Yuba City, Calif., (March 9, 2017) – We will largely focus on orchards crops (but everything is on the table for discussion!). These meetings are open to all interested growers, consultants, PCAs/CCAs, and related industry. Planned topics for this meeting include managing spring diseases in a wet year and getting your pest monitoring program started for the season. Please contact Emily Symmes to request additional topics or bring your questions to the meeting!
No-host breakfast. DPR and CCA hours requested (1.5 other)
March meeting will be held at Perko’s Restaurant (724 W Onstott Rd, Yuba City, CA) space is limited – please RSVP to Emily Symmes at (530) 538-7201 or ejsymmes@ucanr.edu by March 12th to let us know you plan to attend.
Monthly meetings are planned throughout the Sacramento Valley (second Tuesday of the month), so if you are unable to join us next week, keep the following dates and locations in mind and visit sacvalleyorchards.com for updates!
Colusa: July 11
Yuba-Sutter: August 8
Tehama: April 11 and September 12
Glenn: May 9 and October 10
Butte: June 13 and November 14
If you have any accessibility concerns, please contact Emily at ejsymmes@ucanr.edu or (530) 538-7201 so that arrangements may be made.
The University of California prohibits discrimination or harassment of any person in any of its programs or activities. (Complete nondiscrimination policy statement can be found at http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/files/107734.doc)
Inquiries regarding the University’s equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to John Sims, Affirmative Action Contact, University of California, Davis, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2801 2nd Street, Davis, CA 95618, (530) 750-1397.
A significant amount of funding from unclaimed Ag gas tax has been unaccounted for, and the Almond Alliance of California is working with legislature to ensure that these funds are properly utilized for the benefit of the Agricultural community and repairing the state highway system. Watch this Pacific Nut Producer video interview with Kelly Covello for more information.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership certainly had its pluses and minuses for Ag, but now with it gone, what does that mean for pistachio trade? Is President Trump going to negotiate a new trade agreement? Watch California Ag Network’s brief interview with Richard Matoian from American Pistachios as he explains the situation.
Sacramento, Calif., (March 7, 2017) – A lot of variation in the weather across the State as a departing Pacific system exerted its influence onto the State. Monday, heavy rainfall across the southern quarter of the State, with areas along the immediate coast receiving up to two inches of rain. Heavier rainfall fell in the coastal mountains immediately inland of the San Diego area, with locations receiving over five inches. Most of the deserts received a quarter inch of rain. Midweek was mostly dry, expect for light rainfall in a few southern coastal areas. By Friday, the next storm system arrived, with light showers falling on the northwestern mountains. Saturday and Sunday brought heavier precipitation, with up to one to two inches falling in the northern portion of the State, and up to one inch falling in the southern parts of the state outside of the deserts. Light snow was reported in the central Sierras on Monday before warming temperatures mid-week resulted in the first significant snowmelt of the season. Heavy snowfall returned by Saturday with twelve to eighteen inches of snow falling in the central and northern Sierras. Further south, three to six inches of new snowfall occurred, maintaining the pre-week snowpack level there. Mountain snowpacks continued to be very heavy with Lodgepole in the southern Sierras and the Tahoe area reporting snowcover of nearly seven feet.
Temperature highs were in the 30s to 40s in the mountains, 40 to 80s in the desert, 50s to 70s in the valley, and 60s to 70s along the coast. The temperature lows were in the 10s to 20s in the mountains, 20s to 40s in the valley, 30s to 50s in the desert, and 40s to 50s along the coast.
Growers continued to wait for fields to dry out sufficiently to resume planting winter grain and field crops. Reports of lodging in mature wheat fields due to the recent high winds and rain of last week. Alfalfa fields were flooded and recharging underground water.
Pruning, discing, weed control, and pre-bloom spraying continued where dry orchard floor conditions permitted. Olive groves were pruned. Pruning, tying, berm sanitation, and brush shredding continued as vineyard floors dried. Herbicides were applied in some vineyards. Early varieties of stone fruit, including cherries were blooming in Tulare County. Citrus harvest continued. Recent rains impacted the overall quality of the citrus. Orange groves were hedge-rowed and skirted. A few seedless tangerine groves were being netted to prevent cross pollination during the pending bloom.
As field conditions permitted walnut and pistachio orchards were pruned. Where dry enough cleanup of trees toppled by high winds began. Almond bloom was progressing with the southern portion of the state nearing completion. Rain and wind caused some almond petal drop.
Recent rains slowed some harvesting but broccoli, romaine, and red lettuce harvest continued in Imperial County. In Fresno County, winter onion and garlic fields were being fertilized and cultivated. In Tulare County, squash was being planted in hot tunnels. New fields were being prepared for spring planting. Strawberries continued to thrive.
Non-irrigated pasture and rangeland continued to improve with warming temperatures promoting forb and grass growth. Range was reported to be in excellent to fair condition. Supplemental feeding of livestock continued to wane as range conditions improved. Bees were active in almond orchards. Sheep grazed stubble fields, idle cropland, and dormant, alfalfa.
Kate Scow is a professor of soil science and microbial ecology in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and director of the Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility.
Davis, Calif., (March 6, 2017) – Kate Scow, a professor of soil science and soil microbial ecology at UC Davis, keeps plastic bags filled with soil on her desk.
We are meeting in her office in Plant and the Environmental Sciences Building on campus, not out at Russell Ranch, where she’s the director of the university’s unique 300-acre research facility studying the long-term impacts of management practices and climate on agricultural sustainability. California is finally rainy again. “Our soils are sopping wet and it’s kind of hard to move around there right now,” says Scow.
One of the bags is filled with crumbly light-brown earth that holds together in small clumps. It’s from an organically-managed tomato field. Another bag holds an almost solid, gray block of dirt, like a brick of cement.
“It’s because it was tilled when it was wet. The structure has completely broken down.” She grabs the bag and holds it up. “But you might be surprised that even this boulder has some microorganisms in it. They are everywhere.”
Microbial ecology is one of Scow’s primary research areas. What she is trying to understand is how we can refocus agricultural practices “below-ground” and enhance the activity of beneficial microorganisms. Just a few of her recent research projects include looking at the sensitivity of bacteria and fungi to tillage and cover crops, and the impacts of mineral fertilizer on managed and nonmanaged agricultural systems.
Even though microbes in soil are essential for life on earth, scientists readily admit they still know relatively little about them. What they do know is that they are very, very plentiful and very, very diverse.
A teaspoon of soil can contain billions of microbes and fungi that are essential to life on Earth. UC Davis researchers are exploring the secrets of soil and how these microbes can improve crops and mitigate climate change.
“A gram of soil — about a quarter of a teaspoon — can easily contain a billion bacterial cells and several miles of fungal filaments,” says Scow.
And how many different types of organisms might be in the soil? “Soil is overwhelmingly diverse, with an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 different taxa in a teaspoon of soil. These numbers are difficult to guess and keep getting adjusted as we learn more about the soil microbiome through sequencing efforts,” says Scow, referencing genomic sequencing, which identifies organisms by their unique genetic traits.
Unlike Scow, when most of us drive by a freshly plowed agricultural field, we see dirt. We might picture the presence of a few bugs, maybe worms, but essentially, most of us see soil as an inanimate substrate into which plants grow.
But soil is actually a living entity, a diverse ecosystem that is one of the most complex on the planet. And it is one that is essential for human life through all the functions it provides — food production, water purification, greenhouse gas reduction, and pollution cleanup, to name a few.
“A lot of processes that are really important in soil, like the decomposition of organic material, goes into building up the soil structure — the aggregates — which are the structural units of soil,” says Scow. “These aggregates determine how well the water drains when it rains, how well it is retained when it gets dry. And the exchange of gases — like the ability to get oxygen to plant roots — is determined by the structure of the soil.”
What you see when you turn over a shovelful of healthy soil isn’t just happenstance. “Microbes are the architects that build that structure,” says Scow. And she points out that how we manage our farm soils can determine whether we help or hinder these microscopic structural engineers.
Gut microbes have received a lot of attention in recent years as researchers continue to unlock the complex relationship between human health and what is living in our intestines.
For humans there are helpful prebiotics and probiotics. It turns out that the Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophiles bacteria in yogurt are good for us. But are there similar “good bacteria” for plants and soils?
I ask Radomir Schmidt, a postdoctoral researcher in Kate Scow’s lab, that question. He laughs. “That’s the million-dollar question. We know there are a lot of soil microbes but we don’t know what a lot of them do. Not yet, anyway.”
He explains that there are helpful microbes in soil, but that researchers don’t yet know how interactions between soil microbes lead to different practical outcomes.
Microbes have incredibly diverse functions in the soil. There are nitrifying microbes that convert ammonium to nitrite, and then nitrate. There are microbes that can metabolize fertilizers and pesticides and even pollutants. But even though the properties of some soil microbes are known, there is a lot still to learn, such as how important teamwork among different organisms is in providing these services.
I had met Schmidt when he was attending a microbiome workshop on campus sponsored by the Office of Research to help UC Davis researchers network about possible interdisciplinary microbiome projects. He was there to brainstorm projects like carbon sequestration.
Soil has become a focus for looking at ways to mitigate climate change. Healthy soil is more resilient in a changing environment. It also nourishes plants, which allows the plants to remove carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — from the atmosphere.
And the soil itself is also a massive repository for carbon: It houses the carbon compounds of decaying plants and animals, as well as everything that lives within the soil — from microbes to worms to tree roots. And carbon is essential for soil microbes to be able to flourish.
Research has shown that changes to agricultural practices could increase the carbon stored in the soil. A 20-year study at Russell Ranch found that adding compost and cover crops to fields that grew tomatoes in rotation with corn increased the amount of soil carbon by 37 percent.
Kate Scow also took part of a long-term project led by Jeff Mitchell, a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension specialist, that looked at the impact of conservation agriculture on the amount of carbon in the soil. The eight-year study in the San Joaquin Valley found that conservation agriculture practices could increase the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil by about 45 percent.
The state of California is so interested in the potential of soil to mitigate climate change that the California Department of Food and Agriculture allocated $7.5 million for the Healthy Soils Initiative, which has the goals of building soil carbon and reducing agricultural greenhouse gas.
Schmidt’s Ph.D. is in bacterial genetics. He began in Scow’s lab doing genetic sequencing and gradually transitioned into working more directly with agriculture. He likes getting out of the lab. “The main project I am working on right now are the effects of no-till agriculture and cover cropping on the microbiome. We know pretty well the general effects of not tilling the soil and growing cover crops but we know much less about effects on specific members of the microbial community,” says Schmidt.
For example, he points out that fungi are particularly sensitive to the physical disturbance brought about by tillage, whereas many bacteria are not as affected. For the bacteria, what mattered more was food — whether the cover crop was there are not. There may be tradeoffs with the different practices, which is one of many reasons the research is so important.
And sometimes the research results are unexpected. When Kelly Gravuer, then a Ph.D. student in Scow’s lab, did a study adding poultry compost to to three different types of soil, she was pretty sure the microbial diversity in the nutrient-poor soil would increase. It did not. It went down
“Clearly, we still have a lot to learn about how to translate knowledge gained from plant and animal experiments to the vastly different world of microbes,” says Gravuer.
Lessons from Deforestation and Regeneration in the Amazon
Prof. Jorge L. Mazza Rodrigues found that converting Amazon forest to pasture reduces the diversity of soil microbes. But when pasture is abandoned and recolonized by trees, the microbes return.
Jorge L. Mazza Rodrigues, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, has been studying the impact of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest since 2008.
His first project was in Rondônia, a state close to the Bolivian border and with the distinction of having the highest rate of deforestation in the Amazon. Later, Rodrigues added a second research project, in the state of Pará, on the northern side of the Amazon. “They have big differences in how much rain they get,” says Rodrigues.
He is in the Northern Hemisphere most of the year, and this quarter he is teaching a seminar on methods in microbiome research. We meet in his office in the Plant and Environmental Sciences Building. Dozens of name badge lanyards from the various conferences he has attended dangle from his coat rack below his bicycle helmet.
Rodrigues studies the changes to the soil microbiome when primary forests are converted to pasture. “There are very few primary forests in the United States. So, we have been working with tropical systems these days because that’s the next frontier in agricultural systems.”
About 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been removed — converted into pastures to raise cattle. Brazil ranks among the world’s top four exporters of beef. The fact that the United States has so few primary forests is one reason Rodrigues tries to avoid judgment about the deforestation in the Amazon despite its impact on the environment.
“From my privileged position I’m not going to tell someone not to do what the U.S. did.” He sees his role as assisting with their decisions. “We might help people if we say ‘let’s help you to achieve what you want to achieve.’”
To convert pristine rainforest into pasture, the old-growth trees are removed and sold, and then everything left is burned. He says the burning can go on for weeks.
The changes to ecosystem diversity are obvious and dramatic after the conversion. “You’ve removed all the plants and the trees and then you have maybe one grass. You go from a large number of animal species to maybe one or two species — cows and very few birds,” says Rodrigues.
But what he is there to study is what is not so visible: He wants to know has happened to the microorganisms in the soil.
He gives, as an example, Acidobacteria. Acidobacteria is a large, diverse phylum of bacteria. “As the name suggests, they like more of an acidic environment, lower pH soils like the ones that we find in the Amazon forest,” says Rodrigues.
But after the forest has been burned, all the ashes fertilize the soil and increase the pH, making it more alkaline. “Those guys don’t like that,” he says. The Acidobacteria that had been in the forest are not found in the pasture. “They are gone because the environment has changed.”
Rodrigues has published numerous studies on the microbiome. One looked at the loss of fungal diversity in the Amazon. Another recent paper looked at the nitrogen-methane cycle in the Amazon based on the microbial communities associated with it. In another, he worked with microbiome researchers from China, which is going through the same type of deforestation happening in the Amazon.
And he’s also involved in projects closer to home, including a project in California with Kate Scow measuring the microbial emission rates of methane that are being released at farms using dairy manure for compost. “What we learned to do in the Amazon we are applying to California dairy farms,” says Rodrigues.
Because the converted pastures in the Amazon are not fertilized, they end up with poor-quality soil and are usually abandoned after seven to 10 years. One hopeful sign he sees for environmental recovery in the Amazon is what happens next.
“If you still have forest surrounding this pasture, the forest will start to colonize again. It starts as a dirty pasture — a few bushes, trees here and there — then it takes over again. It’s not as beautiful and big as the primary because of the size of the trees — it takes 350 years for a big tree to grow — but it’s returning to that system. And we have seen that the microbial functions return as well,” says Rodrigues.
He points out that a secondary forest is growing and can capture more carbon than the primary forest that had been in climax was able to capture.
“As long as we maintain corridors and maintain the areas of primary forest, it can reseed that area. Animals can move in and out. We can maintain the biodiversity, and the structure of the environment.”
When we talk about the ability of microbes to survive in such different environments, he describes how he had helped a colleague isolate microbes that had been living deep underground in the frozen permafrost in Siberia. Living in ice.
“They were alive, but they were just waiting to get a certain amount of nutrients.” He describes how a different colleague isolated viable microbes from the frozen remains of a mammoth from the last ice age. “They came back to life. They were still viable,” says Rodrigues.
“There are estimates that microbes have been here for 3.8 billion years on the planet. The planet around 4.8 billion years and the first indications of microbial life around 3.8 billion years,” says Rodrigues.
Rodrigues’ work with microbes has given him tremendous respect for the organisms. “I admire them.” He smiles. “Those guys can survive.”
Visalia, Calif., (March 3, 2017) – 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 growers continue to wait for fields to dry out sufficiently so that they can resume planting winter grain and field crops. Lodging has occurred in mature wheat fields due to the recent high winds and rain of last week.
Field work in vineyards and orchards continues with: pruning, tying, berm sanitation, and brush shredding. Some early varieties of stone fruit are beginning to bloom. Cherries are beginning to bloom. Kiwifruit are being exported to the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan. Some almond orchards are beginning to bloom, and bee colonies are being moved in for pollination. Almonds are being exported China, Colombia, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. Pistachios are being sent to China, Germany, Hong Kong, and Spain. In drier locations the removal of older orchards and vineyards continues in preparation for replanting with new varieties.
The citrus harvest is continuing. All the recent rains are having some impact on overall quality. Navel oranges and Mandarins are being shipped to Australia, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Cara Cara oranges are being shipped to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Minneola tangelos are sent to Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Grapefruit and pomelos are being exported to Japan. Lemons are being exported to Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Singapore. Orange groves are being hedge-rowed and skirted. A few growers are starting to net the seedless tangerines to prevent cross pollination by bees during the coming bloom.
Squash are currently being planted in hot tunnels. New fields are being prepared for spring planting. Strawberries fields continue to thrive. Previously planted onions continue to progress well.
Rangeland and dryland pasture quality continue to improve with all the recent rainfall. Condition is excellent due to continued rainfall and warmer weather.
Bare root rose nursery stock continues to be received, processed, and shipped out. Shipments of wholesale nursery stock are picking up as spring sales begin in earnest. Local bare root nurseries are busy digging stock as weather and soil conditions allow. Some mature olive trees continue to be dug for landscape purposes.
TO: County Agricultural Commissioners of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, Yuba Counties
SUBJECT: EMERGENCY APPLICATION OF FUNGICIDES TO ORCHARDS WITH STANDING WATER
County Agricultural Commissioners have notified the Department of Pesticide Regulation that there is a need for emergency aerial applications of fungicides to orchards with standing water because the unusual wet weather throughout the Sacramento Valley has made ground applications difficult, at best. Significant economic crop losses are expected if these applications are not made. Therefore, we are authorizing the emergency application of several fungicides to orchards with standing water only. This will be in effect until June 1, 2017.
The label must provide for use of the material on the intended crop. Products containing one or more of the following fungicide active ingredients may be applied to orchards with standing water: alumino tris (o-ethyl phosphonate), azoxystrobin, calcium polysulfide, captan, chlorothalonil, copper, copper oxychloride, copper hydroxide, cyprodinil, difenoconazole, iprodione, fenbuconazole, fenhexamid,fluopyram, mancozeb, metalaxyl, myclobutanil, propiconazole, pyrimethanil, tebuconazole, thiophanate-methyl, trifloxystrobin and the combination of boscalid and pyraclostrobin (trade name Pristine) and the combination of pyraclostrobin and fluxapyroxad (trade name Merivon). These labels contain precautionary statements that warn against application to water and indicate that drift or runoff may be hazardous to fish and other aquatic organisms. Applications shall not be made, that may cause state waterways to be contaminated.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation has notified the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and does not expect that these uses will result in adverse effects to fish and wildlife providing the following conditions are met:
1. Water must be standing and will not flow into state waterways where fish and wildlife are likely to be affected. Applications are not allowed if water is flowing off the intended application site.
2. Standing water will not be pumped from the orchard after the fungicide application. 3. Applications are made in accordance with all other label directions.
No fungicide application shall occur if:
1. Soil moisture is at field capacity and a storm event, forecasted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or National Weather Service (NWS), is to occur within 48 hours following application; or
2. A storm event likely to produce runoff from the treated area is forecasted by NOAA/NWS to occur within 48 hours following the application.
Growers shall be responsible for determining which orchards meet the above criteria. The commissioner is to assure, insofar as possible, that the required conditions are met. To ensure standing water remains on site, DPR requests CAC staff conduct additional inspections to flooded orchards during this timeframe.
If you have any questions, please contact your Enforcement Branch Liaison assigned to your county.
Sincerely,
Original Signature Regina Sarracino for:
Donna Marciano
Branch Chief, Enforcement Branch 916-324-4100
cc: Ms. Stella McMillin, Department of Fish and Wildlife
Mr. George Farnsworth, DPR Associate Director
Mr. Joe Marade, DPR Agricultural Commissioner Liaison
Ms. Pamela Wofford, DPR Environmental Program Manager I Mr. Ken Everett, DPR Environmental Program Manager I
Come join us to learn about the benefits cover crops can provide for your orchard!
This collaborative field day hosted by Project Apis m. and Kamprath Seeds will demonstrate how cover crops can improve soil health while improving the health and vitality of bees. Expert speakers from the grower and beekeeping community will be presenting information on:
Seeds for Bees free seed program
Frost and organic matter management during harvest
Concerns about cover crops competing with almond bloom
After the departure of Gurreet Brar, Fresno County UC Cooperative Extension has been lacking a nut crops advisor for some time. Now we are happy to announce Mae Culumber as the new nut crops advisor. Check out her brief introductory video here, and be sure to get in touch with her at the Extension office.
Sacramento, Calif., (February 28, 2017) – Another wet week, with temperatures staying steady. Widespread freezes were reported Thursday through Saturday across the State.
Rainfall followed a similar pattern Monday through Wednesday, with the heaviest rains falling in the northwestern mountains, and the northern and central Sierra foothills. Four to five inches of rain fell in these places, with two to three inches in the northern and central valley. Rainfall tapered off to the south, with up to one inch in the southern valley and along the coast down to the Los Angeles area. Additional light rains fell on most of the State for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Most areas outside of the far southern coast and deserts received an additional quarter inch to half inch of rain. Cold temperatures and an active weather pattern led to yet more snow in the mountains, with up to two feet falling in parts of the central and northern Sierras. The northern mountains received another foot of snow, with the southern Sierras receiving under six inches. Temperatures were cold enough for an overall increase of the snowpack in the central and northern mountains, while a slight decrease of the snowpack was seen in the southern Sierras.
Temperature highs were in the 20s to 50s in the mountains, 40s to 60s along the coast, 50s to 60s in the valley, and 50s to 70s in the desert. The temperature lows were in the 10s to 30s in the mountains, 20s to 30s in the valley, 20s to 40s in the desert, and 40s to 50s along the coast.
The planted grains and field crops continued to mature, reaping the benefit from all the recent rain, and a few sunny days. Growers waiting for excess water to dry up in the fields.
Pruning, discing, weed control, and pre-bloom spraying continued where drying orchard floor conditions permitted. Olive groves were pruned. Pruning, tying, berm sanitation, and brush shredding continued in the drier vineyards. The standing water in vineyards and orchards continued to cause concern for the health of the trees and vines. Herbicides were applied in some vineyards. Early varieties of nectarine and peach were blooming in Fresno County. Cherry bloom began in Tulare County. The Navel orange harvest resumed. Recent rains impacted the overall quality of the citrus. Zutano avocados harvest was ongoing. Tangelo harvest continued. Date trees were planted in Imperial County.
As field conditions permitted walnut and pistachio orchards were pruned. Saturated soils and high winds toppled some walnut and almond trees in the San Joaquin Valley. Almond bloom was progressing well across the State. Rain and wind caused some almond petal drop. As flooded orchards dried and conditions permitted, beehives were moved in to facilitate almond pollination.
Drying conditions allowed for fields to be prepared for cultivation in Madera, Fresno, and Tulare County. Ground was being prepped for planting tomatoes. Herbicide was being applied to onions. Strawberry fields continued to thrive. Carrots continued to be harvested.
Non-irrigated pasture and rangeland continued to improve due to the winter’s precipitation and warming temperatures. Range was reported to be in excellent to fair condition. Supplemental feeding of livestock was waning as range conditions improved. Bees were active in the blooming almond orchards. Sheep grazed retired pasture, harvested broccoli fields, and dormant alfalfa.
