Conservation agriculture news
First-ever pivot-irrigated processing tomatoes near Walnut Grove!
June 25, 2015
Michael Boparai, a farmer who recently bought two center pivot irrigation systems and installed them on his farmland near the Delta area town of Walnut Grove, invited a diverse group of private sector and UC Cooperative Extension supporters to the field where he's growing processing tomatoes on June 25th 2015. The group included Dan Schueler, Senninger Irrigation Company, Rick Hanshew, Reinke Mfg., a pivot company, Brenna Aegerter, Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, Gene Miyao, and Jeff Mitchell, - all of UC Cooperative Extension, along with host, Boparai. They discussed opportunities for managing the tomato crop as well as things to try to avoid during the upcoming season. A follow-up article describing applications of overhead irrigation systems for several crops of the Central Valley may be found at http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?article=ca.v070n02p62. A short video of the team meeting at Boparai's farm is available at You Tube at https://youtu.be/UDoz1VAJkzM
Field meeting at Boparai overhead irrigation tomato field, Walnut Grove, CA June 25, 2015
UCD student begins CDFA Healthy Soils Program project in San Joaquin Valley!
May 4, 2018
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No-till tomato transplanting April 23, 2018 in Five Points, CA
May 3, 2018
UCD Undergrad, Anna Gomes, Shares Research on Tradeoffs of Cover Crop Water Use in NRI Project Study!
April 27, 2018
Anna Gomes, a senior student in Agricultural Education at UC Davis, presented the research project that she is working on at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Conference that was held on the UC Davis campus on April 27th. Her work focuses on tradeoffs associated with using cover crops in annual cropping systems and is based on data from the CASI National Research Initiative (NRI) Project that has been underway since 1999.
Anna's presentation provided findings from the past two years of intensive soil water content monitoring during the winter cover crop growing period. She has been working with a large team of collaborators that includes Dan Munk, UCCE Advisor in Fresno County, Daniele Zaccaria and Samuel Sandoval-Solis, UCCE Water Management Specialists at UCD, Alyssa DeVincentis, graduate student in Sandoval-Solis's lab, Sloane Rice, Junior Specialist in Zaccaria's lab, Khaled Bali, UCCE Water Management Specialist at the Kearney Agricultural Center in Parlier, and a number of long-time local farmer, private sector and NRC partners who've been involved with the work in various ways. This team is working at a number of farm sites throughout California's Central Valley to determine impacts of growing cover crops on soil water storage during the winter. The research team hopes to have their data published by the end of summer 2019.
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Down on the Farm with Tom and Denesse Willey
January 5, 2018
KFCF 88.1 FM Fresno
The hour-long “Down on the Farm with Tom Willey” radio program for January 5, 2018 is now posted at our CASI website. In this segment of Tom's monthly program, he is joined by his farming partner, Denesse, and the two of them talk about their farm and the successful small business that they had at T & D Willey Farms for so many years in Madera, CA. The tables are turned on the show's usual host, Tom, this time with guest host, Jeff Mitchell, having a nice conversation with his good friends, Tom and Denesse.