California Ag Network

Tag: UC Davis

  • UC Davis Settles Animal Welfare Citation

    Davis, Calif., (May 1, 2018) – The University of California, Davis, has agreed to pay a penalty of $5,000 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to resolve a citation under the Animal Welfare Act.

    The July 2016 citation described a procedure on a rabbit that was to be euthanized before recovering from anesthesia. The rabbit died under anesthesia when a valve was inadvertently left closed. As a result, staff have been retrained and the valves replaced with valves that are open by default.

    In 2016, the Investigative and Enforcement Service of USDA had notified the university that it would conduct an investigation. UC Davis cooperated fully with the investigation process.

    In March 2018, USDA notified UC Davis that it had determined a penalty of $5,000 for the July 2016 citation. UC Davis has accepted this penalty.

    “While incidents like these are rare considering the scale of our research programs involving animals, each one is taken very seriously and investigated to prevent future occurrences,” said Cameron Carter, interim vice chancellor for Research at UC Davis. “Our expectation is to provide the best possible care to any animal in our charge, treating their safety and welfare as paramount, and our committed staff goes to great lengths to ensure this. Unfortunately, some mistakes happen, but we are quick to learn from them and take appropriate actions to further improve care.”

    Oversight of animal use is heavily regulated by multiple sources. All research studies at the university involving animals require review and approval by the campus’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee to ensure ethical and humane treatment. This committee includes public representatives as well as faculty and staff. The IACUC also inspects facilities conducting animal research every six months.

    UC Davis is accredited by the International Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, or AAALAC, an independent nonprofit organization. Application for the accreditation is voluntary and requires re-evaluation every three years. The university also conducted a comprehensive internal review of animal care on campus in 2017 in preparation of transitioning the program to the Office of Research. The report found no systemic shortcomings in the animal care program but made a number of recommendations to further strengthen the program.

    At the federal level, animal research is overseen by the Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Animal Care Unit, and the National Institutes of Health Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.

    More information regarding research involving animals can be found here.

     

  • UC Davis World Food Center Relaunches

    Davis, Calif., (April 24, 2018) – The University of California, Davis, has renewed its World Food Center within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The World Food Center’s mission is to mobilize the research, educational and outreach resources of UC Davis to promote innovative, sustainable and equitable food systems.

    “The renewed program intends to work on local, national and global scales to support scientific research, extension and policy developments at UC Davis that address these goals,” said Kent J. Bradford, the newly appointed interim director of the World Food Center. Bradford is also a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center. “We are excited by the opportunity to enable the unique resources of UC Davis to be focused on improving the diverse aspects of food systems.”

    Previously housed in the Office of the Chancellor, the realignment of the World Food Center within the college was first announced in December 2016. Under Interim Director Jan Hopmans, the center has engaged in internal evaluation processes among campus and college leadership, faculty, and staff to determine its most effective role as a college program. In September 2017, the UC Davis Office of the Provost approved a two-year plan created by the World Food Center’s Visioning Committee to pursue new opportunities and begin reforming the center within the college.

    Dean Helene Dillard and Associate Dean David Campbell of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences provide oversight to the World Food Center, along with a steering committee of nine faculty members.

    “As a world leader in agricultural and environmental sciences, we are excited to build on the voices and expertise of our college faculty to seek transformational solutions to critical food-system challenges,” said Dean Dillard. “We look forward to working with partners in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to help provide safe and nutritious food for us all.”

    Community involvement encouraged

    The World Food Center is currently seeking campus and community input to assist in developing new programming and initiatives. The center is developing a strategic plan to implement these ideas while creating networks for greater impact at UC Davis and beyond. Leaders are also planning joint events to foster interaction between the academic and business communities in the region.

    The World Food Center will host its first public events of the year in the coming months. The local community is invited to attend two Food For Thought Showcases in the UC Davis Mondavi Center on May 7 and June 4, 2018, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. These events will congregate dozens of UC Davis research centers shaping the future of food to showcase their work to the greater Davis community. The event is free and open to all, and guests are asked to RSVP here.

  • UC Davis Students Breed Beans for Organic Farming

    Davis, Calif., (April 19, 2018) – Graduate students at the University of California, Davis, have begun field tests on very rare commodities: high-yield, disease-resistant bean varieties that can thrive on organic farms.

    “Most crops — about 95 percent — have been bred for conventional farming and can be difficult to grow in organic systems,” said Travis Parker, a Ph.D. student in plant biology who is leading the project. “These new bean varieties could make a big difference in performance and profitability of organic legumes like pinto, black and kidney beans, as well as heirloom-like varieties with high culinary quality.”

    Parker is working with a team of student breeders under the guidance of Professor Paul Gepts, a bean geneticist with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. The bean project is part of a larger plant-breeding effort at UC Davis to develop new varieties of tomatoes, peppers, beans and other vegetable crops that can flourish in both organic and conventional systems.

    Why breeding matters – To create a winning variety, breeders cross plants with desired traits and select the best offspring over multiple generations. It takes several years of plot testing to give birth to a variety good enough to name and sell.

    With each new generation of crops, breeders pick plants that perform well in the system in which they are being raised. That’s usually conventional farming, which is the most common system. Conventional agriculture uses some applications that organic farmers don’t use, such as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. As a result, those crops can be tricky for organic farmers to grow because they are not especially well suited to organic production.

    Parker’s team recently received a $25,000 grant from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that funds innovative projects in agriculture. The grant will support the team’s ongoing efforts to identify the genetic basis of important traits, develop tools to accelerate the time it takes to measure traits as plants grow in the field and — ultimately — release new varieties specifically bred for high performance on organic farms.

    “We have begun trials on virus-resistant lines in fields on campus and on farms in California,” Parker said. “We hope to have varieties available for commercial production soon after 2020.”

    The beauty (and challenge) of beans – Legumes are nutritious and especially important to sustainable agriculture. They contain symbiotic bacteria in their roots that produce nitrogen compounds, which feed the crop and enrich the soil even after harvest.

    “That’s why beans are so useful in rotation with other crops,” Parker said. “Plus, dry beans have a long shelf life so farmers can store them and sell them according to market conditions.”

    But conventionally bred beans can present a challenge for organic farmers. With limited use of herbicides, organic farmers have a tough time controlling the weeds that battle young crops for water, sun and food.

    To address that, Parker and his team are breeding fast-growing plants that can outcompete weeds. The new varieties will grow tall enough to shade out weeds without tipping over to make it easier for farmers to use tractors to mechanically control weeds.

    More crops in the works   – The bean project is part of a larger effort UC Davis launches in 2015. Funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the UC Davis Plant Breeding Center is working with the Organic Seed Alliance and organic growers in California to set priorities and develop new crop varieties.

    Students are leading the project as part of the center’s innovative efforts to train a new generation of plant breeders.

    “We want to give our plant-breeding students experience with real cultivar development that results in products that growers and seed producers want,” said Professor Charlie Brummer, director of the UC Davis Plant Breeding Center. “This project lets us put those pieces together in a very meaningful and exciting way.”

  • Bayer Collaborates With UC Davis Venture Catalyst to Support Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship

    Davis, Calif., (April 3, 2018) – The University of California, Davis, announced today a strategic collaboration agreement with Bayer Crop Science to foster innovation and economic development in the Sacramento region by providing dedicated facility support for university-affiliated startups — particularly those in the areas of agriculture and food-related technologies.

    Located within Bayer’s West Sacramento Innovation Hub for Crop Science, the 3,000 square-foot CoLaborator is designed to house and foster innovative new ventures to transform modern agriculture. It consists of a flexible floor plan that has the capacity for eight to 10 researchers and provides basic equipment for ag-tech startups to quickly begin putting their ideas to the test.

    “Working with Bayer provides our campus entrepreneurs with another tremendous resource and further strengthens the growing regional innovation ecosystem,” said Dushyant Pathak, associate vice chancellor of Research and executive director of Venture Catalyst at UC Davis. “The value of this effort extends much further than addressing the need for appropriate facilities, it creates an opportunity for entrepreneurs to engage with other experts in and outside their field and build relationships critical for their success.”

    As part of the agreement, Bayer joins the university’s Distributed Research Incubation and Venture Engine (DRIVETM) network of startup incubators. The DRIVE netw03ork is part of a platform of resources offered by UC Davis Venture Catalyst to support the successful translation of research and new technologies emerging from the university into new commercial ventures. Venture Catalyst is part of the Technology Management and Corporate Relations division of the UC Davis Office of Research.

    “We are thrilled to be working with the University of California, Davis, to help grow new ventures with the possibility to transform modern agriculture,” said Jon Margolis, head of Research and Technologies Biologics at Bayer. “While we at Bayer are proud of the advances in our own laboratories, we recognize that the challenges today’s growers face will require an open innovation strategy that taps into the larger scientific community.”

    The University of California, Davis, announced today a strategic collaboration agreement with Bayer Crop Science to foster innovation and economic development in the Sacramento region by providing dedicated facility support for university-affiliated startups — particularly those in the areas of agriculture and food-related technologies.

    Located within Bayer’s West Sacramento Innovation Hub for Crop Science, the 3,000 square-foot CoLaborator is designed to house and foster innovative new ventures to transform modern agriculture. It consists of a flexible floor plan that has the capacity for eight to 10 researchers and provides basic equipment for ag-tech startups to quickly begin putting their ideas to the test.

    “Working with Bayer provides our campus entrepreneurs with another tremendous resource and further strengthens the growing regional innovation ecosystem,” said Dushyant Pathak, associate vice chancellor of Research and executive director of Venture Catalyst at UC Davis. “The value of this effort extends much further than addressing the need for appropriate facilities, it creates an opportunity for entrepreneurs to engage with other experts in and outside their field and build relationships critical for their success.”

    As part of the agreement, Bayer joins the university’s Distributed Research Incubation and Venture Engine (DRIVETM) network of startup incubators. The DRIVE network is part of a platform of resources offered by UC Davis Venture Catalyst to support the successful translation of research and new technologies emerging from the university into new commercial ventures. Venture Catalyst is part of the Technology Management and Corporate Relations division of the UC Davis Office of Research.

    “We are thrilled to be working with the University of California, Davis, to help grow new ventures with the possibility to transform modern agriculture,” said Jon Margolis, head of Research and Technologies Biologics at Bayer. “While we at Bayer are proud of the advances in our own laboratories, we recognize that the challenges today’s growers face will require an open innovation strategy that taps into the larger scientific community.”

  • UC Davis Leads World in Veterinary Science, Second in Agriculture

    Davis, Calif., (March 6, 2018) – The University of California, Davis, continues to be ranked first in the world in veterinary science and second in agriculture and forestry, according to the 2018 QS World University Rankings by subject released today (Feb. 28).

    Among 48 disciplines, UC Davis ranked in the top 50 in seven. In addition to veterinary science and agriculture and forestry, they are environmental sciences (13th), anatomy and physiology (26th), biological sciences (29th), earth and marine sciences (tied for 29th), and developmental studies (31st).

    “I’m proud to see UC Davis recognized for our long-standing global leadership in these fields,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “We’re eager to continue building our research, teaching and public service contributions here in California and around the world.”

    Attesting to its world-class status and comprehensive offerings, the university was ranked in all of the five broad subject categories included: life sciences and medicine, natural sciences, engineering and technology, arts and humanities, and social sciences and management.

    UC Davis has been ranked first in veterinary science since the field was added to the rankings in 2015 and second in agriculture and forestry since it was added in 2013.

    The School of Veterinary Medicine has more than 700 students pursing the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and other professional and graduate degrees, and offers the nation’s largest veterinarian residency program with more than 30 specialties. The school leads the nation with more than $85 million in annual research funding (21 percent from the National Institutes of Health), and its faculty and highly trained staff treat more than 50,000 patients each year.

    The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has more than 7,300 undergraduates in 28 majors and 1,125 graduate students in 29 graduate groups and programs. The college’s researchers generate more than $140 million in government, corporate and foundation awards. UC Davis is among the most published and cited U.S. research universities in agricultural sciences, plant and animal sciences, environment/ecology, food science and nutrition, and soil sciences.

    About the rankings

    With some variation by subject area, the rankings consider reputation among academics, reputation among employers, and the citations of academic papers from the university. In all, more than 1,130 institutions were ranked.

    The rankings are prepared by Quacquarelli Symonds, a firm widely considered to be one of the most influential international university rankings providers.

    Other rankings

    In other rankings:

    • Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Educationrankings recognize UC Davis as the sixth best public university in the United States (September 2017).
    • Washington Monthlymagazine ranks UC Davis ninth overall among 303 public and private national universities for contributions to the public good (August 2017).
    • In its 2018 rankings of the nation’s best colleges, S. News and World Reportplaced UC Davis 12th among public national universities.
    • S. News and World Reportplaced UC Davis 52nd in the world in its 2018 ranking of best global universities.

  • UC Davis Symposium Explores Future of Tea

    Davis, Calif., (February 26, 2018) – University of California, Davis, will hold its third annual symposium bringing industry experts, farmers and scholars together to talk about the the growing, distribution and culture of tea throughout the world. Topics including “Yes we CAn! Tea Farming in California,” “From Soil to Cup,” and “Sustaining Societies and Preserving Lost Cultures.” Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world other than water. About four in five of all people worldwide drink tea, according to UC Davis tea scholars.

    The event is free and open to the public.

    When: Thursday, Feb. 22 – Friday, Feb. 23, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Where: The symposium will be held at the UC Davis Conference Center Ballroom.

    Who: International tea consultant Nigel Melican, of England-based Teacraft Ltd., will deliver the keynote address Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m. UC Davis faculty and other experts will speak as well.

    Background: This is the third annual symposium held by the Global Tea Institute for the Study of Tea Culture and Science. The agenda, including map and directions, is here.

    More information on the event and its history are here.

    Media contact(s)

    Karen Nikos-Rose, News and Media Relations, UC Davis, 530-219-5472, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu

    Michael French, College of Letters and Science, 530-752-5863, mgfrench@ucdavis.edu

  • Good News For Hedgerows: No Effects On Food Safety In The Field

    Davis, Calif., (February 23, 2018) – Hedgerows enhance wildlife abundance and diversity around farmland without contributing to food safety problems in field crops, according to a new study published by a team of University of California researchers. The UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UC Davis study documented that field edge plantings around farms are generally too narrow relative to the surrounding landscape to be a source of rodents and foodborne pathogens.

    “This study is particularly pertinent right now when FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is calling for farmers to co-manage wildlife and agriculture, instead of clear cutting wild habitat around their crops,” said co-author Rachael Long, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in the Sacramento Valley. “Our paper provides support for this ruling, showing that the presence of hedgerows does increase wildlife diversity, but does not increase wildlife intrusion into the fields and, more importantly, does not increase the prevalence of animals carrying foodborne pathogens.”

    This is good news for hedgerows, rows of shrubs, trees, grasses and flowers that are planted on field edges. The plants bordering crop fields provide habitat and floral resources for beneficial insects, such as bees and natural enemies, that help with pollination and biocontrol of pests in adjacent crops. Hedgerows also help enhance biodiversity – especially for insect-eating birds – help reduce wind and soil erosion, and protect water quality.

    The two-year study in Sacramento Valley walnut orchards and processing tomato fields was led by Long and Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension vertebrate pest control specialist at UC Davis, former graduate student Laurel Sellers, the Western Center for Food Safety at UC Davis’s Michele Jay-Russell, Xunde Lib and Edward R. Atwill, and Richard M. Engeman of USDA National Wildlife Research Center.

    The study, titled “Impact of field-edge habitat on mammalian wildlife abundance, distribution, and vectored foodborne pathogens in adjacent crops,” was published in the February 2018 Crop Protection (Sellers et al. 2018).

    Elsevier is providing 50 days of free access to this article. Anyone clicking on the following link before March 31, 2018, will be taken directly to the article on ScienceDirect. No signup or registration or fees are required. Simply click and read at https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1WXU~xPFYej~4.

    Winter migratory birds like to eat the lovely red berries of toyon.

    This journal article supports a growing body of literature suggesting that plantings along the edge of fields do not substantially attract wildlife species that intrude on fields and transfer foodborne pathogens. For example, in a 2015 study, UC Davis researchers found more food pathogens when wildlife habitat was reduced on farms. This may be attributed to the vegetation filtering pathogens, a better breakdown of pathogens in diverse environments, and that removing vegetation may not deter wildlife from entering farm fields.

    Relative to the larger crop acreage, hedgerows and similar field-edge habitats are generally too linear and small to serve as a significant source of rodents to damage nearby crops. However, cottontail rabbits favor hedgerows, and can sometimes cause damage to adjacent seedling crops.

    “Overall, we found risk of crop loss or contamination of foodborne pathogens in crops bordered by hedgerows wasn’t significant in our study in the Sacramento Valley, although potential damage could vary by the sta ge and type of crop and wildlife species present,” Long said. She will be presenting this work at the 28th Vertebrate Pest Control Conference, which will be held in Rohnert Park Feb. 26 to March 1.

    In its Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says, “We continue to encourage the co-management of food safety, conservation, and environmental protection.”

    Hedgerows, the plants bordering this field of processing tomatoes, provide habitat and floral resources for beneficial insects that help pollinate crops and provide natural control of pests.

     

  • Veteran Students, Horses Partner in Care at UC Davis

    Davis, Calif., (January 10, 2018) – UC Davis student and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Edgar Garcia brushed the hair along a horse’s neck, back and sides. Here, grooming was more than preparation for riding — it was an age-old ritual bonding human and horse in trust and care.

    UC Davis student Edgar Garcia spends time with Chance after participating in an earlier trial run for a new program that pairs military veterans with horses at the campus Equestrian Center. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

    Garcia is one of the early participants in a new program that pairs student veterans with horses to help them get involved in campus life and enjoy much needed relaxation.

    “Horses make you forget about everything,” said the senior majoring in evolutionary anthropology. “I was so relaxed.”

    Enjoying companionship: UC Davis is introducing the Hooves for Heroes program this month following a brief trial last fall. After attending four weekly lessons on horse handling to begin this Thursday (Jan. 11), a veteran will be able to spend time independently with a horse. The animal gets extra grooming and can graze on a lead outside the paddocks. Each enjoys the other’s companionship.

    Meg Drescher, a coordinator at the Equestrian Center, said Campus Recreation and Unionsand the university’s Veterans Success Center are teaming up to offer the program. She said horses are increasingly being used to foster mental and emotional health for veterans.

    Participants in the trial run for Hooves for Heroes receive instruction in handling horses. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

    “It’s good for people to get to spend time with animals and horses,” she said. “It’s not just physical wellness — it’s whole-being wellness.”

    The new program will be held at the 25-acre campus Equestrian Center, which offers horse boarding, riding lessons and equestrian team activities. Students experienced in horsemanship will do the teaching, and the veterans’ partners will be good-natured lesson horses, some on loan from a summer riding camp.

    Challenges for veteran students: Garcia offered insights about the challenges veteran students face. He drew on his own experience as a veteran who was an aviation mechanic in the Marine Corps for eight years and his roles as president of the Davis Student Veteran Organization and as a student adviser at the veterans center.

    The 31-year-old — who worked as a security executive and earned two associate degrees before transferring to UC Davis — said veterans might have trouble transitioning to academic life, or feel out of place among mostly younger classmates and those who have different perspectives about the military. Veterans might also be coping with other issues such as brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder.

    One of about 200 veterans enrolled at UC Davis, J. Alota is studying for a master’s degree in health informatics after 22 years and five deployments with the Air Force left him unable to meet the strenuous physical demands of his former nursing career.

    UC Davis veteran students J. Alota, with his back to the camera, and Edgar Garcia groom Shinto in the trial run for the Hooves for Heroes program. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

    He also copes with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, he said, and enjoyed brushing and talking to the horses in the fall trial.

    “It feels like there is nothing else going on in the world but me and the horse.” he said. “It’s a peace.”

    Hooves for Heroes is akin to the equestrian facility’s long-established Guardian Angels program that trains campus and community volunteers to spend time with horses.

  • $1.7 Million for Climate-Resilient Agricultural Research

    Davis, Calif., (December 6, 2017) – The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research has awarded more than $1.7 million to University of California, Davis, researchers to identify genes responsible for drought tolerance in rice and test a new energy-efficient food-drying process.

    Drought-resistant rice – A $1 million Seeding Solutions grant will go to a project to study the genetics of rice plants. The research is being led by principal investigator Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Genome Center at UC Davis.

    Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and her team will identify genes that alter root growth in rice. (Photo / Deanne Fitzmaurice)

    She and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and collaborators, will develop and implement a chemistry-driven gene discovery approach to identify rice genes that influence root growth. The project targets protein kinases, enzymes that control diverse biological process in plants, such as root architecture and drought response.

    “Our aim is to identify genes that alter root growth in rice, a staple food for half the world’s people. Because root systems play an essential role in yield and drought tolerance, results of these studies are relevant to agriculture,” said Ronald.

    The FFAR grant has been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Structural Genomics Consortium, AgBiome and Promega for a total $2.3 million investment.

    “This project is a prime example of how public-private partnerships can advance our understanding of plant genetics to develop crops resistant to drought and other climate extremes,” said Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

    Researchers on this project also include David Drewry, co-principal investigator and professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Aled Edwards, collaborator, professor at the University of Toronto, and director of the Structural Genomics Consortium; and Rafael Najmanovich, collaborator, professor at the University of Montreal.

    Principal investigator Irwin Donis-Gonzalez (left) and assistant adjunct professor Kurt Kornbluth (right) in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering will research new advanced food-drying technology.

    Energy-efficient food processing – FFAR has also awarded $790,000 to UC Davis to test a new technology to improve the drying methods used in food production. Moisture must be removed from harvested agricultural products to safely preserve them prior to processing into food products.

    Researchers will test an innovative moisture-absorbing technology called drying beads, instead of relying on heated air to dehydrate foods such as grains, nuts, rice and seeds. The beads absorb water without using heat, reducing the use of energy by up to 50 percent during the drying process. The beads are reusable and can be reactivated, which would reduce drying costs over time.

    The research is being led by principal investigator Irwin R. Donis-Gonzalez, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

    “Drying agricultural produce is an energy-intensive process, and it is imperative to find alternative means of drying for the enhancement of food quality, safety, and economical operations, while reducing food losses and waste,” said Donis-Gonzalez.

    According to researchers, this technology could save more than 1.06 quadrillion kilojoules of energy annually in the U.S. This is about the same amount of energy it takes to provide electricity to residents of New York, California and Florida for one year.

    The $790,000 FFAR grant has also been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for a total $1.5 million investment.

    “This project exemplifies how new innovations can help us produce a safe, reliable food supply that uses resources more efficiently,” Rockey said.

    Researchers on this project include Kent J. Bradford, co-principal investigator, distinguished professor at UC Davis; Kurt Kornbluth, co-principal investigator, assistant adjunct professor at UC Davis; Edward Spang, co-principal investigator, assistant professor at UC Davis; and Johan Van Asbrouck, collaborator, CEO of Rhino Research, Bangkok, Thailand.

    See full release for more information.

  • Donald Norene Honored with UC Davis Award of Distinction

    Davis, Calif., (October 16 2017) – Donald Norene, a third-generation walnut farmer from Rio Oso, was recently honored with an Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural

    Donald Norene Honored with UC Davis Award of Distinction

    and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). The award is presented annually to individuals whose contributions and achievements enhance the college’s ability to provide cutting-edge research, top-notch education and innovative outreach. Norene is a CA&ES alumnus who has held many leadership posts and who has been instrumental in rallying industry support for UC Davis research.

    Norene earned his bachelor of science in agricultural science and management in 1973. He joined with his father, Roy, and brother, Jerry, to farm peaches, walnuts and rice, and to raise beef cattle north of Sacramento. Twenty years later, as the cling peach industry was losing profitability, Norene made the bold and successful move to replace all the family’s peach trees with walnuts.

    He is a member of the California Walnut Board, which has invested millions of dollars in walnut breeding and improvement at UC Davis. Norene is a past chairman of the California Walnut Commission and a founding member and chairman of the Walnut Bargaining Association. Norene Ranches is an early adopter of research to improve walnut production and irrigation. Donald Norene and son Davin cooperate with the university on research into variety development, rootstocks, nematode control, integrated pest management and other areas. With that said, Norene is well deserving the recognition and praise offered by UC Davis and the walnut industry.