UC Davis researchers explore electrical weed control as an alternative to herbicides. The project uses a tractor equipped with an electrical generator to deliver electrical energy to weeds, damaging their cells and causing rapid death. The three-year study assesses the machine's effectiveness, its impact on crop safety, and soil health.
Justin Valliere has been hired to expand the Department of Plant Sciences’ reach in invasion and restoration ecology. Valliere started as an assistant professor of UC Cooperative Extension in July. Valliere seeks ways to restore California's native plant communities amid the onslaught of invasive plants and various environmental changes.
Jennifer Baumbach, a UC Davis GSR awardee, now coordinates the Master Gardener Program in Solano and Yolo counties. The GSR award supported her research and enhanced her understanding of connecting UC research to practical applications, benefiting communities and end-users.
Leslie Roche, an associate professor of Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, specializes in the management of rangelands and pasture. She is the director of the UC Rangelands Research and Information Center, focusing on irrigated pasture management, ecology of grazing lands, grazing systems, drought, and climate change adaptation.
Whitney Brim-DeForest is the UC Cooperative Extension director in Sutter and Yuba counties and the CE rice and wild rice advisor, focusing on weed management. As a recipient of the Graduate Student Research (GSR) award from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences during her doctoral studies, Brim-DeForest conducted research full-time while engaging with growers, pest control advisers (PCAs), and stakeholders in the rice industry.
Mark Lundy is now an associate professor of UC Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. In addition to researching new ways to manage farmland more efficiently – including water – he leads field days to share that research and is teaching a new generation of top agronomists.
Betsy Karle is the dairy advisor and county director for UC Cooperative Extension. She’s based in Glenn County, but provides support to producers from the Oregon border on down throughout the Sacramento Valley. She has been recognized by UC ANR for her outstanding service and teamwork. Dairy creates California’s No. 1 agricultural product, worth $7.6 billion in 2022, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
Grace Woodmansee is the livestock and natural resources advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Siskiyou County. She works with ranchers to improve their production and address management challenges using science-based information. As a recipient of a Graduate Student Research award working with in the UC Rangelands lab, she honed her skills in applied research, outreach and science-communication, which prepared her for a career in extension
Grant Johnson is the advisor for urban agriculture technology, based at UC Cooperative Extension’s South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, Calif. His specialties include fertilization, irrigation and water recycling in nurseries. Nursery and floral production account for 7.5 percent of California’s farm sales -- $3.5 billion in 2020, according to state figures.
Many farmers have been wary of planting cover crops, despite the proven benefits, because they worry the additional vegetation in their fields and orchards would suck up precious water. But a new video explains recent research showing that’s not true: California fields planted with cover crops over the winter have about the same level of soil moisture.
Louise Ferguson has been named a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science and will be inducted into the organization’s 60th class of fellows at a ceremony Aug. 1. The award recognizes decades of leadership and, more recently, Ferguson’s efforts to build a leadership training program for younger members.
The recognition is “more than well-deserved and should have happened YEARS ago!” wrote ASHS Executive Director Michael Neff. ASHS fellows are elected “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the science, profession, or industry of horticulture,” he added.
Leslie Roche and fellow members of a seven-state team were recently honored with a Partnership Award for Multi-State Efforts, conferred by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Due to severe water shortages, rice acres planted in California plummeted by 37 percent from 2021 to 2022, according to numbers released recently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. But now, thanks to University of California researchers, growers have a new tool they could potentially use to cope with droughts and other environmental and socioeconomic changes.
Louise Ferguson has been recognized by the American Society of Horticultural Science for her leadership and contributions. The professor of UC Cooperative Extension assumed the presidency during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she nurtured the organization through its first all-virtual annual conference, a subsequent hybrid conference and back to a fully in-person conference.
