Agriculture

VP Glenda Humiston, AVP Wendy Powers and several UC ANR representatives visited more than 30 congressional offices in March to brief lawmakers and staffers on the latest agriculture and natural resources research and outreach benefiting Californians.

Norm Knows... Western Subterranean Termites Western Subterranean Termites have a winter time activity period, but are year-round pests of wooden structures and dead trees. The winter activity is associated with their swarming habit. The winged adults are black/dark brown with opaque gray wings.

The boys are back in town! Well, at least one is. We don't know where the girls are. Neither, apparently, does he. A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, aka "the teddy bear bee," buzzed into our mustard patch Sunday and nectared on the blossoms for about 10 minutes.

The Research and Extension Center (REC) System is a key component of UC ANR (Cooperative Extension + Agricultural Experiment Station + Research and Extension Centers + Statewide Programs).

Integrated pest management (IPM) scientists affiliated with the University of California, Davis and the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources received high accolades at the 9th International IPM Symposium, held March 19-22 in Baltimore.

So you're a rural landowner thinking about planting cover crops in your fields or orchards. And/or, you want to learn more about beneficial insects. You're in luck.

A new study on the costs and returns of producing processing tomatoes in Fresno County and the central San Joaquin Valley has been released by the UC ANR Agricultural Issues Center. Growers contemplating crops to grow may use the estimates to help decide whether to plant processing tomatoes.

So you want to become a California Master Beekeeper.

The California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP) is all the buzz. Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Nio, director of the program, introduced the 40 new apprentice-level graduates, Class of 2017, at the fourth annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, held recently in the UC Davis Conference Center.

The Diseases and Abiotic Disorders section of the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for Dry Beans have been recently revised and updated and are now available online at UC IPM Dry Beans Pest Management Guidelines.