Conservation agriculture news

CASI / UCCE / NRCS discuss California farm demo network with Doug Karlen

Eight folks from NRCS, UCCE, and the CASI Workgroup met with Dr. Doug Karlen of the USDA ARS National Lab for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, IA on July 1st on the UC Davis campus to discuss the California farm demonstration network and to get ideas for improving the network as we move forward.  Karlen is a distinguished soil scientist at the National ARS Lab and has contributed a very large amount of research during his illustrious career to a range of soil quality topics and efforts.  He is a Fellow in each of the Tri-Societies, - the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America, and was also one of the very first scientists to begin discussion and work on the concept of soil quality, or more recently, the area of soil health.  

Karlen and Susan Andrews, who worked with him as a Post-Doc ecologist for several years before leading the early formation of the Soil Quality Institute with NRCS, have done quite a lot of work in California on soil quality and published several research papers on work they collaborated with California scientists on the topic based on work conducted in Five Points and Davis.  

Upon being introduced to our California farm demo network and its goals, Karlen offered a number of insights based on his own experience and familiarity with efforts similar to ours in other states.

1. reach out to representatives in different areas that may have interest in what we're doing ("systems enhancement")
2. make sure we emphasize "baseline, baseline, baseline" information gathering and data collection
3. consider very carefully and thoughtfully how data generated from the effort will be organized, archived, available in a database  (there are a variety of data entry templates that Doug will send us leads on)
4. consider approaching key private sector potential partners such as Monsanto (as in the Midwest Soil Health Partnerships effort
5. consider partnering closely with appropriate ag-related groups and entities who can do better at 'driving' information events and at generating farmer participation and turnout
6. consider involving what Doug termed "short-line" manufacturers in our programs and events (not necessarily the mega-companies, but smaller, affiliated companies)

Following the focused discussion, several folks continued their discussions with Karlen for a luncheon by the NRCS State Offices in downtown Davis.

We thank Doug Karlen for taking time to meet and talk with us.  It was most productive and helpful.

UC Berkeley students sample soil microbiome in NRI field – June 29, 2016!

Three students, - led by Heidi Wipf, a graduate student working with a team of UC Berkeley researchers including Devin Coleman-Derr, Peggy Lemaux, and John Taylor, - endured the high temperatures of Five Points these past couple of days and completed an initial sampling of surface soils in the long-standing NRI Project field June 28 – 29.  Following an initial orientation to the study and its background and previous findings with Jeff Mitchell, the students completed the field sampling over the course of a full afternoon and a follow-up morning effort before leaving for other sites where they'll also be working this summer.  Mitchell promised cooler weather and a nice lunch at El Ranchero Café when the students return in August!

Sano Farms farm visit June 24, 2016

The last in a series of five farm visits highlighting soil health goals and the variety of ways in which these goals are being realized at farms throughout the Central Valley took place at Sano Farms in Firebaugh, CA on Friday, June 24th with about forty attendees.  Farm owner, Alan Sano, and farm manager, Jesse Sanchez, provided a very detailed and informative overview of the practices, equipment and principles that are being used at Sano Farms  now for over ten years.  These practices include the use of winter cover crop mixtures, reduced disturbance tillage that relies on the use of a cover crop roller, a chopper and a bed shaper, and subsurface drip irrigation.  Benefits that have resulted from these practices include improved soil function in terms of water movement and storage, reduced costs related to tillage, and the ability to reduce fertilizer inputs while keeping high yields and crop quality. 

Together, the practices that are now successfully employed by Sano and Sanchez, not only cut production costs, but they also reduce GHG emissions through the use of less tillage and tractor passes through the field, and they also build soil C and N, thereby removing these elements from the atmosphere and storing them in the soil.

A video summarizing the farm visit at Sano Farms is available at the You Tube link below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVd3wKF3P6fA4zQWVKIouWA

 

UCCE Master Gardeners of El Dorado County focus on conservation agriculture

About 80 Master Gardeners of the UCCE group in El Dorado County came together to learn about the principles and practices of conservation agriculture in a lively discussion with CASI Workgroup Chair, Jeff Mitchell, on June 23rd at the group's monthly meeting in Placerville.  The meeting was organized by Master Gardener event coordinator, Catherine Mone, and drew a very animated and engaged group of participants.

Mitchell talked about the core principles of conservation agriculture and the extent to which they're now being used around the world and recently in California.  He showcased examples of pioneering innovation that have been achieved in a number of cropping contexts and also provided information and ideas as to why it will be increasingly likely that these sorts of production system options may have greater receptivity and resonance in California in the future.  He ended his discussion with some examples of motivation that he has benefited from over the years from his professional mentor, Dwayne Beck of South Dakota State University.  "Take the E out of ET and the T out of can't," was Beck's encouragement to Mitchell.  This can be accomplished by protecting the soil surface with crop residues that cool soil temperatures and reduce soil water evaporation, and by not giving in to merely accepting the status quo, but by identifying bold, ambitious, and long-term cropping system goals and then coming up with the ways to achieve them.  This is, according to Beck, "Nothing short of the agronomic and ecological equivalent of the space race back in the 1960's" and we are going to need to really dedicate tremendous creativity and effort toward achieving it.

CASI was very honored to be invited by the Master Gardeners of El Dorado County and we look forward to returning to Placerville in late September!

California Farm Demonstration Network

Wednesday, June 15^th, 2016

10:00 AM 

T & D Willey Farms, Madera, CA

The fourth in our series of five farm visits that are part of the California Farm Demonstration Network will be taking place this Wednesday, June 15^th, beginning at 10:00 AM and winding up at about 11:45 AM at the farm of Tom and Denesse Willey at the southwest corner of the intersection of Road 20 and Avenue 14 about five miles west of the town of Madera, CA.  As with each of the other farm visits that are being hosted during May and June by a variety of farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, the visit with Tom Willey will focus on his long-term goals for soil health and the practices that he uses to achieve those goals.  Participants will have an opportunity to learn what Tom has been doing at T & D Willey Farms over the years and what he has learned as a result of his soil care practices.  In addition, we will all also have an opportunity to contribute to some actual data collection following Tom's introductory discussion that will be part of the discovery process of the farm demonstration network and that will serve as baseline information for future comparisons and monitoring. 

If anyone is leaving the Davis, CA to come to the event and is interested in carpooling, please contact Jessica Rudnick at jrudnick@ucdavis.edu.

JM 2016 FmDmo-2

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