Crop production and Farming systems

Department researchers are revealing important ways that universities, government agencies and other support organizations can help our food producers develop resilience to environmental challenges and remain profitable.

Problems faced by agriculture amid climate change are closely intertwined with non-ag issues. Solutions often have downsides. We have to embrace the complexity, talk to each other, innovate, use technology and be flexible to find solutions that feed us without causing harm to people and while improving and protecting the environment.

UC Davis researchers presented their rice studies at the 39th Rice Technical Working Group conference in Arkansas. Topics included herbicide programs, weedy rice responses, and the behavior of rice under different treatments, highlighting California's rice research.

A UC Davis-led team has received a $6.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop GEMINI, a tool using AI and 3D modeling to accelerate breeding for legumes and sorghum, enhancing climate adaptation and crop yields.

“Ice cream in the making” – this is the unusual designation given to alfalfa by Dan Putnam, a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Alfalfa is often overshadowed by California’s more famous vegetable and fruit crops, like nuts and wine, despite the key roles it plays for our food systems. It’s a highly productive crop that serves as the basis for milk, cheese, leather, honey and wool production. In other words, what lies behind the carton of ice cream on the refrigerator shelf is a field of alfalfa.