USDA scientists released 3,000 sterile light brown apple moths yesterday in a Carneros vineyard, according to an article in the Sonoma Index-Tribune. The scientists hope that flooding the environment with sterile moths will prevent females from mating with normal moths and producing offspring.

Reporter Emily Charrier-Botts wrote that UC Davis entomologist James Carey does not expect the program to be successful. He said releasing sterile insects has eradicated only one pest in history - the screw-worm fly. (Screw-worm fly maggots, a livestock pest, feed on living mammal flesh after a female fly lays eggs on a superficial wound, according to CDFA.)

The USDA scientist overseeing the light brown apple moth program, entomologist Gregg Simmons, said the pilot project will help officials determine whether sterile moths could be used to combat infestations across the state.

"The goal is to drive insects to manageable levels. As part of the integrated pest management strategy ... eradication may be achieved," Simmons was quoted.

Light brown apple moth larva.

The Associated Press this morning reported that enrollment in agriculture schools across the nation is growing, even though the number of farms tumbles.

Reporter David Mercer provided statistics from a survey of ag schools by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Enrollment in bachelor's degree programs in agriculture, the survey said, increased 21.8 percent from 2005 to 2008, from about 58,300 students to nearly 71,000.

The story gave specific information about the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, noting that in 2009 more than 5,490 students are enrolled in agricultural majors — a jump of 210 from a year earlier.

"I think that young people are recognizing all of the issues that surround our society that have to do with food, and I think there's a real interest in new ways of doing things and solving some of these problems," the story quoted Diane Ullman, a UC Davis associate dean for undergraduate academic programs.

A Monsanto spokesman told the reporter the company finds it hard to recruit people educated in science, in particular, because they "tend to get snatched up by medical and health care-related things." He said Monsanto has openings for 100 researchers at its headquarters in St. Louis.

A Texas A & M spokesman said every one of the university's poultry science graduates averaged five job offers.

UC Davis ag student

Farmers growing vegetables in Southern California and Arizona deserts had to contend with a new pest this fall. The Bagrada bug - a native of East and Southern Africa, Egypt, Zaire and Senegal - made its first appearance in the area, posing especially significant problems to organic farmers, according to an article in Capital Press.

Bagrada bugs were introduced to California last year in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. This past August, farmers began seeing the pest in broccoli, cauliflower, and other cole crops in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, and in southwestern Arizona.

“Bagrada bugs were everywhere; it’s not like we’ve had to look for them,” the story quoted John Palumbo, an extension specialist at the University of Arizona Yuma Agricultural Center.

According to UC Riverside’s Center for Invasive Species Research, adult Bagrada bugs are 5 to 7 millimeters long with black, shield-shaped bodies and distinctive white and orange markings. The adult female is larger than the male.

Bagrada bugs suck sap from young leaves causing small white patches on leaf edges. The damage can prevent the plant from producing edible vegetable heads or can cause double heads that are too small for market. Severe Bagrada feeding can kill the plant.

Capital Press reporter Cary Blake spoke to UC Cooperative Extension Imperial County farm advisor Eric Natwick about the Bagrada bug situation for California desert farmers. Natwick said he saw major Bagrada bug damage in an organically grown red cabbage field in Holtville in late October.

“I’d estimate about 30 percent of the early September-planted transplants developed single heads,” Natwick was quoted. “The other plants (about 70 percent) had no head or two smaller, unmarketable heads.”

Natwick found higher single-head numbers in mid-to-late September-planted cabbage. The field contained adults, nymphs, and eggs.

Female and male Bagrada bugs. (Photo: LA Ag Commissioner's office)

The fate of UC's Small Farm Program was the center of a nearly five-minute story on this morning's California Report radio news program. Central Valley bureau chief Sasha Khokha opened her story on the east Fresno farm of strawberry grower Chang Fong. He and his family have for years worked with Fresno County UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Richard Molinar and his assistant Michael Yang, cooperating on research and gleaning information on farm safety, plant diseases, pests and other ag production and marketing issues.

"Many of our farmers are classified as limited resource farmers," Molinar said. "Many farmers don’t have the resources or personnel to find this information out."

Khokha also interviewed Desmond Jolly, the former director of the Small Farm Program. If you love heirloom tomatoes, Asian greens and organic lettuce mixes, he said, you can thank the UC Small Farm Program.

"Immature tomatoes and iceburg lettuce, that was more or less representative of the kind of past we had in the produce department," Jolly said.

With a budget of less than $250,000, the Small Farm Program helped launch organic agriculture in California, Khokha reported.

"If you look at the returns on the small investments, it’s a huge benefit-cost ratio," Jolly said.

Khokha also spoke to UC ANR vice president Dan Dooley. He said closure of the Small Farm Program is part of a restructuring effort to trim administrative fat, Khokha reported. Small farm advisors won't lose their jobs.

"We’re committed to small farm programs, but it needs to be in the context of a broader agenda to support healthy food systems," Dooley said.

Michael Yang, left, and Richard Molinar talk to a Southeast Asian farmer.