By Geoffrey Mohan

A rapidly mutating virus has leaped from plants to honeybees, where it is reproducing and contributing to the collapse of colonies vital to the multibillion-dollar agricultural industry, according to a new study.

Tobacco ringspot virus, a pollen-borne pathogen that causes blight in soy crops, was found during routine screening of commercial honeybees at a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory, where further study revealed the RNA virus was replicating inside its Apis mellifera hosts and spreading to mites that travel from bee to bee, according to the study published online Tuesday in the journal mBio.

The discovery is the first report of honeybees becoming infected by a pollen-born RNA virus that spread systematically through the bees and hives. Traces of the virus were detected in every part of the bee examined, except its eyes, according to the study.

Commercially cultivated bees pollinate about 90 crops worldwide, a service valued at $14 billion annually. But those colonies have been collapsing, and scientists have attributed that devastation to a deadly cocktail of pathogens, as well as pesticides and beekeeping practices that stress the insect’s immune system.

In California, the $3-billion almond industry spends $239 million annually to rent more than 1 million beehives, and that cost is escalating.

Only about 5% of plant viruses are known to be transmitted by pollen, and fewer still have been known to jump from the plant kingdom to insects. That adds a complex layer to the forces driving colony collapse disorder, scientists warned.

The tobacco ringspot virus acts as a “quasi-species,” replicating in a way that creates ample mutations that subvert the host’s immune response. That phenomenon is believed to be the driving factor of recurring viral infections of avian and swine influenza and of the persistence of HIV, the study noted.

“They have a high mutation rate,” said Yan Ping (Judy) Chen, a bee pathologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Maryland and lead author of the study. “Because of their genetic diversity, we see a lot of host jumping.”

The virus’ relative role in the demise of colonies has not been measured — it would be difficult to separate it from a cocktail of pathogens and stresses negatively affecting bees, Chen said.

“I want to be cautious,” Chen said. “The cause of colony collapse disorder remains unclear. But we do have evidence that TRSV along with other viruses that we screen on a regular basis are associated with lower rates of over-winter survival.”

Indeed, the new virus, along with the well documented Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, was correlated with colonies deemed “weak” due to a variety of stresses. It also showed a similar seasonal fluctuation — infection rates rose to a 22.5% high in winter, according to the study.

Varroa mites, a “vampire” parasite, also were found to carry the virus but were not infected, leading researchers to conclude that they aided the spread of the virus within the colony. Whether the mites are more than a mechanical spreader of the virus, however, remains to be studied.

Researchers also are uncertain about whether the infection persists without bees picking up more virus from visited plants, and whether the infected bees can spread the virus to otherwise healthy plants.

“I’d be hesitant to proclaim that this virus is the cause of colony collapse, but it certainly shows the degree of our lack of understanding of the complexity of bee pathogen interactions,” said Randy Oliver, a biologist and beekeeper who has done similar research but was not involved in the study.

Activists have raised concern about a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which have been banned in Europe. A study last year linked the pesticide class with suppressed immune response and increased reproduction of viruses in bees. Another study found 35 pesticides and fungicides, some at lethal levels, in the pollen collected from bees servicing major food crops in five states, including California. But that study found neonicotinoids only on pollen from a single apple orchard.

A separate study last year found that bees fed with high-fructose corn syrup, instead of surviving winter on their own honey, were more susceptible to microbial pathogens and to the effects of pesticides.

USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency scientists charged with reviewing the scientific literature last year found that pesticides, pathogens, and nutritional deficits, some caused by a lack of natural forage, were the major contributing factors behind colony collapse disorder.

Link to story – http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-virus-bee-colony-collapse-20140120,0,3775756.story#ixzz2r961afYb

Andre Casasola / Orange County Water District

Purified water from Southern California’s Groundwater Replenishment System exceeds state and federal drinking water standards. The water seen here is fresh from the facility.

After touring a plant that turns sewage into quaffable water in parched and sunny Southern California, visitors are offered a glass of the water to drink. Most get over the “ick factor” and take a sip. That’s when the epiphany hits, according to the plant’s general manager.

“They go, well, this tastes like water,” Michael Markus of the Orange County Water District told NBC News. “And we say it tastes like water because it is water.”

Today, the district’s Groundwater Replenishment Systemprocesses 70 million gallons of treated wastewater into pure, potable water every day, which is enough to meet the needs of about 600,000 people. The water is used to replenish the district’s aquifer, thus limiting the need to rely on more expensive and unreliable imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

As the U.S. Southwest enters yet another year of severe drought that is already crimping the supply of imported water, such toilet-to-tap projects are becoming a necessary solution to the region’s ongoing and worsening water crisis, according to Dan Cayan, a climate scientist and water cycle expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.

Dismal times
“The last couple of months have just been dismal here,” he told NBC News. “In fact, the dryness we are seeing this winter is really affecting most of the West, so there’s a lot of concern.”

Florence Low / California Department of Water Resources

The California Department of Water Resources chief of snow surveys, Frank Gehrke, conducts winter’s first snow survey at Phillips Station near Echo Summit on January 3, 2014.

When the first snow survey of 2014 was held earlier this month, the California Department of Water Resources found more bare ground than snow. Statewide, water content is about 20 percent of normal for this time of year. “This very well could become one of the drier years in our history,” department spokesman Doug Carlson told NBC News.

Governor Jerry Brown has established a task force to closely monitor conditions and may declare a drought emergency if conditions fail to improve. Speaking to reporters on Jan. 9 as he unveiled his 2014-2015 budget, he said he would “do everything that is humanly possible” to make sure the state’s water resources are used efficiently, but played down his ability to help. “Governors can’t make it rain,” he said.

When the rains will come is unknown — the 10-day forecast as of Jan. 13 showed dry and sunny conditions. Asked if the drought is a sign of climate change, Cayan, who also studies water resources with the U.S. Geological Survey, pinned the bulk of the blame on natural variability in a region prone to dry conditions. “What we are seeing is ultimately going to reverse and we will go into a wetter mode at some point,” he said.

“But,” he added, “there is a disquieting feature in the last couple generations of climate simulations to show drying in places like Southern California and parts of the Southwest.” Those trends come on stronger toward the end of the 21st century, he noted, which suggest most of the current drought is “the luck of the draw in the natural variations the system can undergo.”

Bracing for the future
Along with prospects for a drier future in the U.S. Southwest, the region’s population is projected to swell. The dual forces, in turn, will increase pressure on already scarce water resources. To cope, plans are in motion to increase the use of reclaimed sewage in the region, noted Jean-Daniel Saphores, a civil and environmental engineer at the University of California at Irvine.

“The advantage of treating and reusing wastewater is that this water is already available locally so it is not exposed to political risks (such as) reduction of water that can be imported,” he told NBC News in an email. Other risks to imported water, he noted, include earthquake damage to aqueducts and terrorism.

The Orange County Water District turned on to the idea of toilet-to-tap water in the mid-1990s, noted general manager Markus. Today, its Groundwater Replenishment System is the largest of its type in the world and an expansion under construction will increase output to 100 million gallons of potable water a day by 2015.

Steve Crise / American Water Works Association

The Groundwater Replenishment System uses a three-step process to purify treated wastewater to drinking-water quality. Seen here is the reverse osmosis step.

The system purifies treated wastewater from the county’s sanitation district via a three step process that includes microfiltration to remove bacteria and suspended solids; reverse osmosis to remove dissolved minerals, viruses and pharmaceuticals; and ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide to remove any additional molecular organic compounds.

A $92 million grant used to offset construction of the plant allows the system to process water at about $480 an acre foot, which is 326,000 gallons of water, enough to more than supply the needs of two average U.S. homes a year. Without the construction subsidy, the cost is about $850 an acre foot. Imported water, by comparison, is currently $1000 an acre foot, noted Markus.

In other words, the economics of toilet-to-tap make sense and, indeed, were a key selling point to city councils and other stakeholders when the water district went out to gain approval for the project and push people over the “ick factor” of drinking reclaimed sewage.

Another key selling point was “the decision to pump the reclaimed water into an aquifer instead of using it directly even though this reclaimed water is drinkable and very pure,” said Saphores, noting that the step provided “the comfort of additional natural treatment.”

Other strategies to overcome the water crisis in the Southwest include conservation through steps such as low-flow toilets, landscaping with drought-tolerant plants, and increasing prices to pay for new and upgraded water delivery infrastructure.

“This dry condition we are having is sort of a wake-up call and it is difficult,” noted Cayan. “But the longer we go without working on these issues, the more we are in for a rude awakening once dry conditions do happen.”

Link to story – http://www.nbcnews.com/science/parched-southwest-reclaimed-sewage-water-could-be-welcome-relief-2D11915652

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross (far left) appears with Governor Brown today in San Francisco as he declares a drought state of emergency in California.

A link to the Governor’s news release may be found here: http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18368

Secretary Ross with KNBC-TV reporter Patrick Healy

By Cathie Anderson

Mai Yang Vang, only 28 years old, has already come full circle in her life. She’s now a board member at the nonprofit that inspired her passion for environmental justice as a teenage student at Sacramento High School.

In fact, she and other board members of Winters’ Center for Land-Based Learning recently learned that the very program that introduced Vang to habitat restoration and conservation will receive an award today from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. Mary Kimball, the agency’s executive director, will pick up the Partners in Conservation Award in Washington, D.C.

Vang was among the first students to participate in the Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship program when it began in 2003. Everybody involved with the program refers to it as SLEWS. Kimball’s brainchild, the program begins with teachers educating students on everything from the water cycle to the role that native fish play in improving water quality.

Then Kimball, the staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, farmers, ranchers and other partners lead students in real-world projects: They have planted hundreds of trees. They have set up drip irrigation systems. They have performed wildlife surveys and more.

SLEWS is just the beginning. Vang and many students return for more intense leadership training in farming, resource management and sustainability. They get summer work experience in the center’s GreenCorps. Kimball has mentored countless students who have launched careers in agriculture or environmental sciences.

The eldest of 16 children, Vang became a Buck Scholar. She has bachelor’s degrees in biology and sociology and master’s degrees in public health and Asian American studies. She now works as a policy associate at the bipartisan public interest group California Forward.

“As someone who was so young at the time,” Vang said, “it really helped me develop a passion for environmental justice and sustainable communities and conservation in California. … I don’t think I would have ended up where I’m at, if it wasn’t for that first encounter with SLEWS.”

By Mary MacVean

Most students are exposed in school to efforts by food and beverage companies to sell food or gain brand loyalty, despite a decline in some kinds of commercial enterprises, including in soda machine contracts, researchers reported Monday.

Link to story – http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sn-food-and-beverage-marketing-at-school-study-says-20140113,0,1531866.story#ixzz2qUCccGE3

CDFA’s Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) is excited to announce the debut of the Nitrogen Management Training Program for California certified crop advisers (CCAs). Since October 2012, FREP has collaborated with the California Certified Crop Adviser Program and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources to develop and implement a voluntary nitrogen management curriculum specifically targeted for California Certified Crop Advisers.

The goal of the program is to facilitate CCAs’ understanding of sound nitrogen management practices and increase their ability to make informed recommendations to growers, thereby improving environmental performance relative to nitrogen management for crop production. Developed by subject matter experts, the curriculum will address the management of nitrates from plant nutrients to reduce unintentional emissions in waters throughout the state, while emphasizing the economic and environmental benefits achieved through improved management of agricultural use of nitrogen and irrigation water.

Each training session will occur over the course of two days. The first day will include presentations on course objectives, the nitrogen cycle in crop production systems, nitrogen sources, irrigation and nitrogen management, nitrogen budgeting, future resources, and a discussion of local and statewide considerations. The second day will feature concurrent sessions with emphasis on annual and perennial crops. Each session will address current practices, the use of best management practices, and will include a hands-on nitrogen management planning exercise, concluding with a synopsis from both the annual and perennial crops subject matter experts.

The first course is already underway this week in Modesto. Four other courses are scheduled to take place in February and March throughout the Central Valley and the Central Coast-area; please see below for dates and locations. If you are a CCA interested in attending, please pre-register to attend one of the sessions through the CAPCA Ed website at https://capcaed.com/ or by using the links below. Due to the targeted nature of the curriculum for these courses, attendance is limited to CCAs only.

The nitrogen management training sessions are a part of FREP’s ongoing commitment to provide growers and CCAs with decision-support tools, technical education, and access to research to increase awareness of more agronomically sound use of fertilizing materials to minimize the environmental impacts resulting from their use. Since 1990, FREP has funded more than 160 research projects focusing on California’s important and environmentally sensitive cropping systems. For more information about this project and other FREP initiatives, please contact FREP staff at frep@cdfa.ca.gov or (916) 900-5022, or visit the program’s website at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/frep.

WOODLAND — February 18-19, 2014
Heidrick Ag History Museum – Event Hall
1962 Hays Ln, Woodland, CA 95776
Register Online

FRESNO — February 25-26, 2014
Ramada Inn Fresno (University) – Shaw Rooms A, B, C
324 E Shaw Ave, Fresno, CA 93710
Register Online

SALINAS — March 5-6, 2014
Salinas Elks Lodge #614 – Main Dining Room
614 Airport Blvd, Salinas, CA 93905
Register Online

TULARE — March 11-12, 2014
International Agri-Center – Banquet Hall
4500 S Laspina St, Tulare, CA 93274
Register Online

By J.J. De Forest

Area ranchers battling the worst drought ever recorded are facing some tough decisions-sell off some of their stock or spend money to buy feed and water to keep the herd going.

The Little Lake Valley should be a sea of green grasses this time of year instead the fields are covered in the brown stubble left after last year’s hay harvest. Many ranchers depend on the native grasses to feed their herds and the 2.88 inches of rainfall the Willits-area has received since Oct. 1 wasn’t enough to jump start the hay crop.

“Those should already be up by now and providing sufficient feed,” said Mendocino County Agriculture Commissioner Chuck Morse. “The situation is dire.”

In response to the crisis, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors declared a water emergency and “imminent threat of disaster” from drought conditions Jan. 7 during their first meeting of 2014.

“There’s just no feed. The grass isn’t growing,” said Diane Ford who, with her husband Gary, runs a cattle operation in the valley. “So we’re definitely getting rid of animals because we have nothing to feed them.”

Ford said last year’s hay crop was down 50 percent.

“It’s scary. I’ve lived here all of my life and I’ve never seen it this cold and the lack of rain. I’ve just never seen anything like it.”

Ana Cox of Summer Breeze Ranch, home to almost 100 dairy goats, concurs.

“It’s scary.

It’s scary because the 105 acres that we grow of hay, we’re dependent on the winter rains,” Cox said. “That’s what grows all those beautiful grasses for our girls. We have never seen the ranch so dry, ever.”

“The normal hay supplies that folks use to get them through a normal year (is gone),” said Devon Jones, executive director of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau.

Ranchers are buying hay from Oregon and Nevada as local supplies run out, according to Jones who notes the shortage of feed is elevating prices. The potential loss of this year’s hay crop could push ranchers further to the brink.

“They’ll be going into next year with nothing in the barn,” Jones said.

Winter rains also fill the county’s stock reservoirs, many of which are now dry. Wells and natural springs are also drying up according to Jones who said springs in Laytonville and Covelo that have historically never gone dry are now very low or dried up, forcing ranchers to truck in water.

The double hit to ranchers’ finances has the potential to push smaller ranches out of business. Mendocino County received a drought declaration from the United States Department of Agriculture last year, giving ranchers access to low-interest loans to cover the added expense of surviving the water crisis. The program ends in April. Morse said he will pursue the designation again and plans to include fruit crops in the request also.

“Last year, my drought designation was only for the livestock and hay people, this year we’re looking at our winegrape producers county-wide,” he said.

Even with financial assistance Jones said sources of feed and water are beginning to run low and could pose a challenge in the coming months.

“We’ve got hay for the animals through the winter but it’s the summer,” Cox said. “It’s the cutting of the hay that will hopefully start May or June. If we don’t get the rain, we’re not going to have the grass out there to cut for them.”

Commissioner Morse feels the damage has already been done.

“This could affect our ranching operations for years to come,” he said.

Link to story – http://www.willitsnews.com/localnews/ci_24886214/drought-forces-ranchers-make-tough-decisions

Governor Brown’s proposed budget for 2014-2015 reflects a fiscal outlook that, while positive, continues to exercise caution. There are prudent investments in infrastructure with a focus on schools, health care and public safety. The budget also pays down debt.

For CDFA, there is a proposal to build infrastructure to combat climate change and facilitate greater environmental stewardship that would provide $20 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for ’14-’15 and ’15-’16. These are commonly called Cap-and-Trade funds. The proposal is for activities promoting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in the agricultural sector.

-$12 million for the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program to facilitate the design and construction of dairy digester systems.

-$5 million for the Nitrogen Research and Management Program to fund research and technical assistance on reducing nitrous oxide emissions, nitrification inhibitors, water and nitrogen movement in the environment and evaluation of water and nitrogen management practices.

-$3 million for the Alternative and Renewable Fuels Program to develop fuel quality specifications and standards for renewable and zero emissions systems.

For agriculture, infrastructure includes farmland, and the governor is recognizing the crucial role of preservation by proposing funding for preservation programs. There is a total of $100 million in Cap-and-Trade funding for the Sustainable Communities program, which includes farmland preservation.  Sustainable Communities is overseen by the Strategic Growth Council, of which CDFA is a member. The funds will help California meet carbon reduction goals for climate change mitigation, and preserve an important part of our agricultural economy and heritage.

Additionally, the governor’s budget proposes $1 million from the general fund for the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, a joint venture between the University of California and CDFA that serves as the backbone of California’s early warning system for food-borne pathogens and diseases common to animals and humans. The funding will be a one-time appropriation to help offset unfunded salary and benefit increases for positions, which will provide time to develop a sustainable long-term funding plan.

Also, there is a proposal for one-time funding totaling $2 million for deferred maintenance needs at several CDFA facilities around the state.

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture met on Tuesday, January 7 to discuss ongoing water worries in the state. Some of the TV coverage of the meeting follows.

KNBC, Los Angeles

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KXTV, Sacramento

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KGO, San Francisco

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A team of 60 CalPoly college students took home the coveted Crystal City Innovation Award at this year’s Rose Parade in Pasadena.

Today, the average Rose Parade float is a reflection of your average grocery store bouquet, with approximately 80% of the flowers being imported from countries such as Colombia and Ecuador. CalPoly’s team was committed to something different, something innovative.

The Crystal City Innovation Award is given to the float that reflects the best use of imagination & innovation to advance the art of float building.

The Tournament of Roses has three judges that use a set of criteria to help them decide on which floats receive each of the different awards. I’m not exactly sure what the specific criteria is for the Innovation Award, but based on my experience working with these CalPoly students this year, there are three reasons why I believe CalPoly’s float entry, “Bedtime Buccaneers,” was deserving of an award for their imagination and innovation.

1.  Their Float Design

It’s always a magical moment to see a year’s worth of hard work make its way down Colorado Blvd. on New Year’s Day.

This year’s float design was not only pleasing to the eye, but it was built with some very creative animation. Not only were they able to make their bed appear to rock back and forth in that sea of Iris and have canons appearing to fire from under a quilt of roses, but they were also able to make the Iris have a rippling effect that made the Iris appear even more like the ocean it represented.  I don’t know exactly how they did it, but it was very cool.

2.  Their Flower Decisions 

With over 14,000 stems, no other Rose Parade float had as many home grown roses as CalPoly’s float.

I know for certain that the origin of flowers used in their design was not a criteria for the Innovation Award. However, it should be. CalPoly’s commitment to become a certified “CA Grown” float was a great example of the team’s imagination and innovation. CalPoly’s commitment to California Grown Flowers required that they think differently than any of the other float team in the parade. The average team in the Rose Parade sourced their roses, carnations and chrysanthemums from South America. However, due to the impact imports have had on our domestic flower farms in the past 20 years, CalPoly’s team had to think creatively on how to ensure that their design would maintain a threshold of 85% or better fresh cut flowers from California.

And they did it! In fact, their float was pushing 95% CA Grown Flowers when it was all said and done.

The CalPoly team accomplished something that no other float in the 2014 Rose Parade: they were “CA Grown.”

3.  Their Team of Students

Student leaders of CalPoly’s Rose Float team accepting their official certificate of achieving their “CA Grown” status.

Personally, I believe the fact that this team is an volunteer team of college students makes their entry the most compelling story in the parade. Due to the noisy nature of media coverage during the run up to the rose parade, this is a story that doesn’t receive the kind of attention it deserves. What an accomplishment for a team of young people, competing with corporate titans likes Dole Foods, Honda, etc., to walk away with one of the most coveted of float awards, the Crystal City Innovation Award, while also being “CA Grown” Certified.

Congratulations to CalPoly Universities! On behalf of the flower farmers of California, your commitment to supporting our farms and their flowers makes a difference and is appreciated.

CalPoly Universities Presidents Mike Ortiz of Pomona (far left) and Jeff Armstrong of San Luis Obispo (right of Ortiz) hold their respective banners of “CA Grown” achievement on behalf of their campuses.

Editor’s Note – CDFA Secretary Karen Ross joined the festivities at the Rose Parade and is on the right in the last two photos.   

Link to original blog post – http://americasflowers.org/congratulations-to-calpoly-universities-a-cagrown-success/