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LinkedInPosts Tagged: California Agriculture
Climate change is impacting California tree crop farms
Rising temperatures appear to be reducing the number of hours tree crops in the San Joaquin Valley are subjected to chill during the winter, a critical factor in producing a profitable yield, reported Ezra David Romero on Valley Public Radio, KVPR-FM.
Pistachios, for example, require temperatures between 32 and 45 degrees for about 700 hours each winter, but for the past four years have had less than 500 chill hours.
UC Davis researcher Hyunok Lee recently published a study about climate change impacts on agriculture in UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' peer-reviewed journal California Agriculture. The study found that winter temperatures are increasing more than any other time of year. Her modeling looks at the year 2050 in Yolo County.
“Our agriculture will continue,” Lee said. “But if you look at . . . like 20 years or 30 years. The pattern may change a little bit, crops may move a little bit north.”
Romero spoke to UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Craig Kallsen, who holds the UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Tree Nut Genetics. Kallsen is conducting trials aimed at finding pistachio varieties with novel nut, tree growth and yield characteristics, and varieties that produce a high yield even under low-chill conditions.
"We're trying to use the other species of pistachios actually to see if we can come up with something that has a low chill requirement. It's pretty hypothetical at this stage,” Kallsen told Romero. “We made quite a few crosses this spring and we actually hope to put a trial in a low chill area.”
David Doll, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Merced County, is studying other tactics to improve winter chill, such as using overhead sprinklers to cool the trees and painting them white with liquid clay to reflect sunlight.
"So this is something that could impact a lot of farmers over the next 10, 20, 30 to 40 years,” Doll said. “And in fact it's already impacting farmers on random given years across the state."
Two new ways to get involved in the Global Food Initiative
In July 2014, UC President Janet Napolitano launched the UC Global Food Initiative (GFI) and ANR continues to play a major role in the GFI. Two new examples are a special issue of California Agriculture that is in the planning stages and a food-research video competition for UC students that the Nutrition Policy Institute is co-sponsoring. A call has gone out UC systemwide to participate in these projects.
Special issue of California Agriculture
ANR's peer-reviewed research journal California Agriculture is planning a special Global Food Initiative issue for summer 2017. Developed in partnership with GFI leaders at ANR, UCOP, the 10 UC campuses and the UC-affiliated national laboratories, the issue will mark the third anniversary of the initiative's launch.
The issue will feature a collection of original research papers in the GFI subject areas: nutrition, food security, food sourcing, food equity, food literacy, food recovery, food waste, local food systems, sustainable agricultural production, sustainable fishery practices, sustainable urban agriculture and climate smart agriculture. A call for papers is going out to researchers throughout the UC System.
ANR researchers working in these areas are encouraged to submit papers. Please see the call for manuscripts for full details. Abstracts are due for initial review by Oct. 1, 2016, with complete manuscripts to be submitted by Nov. 18.
If you have questions, contact Jim Downing, executive editor, at jdowning@ucanr.edu and (530) 750-1352.
Food research video contest
The World Food Day Video Challenge, co-sponsored by ANR's Nutrition Policy Institute, the UC Davis World Food Center and the GFI, is open to UC students. Students from all the UC campuses are invited to submit videos up to three minutes long that feature UC research. It could be about their own research or your research.
The winning team will receive $1,000 and an opportunity for team members (up to 3) to attend the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in October.
One objective of the contest is to raise awareness of the depth and breadth of food-related research and outreach being performed across the UC system.
Please encourage GFI fellows and UC students at your locations to participate by submitting a video by Sept. 7, 2016.
Details about the challenge are at foodvideos.ucdavis.edu. If you have questions, read the FAQs or contact WFC's Amy Beaudrealt at abeaudreault@ucdavis.edu or NPI's Ron Strochlic at rstrochlic@ucanr.edu.
UCCE's healthy-eating guidelines readily available
Curlee's article noted that UCCE has, "Knowledgeable, trained advisors ... on hand locally ... to help with meal planning, wise shopping, individual diet planning and overall nutritional health."
The column was prompted by the January-March issue of California Agriculture journal, a special issue focusing on "Healthy Families and Communities." In the opening editorial, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said the state is facing a crisis in the health and education of its young people, Curlee reported.
“The challenges include high childhood obesity, rising school dropout rates and low student achievement, especially in the sciences," Eastin said. “Healthy families and children are vital to our nation and its prosperous future. It is time that key players in higher education join in a project to promote the general welfare by focusing on measurable scientific initiatives we can pursue to ensure the blessings of liberty to our posterity.”
California Agriculture launches E-Edition, allowing faster publication
California Agriculture journal launched its first E-Edition in the July-September 2011 issue, providing an expanded venue for the rapid publication of time-sensitive research. Find the E-Edition articles in the table of contents.
“Initially, E-Edition is being offered to authors who have been waiting for publication due to a backlog brought on by the statewide budget crisis,” says Janet White, California Agriculture’s executive editor.
California Agriculture is the University of California’s journal of peer-reviewed research and news in agriculture, natural resources and human resources. It has been continuously published for 65 years.
E-Edition articles are laid out just like print articles, with tables, figures and photographs. Readers can download and print copies in HTML or PDF format. Authors will be able to print articles on demand for distribution to target audiences.
“Readers of the print journal can preview abstracts and introductory comments of E-Edition articles in the pages of the journal,” White says. “Space permitting, E-Edition articles may be printed in future issues.”
E-Edition also means that, with the July-September 2011 issue, California Agriculture will switch from print to electronic “version of record,” the online version becoming the authoritative version to be indexed by databases and repositories. Like all published articles, E-Edition articles will benefit from California Agriculture’s augmented electronic presence.
The journal is posted in full on the California Digital Library and in the ANR Repository, and it ranks high in Google and Google Scholar searches. It appears in numerous indexes and databases including Thomson ISI (Agriculture, Biology and environmental Sciences, and the SCIE databases), EBSCO, Gale, Elsevier, AGRICOLA, Proquest, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau (CAB) and open-access journal databases.
Ag operations annoy some urbanites
Agriculture is a key industry in Merced County, contributing nearly $3 billion per year to the local economy, but city dwellers living next door find it's not all tranquility and charm, according to an article in the Merced Sun Star.
The story was based on a research report in the most recent California Agriculture journal, "California communities deal with conflict and adjustment at the urban edge," which focused on the confluence of agriculture and neighborhoods in Merced and Monterey counties.
An 'urban edge' near Monterey. (Photo: California Agriculture journal)
