California Ag Network

Category: Non-Video

  • How California Became a Food and Wine Lover’s Dream

    Oakland, Calif., (April 9, 2018) – If you’ve ever taken a drive through California’s picturesque vineyards and pastoral farms, you know it’s impossible to imagine the Golden State without them. But California wouldn’t have become a dream destination for foodies and oenophiles without research from the University of California.

    Today, California rivals France, Italy and Spain as a global wine producer, contributing billions of dollars each year to the economy. California also produces a majority of the nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts, and a large portion of its livestock and dairy, with yearly production valued at $45 billion.

    That wasn’t always the case. In 1860, New York was America’s top dairy state, Ohio led the nation in winemaking and California trailed 27 states with its farm value of less than $50 million.

    California’s rise in agriculture, including its reputation for producing world-class wine, has gone hand in hand with the work of researchers and scientists at the University of California.

    In the late 1800s, UC soil scientists led the foundational research that showed farmers how to remove salts from the alkali soils in the Central Valley, transforming barren land into one of the the world’s most productive farming regions. UC researchers also helped establish California’s wine industry, then brought it back from the brink after prohibition nearly destroyed it.

    Its partnership with farmers, vintners and ranchers is just as strong today, with cooperative extension offices in every county in the state.

    A new industry takes root – UC launched its Department of Viticulture and Enology in 1880, after being directed by the state legislature to help California develop its nascent wine industry. UC agriculture professor Eugene Hilgard, director of the first State Agricultural Experiment Station, led the charge.

    … California can hardly fail to become one of the foremost grape-growing countries of the world, since it possesses all the natural advantages.

    EUGENE HILGARD, UC COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, SUPPLEMENT NO. 1 TO THE REPORT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS, 1890.

    He was convinced that the California climate made it ideal for winemaking, and thought that with the right techniques, the state could move beyond the “faulty wines” being currently produced to create something truly worth drinking.

    While the Mediterranean weather in California was perfect for growing grapes, on the ground there was confusion about varietals, crude and insufficient fermentation processes and an infestation of the root louse, phylloxera.

    Hilgard began studying California’s soils and developing phylloxera-resistant plants at the university’s farm at Davis. By 1919, California’s young wine industry was beginning to flourish when Prohibition brought things to a screeching halt.

    Spraying vineyards

    Hundreds of wineries went out of business. Farmers tore out their vineyards and planted fruit trees. UC’s enology program ended, too, but its work on grape growing and fruit production continued. By the time Prohibition ended in 1933, UC was an established authority on grape growing in California, and it stepped in to help the wine industry recover.

    UC Davis launched its Department of Viticulture and Enology in 1935, and hired plant physiologist Maynard Amerine. Over the coming decades, Amerine and his colleagues developed detailed information about which wine-making grapes would grow best in which climates. Their 1944 study on grape zones gave detailed information about where to plant grapes for different types of wine, such as chardonnay or cabernet.

    UC Davis wine cellar

    That discovery recharged the wine business in California, and was the foundation of the appellation system that is still used to this day. Tailoring the varietals to California’s microclimates revolutionized grape growing in California, leading to better harvests, better fruit and ultimately, better wine.

    UC researchers haven’t just helped produce wine — they’ll also help you drink it. At least that was the goal of UC Davis professor of viticulture and enology Ann Noble, who in 1984 grew tired of hearing people describe wine with abstract and highly subjective terms like “harmonious.”

    Her wine wheel, which you can download here, is designed to help consumers pin down the aromas they like with increasingly specific language. Do you like your wine “woody”? If so, is it “burned” or “resinous”? Does it have hints of “tobacco” or “cedar”? Noble’s wheel spread like wildfire and has now been translated into eight languages for the connoisseur’s delight.

    From barren land to the world’s breadbasket – UC research has helped to grow more than just grapes. Through the Cooperative Extension and in-depth research by its campuses, UC has worked with California farmers in almost every aspect of food production, from developing new crop varieties to fighting pests to determining the most efficient ways to irrigate and conserve water.

    UC’s partnership with farmers and growers stretches all the way back to Eugene Hilgard, the legendary 1880s soil scientist. He led much of the foundational research that showed farmers how to remove salts from the alkali soils in the Central Valley, turning what was once barren land into one of the world’s most productive farming regions.

    In the early 1900s, the university deepened its agricultural research by establishing the University Farm (which would become UC Davis) and the Citrus Experiment Station (which would become UC Riverside).

    UC Riverside Citrus Experiment station

    Over the years, these two campuses have become internationally renowned for their agricultural expertise. UC Davis developed nearly half of the world’s strawberry cultivars, for example, while Riverside and the division of Agriculture and Natural Resources is responsible for producing 40 new citrus varieties.

    UC also branched out into the counties under the leadership of B.H. Crocheron, who joined UC in 1913 and directed the UC Agricultural Extension Service from 1919-48. Buoyed by the Smith-Lever Act that created Cooperative Extension, Crocheron developed a network of farm advisors, who worked to get important research-based knowledge from campuses to the community. As Crocheron said, the farm advisor’s work “is on the farms and among the people.”

    UC research continues to evolve with the agricultural needs of the state. Today, UC researchers are focused on addressing the challenge of climate change by building sustainable local and regional food systems, a resilient water future and integrated pest management systems to ensure a prosperous future.

  • USDA California Crop/Weather Report

    Sacramento, Calif., (April 6, 2018) – High pressure developed during the week leading to dry weather and above normal temperatures across California. As the high pressure slowly dissipated, mild conditions returned over the state.

    Temperature highs for the week ranged in the 60s to 70s in the mountains, 80s in the valley, 60s to 80s along the coast, and 80s to 90s in the desert. Temperature lows for the week ranged from the 10s and 20s in the mountains, in the 30s to 40s in the valley, 30s to 50s along the coast, and 40s to 50s in the desert region.

    Winter forage crops were maturing well. Some silage harvesting began. alfalfa swathing was reported in the San Joaquin Valley. Cotton field preparation was ongoing. Wheat development was benefiting from the precipitation in March.

    Irrigation continued in vineyards and stone fruit orchards.  Cherries were in full bloom.  Peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and prunes were leafing out.  Fruit was forming on most stone fruit trees.  Grapes were leafing out.  Apples and pears were leafing out and beginning to bloom.  Olives continued to be pruned.    Blooms continued to emerge on citrus trees.  Navel oranges and lemons continued to be harvested.  Valencia orange harvest progressed.

    The almond bloom was complete and trees were leafing out and nutlets were forming.  Walnuts were pushing catkins and were treated for blight. The pistachio bloom was increasing.

    Fields were being prepared and planted but activities have been slow due to wet soils. Winter vegetables were getting ready for harvest. Harvest of broccoli, cauliflower, and some lettuces began in Salinas. Strawberry harvest had begun in Monterey.

    Rangeland and non-irrigated pasture quality continued to improve with the recent precipitation and warming temperatures. Sheep grazed on idle crop land, stubble fields, and dormant alfalfa fields. Beehives continued to be moved from almond to stone fruit orchards. Bee activity picked up with the favorable weather.

  • Tulare County Reports on Current Crop Status

    Visalia, Calif., (April 6, 2018) – Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner released the current status today of Major crops in the most valued county in the California Ag portfolio. They report that Corn is still being planted as weather and soil conditions allow. Winter wheat and oats are enjoying the latest rains, growth is excellent. Ground preparation is continuing for spring row crops. Black-eyed beans are being exported to Korea and Malaysia.

    Vineyards are leafing-out. Stone fruit orchards are continuing to leaf-out as the bloom period comes to an end. New orchards are being planted. Bee apiaries remain in stone fruit orchards. Pomegranate and walnut orchards continue to be pruned. Pomegranates and persimmons are continuing to leaf-out. Pistachios are starting to bloom. Pistachio nuts are being exported to China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Spain, Thailand, and Turkey. Almonds are being shipped to India, Israel, Japan, Korea, South Africa and Sweden. Pecans are being exported to China and Israel. Kiwifruit from storage are being shipped to Mexico.

    The harvest of late variety navel oranges continues, and fruit are showing some grading issues. Some hedge- rowing and skirting of orange groves continues to be performed. Navel oranges are being exported to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand. Citrus packing houses are starting to pack Valencia oranges. Seedless tangerine groves remain netted for the bloom. Lemons continue to be harvested and exported to Japan, Korea, and New Zealand. Some citrus trees are being planted. Bee keepers are starting to move hives into citrus and olives groves.

    Squash and cucumber seedlings continue to grow in the fields. Greenhouse vegetables continue to be harvested. Strawberry and plantings are progressing well and maturing. This week’s warm weather will be a benefit. Greenhouse blueberries were exported to Taiwan.

    Rain is a boost for rangeland quality. The fed cattle market held relatively steady at $126.00 per hundredweight this week.

    Retail nurseries are stocking up on both perennial and annual plants for the spring season. Shipments of bare- root roses continue to various U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Canada, France, Japan, and Korea. Some mature olive trees are being dug for landscape purposes.

    Citrus Bloom was declared in District 1, beginning at 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning, March 31, 2018.

  • Central Valley Farmland Trust and Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust Merge to Conserve More Farms Together

    Elk Grove, Calif., (April 5, 2018) – The Central Valley Farmland Trust (CVFT) and the Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust (BALT) have merged to form one outstanding organization dedicated to serving more California farmers.

    BALT was formed in 2002 and CVFT in 2004, both land trusts’ missions focused on farmland protection and they each led flourishing programs within their respective regions of Contra Costa County in the East Bay and the Central Valley.  When BALT’s Executive Director Kathryn Lyddan accepted a new position with the Department of Conservation, the board decided it was time to join forces with another agricultural land trust.

    With its focus on agricultural conservation, the neighboring Central Valley Farmland Trust was a natural fit for a merger. After several months of discussions, the two boards consummated the merger in the final months of 2017.

    The newly enhanced board of directors, composed of CVFT and BALT board members, has a wide range of perspectives including farmers, agricultural advisors, property rights advocates, city and regional planners, other farming professionals, and land stewardship experts.

    “This board is reflective of a California that is growing, that must meet the needs of diverse populations who deserve local food, economic vitality, and the many extended benefits of farmland nearby,” said Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director of California Farmland Trust (CFT), formerly executive director of CVFT.

    Together, as the California Farmland Trust, the board and staff are looking forward to a future full of productive farmland. The new mission of CFT is to “help farmers protect the best farmland in the world” – because so much of it is right here at home in California. California is one of five regions in the world with a unique combination of climate, soils, and water ideally suited to produce over 400 crops and provide the majority of America’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

    Charlotte Mitchell also stated, “We are thrilled at our new partnership with the Brentwood agricultural community, and look forward to protecting more of the farms that feed our families.”

    For more information, please contact:
    Melanee Cottrill, mcottrill@cafarmtrust.org or (916) 687-3178

     

  • USDA Releases Final CA FMMO Decision

    Modesto, Calif., (April 4, 2018) – USDA released the long awaited final decision for a California Federal Milk Marketing Order today. The potential differences between the final decision and USDA’s draft recommended decision from February 2017 had been a source of speculation in the industry for many months. Exactly how different was the final decision from the previous version? The answer is: it was exactly the same! Ta-da! Those who attended WUD’s convention got to hear about the basics of USDA’s draft recommendation, which also apply to the final decision. Now that we know this is what we will be looking at for a vote, more analysis will be conducted to determine the potential impact for producers around the state. Specifically, WUD will host three informational sessions on April 16 (Petaluma), April 17 (Modesto) and April 18 (Tulare; details below). The analysis presented will be performed by two independent experts who do not come with any agenda about persuading attendees one way or another. The emphasis will be on education and answering questions. USDA will also host a session in Clovis on April 10 to highlight the mechanics of the program.

    USDA will conduct a referendum among dairy producers to determine whether they support the proposed FMMO; this referendum will be held from April 2, 2018 through May 5, 2018. The FMMO will become effective if approved by two-thirds of the voting producers, or by producers of two-thirds of the milk represented in the voting process.

    Dates and locations for WUD’s meetings to discuss the economic impact of the CA FMMO:

    • Monday April 16th 10am Sonoma County Farm Bureau (3589 Westwind Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA 95403)
    • Tuesday April 17th 9am Stanislaus County Harvest Hall (3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto, CA 95358, Training Room Center DE)
    • Wednesday April 18th 10am Tulare Agri-Center, (4500 South Laspina Street, Tulare, CA 93274, Social Hall)

    Refreshments will be served each meeting. RSVP’s are greatly appreciated: molly@westernuniteddairymen.com, or (209)527-6453

  • Never Apologize For Being a Farmer – By Representative Adam Gray

    Sacramento, Calif., (April 4, 2018) – As someone who was born and raised in the Valley, the economic and social values of agriculture are part of who I am. Accountability for our actions is part of our way of life. If you don’t work hard, you don’t get paid. It’s as simple as that.

    Unfortunately, folks in Sacramento don’t always remember the rules of the game. They demonize successful farmers as “Big Ag.” They claim we waste water, forgetting that irrigation is what puts food on their tables. That’s not waste – it’s hard work.

    They want us to make sacrifices they would never ask of other industries, and they want us to make them without any of the help they provide to other industries. When Hollywood started filming more of its movies outside of California, the Legislature provided hundreds of millions of dollars worth of incentives to bring them back.

    I once asked if we could do something similar for the dairy industry, which is being forced to either consolidate or leave the state. My proposal went nowhere.

    Farmers in the Valley know the truth, but even we are guilty of sometimes buying into Sacramento’s untrue narrative. When now-Senator Kamala Harris was running for office, she came to Modesto to meet and discuss agricultural issues at a round-table forum. As local farmers introduced themselves, each one qualified their success by referring to their operations as “small, family farms” even though many were large operations.

    When it was my turn, I felt compelled to share an observation with the Senator: Valley farmers feel the need to apologize for their success. Surely, major companies in the Bay Area are not referring to themselves as “small, family tech firms.”

    These farmers are major employers in a region lacking enough jobs. They are the primary economic engine in a region desperate for investment. They give back to the communities that have given so much to them, and they provide food security for the entire nation.

    We live in truly interesting times when an industry so valuable to the people and history of California is openly attacked. We should not apologize for our success. We should not undersell the value of our industry— and we should not be afraid to stand up for our way of life.

    When we keep our heads held high, farmers, ranchers, dairymen, and agriculture demonstrate our strength. When the governor proposed cutting the Ag Incentive Grant, which funds FFA, the capitol was flooded with over 1,000 FFA members in their blue corduroy jackets. We won that fight. When environmentalists tried to pass a multi-billion dollar water bond without a single cent for new water storage, we stuck together and secured $2.7 billion to build new dams. And last year, representatives from the Valley stood together and passed legislation guaranteeing no future state budgets would leave out a dedicated source of funding for California’s network of 78 fairs.

    We are strong when we stand together, but our strength will be tested. There is an active agenda by some in Sacramento and elsewhere to destroy California agriculture as we know it. We are seeing it now in the California Water Commission’s decision to delay awarding funds to build new water storage. We are seeing it in the state’s continued exclusion of hydro power from being considered clean energy, requiring us to dump the electricity we have in order to buy energy from others. We are seeing it in the State Water Board’s irresponsible and dangerous decision to take our water and flush it out to sea – never mind the harm to our economy and drinking water supplies their plan will cause.

    We must keep up the fight against this agenda. If we are willing to do the hard work to win in Sacramento, we will be rewarded, just like when we work hard back home on the farm.

    Adam Gray represents California’s 21st Assembly District, which includes all of Merced County and a portion of Stanislaus County.

  • California State Board Of Food And Agriculture To Hear Updates On Current Water Conditions

    Sacramento, Calif., (April 4, 2018) – The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will hear updates by federal and state officials on current water conditions and the outlook for this summer at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The meeting will be held at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N Street – Main Auditorium, Sacramento, CA 95814. In addition to an update on California’s water situation, the board will hear perspective from South Africa on the impending ‘Day Zero’ in Cape Town – where drinking water supplies could run out in the coming months.

    “Over the last two years I’ve had the opportunity to visit several countries impacted by drought as well as limited groundwater supplies,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “What sets California apart, is our forward thinking approach to long term challenges and a commitment by farmers and ranchers to be part of the solution. Water availability is critical to all sectors of our economy, including cities, agriculture and the environment.”

    Invited speakers include: Region Director David Murillo, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Director Karla Nemeth, California Department of Water Resources; Erik Ekdahl, State Water Resources Control Board; Ronald Samuelian, Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group; Jason Pucheu, Maricopa Orchards; and Christina Babbitt, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

    The board will also hear presentations by Jeremy Gorelick (USAID Program/South Africa) and Anton Rabe (HORTGRO) via skype discussing ‘Day Zero’.

    In addition, the board will hear an update on sustainable groundwater management.  Representative from Maricopa Orchards and Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group will provide perspective on groundwater challenges from a critical over drafted groundwater basin.

    “While recent weather conditions have been beneficial, we are still below average on statewide snowpack,” said President Don Cameron, California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “Hearing from federal and state water officials on our water outlook is critical to growers not just in the Central Valley, but throughout the state as we plan for the next water year.”

    The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and the CDFA secretary on agricultural issues and consumer needs. The state board conducts forums that bring together local, state and federal government officials, agricultural representatives and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.

    All meetings are open to the public and attendance is welcome.

    Follow the board on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/Cafood_agboard

  • What’s That in Your Cornmeal?

    Davis, Calif., (April 3, 2018) – You’re thinking about making Grandma’s Southern Cornbread.

    You head for your pantry. You remember that six months ago you purchased a bag of cornmeal from a local supermarket and that you immediately emptied the contents into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.

    You open the airtight jar and notice something strange. It’s moving. Moving? Moving? Yes! It’s crawling with a transparent carpet of dozens of nearly microscopic critters.

    What? First, what are they? If you’re like me, you grab your camera–in this case, a Canon EOS 7D with an MPE-65mm lens that can magnify an insect five times its life size–and click the shutter.

    You post the photo on BugGuide.Net and request an identification.

    The entomologists all agree: They’re booklice, Liposcelis bostrychophila.

    • Class Insecta (Insects)
    • Order Psocodea (Barklice, Booklice, and Parasitic Lice)
    • Suborder Troctomorpha
    • Family Liposcelididae (Booklice)
    • Genus Liposcelis
    • Species bostrychophila(Booklouse)

    These Liposcelis bostrychophila, or “psocids” (pronounced “so kids”), are common pests in stored grains. They’re usually unseen because they’re about a millimeter long–about the size of a speck of dust–and are transparent to light brown in color. They’re also wingless, but can they ever crawl!

    Fact is, their name, “lice,” is misleading. These tiny insects are not lice; they are not parasitic. And they’re everywhere. They feed on flour, cereals, grits, molds, fungi, papers, books, pollen, dead insects and the like. In fact, you’ve probably unknowingly eaten them–or parts of them–in your pancakes, your oatmeal or maybe even your chocolate birthday cake.

    Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly-moth collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis, took one look at the photo and commented:  “They’re pretty thick in there!”

    “Booklice can be scavengers and often feed on the bits of mold or fungi that grow on damp materials,” Smith explained. “Very old, neglected food stuffs are also subject to them, and the key to prevention is to use food materials reasonably quickly and not store them for years, store them in a nice dry location and in airtight containers.”

    “They very well could have been in the food already when you bought it, but they’re so common that you probably have some roaming around in the house all the time, just looking for something good to eat. They’ll feed on dead bugs in window sills, stale pet foods, etc.”

    If you’re worried about what’s in your cornmeal, flour, oats, biscuit mix, cake mix and other stored foods, you can pop the contents in your oven at about 120° for a half hour, and then transfer them to an airtight container, Smith says.  “Your food should be okay–albeit perhaps containing a few dead booklice. We had them in an old bag (paper) of rice one time, and in several packages of cornmeal mix that were forgotten in the back of our cupboard.”

    A UC Davis colleague said he’s seen them crawling in his flour, but his wife made pancakes from them anyway. No issues. No problem. “Just protein!” he chortled.

    And from another colleague: “I once had an entire case of instant grits. The grits were completely factory-sealed in unopened plastic bags. I opened the bags and the grits were poured into hot water, but they would not sink and mix with the water.  Instead the grit floated on the top of the water. I opened a second bag and looked at the grits under my stereo microscope. Each and every grain of grit had two or three little six-legged creatures standing on each grit. These creatures were 100 percent transparent, the only color was in their bodies which was the same color as the grits they were eating. I opened every 100 percent factory-sealed bag, and every bag was contaminated in this matter.”

    “There is nothing new about insect contamination of grain products,” she added. “Another personal experience was a biscuit mix. For no particular reason, I sifted the biscuit mix while making the batch of biscuits. After sifting several cups of biscuit mix, in the sifter screen there were 4 worm-like creatures about the diameter of a standard pencil and about an inch long. These worms were 100 percent transparent, each filled with the white biscuit mix. “Consider we all eat insects, spiders, and urine and feces of all sorts of animals.”

    We live in world where we all eat bugs, whether we know it or not. Sometimes we may not want to know!

    Statistics indicate that the average American unknowingly eats one to two pounds of insects a year.  But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “has very specific tolerances for the amount of residue in food stuffs,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis.

    Want to know what the action level is? Check out this FDA document.

    And the next time, you’re yearning to make Grandma’s Southern Cornbread, you might want to check for bugs first. Or maybe not. You might not want to know!

  • Research Reveals a New Direction for Halting the Citrus Greening Epidemic

    Ithaca, New York, (April 2, 2018) – New clues to how the bacteria associated with citrus greening infect the only insect that carries them could lead to a way to block the microbes’ spread from tree to tree, according to a study in Infection and Immunity by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) scientists.

    Citrus greening, also known as “huanglongbing,” is a serious disease dramatically affecting citrus production across the world. Trees with this disease all die after only a few years. Citrus greening has been detected in every citrus-producing county in Florida, throughout the southern citrus growing states and in isolated spots in southern California. There is no effective prevention or cure.

    The disease is associated with the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, CLas for short, which is spread from tree to tree only by a tiny insect vector—the Asian citrus psyllid. If CLas cannot infect the psyllid, its ability to spread citrus greening is halted.

    With the long-term goal of disrupting this CLas-Asian citrus psyllid interaction, research molecular biologist and BTI professor Michelle Heck, with the ARS Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research Laboratory, and BTI researcher Marina Mann focused on an important point: not all psyllids spread CLas equally well.

    To be spread by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) effectively, the bacteria must pass through the cells lining the insect’s gut and multiply. Scientists in Heck’s lab had previously shown that the gut cells of adult ACP show severe stress responses when infected by CLas. The cell nuclei become fragmented, and some cells react to the point of dying, allowing the bacteria to move out of the psyllid and into the tree.

    Now, the researchers have found that, unlike adult psyllids, young psyllid nymphs appear to be resistant to the effects of exposure to CLas, and their nuclei rarely reach the same level of disruption. This means CLas cannot enter psyllid gut cells to multiply.

    The next step will be to identify the mechanism for this resistance in the nymphs so that it might be manipulated to also halt the spread of CLas by the adults. An important clue lies in how psyllid nymphs interact with symbiotic bacteria in their gut, especially Wolbachia pipientis.

    Many insects are hosts for Wolbachia and often depend on these bacteria for important benefits—much like how human health depends on gut bacteria. In their study, Mann and Heck showed that in psyllid nymphs, Wolbachia and CLas are commonly found within the same cells.

    The authors hypothesize that, in accommodating the beneficial bacteria, the nymphs also let in more CLas. This is supported by their finding that CLas levels in psyllid nymphs are strongly correlated with Wolbachia levels. Though this link remains to be tested directly, understanding its mechanism could yield an important target for disrupting CLas-psyllid interaction.

    “CLas exploits the way nymph and adult psyllids differ in their guts to gain entry into its insect vector,” Heck said. “We may be able to use this new foothold in our understanding to develop ways to block transmission by insects in the citrus grove.”

    If this works, “citrus growers will be in a much better situation in terms of disease control and saving the U.S. citrus industry,” said Dan Dreyer, Chairman of the California Citrus Research Board, which funds this and other research aimed at developing a management strategy for citrus greening.

    “There are still many unanswered questions about CLas, how it is acquired and transmitted via the Asian citrus psyllid, and how it causes the disease,” continued Dreyer. “The more we learn about CLas and its vector, the closer we will get to moving citrus production past the threat of citrus greening.”

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

  • UC Agricultural Issues Center Releases Cost Estimates For Growing Processing Tomatoes

    Davis, Calif., (April 2, 2018) – 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.

    The cost study for processing tomatoes can be downloaded for free at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.

    The report estimates costs and returns and provides an overview of common production practices related to irrigation, fertility and pest management of processing tomatoes. In this report, some specifics are assigned and calculations are based on a hypothetical well-managed farming operation, which is described in detail.

    Net profits are calculated relative to a range of yields and prices. Monthly cash costs, hourly equipment costs, operational annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs are included. The authors received input and reviews from UC Cooperative Extension vegetable crops advisors and other agricultural associates.

    Processing tomato harvest. A new report estimates costs and returns for of processing tomatoes in Fresno County and provides an overview of common production practices related to irrigation, fertility and pest management.

    The new study, “Sample Costs to Produce Processing Tomatoes in the San Joaquin Valley South, Fresno County – 2018,” can be downloaded for free from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities are also available.

    For additional information or an explanation of the calculations used in the study, contact Jeremy Murdock at the Agricultural Issues Center at (530) 752-4651 or jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu, or Tom Turini, UCCE farm advisor for Fresno County, at taturini@ucanr.edu.