UC ANR was well-represented at the World Ag Expo held in Tulare on Feb. 9–11.
The three-day show welcomed more than 100,000 attendees who came from 50 states, the District of Columbia and 53 countries, according to World Ag Expo organizers.
Gabe Youtsey and the UC ANR Innovate team joined the F3 Innovate pavilion representing the California AgTech Alliance, which is funded by a $28.6 million grant from the California Jobs First program.
Youtsey also spoke about the AgTech Alliance and UC ANR’s role in driving innovation at the meeting of the State Board of Food and Agriculture on Feb. 10. The meeting was held at the UCCE Tulare County office and hosted by UCCE area director Leonel Jimenez.
“The best part of a show like this isn’t the scale – though 100,000+ attendees and 1,200+ exhibitors across 2.6 million square feet is hard to ignore – but the chance to be in the same space as farmers, startups, researchers and industry partners,” Hanif Houston, associate director, communications and marketing for UC ANR Innovate, wrote on the UC ANR Innovate LinkedIn page.
“Over the course of the week, we caught up with VINE Connect alumni to hear how their tools are progressing, met eager young founders refining their solutions and (equally as important) their pitches, and spoke with investors about what signals matter when evaluating agricultural technologies,” Houston wrote. “We also talked directly with farmers about cost pressures, operational constraints and how they decide whether something new fits into their existing systems.”
Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center hosted a booth indoors. Brady Holder, Cristal Hernandez, Tari Lee and her husband Jack, Valeria Cisneros, Nancy Serrano, Manpreet Singh, Jose Paz, Ryan Puckett, Andreas Westphal and Atef Swelam told visitors about KREC research on almonds, sorghum, tea and other crops. Luis Paniagua and Erik Rodriguez of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program explained how they help small-scale farmers comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Leonel Jimenez and Jorge Angeles represented the UCCE Tulare County office. Anderson Safre stopped by the table after attending a seminar.
UC Lindcove REC had its own booth featuring citrus and avocado research. Ashraf El-kereamy, Macy Robertson, James Gandy, Ronald Kirksey and Gabriel Tejeda greeted visitors.
UC ANR and UC Davis scientists were featured in the Golden State Dairy Management seminar series:
- Jennifer Heguy, UCCE dairy farm advisor - Engaging nutritionists in regulatory conversations
- Deanne Meyer, UCCE livestock waste management specialist - California dairy nitrogen inventory tool development
- Rubia Branco Lopes, UCCE dairy farm advisor - On-farm evaluation of lagoon water quality for forage nutrient management on California dairies
- Sharif Aly, professor in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - epidemiology of H5N1 on California dairies
- Wagdy ElAshmawy, dairy production medicine clinician in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - cow bunching against stable fly attacks
- Heidi Rossow, professor in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - predicting calf survivability
- Moneim Mohamed, UCCE irrigation and soils farm advisor - performance of OpenET models for precision irrigation in alfalfa
- Jacki Atim, UCCE abiotic stress specialist - drought stress impacts on sorghum yield and feed quality
- Ellen Bruno, UCCE agricultural economics specialist at UC Berkeley - update on SGMA effects on future water for dairies
- Jorge Angeles, UCCE weed management farm advisor - weed management in forages
- Nicholas Clark, UCCE agronomy and nutrient management advisor - sorghum & triticale yield differences between manure and soil conservation management practices
- Adolfo Coyotl, UC Davis soil biogeochemist - composted dairy manure in almonds at different application rates
Others who attended from UC Davis included Ashley Stokes, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Frank Mitloehner, UCCE air quality specialist and CLEAR Center director; Luis Peña-Lévano, UCCE dairy cattle production specialist, who gave a talk about the economic risks of the New World screwworm for dairies.
Session presenters from UC Riverside included Mary Lu Arpaia, UCCE subtropical horticulture specialist; Jim Adaskaveg UC Riverside plant pathology professor; Bodil Cass, UCCE entomology specialist; Milt McGiffen, UCCE plant physiology specialist; Sara Ohadi, UCCE weed specialist; Alexander Putman, UCCE plant pathology specialist; Danelle Seymour, UC Riverside genetics professor; Amir Verdi, UCCE agricultural and urban water management specialist; Houston Wilson, UCCE entomology specialist; and Jiue-in Yang, UC Riverside nematology professor.
“It’s so easy to get siloed in day-to-day work,” UC ANR Innovate’s Houston noted. “Events like this are a reminder of how valuable it is to step out and spend time listening, observing and seeing what’s gaining traction across the showroom floor and the industry.”