Agriculture

When we finally received a more than two inches of rain in mid-November, I was relieved that we would finally have germination on our foothill rangelands - better late than never! Today, after two weeks of sunshine, I am indeed seeing a little green coming up through last year's dry forage.

The Fertilizer Research and Education Program has just published its 2020 proceedings. FREP was established in 1990 through legislative action to provide funding for research and education regarding the agronomically safe and environmentally sound use of fertilizer in California.

A very spiny plant was dropped off at my office here in Woodland, CA that turned out to be Canada thistle, a noxious weed (Photo 1).

While most Americans choose their Thanksgiving turkeys from the meat department at the local grocery store, Brylee Aubin and Yaxeli Saiz-Tapia can tell you the life histories of their holiday birds.

UF/IFAS researchers are working on a decision-support app to help policy makers and growers decide the best regional treatment options for laurel wilt disease, which is challenging Florida's $35 million-a-year avocado crop. Laurel wilt disease is spread by several ambrosia beetle vectors.

The holidays are here Fodder Family! For those of you who enjoy a living Christmas tree, perhaps you will try a stump cultured tree this year from one of the many foothill Christmas tree farms.

Richard Smith is the UC Cooperative Extension Vegetable Crop Production and Weed Science Advisor for Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties and Daniel Hasegawa is a USDA ARS Research Entomologist for the Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit in Salinas, California.

Congratulations to the five UC Davis entomology doctoral students who excelled in the Entomological Society of America's student competitions, part of the organization's Nov. 16-25 virtual meeting.

Five UC Davis entomology graduate students scored high in the Entomological Society of America's highly competitive student competitions, part of the organization's Nov. 16-25 virtual meeting.

Eureka lemons A new study on the costs and returns of establishing and producing lemons in Ventura County has been released by UC Cooperative Extension in Southern California and UC Agricultural Issues Center, both part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.