Monthly Archives: August 2015

European Grapevine Moth nearing eradication – from the Napa Valley Register

August 31, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

By Barry Eberling A $59 million, six-year battle has all but eliminated a grape-maiming invasive pest that struck the heart of Napa’s wine country. Napa County has spent $9.8 million and the wine industry $49 million fighting the European grapevine moth, the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office reported. Money went to such things as detection, trapping, insecticides and quarantine compliance. In …

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Dairy farmers consider drip irrigation – from the Modesto Bee

August 28, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

By John Holland At last check, 75 percent of grape growers in California used drip or other low-volume irrigation methods. The rate was 71 percent for almonds and 63 percent for canning tomatoes. Dairy feed crops? Not so much. The rate was just 7 percent for corn and 2.5 percent for alfalfa, based on a 2010 survey. These farmers much …

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New West Nile Virus detections in horses

August 27, 2015   Dr. Annette Jones, California State Veterinarian

A dangerous disease, west Nile virus, has returned to California this summer. The disease has been detected in four horses – two in Riverside County, one in Tehama County, and one in Shasta County. Two of the horses have died and the other two are recovering. Once again, we remind horse owners to have their animals vaccinated. It offers them …

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From the Growing California video series – Drought Landscaping

August 26, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

The latest segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Drought Landscaping.”

Posted in Climate Change, Drought, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment

Young farmers educated, indebted – from the Sacramento Bee

August 25, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

By Edward Ortiz Sonoma farmer Andrea Davis-Cetina didn’t discover her passion for farming until she went to college. She entered Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., intending to study photography but, during a stint on the campus farm, found herself enjoying every aspect of agriculture instead, the 32-year-old said. So she switched course and instead earned a degree in sustainable agriculture …

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Video: the Tree of 40 Fruit – from National Geographic

August 21, 2015   Office of Public Affairs
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From PPIC – If Drought Continues: Environment and Poor Rural Communities Most Likely to Suffer

August 20, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

URBAN AREAS IN BEST SHAPE, FARMERS ADAPTING BUT VULNERABLE From the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, 2015—If the California drought continues another two to three years, the state will face increasingly acute challenges in two areas: water supply in some low-income rural communities, where wells are running dry; and ecosystems, where the …

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From the Department of Water Resources – NASA Report: Drought Causing Valley Land to Sink

August 19, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

SACRAMENTO, CA — As Californians continue pumping groundwater in response to the historic drought, the Department of Water Resources today released a new NASA report showing land in the San Joaquin Valley is sinking faster than ever before, nearly two inches per month in some locations. “Because of increased pumping, groundwater levels are reaching record lows—up to 100 feet lower …

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Glimpses of California’s water future – from the Los Angeles Times

August 19, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

  By Peter King A sprawl of sewage treatment plants, recharge basins and desalination facilities, stretching out across an industrial backlot near Rancho Cucamonga. A collection of slender, solar-powered telemetry towers rising from an almond orchard in the San Joaquin Valley to bring high-tech efficiency to irrigation. And, at a university research station near Irvine, three Potemkin Village-like suburban houses …

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Posted in Conservation, Drought | 1 Comment

Wasps used to protect citrus trees from fatal disease – from the Los Angeles Times

August 19, 2015   Office of Public Affairs

By Geoffrey Mohan They look like grains of black sand inside a prescription vial. But each speck is a wasp that is lethal to the offspring of the Asian citrus psyllid, an aphid-size bug that spreads the bacteria that cause Huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease. If California’s $1.8-billion citrus industry is to buy enough time to stave off the disease, …

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Posted in Asian Citrus Psyllid, HLB, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Invasive Species, Uncategorized | 2 Comments