California Strawberry Crop Survey is Optimistic

2020 Strawberry Crop Looks Good

By Tim Hammerich with the Ag Information Network of the West

Strawberry acres have been down in recent years, due to a number of factors including labor challenges with handling the delicate fruit. But some good news. Additional planted acres and improved varieties may lead to a record crop this year. This according to the California Strawberry Commission. Here’s Communications Director Carolyn O’Donnell.

“So what we know is that a lot of the newer varieties that are being planted and we’re seeing more acreage planted with newer varieties, they tend to produce more berries per acre. So even with the acreage up and with the newer varieties being planted, we expect that we’ll have some potential for record volume this year,” said O’Donnell.

O’Donnell cautions that this information is coming as a result of grower surveys and a lot could happen between now and harvest time. If the crop yields as expected, it should be met with plenty of demand for the tasty and healthy snack.

We have also funded nutrition research for the past dozen or so years, and the evidence is definitely building that strawberries are good for cardiovascular health, they are good for brain health,” noted O’Donnell. “We’re finding that they do have a lot of great antioxidants that help to combat inflammation, which tends to feed a lot of chronic disease.”

California grows about 90% of all strawberries grown in the United States, and more organic strawberries than the other 49 states combined. Here’s hoping for a fruitful harvest for those growers this

California Ag Today2020-01-20T16:19:37-08:00January 21st, 2020|

DPR Chief Val Dolcini Speaks About His Dept.

Dolcini Describes His Department

First in a Series from his Presentation at the Almond Board Conf.

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

California Department of Pesticide Regulation is uniquely positioned to serve the varied interest of California, noted Val Dolcini, DPR Director, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in Oct. 2019.

“For those that don’t know about us, it’s a department where science management and policy intersect to better protect public health and the environment, and hopefully to find common ground on some of the most challenging regulatory, legal, and political issues facing California,” he said.

Dolcini said DPR is a department that’s always in the crosshairs, always under the microscope, and often at the center of controversy, whether the decisions are large or small. “But, it’s also a department full of dedicated public servants, highly trained scientists, talented policy experts, hardworking attorneys, and many others at every level of the organization,” he said.

“In my first few months at DPR, we’ve worked on issues ranging from the first-ever cancellation of a widely used pesticide, issues related to cannabis enforcement, legislation that would ban certain rodenticides,” he said. “We have also focused on several serious pesticide drift incidents in the Central Valley, multi-agency conversations about endangered pollinators, and more trips to the Capitol than I thought possible.”

“So suffice it to say, we are a very busy department of government, and my colleagues and I aren’t simply counting the days, but, in the words of Muhammad Ali, we’re making those days count. We’re continuing to build a culture of customer-oriented accountability in every branch, every office, and at every level of DPR,” explained Dolcini.

Dolcini gave examples: “In a typical year, DPR receives and processes about 5,000 different submissions. This includes new product registrations and amendments to currently registered products. The submissions may be evaluated by multiple branches within DPR, before registration is granted or an amendment is accepted.”

This process is complex, and, as a result, DPR is constantly looking for ways to improve the process and provide that customer service to registrants. They are working to improve process efficiencies in each of the evaluation stations for these submissions.

“The turnaround time at the chemistry station for new products has gone from about a month to just several days,” said Dolcini. “We’ve also doubled the staff at our ecotoxicology station, and we’re starting to see significant reductions in the backlogs there.”

Dolcini also said that DPR is trying to aggressively re-launch the electronic data reporting system, which will now be known as CALPEST, California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking. This will allow for a more streamlined review of these submissions by DPR staff around the department. “Hopefully, it will help identify gaps in the submission process early in the process so that we don’t have to go back to registrants, asking for additional information.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:01:45-07:00January 20th, 2020|

Knowing Your Buyer is Goal of Farmer

California Farmer Finds Market in Food Service

By Tim Hammerich, the AgInformation Network of the West

How can more farmers get to know the people who ultimately buy their products?

Michael Bosworth is a 5th generation California Rice Farmer in Rio Oso. His curiosity about where his rice was going lead to him selling rice to high end restaurants in Sacramento. When that seemed to be taking off, he launched Next Generation Foods. The company now supplies food service customers all throughout Northern California with a variety of local foods.

“We also work a lot with the other farmers. We have an olive oil producer, we have a couple of vinegar suppliers,” said Bosworth. “We have a great organic farmer named Ed Sills, and he does organic popcorn. We sell a lot of that to the Golden One Center, which is the sports arena in Sacramento that the Sacramento Kings play at. So we’re their exclusive popcorn supplier for them, and they really value local food.”

When asked for advice on how other farmers may better understand their consumers, Bosworth had an interesting and practical piece of advice.

“I would really encourage any grower or any participant in agriculture to go to a food show. You know, farm shows are great. It’s good to learn about what you’re doing on your farm, but it’s really, really good to learn about what’s happening after the product leaves your farm,” he said.

To learn more about Michael’s direct food distribution company, visit www.NextGenFoods.com.

California Ag Today2020-01-14T19:15:09-08:00January 15th, 2020|

Rice Farming Agriculture on Youtube

Rice Farming TV Gets The Views

By Tim Hammerich with the AgInformation Network

According to YouTube, 1 billion hours of video are watched on their platform every day. This has created an opportunity for some farmers to invite viewers in to see how their food is grown.

One of my favorites is called Rice Farming TV, created by 3rd Generation Gridley Rice Farmer Matthew Sligar. Matthew discovered that he really enjoyed the film making process, and always found striking images he wanted to capture around his farm in Northern California. As he started sharing his videos, he kept getting asked questions from the viewing public.

“For example, what’s the difference between white and brown rice? It’s the same rice plant. It’s just milled differently. So a lot of people would ask me, “what do you farm? White or Brown rice? And the answer is both. And that always kind of took people by surprise, and I thought, wow, people are interested in the rice industry,”said Sliger. “They don’t maybe know that much in terms of how it’s produced. In fact, a lot of people, even in California, don’t know that rice is grown in California. So there’s this public education, this storytelling, this filming, the visual storytelling. All this together kind of led me to start Rice Farming TV.”

The channel, which now has over 32,000 subscribers, shares Matthew’s day-to-day life on the farm. It also serves as a platform to answer questions about issues such as water, the nutrition of rice, wildlife conservation, and rural living.

When asked how other farmers might create similar platforms themselves, Sligar says he considers film making his art form, but any form of expression online or not, can be an effective tool to connect about agriculture.

California Ag Today2020-01-09T18:02:25-08:00January 9th, 2020|

Improving Winegrape Quality Will Improve Prices For Growers

Improving Central SJV Winegrape Quality

By Tim Hammerich with the Ag Information Network

Frank Saviez has been growing quality winegrapes in the Central Valley for more than 40 years. Looking ahead, though, he sees a future in which valley growers can command more of a premium for their grapes.

“The variety of grapes and the tonnages that are grown here are generally geared into the $5 to $10 bottle of wine. And when you analyze that and what the wineries want to pay for those varieties, it limits your ability to produce quality wine grapes,” said Saviez. “To do that you have to reduce the tonnage per acre to get a quality of grapes that you can make wine that would sell rather than $5 to $10, but $10 to $20.”

Saviez has worked with Fresno State and others to plant varieties that show promise for performing well under central valley conditions. He’s explored varieties such as albarino, chono, vermentino, shiraz, malbec, and teraldego. All with the goal of providing higher quality options to central valley growers in the future.

Saviez…”I have planted several varieties with the goal in mind to be in a position to influence the long term goals of grape growers in the central valley.”

Saviez hopes introducing new premium varieties will move prices up to the $400 – $600 per ton range seen in other areas.

California Ag Today2020-01-06T20:41:24-08:00January 8th, 2020|

Increasing The Shelf Life of Walnuts

Can Walnut Shelf Life Be Increased?

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Abhi Kulkarni is Assistant Technical Director for the California Walnut board and Commission. Could an edible coating help increase the shelf life of walnuts?

“Traditionally we have faced some challenges in terms of shelf-life vis-a-vis other products. So one of the things we’re looking at is how can we extend shelf life through any edible coating of walnuts or through different technologies that can squeeze more shelf-life for the open market or industrial products,” said Kulkarni

Kulkarni said they’re getting some preliminary results, which look very promising.

“Especially the research we’re doing with Oregon State on the edible coating of walnuts. It does show some initial promise, but we’ll see how it goes,” he noted.

FSMA Inspections

We also ask Kulkarni about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) with inspectors coming to large farms for inspection. “Starting in 2020 someone on each farm must be trained to meet the Food Safety Modernization Act standards,” he said.

“It’s not that complicated. Basically what you need to do is each farm is required to have one person attend the FSMA training, which is a one day about eight hour training, and it’s the one time, so you don’t have to take it every year,” he said.

“We offered complimentary training for walnut growers for the past three years, and that program has lapse. However, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is offering a low cost training program, which is about $35 and growers can find information on their website to where they can sign up at their nearest training programs, Kulkarni explained.

Search for CDFA Produce Safety Program.

California Ag Today2019-12-26T20:34:53-08:00December 26th, 2019|

Ag Apprenticeship Programs Coming

Apprenticeship Programs Coming for Tree and Vine Growers

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Coming soon…. apprenticeship training for tree nut and vineyard farmers. Elaine Swiedler is the apprenticeship program coordinator for the Center for Land-Based Learning based in Winters, California.

“We currently run the beginning farm and ranch management program, which was approved by the California Department of Apprenticeship Standards in January 2018 and right now we’ve worked with diversified growers up in the Yolo County, some in Sacramento County area, majority of people doing row crops, a couple of people farming orchards,” said Swiedler.

The program was developed to address kind of a real need for management in farming, whether it’s taking over for an owner or just filling in some middle layers and there’s definitely a real need and gap in the nut industries and also wine grapes. “We’ve learned from people that either would want to work with or just looking over the needs in the estate. Our goal is to serve the ag industry as a whole and also create viable pathways for incoming people,” she noted

Swiedler was at the recent Tree and Vine Expo in Turlock surveying growers.

“We wanted to find out what those labor needs are. And the Walnut Board and the Almond Board have both partnered with us in addition to the California association of wine grape growers,” Swiedler said. “Those three different organizations have helped us pilot the survey. So that’s the first step in understanding what the labor needs are of industry.”

California Ag Today2019-12-18T17:47:55-08:00December 24th, 2019|

UnitedAg Association Helps Members

UnitedAg Helps with Healthcare For Its Members

News from the AgInformation Network

Health insurance is an expensive item for all business owners. Many agricultural companies also face challenges in having access to local health care in rural areas. UnitedAg is a trade association focused on bringing innovative solutions to healthcare in agriculture.

President and CEO Kirti Mutatkar said they are finding ways to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for their members.

Mutatkar…”In California, agriculture is an areas where there’s no access to even primary care and clinics and decent care. So yesterday we actually had our ribbon cutting in Selma, and that is actually one of the underserved regions in California. And the next one you opening is Turlock. And there’s one more opening in King City the first part of the next year.”

UnitedAg operates similarly to other health insurance providers but is only open to companies that make at least 50% of their revenues from agriculture. Their eight health and wellness centers are located around agricultural areas of California where they offer care at no cost to members.

Mutatkar says they think of themselves as representing the empathy side of agriculture. Members have access to their full PPO network so can likely keep existing providers. Learn more at UnitedAg.org.

California Ag Today2019-12-26T19:07:44-08:00December 23rd, 2019|

Rachel Vannette: Unlocking the Mysteries of Flower Microbes

Rachel Vannette Seeks to Unlock the Mystery of Flower Microbes

By Kathy Keatley Garvey, Communications Specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

Community ecologist Rachel Vannette of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seeks to unlock the mysteries of flower microbes: how do plants protect against them, and can bees benefit from them?

“I am interested in understanding and predicting how microbial communities influence interactions between plants and insects,” she says. The Vannette lab “uses tools and concepts from microbial ecology, chemical ecology, and community ecology to better understand the ecology and evolution of interactions among plants, microbes and insects.”

Now the UC Davis assistant professor has two more opportunities that will enable her to pursue her research: she recently received two National Science Federation (NSF) grants.

One is a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, titled “Nectar Chemistry and Ecological and Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation to Microbes and Pollinators.” NSF grants CAREER awards to early career faculty “who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,” a NSF spokesman said.

The other is a three-year collaborative grant, “The Brood Cell Microbiome of Solitary Bees: Origin, Diversity, Function, and Vulnerability.”

Vannette serves as a co-principal investigator with professor Bryan Danforth, Cornell University; research entomologist Shawn Steffan of the USDA’s Agricultural and Research Service, University of Wisconsin; and assistant professor Quinn McFrederick, UC Riverside.

Of the CAREER grant, Vannette explained in her abstract:

“Plants interact with a variety of organisms. The flowers and the nectar plants produce are adapted to attract beneficial organisms like bees or hummingbirds. However, microbes like bacteria and fungi also inhabit flowers and can reduce plant reproduction.

Plant traits can reduce microbial growth in nectar, but this may also reduce pollinator visitation. This project will investigate if plants that are pollinated by different organisms (e.g. birds vs bees vs flies) differ in their ability to reduce microbial growth and if nectar chemistry is associated with microbial growth.

This project will examine if nectar traits can be used to breed plants to be more resistant to harmful microbes without reducing attraction to pollinators. Resistance to microbes is beneficial in agricultural contexts where floral pathogens can limit food production but crops still rely on pollination.

“This research will link variation in plant phenotype to microbial abundance and species composition, and microbial effects on plant-animal interactions,” she noted. “This project will use a tractable system: the microorganisms growing in floral nectar, which can influence floral visitors and plant reproduction.

The underlying hypothesis tested is that plant traits can facilitate or reduce microbial growth, and the community context (e.g., presence of pollinators) influence ecological and evolutionary outcomes.”

Vannette will perform the research activities using 1) a community of co-flowering plant species and 2) genotypes within California fuchsia (Epilobium canum). “Experiments will characterize variation in microbial growth, nectar chemistry, and microbial effects on plant reproduction and floral visitor behavior and the interactions of these factors,” she related in her abstract. “ Experiments and analysis will reveal how variation in nectar chemistry is associated with microbial growth and species composition in nectar, and subsequent effects on plant-pollinator interactions including plant reproduction. Experiments across Epilobium genotypes will elucidate how microbes affect microevolution of floral traits in a community context.”The project “will engage students from a large undergraduate class to participate in practitioner-motivated research projects,” she wrote. “Students from the Animal Biology major, including in the class ABI 50A will participate in outreach on pollinator-friendly plantings for horticultural and landscaping.

The project will support students recruited from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to participate in independent projects related to project objectives, including hosting students through the Evolution and Ecology Graduate Admissions Pathway (EEGAP), a UC-HCBU program.” The program connects faculty and undergraduate scholars at both UC (University of California) and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) campusesCollaborative Grant

The collaborative grant will enable the researchers to do cutting-edge research as they investigate the diverse community of bacteria and yeasts in the pollen and nectar diet of bees.

“Bees are the single most important pollinators of flowering plants worldwide,” the co-investigators wrote in their abstract. “Over 85% of the 325,000 flowering plant species on earth depend on animals for pollination, and the vast majority of pollination is carried out by bees.

Annually, bees are estimated to contribute $15 billion to US crop production and $170 billion to global crop production. High-value bee-pollinated crops include apple and other early spring tree fruits, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, squash and pumpkins, tomatoes, almonds, and many others. The economic viability of US agricultural production is dependent on stable and healthy wild and domesticated bee populations.”

“However, bee populations are threatened by a variety of factors, including habitat loss, pathogen spillover, invasive plants and animals, and pesticide use, which can disrupt the normal microbial symbionts essential for bee larval development (the ‘brood cell’ microbiome),” they pointed out in their abstract.

“This research project focuses on understanding what role microbes play in the larval nutrition in a wide variety of bee species. Previous research has documented a diverse community of bacteria and yeasts in the pollen and nectar diet of bees. As larvae consume these pollen/nectar provisions they are ingesting microbes, and our preliminary results indicate that these microbes form an essential component of the larval diet.

This project has the potential to significantly modify how we view the 120 million-year-old partnership between bees and flowering plants, and will provide essential information for developing long-term bee conservation efforts. Project outreach efforts include educational activities on solitary bees for K-12 students and interactive demonstrations of bee-microbe-flower interactions for broad audiences.

The co-principal investigators said that the project will use cutting-edge methods to (1) document the microbial diversity in flowers and pollen provisions, (2) determine the nutritional role of microbes in larval development and health, and (3) understand how alterations in microbial community impact larval development.

To document microbial diversity in both host-plant flowers and pollen provisions, the research team will use amplicon sequencing and microbial metagenomics. These methods will document the microbial species present in pollen provisions as well as the metabolic activities these microbes perform during pollen maturation. Screening the pollen and nectar of host-plant species will provide key insights into the source of the brood cell microbiome. To determine the nutritional role of the microbial community the research team will use two methods from trophic ecology: compound specific isotope analysis and neutral lipid fatty acid analysis. These analyses will permit the research team to track the origin (floral or microbial) of amino acids and fatty acids in the larval diet of 15 focal bee species.

Finally, through manipulative laboratory experiments, the research team will determine how modifications of the microbial communities impact larval development. They hope by combining the results of these studies, the researchers will provide a comprehensive understanding of how bees and flowering plants interact via their shared microbial partners.

The collaborative project is funded jointly by the Systematics and Biodiversity Sciences Cluster (Division of Environmental Biology) and the Symbiosis, Defense and Self-recognition Program (Division of Integrative Organismal Systems).

Vannette, a Hellman Fellow, joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2015 after serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s biology department. As a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow from 2011 to 2015, she examined the role of nectar chemistry in community assembly of yeasts and plant-pollinator interactions.

A native of Hudsonville, Mich., Vannette received her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, in 2011. Her dissertation was entitled “Whose Phenotype Is It Anyway? The Complex Role of Species Interactions and Resource Availability in Determining the Expression of Plant Defense Phenotype and Community Consequences.”

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:01:45-07:00December 16th, 2019|

Pam Marrone Steps Down from Company She Founded

Founder of Marrone Bio Innovations Pam Marrone, Steps down as CEO

Marrone Bio Innovations, an international leader in sustainable bioprotection and plant health solutions, announced today that company founder Dr. Pam Marrone will retire from her position as chief executive officer.

The board of directors has begun the search process for a new CEO. Dr. Marrone will continue as CEO during the search process, and she and Board Chairman Bob Woods will shepherd the transition process until the new CEO is retained.

Dr. Marrone will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors as a non-executive member. Following her retirement, she also will serve as a consultant to Marrone Bio to advocate for the company and its mission, and to provide transition services and other support.

“Dr. Marrone’s decades of unwavering and tireless dedication have shaped the landscape of biologicals in agriculture in a meaningful and positive way. We’d like to thank her for her vision and leadership, which has established Marrone Bio as a significant player in the sustainable bioprotection and plant health solution industry,” said Woods. “Pam has guided Marrone Bio to a new level of growth and expansion, and her legacy will serve as the platform for the company’s future growth.

“The search for a new CEO is under way, and we are committed to recruiting an outstanding executive to lead the company as it expands its global reach and revenue potential, enhances gross margins and controls costs to move toward profitability,” Woods added.

Under Dr. Marrone’s leadership, the company commercialized ten products from six active ingredients, three of which received top industry awards for “best biopesticide.” The company has received nearly 400 patents with another 100 pending. During her tenure as CEO, Marrone Bio consistently achieved above industry average growth with revenues expanding at a 21 percent compound annual growth rate from 2015 through 2018.

“Today, we stand stronger than ever as a company with a world-class team in place and an unmatched product portfolio, aided by our recent transformational acquisitions,” said Dr. Marrone. “After 14 years as CEO, this is an ideal time for me to serve Marrone Bio in a different, advisory capacity as the company enters its next phase of growth and drives meaningful, long-term shareholder value.

“We’ve successfully brought science-based biological solutions to farmers and changed the perception of the entire biological category,” she added. “I’m confident that this transition will prove fruitful as the company flourishes into a larger, more mature and profitable company. On behalf of the entire management team and board of directors, I’d like to thank our dedicated employees, customers and shareholders.”

California Ag Today2019-12-05T19:19:28-08:00December 11th, 2019|

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