The African Plant Breeding Academy, UC Davis, created a video of learning experiences in the professional certificate program. The program is taught by world-class scientists, including several from UC Davis. Professional breeders who took the course give overviews of the science, skills, projects, networking, and collaboration opportunities they learned.
Gail Taylor, professor and department chair, spoke to a packed meeting at UC Center Sacramento on “Plant Adaptation to Climate Change in California,” focusing on potential climate change impacts on agriculture. The center educates future policy-makers and leaders in the craft of politics and policy-making.
To fill a critical need in the fast-growing hemp industry, the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center completed a two-day course on Hemp Breeding and Seed Production, with 165 professionals attending from the U.S., Argentina, Canada, Israel, Netherlands and New Zealand.
Dave Ramos, retired walnut specialist at UC Davis Plant Sciences and UCANR received the “Outstanding Emeritus” award from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for his research and outreach with UC and the walnut industry. He was a faculty member in the Department of Pomology, now part of the Department of Plant Science
Margery Magill (B.S., International Agricultural Development, UC Davis) died at age 27 on August 27, 2019. She worked as a program coordinator for the UC Davis Washington Center, where she helped place graduate students in internships at home and abroad. She died in Washington, D.C.
The Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis is celebrating its 20th anniversary on September 12, 2019, and the center just released its Annual Report 2018. Information on attending the event, and links to the Annual Report are in the article.
An article in California Agriculture addresses how critical research is underway to understand the consequences of the massive wave of tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada. Urgent dialogue has started among UC scientists, forest managers, and public agencies to manage the consequences of the unprecedented tree die-off and increase the resiliency of forests to future droughts.
Plant breeders and food safety experts held a conference at UC Davis to discuss issues relevant to food safety, including microbial contamination control in produce throughout the food chain (seeds, field production, pre- and postharvest, packaging, distribution, marketing). Conference chair was Professor Maeli Melotto, Plant Sciences, UC Davis.
Kernza, corn, and small grains are being studied in field trials at Russell Ranch, UC Davis. Plant Sciences faculty member Mark Lundy, and graduate students Kalyn Diederich and Taylor Becker describe their field experiments at the annual field day.
Plant Sciences students Samantha Hilborn and Carolina Vaquerano had the opportunity to go to Congressional Visits Day earlier this quarter and meet with California Congressman Jimmy Panetta, a strong supporter of agricultural research.