To meet California’s mandatory landscape ordinances for water conservation, Loren Oki, Karrie Reid, and Jared Sisneroz are conducting UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trials to determine water needs for landscape plants. The goal is to develop water conservation landscapes in three locations and study their long-term performance. Regulations for landscape water use California’s Model Water Efficiency…
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Since water conservation will be an ongoing practice in California, University of California scientists are continually developing practical information for agriculture, rangelands, urban landscapes, and animal production. This series of publications was produced by UC experts throughout California. Published by UC ANR, authors include professors and Cooperative Extension specialists in the Dept. of Plant Sciences…
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The new California Farm Demonstration Network was formally launched in an MOU signing in May at Russ Lester’s orchard in Winters, California. The network is a partnership of several groups including the California Farm Bureau Federation, the USDA NRCS, the California Assn. of Resource Conservation Districts, the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture, UC ANR,…
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Climate scientists from three countries have determined that the carbon reduction goals set at the Paris Agreement in 2015 are not feasible. Regardless of whether the U.S. remains part of the Paris climate accord, scientists at the University of California, Davis, are developing additional agricultural methods to offset increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases, thereby reducing…
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Faculty, students, researchers, educators, and professional organizations are invited to submit posters for the fourth Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium, March 23-24, 2017. The poster submission deadline is Friday, March 17. Symposium highlights are available at http://rangelands.ucdavis.edu/rustici/rangeland-symposium/ The broad focus for the combined mixer and poster session includes any activities related to sustainable rangeland research, management,…
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Sustaining California’s Rangelands Leslie Roche, a new faculty member in the Department of Plant Sciences, is a Cooperative Extension specialist in rangeland management. She also has statewide responsibilities with Cooperative Extension in the UC systemwide Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The overarching theme of her program is looking at rangelands as working landscapes to…
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As noted in the Chair’s Message, the Department of Plant Sciences is undergoing a number of new faculty hires, which will continue in the upcoming years. In this and upcoming issues of The Leaf newsletter, we will share brief profiles of new faculty members, along with their areas of expertise and contact information. In this…
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With California wildfires becoming more frequent and intense, ranchers and other natural resources experts say public policy on livestock grazing as a potential tool to manage fuel and vegetation needs to be reevaluated to allow more flexibility. Despite mounting research that shows well-managed grazing could help reduce wildfire risk and severity, livestock stocking rates on…
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Overhead irrigation systems have revolutionized agriculture across the United States and in other parts of the world, using less water than furrow irrigation and requiring significantly less labor and maintenance than drip systems. But in California — the nation’s No. 1 agriculture state — overhead irrigation hasn’t gotten off the ground. That could be changing,…
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California Rangeland Trust awarded the 2016 Conservation Impact Award to Dr. Kenneth W. Tate, a Cooperative Extension specialist and professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, and with UC ANR. The Rangeland Trust recognized that it’s not only landowners who make significant contributions to the conservation of California Rangelands and created the Conservation…
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