Posts Tagged: agriculture

White House Summit explores impact of extreme heat, ways to adapt

UC ANR Small Farms Network supports small-scale and underserved farmers impacted by extreme heat

Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, interim director for the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, joined more than 100 participants from across the country at the first-ever White House Summit on Extreme Heat. Community representatives and practitioners met with federal agency representatives and Biden Administration officials to discuss successful locally tailored, community-driven practices to adapt to extreme heat as well as available federal resources.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, summer 2024 was California's warmest summer on record. As California's climate is changing, episodes of extreme heat are becoming more common, leading to substantial health, economic and ecosystem impacts. 

In the agricultural sector, extreme heat events can cause heat illness in farmworkers, crop losses and changes in pest pressure. California crop losses due to drought, wildfire and heat were estimated at $239 million in 2023. 

Disaster relief funds are available to help growers recover from lost production due to extreme heat. Since 2021, the UC ANR Small Farms Network has connected small-scale farmers with over $5.8 million in direct-to-producer relief funds for losses related to drought, flooding and other extreme weather events.

To further support small-scale farmers in adapting to the changing climate, Dahlquist-Willard and the Small Farms Network are evaluating how the extreme heat of summer 2024 impacted farmers. Farmers reported anecdotal observations that included:

• Shifting work hours to cooler parts of the day
• Closing farm stands and farmers markets due to extreme heat
• Crops ripening more quickly than expected, impacting harvesting and packing schedules
• Poor fruit set due to extremely high temperatures 

The team is working to determine what damage symptoms on small-acreage California specialty crops can be attributed to extreme heat based on scientific literature and assessments from UC ANR colleagues. Understanding the impact of extreme heat on the farming community can help inform research and policy, ultimately equipping farmers with strategies to adapt to extreme heat events. 

“It was inspiring to meet with leaders from around the nation who are working to support communities impacted by extreme heat and learn about the creative solutions they are implementing,” said Dahlquist-Willard. “The challenges faced by these communities make it all the more important to continue to work against climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to develop new methods and resources to mitigate the effects of extreme heat and other climate impacts.”  

The Extreme Heat Summit highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration's investments in climate reliance and put forth an Extreme Heat Call to Action calling upon public and private sectors to prepare for future extreme heat events. Communities and governments interested in participating are asked to use all available tools to protect people from extreme heat. Approaches and tools which could be used to protect people and resources from extreme heat are highlighted in the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit and the National Heat Strategy. Submissions for the Call to Action will be accepted through Nov. 1, 2024.

Further reading: 

Heat Illness Prevention, UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety

Pathak et al., 2018. Climate Change Trends and Impacts on California Agriculture: A Detailed Review

UC's New Climate Action Goals: Frequently Asked Questions

They Spent Their Summer Doing Research in a UC Davis Nematology Lab

It's great to see two high school seniors spend their summer doing research in a UC Davis nematology lab as young scholars in the UC Davis...

Mason Walline won second place in the UC Davis Young Scholars Program "Summer Slam" (Elevator Pitch or short-version), competing with some 35 other students. (Photo by Ching-Jung Lin)

Mason Walline won second place in the UC Davis Young Scholars Program "Summer Slam" (Elevator Pitch or short-version), competing with some 35 other students. (Photo by Ching-Jung Lin)

Anderson Van Dang presented his research, "Effects of Bacteria Supernatant on Parasitic Nematodes." (Photo by Ching-Jung Lin)

Anderson Van Dang presented his research, "Effects of Bacteria Supernatant on Parasitic Nematodes." (Photo by Ching-Jung Lin)

Tiny Bug, Big Trouble, Great Science

You may have never seen this tiny bug that's causing big trouble. But agriculturists and scientists have. The spotted-wing...

Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki, on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki, on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis ENT Seminars: Look Who's Speaking

From honey bees to butterflies to nematodes--those will be some of the topics when the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology hosts...

Honey bees will be among the topics at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology fall quarter seminars. This bee is heading toward gaura in early morning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bees will be among the topics at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology fall quarter seminars. This bee is heading toward gaura in early morning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hands-on learning, training make irrigation best practices accessible

UCCE advisors provide free training to nursery and greenhouse staff

Working as an irrigator seems straightforward at first: if you're not watering plants by hand, you're building and managing systems that can do the watering. What could be complex about a job like this?

University of California Cooperative Extension advisors Bruno Pitton and Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli can tell you – or better yet, show you.

Pitton and Spinelli, members of the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, offer a one-day technical training in irrigation best-management practices for irrigators working with containerized nursery plants. The comprehensive curriculum – developed with input from two focus groups of California nursery and greenhouse managers – aims to improve irrigation efficiency, reduce water consumption and improve plant health.

Thanks to funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, nursery and greenhouse managers in California can request this training for free and advisors like Pitton and Spinelli will travel to conduct the training on-site.

The complexities of irrigation incorporate concepts like evapotranspiration, salinity, irrigation uniformity, capillarity, pressure and flow rate. Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor for San Diego County, said that irrigators have a critical role in the industry because of all the things they must consider to do their job well.

“Our goal is to support irrigators and help them become more confident decision-makers and experts in the field,” said Pitton, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor for Placer and Nevada counties.

Interactive sessions reveal nuances of irrigation

The training consists of a presentation on fundamental concepts for managing irrigation in container plant production and hands-on demonstrations. “In the nursery industry, where precise irrigation is crucial for the health and productivity of our crops, having access to expert knowledge is invaluable,” said Mauricio de Almeida, general manager of Burchell Nursery in Fresno County. “The training's practical demonstrations and real-world examples made the concepts easy to grasp, allowing our team to implement the strategies immediately.”

For one of the demonstrations, the advisors used sponges to model soil saturation when water is applied. Ana, an irrigator at Burchell Nursery, appreciated the step-by-step explanations, which helped her better understand how water pressure differs in drip irrigation, sprinklers and watering by hand. Doing this out in the field, as an example of how irrigation audits occur, was extremely helpful for attendees.

Francisco “Frank” Anguiano, production manager of Boething Treeland Farms in Ventura County, observed his team of irrigators as they learned how to measure distribution uniformity with water collected from sprinklers. “This training isn't just about irrigation and plant management. It's also about savings, both water and costs. Who doesn't want to save money and use less water?” Anguiano said.

Reducing the barriers to learning

Many of the irrigators attending these trainings gained their skills and knowledge from life experience rather than a college education, explained Peter van Horenbeeck, vice president of Boething Treeland Farms. “It's important that my irrigators learn from external experts, but it's more important that they can relate to them. And that's what Gerry was able to do,” van Horenbeeck added.

Regarding content and delivery, and referencing what he learned from the focus groups, Pitton wanted the trainings to be easy to understand and engaging. For example, scientists use the term “matric potential” to describe how soil particles hold water against gravity, which is the same as capillary rise. “We demonstrate this concept with a paper towel held vertically and dipped into a beaker of dyed water that it absorbs,” said Pitton.

Many of the irrigators in attendance agreed that hands-on activities and visual aids were instrumental to their learning. Charli, another irrigator at Burchell Nursery, shared that the in-field examples and hosting the training in Spanish kept them engaged.To address language barriers, Spinelli has been conducting trainings in Spanish – a common request from many nurseries with eager participants.

Maintaining state regulations and partnerships

Although the technical aspects of irrigation management are key elements of the training, regulatory compliance is also addressed. Recognizing the finite availability of water and the environmental impact of pollution, the advisors highlight irrigation and fertilizer management and runoff prevention as critical components of compliance.

Under Ag Order 4.0 administered by California's Water Resources Control Board, growers must comply with stricter policies regulating nitrogen use. As irrigators learn from the training, better control of irrigation can certainly make a difference.

Deanna van Klaveren, chief operating officer and co-owner of Generation Growers in Stanislaus County, said the most valuable aspect of the training was learning on-site and completing an audit on her own systems. “It is so much more impactful to have trainings like this on-site where our staff can learn and then go out into the nursery and actually put it into practice while the presenters/experts are there,” van Klaveren said.

Pitton and Spinelli described the partnership between UC Cooperative Extension and CDFA as “symbiotic” given the technical and educational capacity of UCCE advisors who conduct research and extension.

“It's a great example of how the two institutions can collaborate successfully. Californians are the ones who win because they get a service for free,” added Spinelli. “And it's rewarding for us to see so much interest in what we, as advisors, do.”

If you are a nursery or greenhouse operator and would like to request the Irrigation Best Management Practices training, please contact the UCCE advisor assigned to the region that corresponds with your nursery location below.

Northern California

• Jessie Godfrey, UCCE environmental horticulture and water resources management advisor, jmgodfrey@ucanr.edu

Central Coast (Santa Cruz County to Ventura County)

• Emma Volk, UCCE production horticulture advisor, evolk@ucanr.edu

San Joaquin Valley

• Chris Shogren, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor, cjshogren@ucanr.edu

Southern California

• Grant Johnson, UCCE urban agriculture technology advisor, gejohnson@ucanr.edu

Spanish Trainings Only

• Gerry Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor, gspinelli@ucanr.edu

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