Agriculture

Lauren Hale is the new Research Soil Scientist at the USDA-ARS San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in Fresno. I knew Lauren from her PhD research at UCR under David Crowley. Her thesis explored the use of biochar as a shelter for beneficial soil microbes.

Two of Kearney's researchers, Jeff Dahlberg and Khaled Bali joined Dan Putnam of UC Davis in a trip to Pakistan to talk with Pakistani researchers, academics, and farmers about forage production.

Growers (mainly pistachios) and crop consultants in the southern and western parts of the San Joaquin Valley have recently reported the spread of alkaliweed from low-lying saline or alkaline soils (including seasonal wetlands and floodplains) into irrigation ditches, orchards, and some agricultural...

The summer annual weeds are starting to emerge and I am using this blog over the next few weeks to introduce readers to the seedlings of important species.

Spring is here and the Healthy Soils Demonstration Project (to read about the background of this project, click here) has been busy since the composts were applied last fall. We have observed the onset of spring, the grasses and wildflowers on the plots are actively growing.

Two UC Agriculture and Natural Resources emeritus specialists, two UC ANR advisors and a UC ANR vice provost spent a week in March working in Guatemala to help implement a USDA-funded (UC Davis-managed) project that is rebuilding the extension system in Guatemala. With a population of almost 17.

Congrats to the University of California Linnaean Games Team! They know their insects! The UC team, which swept the national championship last year, just won the regional competition Monday night at the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA) meeting in San Diego.

There is still time to register for the April 11th SJV Weed Science Extension Day at the Westside Research and Extension Center in Five Points (17353 West Oakland Avenue, Five Points, CA 93624). The meeting at the Westside Center will focus on agronomic crops, ROWs, and tree and vine systems.

In the California agriculture industry, the climate change discussion is less about whether disruption is coming than it is about how farmers will adapt, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian.

There is still time to register for the April 11th SJV Weed Science Extension Day at the Westside Research and Extension Center in Five Points (17353 West Oakland Avenue, Five Points, CA 93624). The meeting at the Westside Center will focus on agronomic crops, ROWs, and tree and vine systems.