All Issues

California growers surveyed in a study indicate a willingness to change their approaches to farming from “conventional” to “ecological”, a sign that some see as a movement towards a more “sustainable” agriculture. What remains to be seen: Is a real momentum gathering for sustainable agriculture—or is it all wistful thinking?

California's farmers collectively spend more than $100 million a year to promote their products. Here are answers to such questions as: Where is the money spent? What are the public policy issues associated with government-sponsored generic commodity advertising? How successful are those campaigns? And finally, how can commodity groups improve their data bases?

On-farm experiments were conducted throughout California to study the effect of early- and late-season nitrogen fertilizer applications on grain protein in winter wheat. Results indicate that early-season nitrogen application is inefficient. However, late-season nitrogen (N) applications coupled with irrigation can lead to efficient fertilizer N uptake and partitioning to grain, and increased grain protein. Late-season application was not efficiently recovered in the grain when there was midseason nitrogen application or high native soil nitrogen supply.

High seed and forage yields, harvested during a 2–year study, indicate white lupin could be a new winter annual legume for California. Two of the fundamental production-decision criteria, cultivar selection and planting date, were examined. Under irrigation, all seven cultivars produced high yields of high-protein seed. The planting date period that resulted in the highest seed yield was late October to early November.

Regulations, incentives and educational programs, according to a new study, appear to be the most effective combination of strategies needed to maintain California's native oaks in municipalities.

The semidwarfing rootstocks M106 and M7a usually brought apple trees into bearing earlier than did domestic seedling, formerly the major rootstock used in California. However, the more dwatfing M26 rootstock did not perform well in these studies.

Experiments with moist heat treatments of 'Chandler' strawberries at temperatures ranging from 99° to 115° F for durations of 20 to 100 minutes showed that fruit heated up to 104° F for 30 minutes were still judged marginally marketable. Although some decay can apparently be controlled with heat, it is doubtful that fruit can tolerate the amount of heat required for insect quarantines.

The recent outbreak of spinach downy mildew, caused by a new race of the pathogen, left California growers without resistant cultivars and with few chemical controls. However, two fungicides have proved effective against the pathogen and two new resistant cultivars are now commercially available on a limited basis.

Tests of a new walnut moisture meter showed that it could help dryer operators prevent over-drying, which in turn would reduce drying time, decrease energy costs and increase revenue.

Diseases caused by aphid-vectored viruses result in severe economic loss to Southern California melon growers. Information gathered over the past several years has given researchers new directions for managing this production problem.