http://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed The past, present and future of ANR news en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Wed, 22 May 2013 12:13:46 PST Wed, 22 May 2013 12:13:46 PST UC ANR
]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 12:13:45 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10443&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10443 Reporters sought UC Cooperative Extension expertise for recent articles about unusual farming efforts in two parts of California. Fresno Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez covered the story of sisters in their early 20s who have settled on their dad's Laton alfalfa farm after he suffered complications from a black widow bite. The young women purchased chickens on a whim and began producing specialty eggs under the brand name "Just Got Laid." Rodriguez spoke to Shermain Hardesty, UCCE specialist...
]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 09:31:10 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10421&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10421 A Sudden Oak Death "Blitz" planned for Sonoma County June 15-16 will prepare local residents to spot infected plants, collect samples from their neighborhoods and submit them for laboratory testing, reported the Kenwood Press. The session is hosted by UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and Matteo Garbelotto, UCCE specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. Trees susceptible to sudden oak death include California bay laurel, tan oak, live...
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 09:23:42 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10390&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10390 The Santa Barbara County 4-H program is raising awareness about the county board of supervisors' plans to cut funding for UC Cooperative Extension, according to reports that appear on the KSBY Channel 6 website and in the Santa Barbara Independent. According to the Independent article, written by Mary Thieleke Jackson, director of the Santa Barbara County 4-H Management Board, a draft budget released Friday, May 10, does not include a county contribution to UC Cooperative Extension. Budget...
]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 10:02:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10381&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10381 UC Berkeley researchers relied on historical samples of marbled murrelet breast feathers to understand what factors may be impacting the species' survival today, said an article on Crosscut.com. The team compared the ratios of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the feathers, which revealed what the birds ate. They learned that, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, murrelets relied heavily on sardines, anchovies and squid. But as decades passed, anchovy, sardine and squid stocks...
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 10:38:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10377&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10377 California cherries are now beginning to show up at roadside stands, farmers markets and grocery stores, but the supply in 2013 may be a touch scanty, reported Reed Fujii in the Stockton Record. Joe Grant, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Joaquin County, said the cherry crop is light throughout the area, across orchards and varieties. "That rules out orchard-to-orchard factors, management factors or disease factors," he said. Crop losses are often weather-related, but early frosts, or...
]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 09:33:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10362&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10362 Despite light rain earlier this week, it appears the Butte and Glenn county rice industry is getting seeds in the ground during the ideal planting window, reported the Chico Enterprise Record. The ideal time for planting rice is May 1-15, said Randall "Cass" Mutters, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Butte County. As the date gets later, farmers will end up with a later harvest. Fall weather is more unpredictable and farmers could end up harvesting in the mud. Last year, farmers were still...
]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 09:41:30 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10346&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10346 To feed the growing world population, farmers will have to produce more food in the next 40 years than they have in the last 10,000, according to an op-ed piece published in the Modesto Bee and written by Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Don Bransford, chair of the UC President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources and a partner in Bransford Farms in Colusa. The article was written to bring attention to the fact that, despite...
]]> Tue, 07 May 2013 10:21:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10333&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10333 The nearly 30-member 2013 class of California Naturalists in Mendocino County participated in a field day Saturday at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, reported the Ukiah Daily Journal. The University of California's California Naturalist program aims to host courses around the state to train outdoor enthusiasts on a variety of topics, such as plants, animals, water resources and geology. The Mendocino Program focuses on the local mixed oak woodland. "The goal of the program is to...
]]> Mon, 06 May 2013 09:56:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10326&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10326 One reason the Napa County wine industry is so successful is its commitment to working together, wrote Paul Franson in an op-ed piece that ran in the Napa Valley Register today. Franson credits frequent industry meetings in the area, where a wealth of information on grape growth and wine production are offered. A recent meeting he cited was a field day last month in which John Roncoroni, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Napa County, took two groups through the Huichica Creek Demonstration...
]]> Fri, 03 May 2013 08:49:39 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10316&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10316 UC researchers are testing tobacco's potential to be genetically modified in order to produce biofuel, reported Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times' ScienceNow blog. “The beauty of our proposal is that carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere as a byproduct of combustion of these bio-fuels would be captured again by tobacco plants and, through the natural process of photosynthesis, be converted back into fuel," said Anastasios Melis, professor in the Department of Plant and...
]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 08:36:38 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10293&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10293 A settlement between Caltrans and the California Farm Bureau Federation, which resulted in CFBF dismissing a lawsuit against Caltrans about the Willits Bypass Project, includes a long-term wetlands study by UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension researchers, according to Caltrans and farm bureau press releases issued last week. Caltrans is building a bypass along U.S. Route 101 around the community of Willits. The project will relieve congestion, reduce delays, and improve safety for traffic...
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:50:26 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10270&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10270 UC CalFresh educators took part in a field trip for fourth-graders in Fresno where the children tasted a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, reported Dale Yurong on ABC 30 Action News. "We encourage them to try it and then they try it and wind up liking it," said UC CalFresh nutrition educator Kristi Sharp. "That's a saying that we say - you can't judge it unless you try it." Fresno Unified School District is the state's largest recipient of funds from the fruit and vegetable...
]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:20:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9807&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9807 After the extraordinary explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas this week, people living in rural agricultural areas are looking around warily to see whether a similar facility might be in their own backyards. The Redding Appeal-Democrat asked Franz Niederholzer, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sutter and Yuba counties, whether such danger lurks in their community. Niederholzer said ammonium nitrate fertilizer was popular and prevalent until 1995. "It was phased out after the bombing in...
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:10:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9789&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9789 UC Cooperative Extension range research was featured at a field day Saturday in Tehama County, reported Julie Johnson in the Corning Observer. Josh Davy, UCCE advisor in Tehama County, reviewed test plots were 60 varieties of annual and perennial range grasses were growing. Ken Tate, UCCE specialist, and Leslie Roche, postdoctoral researcher, both in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, gave an update on their long-term grazing research projects evaluating the effects of multiple...
]]> Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:46:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9772&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9772 The "Roadside Attractions" column in the Santa Maria Times today comments on the increasing number of hoop houses seen along Santa Barbara County highways and byways. Hoop houses, long white tents also known as tunnels, shelter raspberries, the article said. “There’s been a dramatic increase in berry growing in the county,” said Mark Gaskell, UC Cooperative Extension advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Hoop houses essentially serve as mini-greenhouses....
]]> Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:58:17 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9760&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9760 Citizen scientists are once again beginning their annual Northern California search for signs of Sudden Oak Death, reported Lisa Krieger in the San Jose Mercury-News. Volunteers were trained in Santa Cruz on Friday and training sessions are planned for Orinda, Berkeley, San Francisco, Saratoga, Burlingame, Woodside, Atherton and Los Altos Hills. "This outreach is really important because it not only teaches people how to look for the disease, but it also helps them to monitor for it in their...
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:15:58 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9751&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9751 So far, the impact of climate change on San Joaquin County hasn't been apparent, reported Reed Fujii in the Stockton Record. The story said Paul Verdegaal, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Joaquin County, has been tracking local crop and weather data for 30 years and to date has seen only normal year-to-year variability. "There's no particular trend in early bud break (in vineyards); there's no particular change in earlier harvest," Verdegaal said. "I haven't seen any hint of a trend,...
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:11:24 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9750&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9750 At the World Ag Expo in February, nine states had booths designed to recruit California dairy operators out of the Golden State, reported the Los Angeles Times. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard himself made a personal appeal for the state, where ag officials estimate that a single dairy cow creates $15,000 in economic activity each year. In recent years, an average of 100 California dairies have closed annually, said Leslie "Bees" Butler, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the...
]]> Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:06:45 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9686&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9686 UC Cooperative Extension in Humboldt County is asking local artists to submit their work for its "Art and Agriculture" show and auction, an event that is part of the 100th anniversary of the organization, said an article published in the Times-Standard. Humboldt County was the location of California's first UCCE office, opened in 1913. The program later spread across the state with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914. According to the article, the Humboldt Centennial is “a...
]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:35:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9667&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9667