California’s financially struggling dairy farmers likely will get some relief, after months of nearly non-stop negotiations and tireless work from lawmakers and stakeholders. Stakeholders have negotiated a sorely-needed short-term fix to help dairy owners, and Assemblyman Dr. Richard Pan (D- Sacramento) has written new legislation to help craft a thoughtful solution.

Weed Day attendees head to research field at UC Davis.

A crowd of near 100 attended the UC Davis Weed Day on Thursday, July 11.  The popular event is hosted by the UC Davis Weed Science Program and UC Weed Research and Information Center.

Topics discussed included melons and weed response to herbicides, by Lynn Sosnoskie and Brad Hanson, UC Davis. They reported that herbicides are available for postemergence use in melon production, but only on grass species, not broadleaves.  Melon growers are in need of new pre and post options as well as a new weed management program to effectively control troublesome weeds.

Sosnoskie and Hanson also focused on field bindweed management in processing tomatoes. Field Bindweed is a deep-rooted, hardy perennial that propagates and spreads via asexual (rhizomes) and sexual (seed) means. Once established, the species is extremely difficult to manage.

The goal of the research was to evaluate the efficacy of pre/post herbicides for field bindweed control in early and late planted tomatoes.

In the early planted tomatoes all herbicide treatment combinations reduced both perennial and seedling bindweed density and cover.

On the late planted tomatoes, the use of glyphosate, preplant, reduced in-crop field bindweed cover at two weeks after transplanting across treatments.

Hanson also spoke about the management and mitigation of herbicide resistant weeds. He noted that most recommendations focus on multiple herbicide modes of action. “In tree and vine crops, including preemergence herbicides can increase the available herbicide modes of action and can reduce dependence of the available postemergence herbicides,” Hanson said. “Several relatively new preemergence herbicides are available for use in tree nut orchards and growers.”

For instance, Hairy Fleabane can be controlled very well during the bolting stage with Rely herbicide at 3 pints per acre with AMS at 2 quarts per 100 gallons.

More information on this meeting will be published in Vegetables West Magazine.

Curly Top Ravaging Tomatoes and Melons on West Side

“In my memory, I have not seen it this bad,” noted Tom Turini, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, Fresno County. “It’s bad enough this year, that it will definitely be reflected in the yield.”

Some tomato and melon fields within near the Coastal Range foothills have been shredded and growers’ seeing that it was a lost cause, and disked the field up.

The damage is caused by curtly top virus vectored by the sugar beet leafhopper, (BLH) which overwinters in the Coastal Range foothills and come down when the hill side dry up in the spring. 

“The leafhoppers came down early because of the dry spring. Turini notes that Fresno and Kings counties are bearing the brunt of this, and that two or three percent of the acreage is gone because of infection. “Furthermore, the industry has lost maybe 10 to 15 percent of the tonnage in fields that have not been disked under,” Turini said. “It is a very bad season.” 

Extensive story coming in Vegetables West Magazine.

Mobile app Helps Tree Crop Growers 
Protect Water Quality

Tree crop growers have a new tool to help them assess the potential impact their growing practices may have on water quality. 

Know Your H2O, an iPad app developed by the UC Cooperative Extension Agricultural Water Quality Research and Education Program in San Diego, asks growers a series of questions about their growing practices, then suggests Best Management Practices based on UC research that can reduce runoff or leaching of contaminants from orchards into water.

Although there are many sources of water pollution, runoff from farms may contain contaminant levels that exceed water quality standards. 

Runoff from agricultural operations can pick up and carry natural and man-made pollutants, including fertilizers, salts, pesticides and sediments to lakes, rivers, wetlands and beaches, according to Loretta M. Bates, UC Cooperative Extension staff research associate, who leads the Agricultural Water Quality Research and Education Program in San Diego County. 

The self-assessment questions fall into the following categories:

A. Property Management

B. Road Management & Erosion Control

C. Irrigation Practices

D. Leaching & Runoff

E. Nutrient Assessment & Fertilizer Management

F. Integrated Pest Management



Internet access isn’t needed for the iPad to perform the assessment, but you will need connectivity to email the results to yourself because the application won’t store the data.

In Fresno
Delta Water Summit

9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Delta Pumping Restrictions, the Biological Opinions, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and the Alternative Delta Conveyance Project represent the most significant and important water issues and conversations that California has had since the 1982 peripheral canal proposal. Yet, if you asked the average Californian if they know anything much about any of these various items the answer is typically “Not much or not at water”. This is particularly true in Southern California and the Silicon Valley who ironically rely tremendously on their water supplies coming from the Delta.

Even in the Central Valley, ground zero for water supply shortages and economic impacts (due to the Delta Pumping restrictions), chances are that most have felt or heard of the Delta problems but really do not understand much about the details.

The summit, organized by Mario Santoyo, Director of the California Latino Water Coalition (CLWC), will bring high-level policy, technical and legislative representatives from both the State of California and the Federal government along with key water agencies to present, discuss and answer questions through a series of panels moderated by well-known media figures. The target audience will be the general public principally but invites will go out to all elected officials and legislators.  Examples (not in any particular order):

1.     Welcome by CSUF President Joseph Castro.

2.     CLWC Member (TBD) introduces Governor Brown (Invited). Governor Brown addresses his Water Supply Vision for California.

3.     KMPH Video Overview of the Delta issues and the BDCP at a level the general public can understand and appreciate (Intro by Rich Rodriguez).

4.     First Panel discussion, lead by Fresno Bee Moderator Bill McEwen, regarding water agencies roles, challenges and expectations with the BDCP.

a.     Ara Azhderian, Water Policy Administrator, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority

b.     Joan Maher, Deputy Operating Officer for Water Supply, Santa Clara Valley Water District

c.      Ron Jacobsma, General Manager, Friant Water Authority

d.     Jim Beck, General Manager, Kern County Water Agency

e.     Tom Birmingham, General Manager, Westlands Water District

f.      John Colemen, Vice President, Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA)

5.     Second Panel Discussion, lead by moderator (Univision), regarding their roles and actions associated with the BDCP and any short-term relief.  

a.      Michael Connor, Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Invited)

b.     John Laird, Secretary, Natural Resources Agency (Invited)

c.      Gloria Gray, Delta Stewardship Council

d.     Sunne McPeak, Delta Vision Foundation

6.     Third Panel Discussion, lead by KMPH Moderator Rich Rodriguez, regarding current legislative efforts by them or colleagues to assist e3ither the short term relief or long term solutions

a.     U.S. Congressman Jim Costa

b.     U.S. Congressman David G. Valadao (Invited)

c.      State Senator Jean Fuller

d.     State Assemblymember Henry Perea

e.     State Assemblymember Jim Patterson

f.      State Assemblymember Rudy Salas

7.     Close with Assemblymember Henry T. Perea, California Latino Water Coalition Central Valley Co-Chair.

Watson comes to Farm Bureau after 27 years with State Compensation Insurance Fund, where he most recently served as its senior vice president of government and business, overseeing the government affairs, billing and collections, and premium audit departments.

Wow! 
Broccoli Is a Favorite Food in the White House

“We’re very pleased to hear that President Barack Obama has named broccoli his favorite food at today’s White House Kids’ State Dinner. We appreciate the emphasis on good nutrition and healthful eating that the president and First Lady Michelle Obama have made, and their efforts surely have made an impact on the children who were at the special event today, as well as countless others across the country. It is important for all of us to remember that all fruits and vegetables are an important part of any healthy diet,” said Ray Gilmer, United Fresh vice president of issues management & communication.

President Obama was asked about his favorite food at the second annual Kids’ State Dinner, which was actually a luncheon in the East Room of the White House. As part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative, children were invited to submit their original recipes and one from each state was selected to attend.

United Fresh is a founding partner in Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, a program that supports the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools aims to increase children’s consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, and to date, has donated more than 2,500 salad bars to schools across the country to reach that goal.

Salad bars have been demonstrated as a proven strategy for significantly increasing children’s produce consumption and creating healthy eating habits that last a lifetime. For more information, please visit www.saladbars2schools.org.

High Temps Slowing Tree Fruit Season


High temperatures continue to take a toll on California Tree Fruit. When temps are above 100, the fruit shifts to a shut-down mode, and any fruit exposed to sunlight is prone to sunburn—hurting quality.