September 30, 2016
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California
UC endowed chair to boost rice research
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Courtesy of Calif. Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program
California Citrus Mutual president Joel Nelsen talks to growers during a meeting in Ventura County
on the Asian citrus psyllid earlier this year. The state and Citrus Mutual are planning another series of
meetings to train crew bosses on how to train their workers to stop the spread of the psyllid, which can
carry the deadly citrus disease huanglongbing.
Meetings to train crew bosses
on preventing spread of psyllid
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Farm labor contractors
and crew bosses who work in
California citrus groves are
invited to attend a series of
training workshops on mea-
sures to control the Asian cit-
rus psyllid.
Two-hour sessions are of-
fered Oct. 3 in Mecca and Oct.
4 in Thermal, both in Imperial
County, and a separate meet-
ing for growers and packing-
house managers is slated for
Oct. 3 in El Centro.
Other training sessions
throughout Southern and Cen-
tral California will be sched-
uled, noted oficials from the
state Citrus Pest and Disease
Prevention Program.
The sessions for crew
bosses will aim “to teach them
how to train their ield crews
to stop the spread” of the psyl-
lid, event spokeswoman Jessi-
ca Northrup said in an email.
The psyllid can carry the
deadly citrus disease huan-
glongbing, which has devas-
tated the citrus industry in the
Southeast and has been found
in nearly two dozen trees in
California.
The afternoon session will
cover enforcement and effec-
tiveness of the trainings out in
the ield, according to the state
citrus program’s website.
The trainings were devel-
oped by the state program
and California Citrus Mutual,
a growers’ group with more
than 2,500 members.
The meetings are only the
latest hosted by the state as
the quarantine for the psyllid
has grown to cover nearly
one-third of California’s total
land mass. Oficials from the
state program met earlier this
year with growers and pack-
ers about a proposed region-
al quarantine structure under
which fruit moving between
regions within California
would have to undergo a wet
wash.
As it is now, fruit in the
state’s quarantine zone simply
has to be clear of leaves and
debris before it can be sent
out.
Industry leaders have de-
scribed the psyllid as a “hitch-
hiker” that can latch onto
vehicles, storage bins and
equipment and move from re-
gion to region. Past meetings
have instructed growers on
how to avoid bringing psyl-
lids home if they travel, such
as by washing vehicles and
equipment.
The Imperial County meet-
ings for crew bosses will be
held at 10 a.m. Oct. 3 at Gless
Ranch, 95300 Avenue 70,
Mecca, and at 10 a.m. Oct. 4
at Youngs Nursery, 68461 Har-
rison St., Thermal. The Oct. 3
meeting for growers and pack-
inghouse managers will begin
at 3 p.m. at the Imperial Coun-
ty Farm Bureau, 1000 Broad-
way St., El Centro.
For more information or to
RSVP, call (559) 592-3790.
DAVIS, Calif. — An in-
dustry group has joined the
University of California in
setting up a $1 million en-
dowed chair to pay for re-
search into improving rice
production and quality.
The UC and the Califor-
nia Rice Research Board are
splitting the cost of the en-
dowed chair, which will have
ive-year terms.
The earnings from the en-
dowment — which will aver-
age $40,000 to $50,000 a year
— will help UC Cooperative
Extension and UC-Davis rice
researchers who focus on
such issues as weed, disease
and pest management, nutri-
ent management and water
conservation, oficials said.
“There’ll be a process
where different academics can
submit proposals on what they
would intend to utilize those
resources over a period of ive
years,” said Chris Greer, the
UC’s vice provost for Cooper-
ative Extension. “In most cas-
es, we’re going to expect some
sort of collaborative project.
“My guess would be we’re
going to have one person
who’s the chair-holder and the
funds will be utilized to sup-
port collaborative, multidis-
ciplinary work on a speciic
issue,” he said.
Endowed chairs are ix-
tures at Harvard University
and other top institutions as
a way to fund speciic types
of research. UC President
Janet Napolitano announced
in 2014 that she would seek
endowment partners for all of
the university’s campuses and
for Cooperative Extension.
Last fall, the UC and the
California Pistachio Research
Board established two en-
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Different types of rice grow at the industry-supported Rice Experi-
ment Station in Glenn County, Calif., which often collaborates with
the University of California on projects. The UC is setting up a $1
million endowed chair for rice research.
dowed chairs of $1 million
each to fund studies on tree
nut genetics, soil science and
plant-water relations.
Glenda Humiston, the
UC’s vice president for agri-
culture and natural resources,
said at the time she was hav-
ing discussions with several
other groups about establish-
ing similar funding streams
for other areas of agriculture.
Getting the highest quality
and yields and dealing efi-
ciently with pests and disease
could be critical for a rice
industry whose acreage has
declined in recent years be-
cause of drought-related wa-
ter shortages.
Rice growers in California
have long been committed to
research, having established
the Rice Experiment Station
in Biggs more than a centu-
ry ago and investing more
per unit on research than
other rice-producing states.
The Rice Research Board is
funded through a grower as-
sessment of 8 cents per 100
pounds of harvested rice.
Dana Dickey, the research
board’s manager, said he
hopes the endowed chair will
help the industry respond to
issues that arise.
“Over the long term, this
provides a constant source of
research funds that we can use
for things that concern the in-
dustry,” Dickey said. “We’ve
speciically narrowed the ield
of people who can apply … to
farm advisers and specialists
who work on rice. It’s a fair-
ly small group of people who
we are already committed to
funding. This is an additional
funding source for them.”
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