Partners In Creating a Sustainable Sonoma County

UC Agriculture & Natural Resources News

Food banks in Fresno and Tulare consider merger

UC Cooperative Extension in Tulare County has a long history of collaboration with FoodLink, the local food bank. For that reason, the nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor and nutrition educators are closely monitoring recent negotiations about a proposed merger of FoodLink for Tulare...

Wait awhile before watering the lawn

Because of recent rainfall, California lawns have enough moisture in their rootzones to meet their water needs for the next several weeks, reported Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee. At a press conference yesterday, Chuck Ingels, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sacramento County, encouraged...

Northern California nut farmers' drought outlook not too shabby

If anyone can be lucky during a drought, that would be Butte County nut growers, reported Heather Hacking in the Chico Enterprise Record. Many of these farmers use groundwater to irrigate their orchards, and groundwater in the Sacramento Valley is in pretty good shape, said Joe Connell, UC...

California drought causes salt buildup problem for strawberry farmers

If it weren't enough for farmers on California's Central Coast to deal with dwindling irrigation water supplies, they now also have to get a handle on a buildup of crop-stunting salt, reported the Salinas Californian. During a drought, salts that would normally be leached out by rainfall stay on...

New book helps pros manage invasive weeds in California forests

Beautiful but unwelcome in California wildlands, brooms are shrubs introduced into North America from Europe in the mid-1800s. Common species include Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Portuguese broom (Cytisus striatus). Brooms were introduced as ornamentals, but also were used extensively for...