October 23, 2015
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California
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By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Courtesy National Grape and Wine Initiative
A Carnegie Mellon University research team collects data on California vineyards with a high-throughput crop imaging unit. The Uni-
versity of California-Davis and several other universities received a grant to research ways to enhance vineyard management.
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By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — The
University of California-Davis
and several other universities
will receive $6 million in fed-
eral funding over four years to
develop new technologies for
managing vineyards.
The USDA specialty-crop
funds, which were secured by
the Sacramento-based Nation-
al Grape and Wine Initiative,
will enable research into creat-
ing digital maps that will allow
growers to zero in on the condi-
tions within their vineyards, the
grant’s proponents explain.
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hance vintners’ ability to predict
their crop size, said Jean-Mari
Peltier, president of NGWI.
“The goal of this project is
to deliver an innovative, sci-
ence-driven and approachable
precision viticulture platform to
measure and manage sources of
vineyard variation,” Peltier told
the Capital Press in an email.
The research aims to help
growers identify how their
soil, canopy and other vine-
yard characteristics impact vine
growth and productivity and try
to manage those components,
she said.
“Successful spatial mea-
surement and management of
vineyard soil, canopy and crop
will optimize productivity,
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and natural resource inputs,”
she said.
The project will be led by
award-winning scientists Ter-
ry Bates of Cornell University
and Stephen Nuske of Carnegie
Mellon University, who will be
joined by experts from UC-Da-
vis and Newcastle University to
assist in the work, according to
the NGWI.
At the University of Cali-
fornia’s Kearney Agricultural
Research and Extension Center
in Parlier, Calif., scientists will
use a suite of sensors to devel-
op maps of management zones,
study the potential economic
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educate growers, the NGWI
states. The primary UC re-
searcher for the project has not
yet been formally hired, univer-
sity spokeswoman Jeannette
Warnert said.
Funding comes from the
USDA National Institute of
Food and Agriculture’s Spe-
cialty Grant Research Initia-
tive, which has released the
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$2.4 million, according to the
NGWI.
The project comes as UC
researchers have focused in
recent years on improving tech-
nology for growers. UC-Davis
scientists recently developed
a suite of sensors to deliver
real-time plant-stress data to a
grower’s computer so that he or
she can irrigate only when and
where the water is needed.
The combined data from the
vineyard project promises to
provide a wealth of information
to farmers, including data about
crop yield, soil conditions, ir-
rigation and fertilizer needs,
canopy growth and the color
and maturity of grapes, NGWI
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In addition, digital mapping
could help growers balance
quality and quantify of the
crops, identify soil needs and
better manage harvests, the or-
ganization asserts.
SACRAMENTO — Fresh
produce sold in California
stores, farmers’ markets and
other venues last year was
mostly free of pesticide res-
idues, a state agency’s tests
found.
In all, 96.4 percent of Cali-
fornia-grown produce tested in
2014 had little or no residues,
according to the Department of
Pesticide Regulation’s newly
released 2014 Pesticide Resi-
dues in Fresh Produce report.
The year-round collection
of about 3,500 samples of pro-
duce, including those labeled as
organic, showed that the vast
majority of fruits and vegeta-
bles available for sale in the
Golden State meet stringent
federal safety standards, DPR
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Growers, wholesalers and
retailers have maintained a
consistently high rate of res-
idue-free produce in recent
years, agency spokesman Craig
Cassidy told the Capital Press.
“This report further con-
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pesticide regulatory program
creates a reliable marketplace
where consumers can have
faith in their fresh fruits and
vegetables,” DPR director Bri-
an Leahy said when unveiling
the report on Oct. 14. “The pes-
ticide rules and oversight we
have in this state are effective at
protecting the produce that we
enjoy eating.”
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300 different pesticides with
equipment operated by the
state Department of Food and
Agriculture. The U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency sets
safe-tolerance standards allow-
ing each piece of fruit or veg-
etable to contain trace amounts
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plained in a news release.
The report comes as the
DPR’s air monitoring in three
agricultural communities has
found for a third straight year
Courtesy Department
of Pesticide Regulation
California Department of Pes-
ticide Regulation staff scientist
Amanda Thompson collects
cilantro samples at a Los Ange-
les grocery store. The agency
found that fresh produce sold
in California was mostly free of
pesticide residues.
pesticide residues at levels well
below levels that would cause a
health concern. The communi-
ties were Salinas, Ripon in San
Joaquin County and Shafter in
Kern County.
Among highlights of the
produce report:
• More than 94 percent of
all produce samples had pesti-
cide residue levels at or below
EPA tolerances. Of those, near-
ly 41 percent had no detectable
residues at all, while nearly 53
percent had residues detected
within the legal level.
• A little more than 1 per-
cent of the samples had pesti-
cide residues in excess of the
established tolerance level, and
an additional 5.5 percent of the
samples had traces of pesticides
that were not approved for that
commodity.
• Produce that most fre-
quently tested positive for ille-
gal pesticide residues last year
included ginger from China,
cactus pads, cactus pears,
limes, papaya, summer squash,
tomatillos, chili peppers and
tomatoes from Mexico, and
domestic spinach and kale, ac-
cording to the release.
FFA members hone skills at competition
Klaiber was one of about
850 FFA members from North-
ern and Central California at
REDDING, Calif. — A new the Shasta College meet, which
member of FFA, Jack Klaiber, LVRQHRIWKH¿UVWRIWKHVFKRRO
plans to begin raising two meat year and helps students hone
goats in February, so he wanted their skills for later events.
to learn what livestock judges
In addition to livestock
look for.
judging, the students com-
He entered a judging com- peted on contests relating to
SHWLWLRQDWWKHDQQXDO))$¿HOG soils, horticulture, small en-
day and career fair Oct. 15 at gines, welding and agricultural
Shasta College in Redding, mechanics. Some veterinary
where he and other students students took a written test to
made their observations on pa- show their knowledge, while
per.
other youngsters took part in
“I just want to get some timed contests cutting through
experience with animals,” a log with a saw and moving
Klaiber, a freshman at Ander- a tractor through an obstacle
son, Calif., High School, said course.
before the contest. “I want to
Awards were given to win-
learn how to judge other an- ning individuals and teams in
imals so I can determine how about 20 contests, and a small
my animals will come out.”
college club information fair
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
was held in the Shasta College
farm pavilion so that students
could explore future options.
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the year for FFA students,”
said B.J. MacFarlane, Shasta
College’s farm manager. “For
years, the contest has been get-
ting freshman and sophomore
students involved to see what
activities they want to partic-
ipate in throughout the rest of
the year.”
For some students, the meet
is a chance to practice before
big statewide and national con-
tests. Ally Rose McDonald, a
Durham, Calif., high school
senior and the FFA’s Superi-
or Region secretary, normal-
ly competes at job interview
during bigger contests but par-
ticipated in the veterinary sci-
ence event at Shasta College.
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