http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CT/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Conservation agriculture is a means to sustainable agriculture en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:53 PST Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:53 PST UC ANR The Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Center will hold a two-stop field tour of innovative and cost-cutting no-till cotton production systems on Thursday, May 30. The program begins at 9 a.m. in south Dos Palos (Nees Avenue and I-5) and continues at 11 a.m. at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center, 17353 W. Oakland in Five Points. Some of the presentations are repeated at both sites. During the field visits, participants will learn about no-till cotton production...
]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10412&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10412 The timeworn water tower that stands in front of the Giacomazzi Dairy in Kings County is a hallmark of the farm’s endurance. It proclaims, “Since 1893.” Dino Giacomazzi, the fourth generation to run the operation, said cows have been producing milk and the land producing feed every single day of the ensuing 120 years. In order to maintain the family business in times of mounting environmental pressures and tightening economics, Giacomazzi became a leader in developing...
]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 09:17:12 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10334&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10334 Farmers and others interested in new irrigation technologies and conservation agriculture can follow along on their computers in real time as research unfolds at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center. The Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) Center is the site of a comparison trial involving no-till wheat and minimum-till onion production with buried drip irrigation and overhead irrigation. Both crops were established with overhead irrigation. Crop growth and...
]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:16:21 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9184&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9184 Hanford dairy farmer Dino Giacomazzi, a founding member of UC Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI), received the prestigious 2012 Leopold Conservation Award for California in acknowledgement of his exemplary land stewardship and management. The $10,000 Leopold Conservation Award is named in honor of world-renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold. The award, presented annually in eight states, recognizes farming and ranching families who are actively committed to living a land...
]]> Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:34:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8900&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8900 Fresno State plant science associate professor Anil Shrestha will receive the 2013 Outstanding Reviewer Award from the Weed Science Society of America. The honor will be presented at the annual meeting, Feb. 4-7 in Baltimore, Maryland. The award recognizes professionals for outstanding work in reviewing scientific papers in the industry. Shrestha joined Fresno State in 2008 and has taught various undergraduate and graduate plant science classes. He received a master’s degree from...
]]> Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:41:30 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8862&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8862 The sixth and final segment of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation documentary, posted today on the CASI website, features farmers who are successfully combining conservation tillage with overhead irrigation systems, such as center pivots. (The video is also posted below.) "One of the things that we see with overhead systems and the sprinkler packages that we have attached to them is that they are highly efficient," said Dan Munk, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County,...
]]> Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:41:07 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8293&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8293 Farming in California has traditionally involved a series of preplant tillage operations, including disking, subsoiling, land planing, bed formation and dry mulching. The fifth installment of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation documentary details a viable alternative - a sub category of conservation agriculture known as "minimum tillage." The video is available today on the CASI website. (It is also posted below.) Minimum tillage refers to systems that reduce tillage passes for a...
]]> Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:13:47 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8256&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8256 Dairy feed production is particularly amenable to conservation agricultural practices, according to four dairy operators featured in Part 4 of the Conservation Agriculture documentary series, released today on the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation website. (The video is also posted below.) Planting equipment for production of winter small grains like wheat and triticale and summer corn and sorghum are readily available and production processes have been widely used. In dairy feed...
]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2012 07:03:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8215&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8215 The history of California processing tomato production is an impressive success story. Over the past 90 years, the tomato industry has boosted per-acre production by 740 percent. The state accounts for more than 95 percent of U.S. processing tomatoes. Research by UC Cooperative Extension has shown there are even more production improvements to be realized with the incorporation of conservation agricultural systems in processing tomato production. Using conservation agriculture in processing...
]]> Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:00:01 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8176&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8176 In a clear sign of changing times in California agriculture, the University of California dedicates its first full-sized center pivot overhead irrigation system at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center during the Twilight Conservation Agriculture field day at 4 p.m. Sept. 13. The center is at 17353 W. Oakland Ave., Five Points. Farmers and other members of the public are invited to the free event to see the system in operation and learn how overhead irrigation can be combined with...
]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2012 09:59:46 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8157&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8157 Episode 2 of CASI's six-part documentary series, "The Value of Residues in Conservation Agriculture Systems," has been released on the CASI webpage, http://CASI.ucanr.edu. (The video has also been posted below.) In the 8-minute video, viewers will be introduced to a new way of looking at plant residues. In California, many farmers manage crop residues to make them essentially "disappear," due to concerns about pathogens and in order to make clean planting beds. "The crop residues used to be...
]]> Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:07:36 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8121&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8121 Videos of individual presentations that were made at the public launch of Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) are now available for viewing at http://ucanr.edu/LaunchCASI. The presentations provide information about the evolution of CASI, its recent research and development work on conservation agriculture systems and its new capacity-building initiatives to increase the adoption of competitive and sustainable production systems in California’s Central Valley. The videos...
]]> Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:23:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8115&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8115 Speakers from around the world will share their expertise with California farmers during a series of four conferences Aug. 28 to 30. The conference schedule is as follows: Aug. 28, 1-4 p.m. UC Davis Heidrick Ag Equipment Center113 / Hutchinson, UC Davis(530) 752-1898 Aug. 29, 8-11 a.m. UCCE Stanislaus County 3800 Cornucopia Way, Suite A Modesto, CA(209) 525-6800 Aug. 29, 1-4 p.m. UC Westside Field Station 17353 W. OaklandFive Points, CA Aug....
]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:52:13 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8094&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jpmitchell@ucanr.edu(Jeffrey P Mitchell) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8094 The first segment of the Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) six-part video documentary debuts today on the CASI website. (The video is also posted below.) The video introduces “a whole new way of doing agriculture,” said Will Horwath, professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, one of the researchers featured in the introductory segment. In addition to researchers, the seven-minute video spotlights farmers and industry representatives...
]]> Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:13:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8081&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8081 ]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:53:45 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7997&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7997 To fill their need for year-round, inexpensive forages, California dairy producers typically plant and harvest a series of forage crops – small grains, corn for silage, milo and sorghum sudan. While this requires considerable tillage and seed-bed preparation ahead of each successive crop, the production systems lend themselves to conservation tillage approaches developed in other regions. Adopting these approaches could: Reduce the time between the harvest of one crop and the planting...
]]> Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:45:46 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7629&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7629 The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, hosted a group of Water for Food Conference participants on a tour of the UNL South Central Ag Laboratory in Clay Center, Neb., June 2. At the 640-acre facility, research aims to develop and refine irrigated crop production practices for Nebraska agriculture.Many of the ag practices being studied at the center parallel work being conducted at the University of California's West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points. Field projects at the Clay...
]]> Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:08:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7627&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7627 Farmers, researchers, consumers and policy makers are making progress toward addressing the challenge of producing food to feed a world population of 9 billion in 2050. The optimistic signs were everywhere on the closing day of the fourth annual Water for Food Conference in Lincoln, Neb., June 1.Scientists described highly technical basic research at the plant genome level to develop crops that produce sufficient yield, even under drought conditions. Policymakers compared notes on innovative...
]]> Fri, 01 Jun 2012 15:02:37 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7622&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7622 Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) has a vision for California – a vision in which farmers make more money while using less water and protecting the environment. However, the organization has been frustrated that the progress in getting these ag systems adopted by farmers has been rather slow. A member of the CASI executive board and a project director with the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, Ron Harben, brought up the point with a panel of...
]]> Thu, 31 May 2012 18:53:07 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7614&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7614 The confluence of global climate change and population growth is brewing a “perfect storm” that threatens the availability of sufficient fresh water to grow food to feed the world by 2025, warned Colin Chartres, the director general of the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka. Chartres spoke at the Water for Food Global Conference in Lincoln, Neb., May 30. More than 500 attendees from 28 countries on 6 continents have convened in Lincoln to address the challenges...
]]> Wed, 30 May 2012 15:46:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7610&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7610