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14 CapitalPress.com
September 1, 2017
California
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Research to help cut chemicals
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
DAVIS, Calif. — Two
USDA grants totaling $7 mil-
lion will enable University of
California researchers to help
the strawberry industry pre-
pare for life without chemical
fumigants.
A $4.5 million grant will
support a national team of ex-
perts led by UC-Davis to create
varieties that are naturally re-
sistant to certain diseases. The
industry has also donated $1.8
million toward the project.
Meanwhile, a team of sci-
entists based at UC-Santa
Cruz will continue research
on bio-fumigation, a natural
process that suppresses soil dis-
ease, thanks to a $2.5 million
USDA grant.
The awards were among
$35 million handed to 12 proj-
ects nationwide through the
USDA’s Specialty Crop Re-
search Initiative funded by the
2014 Farm Bill.
California Strawberry Commission
A test plot used by University of California-Santa Cruz researchers
compares a row of strawberries grown in soil treated with bio-fumiga-
tion with untreated rows. The search for alternative fumigation meth-
ods is included in $7 million in USDA grants for strawberry research.
“It’s two different approach-
es … so one may progress a
little faster than the other one,”
California Strawberry Com-
mission communications di-
rector Carolyn O’Donnell said.
She noted it could take as long
as seven years for a new variety
to get to the marketplace.
However, “if you’ve got the
resistance and you’re able to
make it stable within the plant
you don’t have to worry about
whether you have disease in the
soil,” she said.
The strawberry industry has
phased out its use of methyl
bromide but is still using chlo-
ropicrin and Telone, which are
facing increased scrutiny from
regulators. Growers in recent
years have invested in research
and education programs with
the goal of eventually doing
without fumigants.
The UC-Davis grant will
let researchers identify genetic
markers that are naturally pres-
ent in some strawberry plants
and use them to help breeders
develop new varieties that can
tolerate disease in the field
while still yielding high-quality
berries, according to a straw-
berry commission news re-
lease.
The award to UC-Santa
Cruz will fund further research
on anaerobic soil disinfestation,
crop rotation and other natural
means of fumigating soil. The
core of the research will focus
on adding a soil supplement
such as rice hulls, and then add-
ing water to cut off the oxygen
supply.
The microbes in the soil
naturally shift to an anaerobic
state, digesting the soil sup-
plement to clean the soil of
disease, the commission ex-
plained.
California Strawberry Commission
A California Strawberry Commission food truck offers foods and
recipes with strawberries during an art walk Aug. 3 in San Pedro,
Calif. The commission sent the truck to various events in Southern
California as part of an urban outreach effort, touting both the ber-
ries’ healthful qualities and the opportunities for jobs in the industry.
Food truck touts
strawberries
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
WATSONVILLE, Calif.
— A commodity group took
to the road recently to tout the
healthful qualities of straw-
berries, highlight jobs in the
industry and raise funds to
feed needy children.
The California Strawberry
Commission took a bright red
food truck to events in South-
ern California to sell such
dishes as strawberry Nutella
crepes, strawberry basil lem-
onade and summer strawberry
salads.
Proceeds from the sales
helped the Los Angeles branch
of Share Our Strength’s No
Kid Hungry campaign pro-
vide more than 13,200 meals
to kids in need, group officials
said.
“We handed out samples
of strawberry recipes and
also had recipe cards,” said
Carolyn O’Donnell, the com-
mission’s communications
director. “It gave us an op-
portunity to talk with people
about strawberries and answer
questions.”
In addition to helping a
charity, food truck vendors
provided nutrition informa-
tion, including recent research
that suggests eating just eight
strawberries a day may im-
prove heart health and reduce
the risk of chronic conditions
during aging, O’Donnell said.
Vendors also highlighted
the industry’s economic con-
tributions, noting that 70,000
jobs are created as a result
of strawberry farms and that
about 25 percent of Latino
strawberry farmers began as
field workers before starting
their own businesses.
The effort was launched on
National Night Out on Aug. 1,
when the truck set up shop at
Pershing Square in Los Ange-
les. It also appeared during an
art walk in San Pedro, a mov-
ies-in-the-park event in Los
Alamitos and other communi-
ty events.
Share Our Strength is a na-
tionwide campaign that con-
nects children in need with
school breakfast and summer
meal programs and teach-
es families how to prepare
healthy, affordable meals, ac-
cording to its website.
This was the commission’s
first year of taking part in the
campaign. It was “a great way
to make that personal con-
nection with local communi-
ties and contribute to a good
cause,” O’Donnell said.
The commission will con-
sider doing more outreach ef-
forts during its planning meet-
ings this fall, she said.
Dam rebuilding project
passes midway point
Capital Press
35-3/#6
OROVILLE, Calif. —
Crews rebuilding the Oroville
Dam’s main spillway say
their work is on schedule as
the project passed the midway
point for this year.
Demolition and recon-
struction of the gated flood
control spillway began on
May 19 and is slated to be fin-
ished by Nov. 1.
Workers have finished ex-
cavations and preparation for
the 2,270 feet of the spillway
that will be done this year and
are now placing reinforced,
structural concrete, the state
Department of Water Re-
sources reports.
Crews have placed 25
slabs of structural concrete
so far. When they’re finished,
there will be 1,220 feet of
spillway chute with structur-
al concrete — 87 feet on the
upper portion of the spillway
and 350 in the lower portion,
DWR officials said on Aug.
22.
Installation of reinforcing
steel wall frames has begun
and the first concrete wall sec-
tion was slated to be finished
this week.
Crews are also on schedule
with work on the emergency
spillway, with construction
of a cut-off wall expected to
be finished in late December
or early January, the agency
stated.
The state’s $275.4 million
effort to repair and rebuild the
nation’s tallest dam comes af-
ter its spillways nearly failed
in February.
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35-2/#17