Agriculture

Got squash blossoms? You've probably got squash bees. Unlike honey bees, which are generalists, squash bees are specialists. They pollinate only members of the cucurbits or squash family, Cucurbitaceae, which includes pumpkins, squash, gourds, cucumbers and zucchini.

Congrats! You've been awarded a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Healthy Soils Program. Now what? Once your grant has been executed and before you implement any of your practices, you need to take soil samples to measure the soil's baseline organic matter content.

Rhonda Smith has been heralded as the heroine of the vineyards for her groundbreaking work in helping combat the parade of pathogens and other problems that have plagued grapevines and alarmed growers - during her more than 30 years as Sonoma County's viticulture advisor.

Grower Profile #1: Frank Fernandes Practices: No-Till, Strip-Till, and Cover Crops Frank Fernandes grew up in a big dairy family in Tulare County. He has continued that tradition and now farms about 1,500 acres near Pixley. He grows corn, wheat, and alfalfa as forage for his cows.

Rachel Elkins, UC Cooperative Extension pomology farm advisor for Lake and Mendocino counties, plans to retire from UC July 1 after 36 years, 33 years in her current position.

This year, National Pollinator Week is June 22 to June 28, celebrating the value that pollinators such as bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles provide to the ecosystem.

Jose Aguiar Rachel Elkins Beth Grafton-Cardwell Allan Fulton Kurt Hembree Anna Martin Glenn McGourty John Roncoroni Rhonda Smith Cheryl Wilen From farm worker to farm advisor - A life of fulfillment Jose Aguiar, who has been working as a vegetable crops small farm advisor for the University of Calif...

UC Riverside has entered into a $2.25 million partnership with Spain-based Eurosemillas S.A., a global leader in the commercialization of agriculture innovations, to help the university bring to market the most promising and advanced avocado scions and rootstocks in its collection.

I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to get a fair bit of formal education - from my undergraduate days at UC Davis studying agricultural economics to the online coursework I took while obtaining my master's degree at Colorado State University.

Hedgerows are an approved practice under California Department of Agriculture's Healthy Soils Grant Program. That means, growers are eligible to receive grant funding for planting hedgerows.