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Conservation agriculture news
MDs visit NRI Project in Five Points!
Dr. Daphne Miller MD and Dr. Jagdeep Singh MD visited CASI's long-term NRI Project field in Five Points, CA on January 21st to learn about how long-term reduced disturbance and cover crop management impact soil biology and to talk about connections between soil health and human health. Dr. Miller is a Family Medicine Physician in the Department of Family Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and a Project Scientist in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Singh is a Psychiatrist at the US Veterans' Hospital in Fresno and almond farmer in Madera, CA. Their tour and visit to the NRI Project field provided a good opportunity for them to see “up close and personal” how our no-till and cover crop management have affected soil function and health after twenty years of sustained implementation. Their visit stemmed from the “Soil Health and Human Health – Bridging the Silos” workshop that was held in Berkeley and at the Paicines Ranch back in August of 2018 and the recent Ag Emerge conference that was held in Monterey related to moving beyond the ag paradigm and it provided a good opportunity for them to talk with CASI's Jeff Mitchell about the NRI study and related, ongoing work that our Workgroup is conducting. Following their visit to Five Points, they were joined by Tom Willey of Madera, CA for a tour and discussion at Dr. Singh's almond orchard and then a quick visit out to Sano Farms with Alan Sano in Firebaugh to view the expansive cover crops that are being grown there this winter. We thank Drs. Miller and Singh for their visit and we look forward to many strong connections with them in the future!
Drs Daphne Miller MD and Jagdeep Singh MD visiting the NRI Project field in Five Points, CA January 21, 2019
Dr. Daphne Miller MD, Dr. Jagdeep Singh MD, Jagdeep Singh’s father, Tom Willey, and Sharon Meers at the Singh’s almond orchard in Madera, CA January 21, 2019
Alan Sano of Sano Farms, Firebaugh, CA, along with Sharon Meers, Dr. Daphne Miller MD and Tom Willey visiting Sano Farms in Firebaugh, CA January 21, 2019
Successful soil health field day held in Meridian, CA - December 6th!
NEWS RELEASE
December 9, 2018
Successful soil health field day held in Meridian, CA - December 6th!
A highly successful and engaging public field day dedicated to soil health and what annual crop farmers can do to improve soil health while also mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from their fields was organized and led by UC ANR Advisors, Amber Vinchesi and Sarah Light up in Meridian, CA in Sutter County, on December 6th. The event attracted upwards of forty participants who were actively engaged with the discussions and demonstrations that were provided. The effort that Vinchesi and Light are spearheading is part of a CDFA Healthy Soils Program (HSP) project that is working with several farmers throughout the Central Valley on monitoring evaluations of a variety of practices that ought to not only improve soil function over time, but also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The event took place at the farm of Vincent Andreotti on Meridian Road just east of the small Sacramento Valley town of Meridian where Vinchesi and Light are doing soil and GHG sampling in conjunction with the field comparison that Andreotti has set up of cover crops and winter fallow or bare ground. Following introductory discussions by both Vinchesi and Light on the monitoring techniques they're using and on how cover crops might benefit cropping systems in the region, Andreotti laid out what he is doing this fall to establish his winter cover crop and how he intends to manage it. Then, his mentor and next-door neighbor, long-time cover crop user, Scott Park, share with attendees the many positive things he has achieved by using cover crops now for over 35 years at his farm. Park shared with the audience the changes and improvements he and his son, Brian Park, are now seeing that result from their sustained use of inter-crop cover crops and how they are now actually undertaking plans to further intensify their reliance on even more ambitiously using cover crops, reduced disturbance tillage approaches, and production systems that actually include animals during certain periods. Jeff Mitchell also participated in the educational program that Vinchesi and Light had coordinated by sharing findings that have been seen in the long-term NRI Project in Five Points, CA and he demonstrated how aggregation of the cover crop and no-till soils in this project have been improved over the years relative to the conventional, intensively-tilled soils with no cover crops. The study of Vinchesi and Light is part of a larger CDFA HSP effort that also involves monitoring sites in San Joaquin, Merced, and Fresno Counties. Stay tuned for more findings from these sites in the near future!
CASI's John Diener of Five Points to be featured in
August 29, 2018
CASI hosts no-till pioneer, Francis Akolbila, of Ghana's Center for No-till Agriculture!
August 30, 2018
CASI hosts no-till pioneer, Francis Akolbila, of Ghana's Center for No-till Agriculture!
August 27 – 28, 2018
A number of CASI Workgoup members graciously hosted a true pioneer in no-tillage conservation agriculture systems, Francis Akolbila of the Center for No-till Agriculture in Ghana (https://centrefornotill.org/#home) this past week at their farms here in California. Francis is a dynamic, very passionate and dedicated leader of conservation agriculture in Africa. He is in California for an 6-month internship that he will soon be completing at Singing Frogs Farm in Sebastopol, CA with Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser before moving on to spend two months this fall at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm with Dwayne Beck in Pierre, SD. It was a pleasure and great honor for many of us to host him and we had great interactions with him in what turned out to be a whirlwind set of visits throughout California's Central Valley.
Francis first had a chance to meet and talk with local UC Cooperative Extension Soil and Water Advisor, Dan Munk, along with NRCS Fresno Area Conservationists Brook Gale and Rob Roy, for a lunch discussion at the legendary Five Points, CA “El Ranchero Café” (Figures 1 and 2). He explained what the Center for No-till Agriculture does and he shared with the group how it developed from the vision of Director Kofi Boa and with the support of the Howard Buffett Foundation.
Following this very nice visit with local Fresno County folks, Francis toured the longstanding NRI no-till project in Five Points where he saw up close and personal our Workgroup's research and development work with no-till systems (Figure 3). He also had a very nice opportunity to ride in a tractor with field station no-till expert, Jaime Solorio, and he learned about GPS guidance systems that were being used for the project's tillage work in the standard, conventional high disturbance tillage systems (Figure 4).
Francis was then hosted by Jesse Sanchez of Sano Farms out in Firebaugh, CA. While there, he saw Jesse and Alan Sano's cover crop fields and he learned how they extract drip tape from fields after seven or eight years of use. He also had the opportunity to learn how Jesse is now using a new fixed-wing drone to help with field management and irrigation at Sano Farms (Figures 5 and 6).
Next, Francis headed up to the Madera, CA farm of Tom and Denesse Willey, where he met with Tom and Madera County NRCS Conservationist, Priscilla Baker (Figure 7). While there, Francis learned of the reduced disturbance work that Tom is planning as part of the new NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant project that he's involved in with a group of pioneering reduced disturbance farmers throughout California. Francis, Tom and Priscilla also discussed cover crop options and how they're being used to good effect in Ghana.
Very early the next morning, Francis made the trek up to Turlock, CA where he met with long-time no-tillers, father and son farming team, Michael and Adam Crowell, at Bar Vee Dairy (Figure 8).
There, Michael and Adam showed Francis their recently-planted double-crop no-till corn crop and the three of them talked at good length about no-till equipment and techniques (Figure 9). The visit was not complete without Michael getting down on his hands and knees and showing Francis his soil (Figures 10 and 11).
Finally, Francis had a chance to stop by the PLS110 vegetable production class field laboratory on the University of California, Davis campus for a short visit with field Jim Jackson, Rich Peltzer, and Derrick Lum of the University's Department of Plant Sciences (Figure 12). He learned about the field prep work that these guys are doing to get ready for the fall class that will evaluate aspects of conservation agriculture systems in their cropping systems comparison demonstration field.
CASI was honored to host Francis Akolbila this past week and we wish him all the very best as he now completes his internship and returns to Ghana for his very important and pioneering work with conservation agriculture systems there with Kofi Boa. We thank Dwayne Beck for encouraging this meeting with Francis and we look forward to staying in touch with him into the future!
Conservation Agriculture Update - Global Spread of Cons. Ag. in 2018
This link below will open the on-line published article entitled "Global spread of Conservation Agriculture" authored by A. Kassam, T. Friedrich and R. Derpsch.
