With spring progressing a number of California’s seasonal certified farmers’ markets are returning to their communities. This encore presentation from CDFA’s award-winning Growing California video series shows the strong local appeal of farmers’ markets.

By Gabriela Quiros

Tumbleweeds might be the iconic props of classic Westerns. But in real life, they’re not only a noxious weed, but one that moves around. As they roll and bounce, pushed by gusts of wind, they can overwhelm entire neighborhoods, as happened recently in Victorville, California, or become a threat for drivers and an expensive nuisance for farmers.

“They tumble across highways and can cause accidents,” said Mike Pitcairn, who tracks tumbleweeds at the California Department of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento. “They pile up against fences and homes.”

And tumbleweeds aren’t even originally from California, or the West for that matter.

“It’s been around a long time. You think it must be native,” said Pitcairn. “But its common name is Russian thistle.”

Genetic tests have shown that California’s most common tumbleweed, known as Russian thistle, likely came from Ukraine, said retired plant population biologist Debra Ayres, who studied tumbleweeds at the University of California, Davis.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, L. H. Dewey, wrote in 1893 that Russian thistle had arrived in the U.S. through South Dakota in flaxseed imported from Europe in the 1870s.

“It has been known in Russia many years,” Dewey wrote, “and has quite as bad a reputation in the wheat regions there as it has in the Dakotas.” This is where the name Russian thistle originates, said Ayres, although tumbleweeds aren’t really thistles.

By the end of the 1800s, Russian thistle had arrived in Southern California’s Antelope Valley and Bakersfield. The weed spread quickly through the United States — on rail cars and through contamination of agricultural seeds. And by tumbling.

“They tumble to disperse the seeds,” said Ayres, “and thereby reduce competition.”

By bouncing and rolling in the wind, a tumbleweed spreads out tens of thousands of seeds so that they all get plenty of sunlight and space.

Tumbleweeds grow well in barren places like abandoned agricultural fields, vacant lots or the side of the road, where they can tumble unobstructed and there’s no grass, which their seedlings can’t compete with.

“Grass has nutritive tissue — what bread is made from — to sustain the seedling until it gets its leaves up, while the tumbleweed does not,” said Ayres. “Also, many grasses germinate in the fall and are already up and thick by the time the tumbleweed germinates.”

Tumbleweeds start out as any plant, attached to the soil. Seedlings, which look like blades of grass with a bright pink stem, sprout at the end of the winter.

By summer, Russian thistle plants take on their round shape and grow white, yellow or pink flowers between thorny leaves. Inside each flower, a fruit with a single seed develops.

Other plants attract animals with sweet, tasty fruits, and get them to carry away their seeds in their stomachs and disperse them when they defecate.

Tumbleweeds developed a different evolutionary strategy.

Starting in late fall, they dry out and die, their seeds nestled between prickly dried leaves. Gusts of wind easily break dead tumbleweeds from their roots. A microscopic layer of cells at the base of the plant — called the abscission layer — makes a clean break possible and the plants roll away, spreading their seeds. When the rains come, an embryo coiled up inside each seed sprouts.

Tumbleweeds cause a host of problems in California, where they’re found throughout the state. In places like the southern San Joaquin Valley they can grow to be more than 6 feet tall, said Pitcairn.

“Unsuspecting motorists tend to swerve when a 6-foot plant comes tumbling across the road,” he said, “and many times end up in an accident.”

To prevent this from happening, California Department of Transportation crews use pitchforks to pluck tumbleweeds from the ground and toss them into large compactor trash trucks, said Cathryne Bruce-Johnson, Caltrans public information officer in San Diego.

Tumbleweeds can also pile up against buildings and become a fire hazard. That’s what happened the morning of April 16 in Victorville, northeast of Los Angeles, when 60 mph winds pushed hundreds of them into a neighborhood that borders undeveloped land in the Mojave Desert.

“It happened very quickly,” said Sue Jones, public information officer for the city.

Tumbleweeds piled up so high that they reached the second floors and blocked the entrances to about 100 homes, and also covered the baseball diamond at a nearby park, she said. It took 36 city workers well into the night to clear them out.

 

 

In many western states, Russian thistle is an agricultural weed and farmers have to spray it when it grows among their crops. That’s a bigger concern in Oregon, Washington and Idaho than in California, said Pitcairn. In California, tumbleweeds clog sprinklers and irrigation canals. And they also harbor agricultural pests when they’re green.

In the spring and fall, the California Department of Food and Agriculture sprays insecticides on green Russian thistle in the Central Valley and surrounding foothills to get rid of the beet leafhopper. The insect can transmit the curly top virus, which damages crops such as sugar beets, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, peppers, squash, spinach and beans, said Pitcairn. Spraying costs several million dollars each year, which comes from fees paid by vegetable growers, he said.

The beet leafhopper lives in Russian thistle because it’s one of the few plants that stays green in the fall in the foothills of California’s Central Valley.

“They lay eggs inside the plant tissue,” said Jennifer Willems, an environmental scientist at the Department of Food and Agriculture in Fresno. “They pierce the soft parts of the plant — the leaves — and suck the juice out.”

In the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, tumbleweeds are such a big problem that Los Angeles County spends $100,000 to $150,000 yearly mowing and chipping dried-out Russian thistle in vacant lots and abandoned agricultural fields before they can tumble away, said Ariel Verayo, deputy agricultural commissioner at the county’s weed abatement division in Lancaster.

Tumbleweeds blow into alfalfa fields and need to be cleared out before the alfalfa is harvested. Alfalfa is cattle feed, and cows won’t eat prickly tumbleweeds, Verayo said.

One alfalfa farmer earlier this year found a creative use for tumbleweeds after clearing them off his field. He packed them into rectangular bales and told Verayo he planned to use the bales for bow and arrow target practice.

That’s one way of making sure tumbleweeds no longer tumble.

Link to story

Note: Funded by Cap-and-Trade dollars, California Climate Investments continue to support the creation of programs that reduce greenhouse gases on agricultural operations. Alongside several programs offered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, sisters agencies like the California Energy Commission and the California Air Resources Board are also making similar investments in the state’s thriving agricultural sector.

From the California Air Resources Board 

The invitation for the ‘Grand Reveal’ this morning in Roseville promised: “See what happens when you take 60 acres, stir in $10 million, and toss for 304 days!”  I was happy to make the drive to Placer County to learn more about a unique partnership between the County of Placer and Placer Valley Tourism to renovate the Placer County Fairgrounds.

Today was a celebration of the completion of the first phase of the renovation and an official re-branding of the property – it is now ‘@the Grounds.’ The final phase of renovation will add a 190,000 square foot indoor sports complex.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors was intent on gathering community input on how to update the Fairgrounds to preserve its agricultural heritage as a place for 4-H and FFA students to show their projects, while also creating a modern community gathering place for the future.  Members of the community were full participants in the process, with Placer Valley Tourism acting as a catalyst. The tourism agency is investing $2 million,  Placer County is investing $6 million, and the remaining balance of the $40 million project will come from a hotel assessment to back a bond.

It was inspiring to witness a community that came together for the public good. This project is a wonderful testament to the power of public-private partnerships. @the Grounds is a valuable asset for Placer County, its cities, and all of its citizens.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is reminding farmers and ranchers that the window is closing on the opportunity to participate in the 2017 Census of Agriculture. To date, NASS has received more than 1.5 million completed questionnaires. But the national return rate is currently lower than at this point in the 2012 Census. NASS is encouraging U.S. producers who have not returned their completed Census questionnaires to do so as soon as possible. As the absolute deadline of July 31 draws nearer, NASS will turn to increased phone and in-person follow-up.

“If you produced and sold $1,000 or more of agricultural product in 2017, or normally would have produced and sold that much, we need to hear from you,” said NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “If you’re a landowner who leases your land to a producer, we need to hear from you. If you received a census but do not fit this definition of a farm, please write your status on the form and send it back.”

Hamer noted that NASS has already begun to follow up with producers who have not yet completed the questionnaire.

“We sent the questionnaire to many potential farmers and ranchers who may not be familiar with it. The follow-up will give them and other producers the opportunity to ask questions,” said Hamer. “Some farmers and ranchers were waiting until they gathered their tax documents before completing the Census; having that information handy will certainly make filling out the questionnaire faster and easier.”

The Census of Agriculture is the only comprehensive source of agriculture data for every state and county in the nation. Census data are used by policymakers, trade associations, researchers, agribusinesses, educators, and many others. The information helps inform decisions on farm policy, rural development, and new farm technologies. It also aids in the creation and funding of loans and insurance programs and other forms of assistance, as well as in the cultivation of the next generation of farmers and ranchers.

The Census differs from other NASS surveys. It provides important demographic information and data on certain commodities, such as horses, bison, and Christmas trees, that would not otherwise be available. Revisions to the questionnaire in 2017 include new queries about military veteran status, decision-making on the farm, and food marketing practices.

Producers can respond to the 2017 Census of Agriculture online at www.agcounts.usda.gov or by mail. The same law, Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113, that requires response also requires NASS to keep all information confidential, to use the data only for statistical purposes, and to only publish in aggregate form to prevent disclosing the identity of any individual producer or farm operation. NASS will release Census results in February 2019.

For more information about the 2017 Census of Agriculture or for assistance with the questionnaire, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov or call toll-free (888) 424-7828.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross joined California agricultural representatives today at an event in Acampo, San Joaquin County, hosted by Farmers for Free Trade, to underscore the importance of trade to the state’s farmers and ranchers.

California is largest agricultural producer and exporter in the nation. Combined, the state’s top agricultural exports – almonds, wine, dairy, walnuts and pistachios – almost surpass $10 billion in value. On average, California’s farmers and ranchers export 26 percent of their production to approximately 167 destinations.

Secretary Ross was joined by representatives from the California Farm Bureau Federation, the California League of Food Processors, Lodi Farming, and Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyard in highlighting the importance of trade to California agriculture.

USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney met yesterday with California agricultural trade stakeholders to discuss foreign market opportunities and trade issues.

California is the largest agricultural producer and exporter in the nation, with more than $20 billion in exports in 2016. On average, California farmers and ranchers export approximately 26 percent of their production. Top agricultural export destinations for the state include: European Union ($3.4 billion); Canada ($3.3 billion); China ($2  billion); Japan ($1.4 billion) and Mexico ($1 billion).

The meeting underscored California’s commitment to international trade and the importance of foreign markets. More than 15 agricultural groups participated in the event and welcomed the conversation with Under Secretary McKinney and his team.