UC Blog
California avocado farmers should look beyond Hass
"Native-born" Hass avocados have become the most popular variety in California, but Sacramento News and Review writer Alistair Bland said the state's farmers may be unnecessarily limiting their horizons.
Avocados originated in south-central Mexico and archaeologists in Peru have found domesticated avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies dating back to 750 B.C., according to the California Avocado Commission. The mother tree of all Hass avocados was born in a La Habra Heights, Calif., backyard.
Bland laments the homogenization of the California industry around the Hass variety. He spoke to farmer Randy Shoup of West Pak Avocado farm in Temecula, who said he doesn't look twice at any non-Hass variety.
"Though his website product list still describes several oddball avocados, he says he’s eliminated nearly all non-Hass trees from his property," Bland wrote.
A Hawaii avocado farmer who has collaborated with UC Davis and USDA in experimental cultivation on his Big Island farm told Bland that California avocado growers "need to get out more."
"He once ran a blind taste test of estate and imported avocados on local chefs. Winning varieties included the rich and buttery Kahalu’u and the islands’ favorite, Sharwil. Californian Hass flunked," the story says.
The Hawaii farmer once told Bland he won’t even let his horses eat Hass, "which perhaps leaves more for us."
California growers produce mainly Hass avocados, well known for their black, pebbly rind. and rich, nutty flavor. (Photo: Copyright, California Avocado Commission)
Most olive oil sold in the U.S. is mislabled 'extra virgin'
The second and final study of the past year by the UC Davis Olive Center focusing on the quality of "extra virgin" olive oil finds that most olive oil imported into the U.S. fails to meet the international criteria for "extra virgin," according to a news release published today in the Sacramento Business Journal.
Blind sensory testing revealed many imported olive oils labeled "extra virgin" indeed are not.
Women farmers become more prevalent in Contra Costa County
The number of farms in Contra Costa County has declined steadily for years, but the number of women farm managers has more than doubled since 1978, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times. Women represent one-third of farmers in the county, according to data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture. That is three times the national rate, the paper said.
The increasing number of women farmers may be connected to another trend. The average size of Contra Costa farms has shrunk dramatically. The number of acres farmed by women in Contra Costa doubled from 2002 to 2007, with small-scale operations accounting for most of the growth.
Reporter Hannah Dreier sought commentary about the trends from the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, Dan Sumner.
"You're talking about a place where over time the agriculture has shifted to deal with an urbanizing county, so you get more boutique operations," the story quoted Sumner.
Other factors that contributed to the trend, according to the story, were:
- Many women like the freedom and flexibility that come with running a farm.
- Some women see sustainable farming as a way to do something positive for the environment and healthful for themselves.
- One women farmer suggested females do well at farmers market "because we're more chatty that way."
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The ranks of women farmers in Contra Costa County swells.
Contentious water meeting unfolds in Fresno
Mark Twain biographers now believe he never said, "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But that doesn't mean the sentiment isn't true. Take for example yesterday's congressional hearing about California water, held at Fresno City Hall.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) said the political left is pushing junk science while attempting to pit fishermen against farmers, according to the Fresno Bee.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) asserted that the hearing was designed to reignite the water wars of the past and pit Californians against each other for short-term gain, according a statement issued by Democratic members of the House Subcommittee on Water and Power. The statement was published on YubaNet.com.
The Democrats' statement provided background about California's ongoing water troubles, citing a 2009 university study about job losses that resulted from pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Professors Richard Howitt of UC Davis and Dr. Jeffrey Michael of University of the Pacific say 1,400 to 3,000 jobs were lost – about the same number of California salmon anglers who lost their jobs when the salmon population declined from Delta pumping.
The article said pumping restrictions have proven critical in helping the salmon population recover. This year, salmon fishermen will be able to return to sea for the first time since 2008. And unemployment in the valley, they said, is an issue even in wet water years.
"Recent job losses since 2008 have been mainly caused by the collapse of the construction and housing sector after the financial crisis. By July of 2009, Stockton, Merced, Modesto, and Bakersfield were among the top 10 cities in the U.S. for foreclosures, affecting thousands of construction-related jobs," the statement said.
According to the Fresno Bee story, west-side rancher John Harris said not much new came out of Monday's hearing, but he thought it was a success because it brought attention to the plight of Valley agriculture.
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Despite abundant rainfall, west side farmers are currently guaranteed only 75 percent of their contracted water allocation.
Conservation tillage hits the airwaves
A series of conservation tillage workshops last month and a follow-up news release by UC Davis cropping systems specialist Jeff Mitchell resulted in a story about the event on a Fresno morning ag show on KMJ 580 am radio. The radio story is archived online, about midway through the hour-long broadcast.
Mitchell conducted a phone interview with host Sean Michael Lisle in which he
said national experts on no-till and strip-till came to California to encourage the state's farmers to try conservation tillage, which can conserve water, suppress dust, reduce runoff, lower labor costs, save fuel and sequester carbon.
"There is a growing interest now in these kinds of systems that potentially can reduce production costs and can have a number of adjunct benefits associated with them, and that would be quite new for California," Mitchell said on the program. "Currently in California, very little of the annual crops, row crops, field crops are grown with these kinds of practices."
Mitchell said the dairy industry has been particularly receptive to the idea.
"Our workgroup has documented some rather significant changes in tillage practices in the last 6 years," Mitchell said. "The adoption of these kinds of practices has actually gone up to about 20 percent of the acreage from about 2 percent in that time period."
More information on conservation tillage is available on the workgroup's Conservation Tillage and Cropping Systems website.
More savings can be realized by combining overhead irrigation with conservation tillage.