U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Blong Xiong today announced that 41 counties in California are accepting applications for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to address damages from the recent severe storm to eligible farmland, fences, and conservation structures/other installations. ECP signup will begin on February 13th, 2023, and end on April 14th, 2023. …
As part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to making Western communities more resilient to the impacts of drought and climate change, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced new investments and strategies to help farmers and ranchers conserve water, address climate change and build drought resilience in the West, supported in part by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Western …
Governor Gavin Newsom today signed an executive order to protect the state’s water supplies from the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather. After years of prolonged drought, recent storms resulted in the wettest three-week period on record in California. The storms have been followed by an unseasonably dry February, however, and the state could see a return to warm and …
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is commemorating 60 years since the beginning of the Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4 Project). Since it was established by Land-grant Universities and the USDA in 1963, IR-4 has championed specialty crop growers by facilitating the registration of safe, effective pest management solutions to meet their unique needs. Dr. Michelle Samuel-Foo, …
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service just released their preliminary grape crush report for 2022, revealing a total crush 3,620,595 tons, down 6.7% from the 2021 crush of 3,880,141 tons. Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 1,885,875 tons, down 7.2% from 2021. White wine varieties crushed totaled 1,463,787 tons, down 8.6% from 2021. …
In December 2022, the University of California (UC) acquired a 114-acre farm property on the west side of Camarillo to become the new home of the Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center (HAREC), supported by an endowment bequeathed to the University of California by Saticoy farmer Thelma Hansen. The mission of the Thelma Hansen Fund is to support and maintain …
Maeli Melotto and her team at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking for strains of lettuce that are genetically stronger at resisting bacteria that can make people sick. Their work has led to the identification of a gene that could play a role in the plant’s susceptibility to E. coli, a bacterium that causes potentially lethal intestinal illness. …
The removal of nuts remaining on almond trees from the prior year’s crop is an important winter sanitation practice for the management of navel orangeworm (NOW), Amyelois transitella. Residual nuts are called ‘mummies’ and the process of removing the mummies is referred to as a ‘mummy shake’ because they are mechanically shaken from trees. This practice is conducted during the dormant …
University of California Cooperative Extension invites English- and Spanish-speaking adults in California and natural resource professionals to complete a 15-minute anonymous survey to inform the development of wildfire-related education and outreach programs. Results of the survey will guide local and statewide programming at UCCE and be used to inform organizations, policymakers and scientists working to reduce the risk and impacts …
When compared with natural vineyard attrition taking place, grapevines are being planted at a higher rate according to Allied Grape Grower’s recent grapevine nursery survey report discussed at The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium. Watch this video with Jeff Bitter to learn more about what varieties are being planted and where. Please thank this video’s sponsor Ranch Systems for their industry support.
Dale: Biological nitrogen fixation such as that with legumes is done at the expense of...