Agriculture

Agricultural officials recently expanded the areas in California quarantined for citrus greening disease [also known as huanglongbing (HLB)], which is spread by Asian citrus psyllids. The quarantined area in Orange and Riverside counties was increased by a total of approximately 31 square miles.

The American Bee Journal (ABJ) and Bee Culture just released the preliminary results of the annual U.S. Beekeeping Survey and the news is not good. "U.S. beekeepers lost an estimated 55.1 percent of their managed bee colonies in 2023-24--14.

Biosolids, the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge, have long posed a challenge for waste management. Recent regulatory changes have complicated the issue, discouraging the once-common practice of using biosolids for landfill cover.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday week, American consumers tossed out about 200 million pounds of turkey, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. In fact, American consumers waste 60 million tons of food a year, statistics show.

Seaweed is once again showing promise for making cattle farming more sustainable.

The "Advances in Southwest Desert Agriculture Research, Organic Production and Food Safety" workshop is scheduled for Dec. 4 in Holtville. This event will showcase cutting-edge research and practical organic farming strategies tailored to California's unique desert environment.

UC Davis doctoral alumna Inga Zasada of the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory in Corvallis, Ore., will return to her alma mater on Monday, Dec.

Graduate students with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology excelled at the recent Entomological Society of America meeting in Phoenix.

Image: California Department of Fish & Wildlife, CC BY 2.0.

As the new University of California Cooperative Extension area director for five Northern California counties, Teghpreet Preet Ahluwalia has an impressive track record of connecting people with resources that can improve lives and uplift future generations.