UC Blogs
Blog Feedback Requested
We are approaching our sixth month of alfalfa & forage blog postings and it would be great to receive some feedback. Are you enjoying the blog?...
Dancing the Flamenco
One of TV's popular programs is "Dancing with Stars." The reality show pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers in a competition to win...
Honey bee greets a Spanish lavender blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee nectaring Spanish lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of honey bee partnering with a blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Mostly Moss
moss5
Photos by Launa Herrmann
Public-private partnership seeks to revitalize Shafter research station
The 80-member San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association has leased the 80-acre Shafter research station from Kern County, recruited University of California researchers and initiated talks with the Kern Community College District and a number of private groups to bring cotton research back to the historic facility, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian.
In addition, ag companies are expressing interest in using some of the station's vacant greenhouses, labs, storage sheds and land to conduct their own research on crops ranging from potatoes to grapes.
The Shafter Cotton Research Station was established by USDA in 1922. In 1996, the station was deeded to Kern County and management of the station shifted to the University of California, according to a retrospective compiled by former station director Lyle Carter.
The station closed in 2009, but UC Cooperative Extension in Kern County leased a 40-acre plot to continue research in almonds and vegetables, according to Brian Marsh, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Kern County.
The historical marker at the cotton research station.
The Invasion of Tropical Fruit Flies
From a trickle to a flood. But why? Professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will tell you why. He will discuss the...
Mediterranean Fruit Fly. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark)