Amelie Gaudin and Jeffrey Mitchell, faculty with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, are part of a team honored for showing growers how wintertime cover crops can improve the soil while having little or no impact on groundwater use.
The team’s research was part of the University of California’s efforts to help growers thrive while complying with state groundwater regulations. Their work was honored with a Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Team by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
As California enters a third summer of record drought, farmers who raise nursery and floral crops are looking for ways to grow plants with less water, more efficiently, while fighting new diseases and detecting plagues quicker.
Researchers with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are finding ways to help, with support from the Plant California Alliance. The grower-supported organization has granted nearly $400,000 to the department since 2006, according to college records.
Conservation agriculture is key in meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals. A new analysis shows benefits of conservation agriculture to crop performance, water efficiency, and climate action in South Asia. JK Ladha, an adjunct professor in Plant Sciences, UC Davis, is co-author of the Nature Sustainability article.
Recycling trees onsite can sequester carbon, save water and increase crop yields, making it a climate-smart practice for California’s irrigated almond orchards. Professor Amelie Gaudin, Plant Sciences, UC Davis, worked with postdocs, grad students, and Cooperative Extension colleagues.
Flexible harvest options may allow growers to plant small grains in the winter, rather than fallow ground, out of concern that there will not be adequate water or strong markets to justify the crop. Research by Plant Sciences faculty member Mark Lundy.
Rain in May, especially in the amounts we have seen this year, is far from ideal for rice growers. It makes establishing seedlings, nitrogen management, and weed control extra challenging. Here are three scenarios and some ideas on how to best manage nitrogen fertilizer.
If all the nitrogen fertilizer is applied at fall planting, much of the nitrogen can be leached below the root zone by winter rains before the crop needs the nutrients for spring growth.
Plant Sciences faculty Loren Oki received funding from the Horticultural Research Institute for the project “Landscape Plant Performance: Water Use Assessments of New Cultivar Selections” to help with a state ordinance on landscape water conservation.