Plant Sciences faculty member and Cooperative Extension specialist Bruce Linquist received the Distinguished Rice Research and Education Award from the Rice Technical Working Group at their annual conference last month in Long Beach, California. Linquist chaired the conference. Linquist has been collaborating with rice researchers in the southern U.S., and he is the only California…
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I might be just the kind of person the state’s founders envisioned when on March 23, 1868 – 150 years ago Friday – they chartered the University of California. A fourth-generation California rice grower, I was able to go to a world-class university and pursue an advanced degree, thanks to California’s system of public higher…
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Exotic Grasses Depleted Seed Bank Accounts During Drought While Natives Were Saved Quick Summary Native wildflowers saved a lot of seeds during California’s drought — 201 percent more than usual Exotic grasses decreased their seed bank by 52 percent during the drought Drought-tolerant wildflowers enjoyed the greatest increases Effects of a prolonged drought remain unknown,…
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Quick Summary The Plant and Environmental Sciences building at UC Davis earns LEED gold for operations and maintenance The first-ever BREEAM certification for in-use academic building in United States The goal with BREEAM ‘is to build sustainable practices into our operations across campus’ UC Davis’ Green Building Team has news to shout from the rooftop…
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Summary: The need for scientists — and ecologists, in particular — to engage with the public is well known. This article addresses how the U.S. land-grant mission and the Cooperative Extension system have initiated, developed, and implemented models of public engagement for the past 100 years. Cooperative Extension engages through trusted and established relationships, and…
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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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Quick summary Only about half of conifer trees regenerated five to seven years after wildfire in sites studied. Study spanned 10 national forests and 4 burned areas in California. Study presents tool to help foresters prioritize which lands to plant after a wildfire. A study spanning 10 national forests and 14 burned areas in California…
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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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Op-ed by Jeff Mitchell and Randy Southard Reprinted from The Sacramento Bee, October 29, 2015 California’s severe drought has focused attention on the critical role that soils have in agriculture and the economy of the Central Valley. Farmers are investigating a range of practices to get more out of every drop of water, including reduced…
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