practices that work and to transform machinery used in standard farming practices to achieve results.

Since Mitchell works with UC Cooperative Extension, his efforts move beyond the purely academic to the practical.

As California agriculture continues to seek ways to be as water thrifty as possible, and new technologies are developed to meet those ends, we need not be so quick to say “that won’t work” and instead embrace ideas that right now might only be a “what-if” conversation between a third-year undergrad and her college Ag professor.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:22-07:00June 24th, 2014|

UC Davis Soil Symposium Showcases California Innovation

A big soil health symposium was held at UC Davis last week, and there was lot to learn for everyone in the industry.

Brian Leahy is Chief of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation in Sacramento, which hosted the one day event. Leahy noted those in attendance were innovative and pioneering.

“In the room I think we had some of the most creative farmers, creative researchers, and creative private companies on the planet. These people are some the most amazing farmers that only California produces, and they were here I think as problem solvers. We know we need to understand soil better. What’s going on in the soil? And how do we work with it? said Leahy. “What we heard was a lot of amazing activities that are taking place right now. Lot of great questions asked, its unbelievable the kind of research is going on. I think it was a very productive day.” he added.

Brian Leahy (left) speaking with Malcolm Ricci, of Bolthouse Farms of Bakersfield.

In those attending the symposium, also learned some things they didn’t know.

“And that was the goal, we were trying to figure out, how do we build the support to get long term sustainable funding to better understand soil health. You know understanding soil and what’s going on in soil life, its one of the last frontiers in how were going to make incredible progress in how we feed people, how we take care of the planet, and how we take care of each other. Just layering all the other amazing research going on right in plant genetics. and plants on top of soil its going to be another revolution. I heard Warren Buffett’s son called it the “Brown Revolution”. said Leahy.

And think of that really important topsoil, 1 and half feet around the planet, that supports us all.

“We heard from the Noble Foundation and the soil renaissance, its a national movement as well, where people are realizing that we have to take care of the soil and work with soil, to really take care of the human race, to feed us, clothed us, all of that. So there is a lot of promise here.” said Leahy.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:23-07:00June 23rd, 2014|

Seven Central Valley Cooperative Extension Academics to Retire in June

Seven Valley UC Cooperative Extension Academics Retire at the end of June

Seven University of California academics will retire June 30 after decades of service to UC Cooperative Extension in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.

The 2014 valley retirees are:

Gregorio Billikopf, labor management farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties 33 years
Billikopf’s extension and teaching efforts focused on employee selection, wage structures, interpersonal negotiation skills, conflict resolution and mediation. He received the “best publication” award from the National Association for County Agricultural Agents for his book Labor Management in Agriculture: Cultivating Personnel Productivity, as well as awards from other professional organizations.

Billikopf said he cherishes his years as a farm advisor and now will return to his native Chile to provide community mediation and labor productivity training.

Alejandro Castillo, dairy farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in Merced County
12 years

Castillo served as dairy advisor for 12 years, having joined UC Cooperative Extension from a research and extension job in Santa Fe, Argentina. His work in California was focused on dairy cow nutrition and environmental concerns, nutrient balance and nutrient excretion, with special attention to nitrogen and minerals. During his tenure he published more than 100 articles (18 peer-reviewed papers, 30 scientific abstracts and technical articles, and more than 50 newsletter, newspaper and magazine articles).

“I do want to thank the many dairy producers in Merced County and my UC colleagues who have helped me with my extension and research program,” Castillo said. “Their help was critical to doing my part for the future of our dairy industry.”

Carol Frate, field crops farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in Tulare County
36 years

Frate has conducted extensive research on the production of alfalfa, dry beans, sugarbeets and corn. Among the highlights of her career were trials to identify blackeye bean varieties resistant to Fusarium wilt, early research on deficit irrigation of alfalfa and work on corn stunt disease.

“It has been a great gift to work with my UC colleagues and people in allied industries,” Frate said. “And I could not have done the work I did without the assistance and patience of farmers, farmworkers, custom applicators, custom harvesters and truckers who made on-farm research projects successful.”

Michelle Le Strange, vegetable crops and environmental horticulture advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in Tulare County
31 years

Le Strange is an accomplished advisor in vegetable crop production, turfgrass and ornamentals, and weed management. She also founded and organized the Tulare/Kings Master Gardener program, guiding volunteers as they reach out to home gardeners to encourage sustainable landscaping by “Gardening Central Valley Style.”

“In this career the more you get your hands dirty, the more you learn, and the more knowledge you have to share with others,” Le Strange said. “I was thrilled working with some of the largest vegetable producers in the state and simultaneously helping the home gardener. It was always a stimulating challenge.”

Yvonne Nicholson, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in Sacramento County
22 years

Throughout her career, Nicholson has been involved with UC faculty in conducting nutrition and health applied research focusing on the African-American, Latino, Russian and Vietnamese cultures.

Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier
28 years

Schwankl’s research emphasis has been in drip, sprinkler, and flood irrigation. He has worked on irrigation system maintenance and chemigation, irrigation scheduling using soil moisture monitoring and evapotranspiration techniques.

Dorothy Smith, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties
12 years

Smith’s areas of expertise include human nutrition, food safety and human health and well-being. During the latter half of her tenure, Smith has focused on building a school garden program in the Central Sierra region because, she said, “growing something is a great way to make sure you are eating healthy.”

“I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work in the foothills with small, rural counties,” Smith said. “We have been able to make some significant changes that affect the whole community.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:23-07:00June 19th, 2014|

Farming in Drought: Tomato Growers Embrace the Heat

By Sarah Trent; Pacific Coast Farmers’ Markets Association

In late May, UC Davis published a drought impact report projecting 410,000 acres of farmland left fallow, 14,500 jobs lost, and a $1.7 billion hit to our state’s agricultural economy.

Since tomatoes can be a water-intensive crop, I expected that when I set out to ask farmers about the drought’s effect on their tomatoes, I would hear they were planting less, anticipating smaller yields, making changes to their seed orders for next year, and worrying about the future of their farms.

The truth?

“To be honest,” said Phil Rhodes of Country Rhodes Family Farm in Visalia, “this is our best year ever.”

Like many farmers, Rhodes is very concerned about water — the water level in his well has dropped about a foot a year since the 1990s, to the point where he must invest upwards of $50,000 to drill it deeper in the next year — but for now, the heat accompanying the drought has been a boon to his tomato crop, which came in early and strong. Rhodes brought his first tomatoes to farmers’ markets in mid-May, several weeks earlier than normal.

As long as he has water in his well, Rhodes’ farm is not impacted by water rationing by local or federal water districts. Farmers who rely on water from those sources are facing more dire circumstances: Rhodes admits that in the southern Central Valley region where his farm is located, he sees other farmers leaving fields unplanted.

Those unplanted fields may mean that vegetable farmers who have ground water access, farm in areas less impacted by the drought, or whose infrastructure, climate, and soil conditions allow for less water usage will see increased demand for their crops. So while the drought has substantial implications for California agriculture on the whole, farmers like Rhodes are doing well in spite or even because of it.

Ron Enos, who owns certified organic Enos Family Farms in Brentwood, also expects he’ll have a good year with his tomatoes. In his region, many of his neighbors are larger-scale farms growing processing tomatoes, which means that demand for his fresh tomatoes is high.

While the high-heat conditions accompanying the drought spelled trouble for his winter and spring vegetables (which do best in cooler conditions), the hot dry summer bodes well for his summer crops.

He also uses less water than many farmers in his region: over the last few years, Enos has transitioned to using a black plastic mulch in combination with drip irrigation for many of his crops, which cut his water usage to about 30 percent of what he needed before.

Another method for using less water on fruiting crops like tomatoes and squash is dry farming: a method of cutting irrigation early in a plant’s life and forcing it to rely only on existing soil moisture. Some vegetable varieties do especially well in these conditions, which result in smaller, more flavorful fruit.

While it’s near impossible to dry farm in the extreme climate of the Central Valley, it works well in coastal regions where the soil retains some moisture through the summer.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:24-07:00June 19th, 2014|

Homeowners: Your Gardeners Need License to Apply Pesticides

Homeowners Urged To Make Sure Gardeners Who Apply Pesticides Have License

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is urging all homeowners to check that their maintenance gardener (landscaper) has a state maintenance gardening (MG) pest control business license from DPR if they are occasionally applying pesticides on their lawns. Homeowners can do so on the DPR website’s License and Certificate Holder List Page.

“Homeowners may not realize that maintenance gardeners are applying chemistry to their lawns,” says DPR director Brian Leahy. “We want to try and ensure they are doing so in a responsible manner.”

The license ensures that the person applying pesticides has been properly trained to use them on lawns and garden areas. If used properly, pesticides should not cause harm to humans or pets. However, improper use may result in illnesses or environmental problems.

Pesticides used on lawns and gardens may be washed to street storm drains and into local rivers, streams and even sensitive wetlands miles away. This may impact aquatic life.

“Your lawn may only be a small piece of land, but collectively, California lawns amount to many acres,” said Leahy. “Homeowners can play a significant role to reduce the amount of pesticide pollution (runoff) from lawns that are entering our waters through storm drains.”

Under California law, anyone who applies pesticides, even if it is only incidental to other maintenance gardening tasks, must have this DPR maintenance gardening pest control business license and be registered with the local county agricultural commissioner’s office.

In California, there are about 100,800 landscapers employed in the public and private sector who are responsible for maintaining homes, parks, golf courses, schools and plantings around malls, offices, restaurants and other locations.

Learn more about how your landscapers can obtain a certificate/ license at  http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/license/maintgardeners.htm

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:24-07:00June 19th, 2014|

UPDATE: ACP Quarantine and Advocacy for Unimpeded Eradication

by Laurie Greene, Editor

CDFA filed a proposed emergency amendment TODAY to expand the ACP quarantine area in response to an “infestation” of the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, detected in the Farmersville/Visalia area (June 4, 2014), Tulare County. One adult female was found in the area. The proposed 14-mile expansion will include the Visalia area, and the state’s vast ACP quarantine will cover 46,544 sq. miles.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

The regulation defines emergency as” a situation that calls for immediate action to avoid serious harm to the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare.” The government code provides,”if the emergency situation clearly poses such an immediate, serious harm that delaying action to allow public comment would be inconsistent with the public interest, an agency is not required to provide notice.”

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross believes that this emergency clearly poses such an immediate, serious harm that delaying action to give the notice would be inconsistent with the public interest. Therefore, Ross proposed that the CDFA Director may adopt reasonably necessary measures such as bypassing the mandatory notice five working days prior to emergency action in order to carry out emergency provisions. Additionally, she requested that the Director be permitted to establish, maintain, and enforce quarantine, eradication, and such other regulations necessary to circumscribe and exterminate or prevent the spread of any pest which is described in the code.

This comes after the California Citrus Industry’s recent backlash against the Executive Committee of the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee’s proposed easing of the state’s ACP quarantine and eradication efforts.

Joel Nelsen, CA Citrus Mutual President

And, while CDFA uses the word, “infestation”, Joel Nelsen, President of California Citrus Mutual, commented at the recent United Fresh Convention in Chicago, “There were two more ACP finds found in the northeast part of Tulare County. They were individual finds. Intensive trapping and tapping on the trees, looking for the ACP, hasn’t found any more. So one would argue that we’ve got a population—given the finds in the last year—but we’re still talking single digits.” Nelsen believes this demonstrates the eradication programs are working. “We’re supposed to find the ACP before finds a commercial citrus industry, and we’re doing that.”

Nelsen said the Executive Committee’s recent proposal to significantly modify the program was, “based upon some subjective analysis by a team of scientists who in fact believe that there’s more out there than what we can find.”

“So,” he continued, “we’re obligated to prove a negative; and as long as we do the intensive trapping program, as long as we continue the mandated treatment program, as long as we’re aggressively looking for the Asian citrus psyllid—I don’t see how, and industry doesn’t buy into the fact, you have an endemic population. We’re not finding them in volume; everything is isolated.”

“So, when the industry first became aware of this possible change in the treatment zones of the quarantine mandates, the industry challenged CDFA.”

Now, not only does the ACP program remain intact, but TODAY, CDFA Secretary Ross proposed measures for an unhindered and immediate eradication response by CDFA to ACP discoveries.

Featured Photo Credit: Ted Batkin, Citrus Research Board, “Invasive Pests in California” 1/10.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:35:24-07:00June 18th, 2014|

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