Western Farm Press.  30 April 2012.   Researchers and educators from the University of California and California State University have received funding for joint projects on priority issues such as urban residential water demand, restoring pollinator communities, and estimating alfalfa’s impact on nitrogen and nitrate leaching in the Central Valley.  Leadership of California’s higher education systems made the funding available to jointly address issues in agriculture, natural resources and human sciences. Project criteria include collaborative research, teaching, or course development; development of student internship opportunities; and workshops, conferences, and symposia. Eight projects totaling more than $79,500 were selected from 30 proposals submitted.

“These research projects will help leverage limited resources to produce quick results on important issues in California,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. “They are also building stronger connections among researchers throughout the state and providing hands-on learning opportunities for students.”

Researchers involved in this year’s projects are from UC Davis, UC Berkeley and California State University campuses at Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Pomona, Sonoma, San Marcos and San Luis Obispo. The awarded projects, with principal investigators, are listed below:

• “Estimating residential water demand functions in urban California regions” — Economists from UC Berkeley and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will estimate residential water demand of municipalities and water companies that serve 19 million people in the Bay Area and Southern California. (Maximilian Auffhammer, Stephen Hamilton)
• “Reintroduced mammals and plant invaders as key drivers of ecosystem processes in coastal and interior grasslands” — Researchers from Sonoma State University and UC Davis will study how reintroducing tule elk and reducing invasive Harding grass affects the availability of soil nutrients and the composition of plant communities. (Caroline Christian, J. Hall Cushman, Valerie Eviner)
• “Genetics of plant defense responses to pesticides and spider mites on grapes” — Scientists from UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will conduct laboratory, greenhouse and field studies to learn more about factors affecting grapevine response to spider mites, including cultivar resistance, drought impact and pesticide exposure. (Michael Costello, Richard Karban, Andrew Walker, Jeffrey Wong)
• “Defining the functions of polyphenol oxidase in walnut” — Through genetic analysis, researchers at CSU San Marcos and UC Davis seek to learn more about an enzyme involved in the postharvest browning of cut or bruised fruit. (Matthew Escobar, Monica Britton, Abhaya Dandekar)
• “Modeling the costs of hazardous fuel reduction thinning treatments and removal of woody biomass for energy” — Researchers from Humboldt State University, UC Davis, and the U.S. Forest Service will develop a model to estimate the costs of removing hazardous wildland fuels with different equipment and systems over a wide range of forest stand, site and road conditions. (Han-Sup Han, Bruce Hartsough)
• “Restoration of pollinator communities and pollination function in riparian habitats” — Researchers from California State University, Chico, and UC Davis will characterize native pollinator communities at restored riparian habitats within the Central Valley and test whether successful restoration of pollinator communities also leads to restoration of pollination. (Christopher Ivey, Neal Williams)
• “Estimating alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets and nitrate leaching losses in the Central Valley of California” — Researchers from California State University, Fresno, and UC Davis will collect alfalfa and non-legume plants from irrigated fields and also identify San Joaquin Valley farm sites for a multi-year study of alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets, groundwater nitrate leaching, and nitrogen requirements of rotation crops. (Bruce Roberts, Stuart Pettygrove, Daniel Putnam)
• “Community and ecosystem response to elevated nitrogen in managed grassland ecosystems” — Restoration ecologists from Cal Poly Pomona and UC Berkeley will investigate how elevated nitrogen levels affect competition among native and exotic plant species with regard to fuel characteristics at UC’s South Coast Research and Extension Center. (Erin Questad, Katharine Suding)

Western Farm Press.  24 April 2012. While recent and substantial rains are a promising sign that drought conditions are improving for much of the U.S. Southwest, a cold and dry winter in northern Mexico has exacerbated conditions there with reports of widespread famine, escalating food prices and extreme dry conditions that have forced the Mexican government to truck drinking water to nearly a half million residents in remote villages across six northern states where lakes and ground wells have run dry. In addition, Mexican aid workers have been offering food rations throughout the winter to more than 2 million residents who are desperately clinging to life in a region that is experiencing its driest period on record.

The drought is credited with destroying some 7.5 million acres of cultivable land in 2011 and is responsible for $1.18 billion in lost harvests and has destroyed about 60,000 head of cattle and weakened two million more causing a substantial spike in food prices. In addition, officials say acute food and grain shortages caused Mexico’s imports to soar 35 percent last year and they could go even higher in 2012 as conditions worsen.

In a USDA report in late March, Mexico’s grain sorghum imports were expected to increase significantly this spring, and now corn has been added to the import list, providing U.S. growers, especially those in the Southwest, an expanded market for their crops.  Farmers in the [Texas] Rio Grande Valley opting to grow more grain sorghum than cotton this year as a result of a strong market in Mexico.   Shortages for grain and food corn will cause many U.S. growers to look hard at market potential in Mexico in the months ahead.

In Mexico the shortage of white corn is marked by higher food prices and a shortage in tortillas, a food staple for Mexican families.  This is not the first time there has been an extreme shortage. The last time was in 2008 when corn shortages caused a tortilla crisis that resulted in riots and price limit controls by federal authorities. Coincidentally, this happened in another drought period.   In January of 2010 U.S. corn exports totaled about 20,000 metric tons.  But this year that increased to 60,000 metric tons, so there is a market opening up for U.S. corn growers, especially those across the Midwest who were able to get an early corn crop in the ground.

Ag Alert.  21 March 2012. Farm groups that had sought a cooperative approach to water quality regulation said they were reviewing their options after the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board voted 6-0 last week to adopt new wastewater discharge requirements for the region’s farms. The final order included few recommendations made by farmers on how to achieve water quality improvements.

The new rules, which are effective immediately, require individual farmers to monitor and report more closely on water quality and runoff from their operations.

How the new regulations will affect individual farmers and how much it will cost them to implement is unclear. California Farm Bureau Federation legal and policy specialists who attended the two-day board hearing in San Luis Obispo said so many last-minute changes occurred that the actual impact of the new regulations remains “foggy” for now.

It is clear, however, that the regulations establish a three-tiered regulation system, ranking agricultural operations deemed to pose the greatest water-quality risk. Farms identified as “Tier 3 dischargers” face the most stringent regulation. Agricultural analysts said this approach appears to target growers of crops that require the use of certain crop inputs and smaller farms with less water management infrastructure.

“Under the new tiered system, if you grow a crop with a high potential to discharge nitrogen, you’re in a higher tier,” CFBF environmental attorney Kari Fisher explained. “If you use chlorpyrifos or diazinon, you’re in a higher tier. If you’re close to an impaired water body, you’re in a higher tier. If you’re near a public well that exceeds maximum contaminant levels, you’re in a higher tier. The type of crops farmers grow will affect the level of monitoring required.”

Agricultural representatives had previously submitted detailed, suggested changes to the proposed Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Irrigated Agriculture, including a watershed coalition approach that focused on education and collaboration. This framework for water quality improvement is being used in other regions of the state, but Central Coast regulators declined to adopt it.

Staff for the Central Coast regional board reviewed the farm organizations’ proposal, which outlined the coalition approach. Some recommendations were accepted, but the overall approach was not. The board said farmers may join a coalition if approved by the board’s executive officer, but that participation will not replace monitoring and reporting requirements.  read more

Western Farm Press. 27 February 2012.  California dairymen are producing too much milk for the market, and once again have moved into a negative cash flow scenario as milk prices have fallen $2 to $3 per hundredweight from a year ago.  This prompted hay market analyst Seth Hoyt to lower his price estimate for first cutting, premium quality alfalfa hay moving into the Central California milkshed this season.

Hoyt of Ione, Calif., told a packed seminar room at World Ag Expo in February he has dropped projected first cutting fob premium hay prices $10 to $20 per ton for alfalfa from Imperial Valley, Central California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah from what he projected in December at the Western Alfalfa and Forage Conference in Las Vegas.

Hoyt dropped his projected prices despite the fact hay stocks are low and alfalfa hay acreage did not increase as much as an overheated hay market would typically warrant.

“Dairy is still the main driver of our (hay) market, and dairies are in a negative cash flow situation,” said Hoyt. 75 percent of the hay produced in California is sold into dairies; 65 percent for the seven Western states. 45 percent of the nation’s milk supply comes from the 7 Western states; 20 percent from California alone.  Dairymen in the Central California milkshed do not want to pay more than $300 per ton for premium, first cutting hay delivered to Central California, according to Hoyt.

The reason is the average February over base milk price is $14.75 per hundredweight versus 16.74 a year ago. In March of 2011 it was $17.31. This March it is projected to drop to $14.25. Hoyt speculated that the projected March milk price may be the low for the year.  Hoyt said it cost dairymen $15 to $16 per cwt on average to feed dairy cows. That is even high for dairies like those in the Chino area in Southern California which do not have much land to grow their own feed. In those areas, the cost of producing a hundredweight of milk could be as high as $17.

Hoyt cited a couple of recent sales that could serve as benchmarks for the year. A Central California dairy recently purchased a year’s supply of 4,500 tons of 55 TDN alfalfa from a western Nevada hay grower for $230 per ton fob. Another contract was signed for 7,000 tons of hay from the “eastern mountain” area of California for $245 per ton.

These two contracts will cost the dairymen $295 and $297 per ton respectively delivered Tulare.  read more

Growing Produce.  2 December 2011.  Food-safety experts have long believed that Salmonella bacteria could only enter tomatoes through wounds in the stem or fruit — but a new University of Florida laboratory study shows it can also happen another way.  Plant pathologist Ariena van Bruggen, a UF/IFAS professor, published a paper recently in the online journal PLoS One, with research findings that show — for the first time — that Salmonella can enter tomato plants through intact leaves, travel through the plant and end up in the fruit itself.

But she says she can’t stress enough that it isn’t at all easy for it to happen, even in the lab, and would be unlikely under field conditions.  “The message is that yes, (Salmonella) can be internalized in tomato, but it’s rare — the chance is so low,” she said. “I would tell consumers not to worry too much.”  Although van Bruggen, a member of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, described her experiment as a “worst-case scenario,” she said the findings suggest tomato growers and packers should continue to review their already-stringent safety standards, taking a look at factors such as irrigation water sources, the possibility of wild animals getting too close to plants and the use of surfactants.  Keith Schneider, a food safety expert and IFAS faculty member, called the study’s findings intriguing, but said hand-washing by consumers and food handlers is still likely to have the single biggest impact on whether people become ill from anything they eat.  “There is probably a far bigger risk of people becoming sick from not washing their hands, or their kids not washing their hands, than the possibility of this route of infection occurring in nature,” he said.  read more

GROWING PRODUCE.  25 OCTOBER 2011.  House and Senate members today announced the introduction of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011 [H.R. 3236], a comprehensive bill intended for inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill.  According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, H.R. 3236 is a bipartisan and bicameral bill introduced in the House by Representatives Tim Walz (D-MN) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), and an identical companion bill will be introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee in the Senate next week once they return from their current recess.

“The scope of this bill represents a historical investment in beginning farmers. The programs will nurture the next generation of family farmers by building human capital and assets,” says Steve Schwartz, founder of California FarmLink, an NSAC member group which was one of the first in the country to design and implement a successful Individual Development Accounts program to help new farmers save money and accumulate sufficient capital to begin farming. “The Act builds a foundation to develop jobs and farm businesses in rural communities with a very small investment of government funds.”  READ MORE

WineXpo. 9 September 2011. Wine Australia reports that China has replaced Canada as the third largest export destination for Australian wines. Between March 2010 and the same month in 2011, volumes of Australian wines imported by China increased by 30%. The two leading Australian export markets lost ground however: exports to UK were down by 4% and 16% down to the US, both markets being hit by a rising Aussi dollar compared to the pound sterling and US dollar.

AP. DES MOINES, Iowa. 1 April 2011   – The widespread Internet posting of a letter by a retired Purdue University researcher who says he has linked genetically modified corn and soybeans to crop diseases and abortions and infertility in livestock has raised concern among scientists that the public will believe his unsupported claim is true.

The letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been posted on dozens of websites ranging from the Huffington Post to obscure gardening and food blogs, generating discussion on message boards about the controversial topic of genetically modified crops and their potential effect on animals and humans.

But other scientists say they have no way to verify professor emeritus Don Huber’s claims because he won’t provide evidence to back them up.

“People in the scientific community have at times made outlandish claims but it’s been based on research that was flawed in some way, but at least the data was provided to be analyzed and critiqued,” said Bob Hartzler, an Iowa State University agronomy professor who called the letter “extremely unusual, especially coming from the scientific community.”

Huber, 76, wrote the letter to Vilsack in January, warning of a new organism he claims has been found in corn and soybeans modified to resist the weed killer Roundup. Huber wrote that the organism could lead to a “general collapse of our critical agriculture infrastructure” and further approval of Roundup Ready crops “could be a calamity.”

He told The Associated Press the organism that concerned him was found in much higher concentrations in corn and soybeans grown from so-called Roundup Ready seeds than in grains grown from conventional seed, although the samples of conventional crops tested were too small to get a reliable result. read more

Western Farm Press.  2 December 2010.  With the federal budget deficit approaching $1.3 trillion, Congress needs to take a hard look at every government program to make sure that the taxpayers are getting real value for their hard-earned dollars. But there’s one federal investment — agricultural research — that reaps returns by promoting economic growth, addressing urgent national and international problems, and attracting young people to fields where their talents are sorely needed and their contributions will be well-rewarded.

Because funding has been virtually frozen in recent years, relatively small increases in the nation’s investment can kick-start a new era of innovation in this important field.  Agricultural research boosts an industry that remains one of our economy’s powerhouses.

While most Americans may pay little attention to where their food comes from, agriculture is one of the nation’s largest employers, with more than 2 million farmers and some 19 million people in allied industries.  While the nation’s trade deficit increased to $46.3 billion in August, the United States continued to be a net exporter in agriculture, with the industry running a $1.8 billion trade surplus.

In one indication of the industry’s vitality, the nation’s more than 2,500 farmer-owned cooperatives contribute more than $190 billion to the economy, including a total payroll of at least $8 billion that supports more than 250,000 jobs. Especially during a downturn that has hit hard at Rural America, these farm cooperatives offer an economic lifeline to countless communities.

While spurring a crucial sector of the economy, agricultural research also promotes solutions for many of the nation’s most pressing problems. Most Americans may not think of childhood obesity, environmental stewardship, energy security or even food safety as agricultural issues. But, by finding new ways to encourage healthy diets, produce and use bio-fuels, and improve safety practices in processing plants and restaurants, agricultural research is indispensable to solving these problems.

Dr. Brent Rouppet (of this website) solving agricultural problems in Niger, Africa, 2010

Urgent as they are, Americans’ agricultural challenges pale in comparison to world hunger. Nothing describes the dimensions of this crisis as starkly as these inescapable facts: Currently, the world’s population is about 6 billion, with an estimated 1 billion people living in poverty and enduring chronic hunger. Over the next 30 to 40 years, the world’s population is expected to grow by about 50 percent.  read more

ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2010) — U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in West Virginia are finding ways to improve soil on degraded land so it can be used for sports fields and other uses.  Researchers with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at the agency’s Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center (AFSRC) in Beaver, W.Va., are developing constructed or replacement subsoils and topsoils to build better and less-costly sports fields, raingardens and lawns on former landfills, mine lands and other degraded land. ARS is USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency.

The constructed soil research project is in its fourth year. ARS is conducting the research in cooperation with the National Turfgrass Research Initiative, Inc., a joint turfgrass industry-ARS program created in 2007. The initiative draws on the expertise of scientists with ARS and at universities, according to lead scientist Rich Zobel at AFSRC.

The turfgrass industry has set a high priority on improving degraded soils by constructing soils that include readily available rural, urban and industrial byproducts that can be mixed with local soils. These byproduct mixes are being tailored to not only reduce rain runoff and erosion, but also to remove or neutralize pollutants before they reach storm drains.

With lower costs through using inexpensive local byproducts, schools and local parks have a better chance of being able to afford soil replacement for better turfgrass survival. Eliminating compacted soil is the first step toward growing good, robust grass.  read more