UC Blog
The San Joaquin River is flowing to the ocean
For the first time in more than 60 years, the San Joaquin River is flowing from the mountains to the sea. The restoration of the San Joaquin, however, comes at a cost, according to a recent Fresno Bee article.
"Now, in the first full year of the restoration, east San Joaquin Valley farmers will lose up to 230,000 acre-feet of water to keep the flow going," wrote reporter Mark Grossi. "It amounts to 18% of the water they have been getting after an average season."
In a letter to the editor published today, Fresno resident Harry Cline - who is editor of the agriculture trade publication Western Farm Press - took issue with that statement, backing up his point with crop water use information from the University of California.
"Farmers will not lose 230,000 acre-feet of water annually," Cline wrote. "People will lose the food that could be produced with 230,000 acre-feet of water."
He reported that 230,000 acre-feet of water represents the irrigation supply needed for:
- 64 million boxes of table grapes
- 92 million boxes of lettuce
- 13.8 billion bread loaves
- 64 million boxes of oranges
An abandoned Madera County vineyard.
Is *suitcase smuggling* to blame for new pest?
A few of California's top vintners admit to having smuggled grapevine cane cuttings into the United States to avoid a long wait for the plant to be cleared by USDA, according to an article that moved on the Associated Press wire over the weekend. The article was published in the Fresno Bee, the New York Times and other media outlets.
Some are wondering if what reporter Tracie Cone wrote is a "winked-at act of sneaking in vines" from Europe may have also imported the European grapevine moth, an Italian pest now threatening Napa vineyards.
The deputy agricultural commissioner for Napa County, Greg Clark, expressed his frustration with the practice of suitcase smuggling.
"There are people who continue to spin their tales of smuggled plant material," Clark was quoted. "People like a story with a glass of wine, and what that tends to do is legitimize behavior that not only threatens the industry, it's illegal. Knock it off."
Director of the UC Davis Foundation Plant Services, Deborah Golino, said some of the plant virus problems in Napa may also result from smuggling.
"The more we move plants around the world, the more chance there is of introducing problems," Golino was quoted.
Other theories about how the pest came to California are swirling around, the story said. In addition to the smuggled grapevine rumors, talk has centered around imported vineyard machinery or even deliberate introduction. Since the first detection of the pest was no where near a seaport, ag officials believe it unlikely the pest was transported on a container ship.
But UC Cooperative Extension viticulture farm advisor Monica Cooper said the moth's life cycle wouldn't be conducive to suitcase smuggling.
"I'm not saying that people don't still try to get suitcase wood in, but in this instance, I'm not sure the pest would be transported like that," Cooper was quoted.
More information and photos of the European grapevine moth are available on the UC Integrated Pest Management Web site.
European grapevine moth larva feeding on berries. (Photo: M. Cooper )
San Francisco meeting generates research buzz
A meeting this week of the American Chemical Society turned two interesting UC research projects into headline news.
UC Davis nutrition professor Paul Davis reported that walnuts slowed prostate tumors by 30 percent to 40 percent in mice, according to a UPI article. The dose was equivalent to 2.5 ounces for a typical man. Not only was prostate cancer growth reduced, but the mice had lower blood levels of a protein that is strongly associated with prostate cancer.Completely unrelated research presented at the meeting, also from UC Davis, questioned an often-quoted UN statistic that said animal agriculture produces 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all transportation combined.
Air quality specialist Frank Mitloehner says the U.N. reached its conclusions for the livestock sector by adding up emissions from farm to table, including the gases produced by growing animal feed, animals' digestive emissions, and processing meat and milk into foods. However, for transportation it only considered emissions from fossil fuels burned while driving, according to a CNN story.
"This lopsided 'analysis' is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue," Mitloehner was quoted in the original UC Davis news release announcing his results.
At least one blogger wasn't fully convinced that the world can go back to eating meat guilt free. The writer of Guardian UK Environment Blog, Leo Hickman, wondered why more media outlets hadn't reported that Mitloehner receives a significant amount of research funding from the meat industry."I'm not saying that Mitloehner is a bought-off scientist in the pocket of Big Beef. . .," Hickman wrote. "My beef is that this funding information has not been deemed worthy of inclusion in the reports and blogs that have been so quick to leap on Mitloehner's findings as, in their eyes, further proof that environmentalists are just a bunch of unscientific cranks."
The American Chemical Society's national conference concludes today.
Frank Mitloehner
UC Davis research discovery a game changer
A UC Davis plant scientist has discovered a reliable way to produce plants that carry genetic material from only one parent, a breakthrough that could speed up crop plant breeding programs, according to a letter published today in the online journal Nature.
Assistant professor of plant biology, Simon Chan, said the chance discovery was at first thought to be a mistake.
"We were doing completely 'blue skies' research, and we discovered something that is immediately useful," Chan was quoted in the UC Davis news release about the research.
The research was conducted at the molecular level on Arabidopsis thaliana, a flowering spring annual with a short life cycle. Arabidopsis is a popular model organism in plant biology and genetics because its genome is relatively small and was the first plant genome to be sequenced.
Chan's discovery is helpful because plant breeders want to produce plants that carry the same trait on both chromosomes, ensuring they will pass on favorable traits when bred. To do this, the release said, plants must be inbred for several generation to make the plant "breed true."
The research revealed an alternative, less time-consuming process for developing "breed true" plants.
Research photos published in Nature.
Small farming is a lifestyle worth preserving
Farming is a life of sacrifice, but a part of Americana that should be protected, according to speakers at the California Small Farm Conference, held earlier this month in San Diego.
“You need to know the odds are against you," Michael O’Gorman, executive director of the UC Davis Farmer Veteran Coalition, told young farmers, according to an account published yesterday by the San Diego News Network. FVC helps returning veterans find employment, training and places to heal on America’s farms.
O’Gorman said farmers too often under estimate the value of their services and their contribution to the economy. He encouraged young farmers to be competitive and ethical in developing their businesses.
The article quoted Penny Leff of the UC Small Farm Agricultural Tourism Program in Davis as saying that agritourism “is putting a value on the [farming] experience.” She told farmers that the public wants to experience farm life and they’re willing to pay for it.Leff sees tourism as a means for farmers to increase profits as well as to educate the community about farming. Creating relationships between farmers and community members is critical for farmers’ success, according to the Network article, authored by Susan Russo.
The three-day conference included speeches by Rayne Pegg, administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and A.G. Kawamura, Secretary of California Department of Food and Agriculture.
In his talk, Kawamura applauded on-farm innovation and said he wants California to be a leader in agricultural advancements.
The California Small Farm Conference featured many UC speakers.