Fields of wheat are so associated with the U.S. that they’re featured in the song America the Beautiful as “amber waves of grain.” But those amber fields face a big threat: Russian wheat aphids. As their name suggests, these aphids hail from Eurasia. These invasive pests first made their way to Texas in 1986. They’ve since spread to many states …

Antibiotics play an essential role in maintaining animal health and productivity. To provide guidance and knowledge on antibiotic use and management practices, it is important to constantly update our understanding on the role of therapeutic antibiotic use and its impact on animal health. A veterinary project is being conducted by UC Davis to better understand antimicrobial resistance patterns in dairy …

To provide industry members, including field crews, with best practices to prevent the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) in California’s citrus groves, the Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program has developed a mobile-friendly, Spanish-language field crew training video that can be used by field crew supervisors and farm labor contractors prior to harvest.   This video, which stems …

While most Californians are staying home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, California farmers, farmworkers and other agricultural professionals are out in the fields and packing houses working to produce food. With increased demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE, to protect against COVID-19, these essential workers are facing shortages. Agricultural commissioners in 28 counties are hearing from …

Guiding Principles At the heart of our work, we believe that farming within natural systems nurtures healthy people and flourishing ecosystems. Farming is dependent on ecological interactions among many kinds of species. Farms can be safer and more resilient because diversity encourages a wide array of beneficial organisms and processes. Farms are more cost effective with reduced outside inputs, and …

Though “murder hornets” are dominating recent headlines, there are no Asian Giant Hornets currently known to be living in the U.S. or Canada, according to UC Riverside Entomology Research Museum Senior Scientist Doug Yanega. Yanega is one of the country’s foremost insect identification experts. Beekeepers in Canada consulted him when a colony of the 2-inch-long hornets — the world’s largest …

California employers are required to establish and implement an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) to protect employees from all worksite hazards, including infectious diseases. This guidance contains information, recommendations, and requirements for agricultural employers on how to update their IIPPs to include preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This guidance does not introduce any new legal obligations, but because COVID-19 …

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their colleagues have discovered a gene that can be used to develop varieties of wheat that will be more resistant to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), a disease that is a major threat both overseas and to the nation’s $10 billion annual wheat crop. A paper reporting the discovery and the cloning of the gene, …