Venkatesan Sundaresan won a $4.9-million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop money-saving seeds for Indian farmers. He's a distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
Aiming at big problems in ag, scientists in the lab of Eduardo Blumwald, in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, developed wheat that stimulates bacteria in the soil to produce fertilizer. It would save farmers billions of dollars, slash water and air pollution and help people in developing countries.
At the Automated Technology Field Day in Salinas, cutting-edge machines tackled weed control with lasers, AI, and robotics. As labor shortages and regulations reshape farming, growers are embracing innovative solutions like canola oil sprayers and smart cultivators to boost efficiency.
Valentina Roel Rezk was among graduate students from around the world who participated in a summer program seeking to shape future policy and research into circular food and agriculture systems. The program was put on by the Circular Food Systems Network, hosted by Wageningen University & Research, in the Netherlands.
Problems faced by agriculture amid climate change are closely intertwined with non-ag issues. Solutions often have downsides. We have to embrace the complexity, talk to each other, innovate, use technology and be flexible to find solutions that feed us without causing harm to people and while improving and protecting the environment.
Louise Ferguson led ASHS Leadership Academy fellows to Washington, D.C., to advocate for $1.3B in farm bill research funding. Fellows met with lawmakers to highlight the economic and health impacts of horticultural research.
Leslie Roche, a UC Davis rangeland specialist, was elected to a two-year term on the board of the Society for Range Management. Her research focuses on sustainable grazing practices to help California ranchers cope with wildfire and drought impacts.
Giulia Marino, a crop physiologist, is the new UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Specialist in Orchard Systems, and a faculty member in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). She is primarily based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, California, and has a second office in Wickson Hall at UC Davis.
A new effort to provide California growers with seeds for tomato, bean, pepper and other crop varieties that are specially bred for organic farming has been launched at UC Davis. The organic plant-breeding project was developed in direct response to California organic growers, who have reported that the scarcity of seeds.
