Grimmway Farms Donates $5 Million for center to bring industry and academia together to solve challenges and prepare future leaders in organic production and soil health 

From a Cal Poly News Release

Cal Poly is set to change the landscape of organic agriculture with a $5 million donation made to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences by Grimmway Farms, the global leader in organic produce and the world’s largest producer of carrots.   

With this gift, Cal Poly will expand its emphasis on applied research in organic production and soil health by providing a unique, collaborative platform for academia, industry and government from across California and beyond to come together to advance the organic industry.  

The partnership between Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and Grimmway, announced this week, will establish a unique learning model that will enable research and innovation across disciplines, focusing on real-world issues that directly impact the state’s $10 billion organic industry. The Grimmway Farms donation will be used to launch the Center for Organic Production and Research on campus, as well as build the Grimmway Farms/Cal-Organic Soil Health and Sustainability Laboratories to provide research and teaching opportunities in topics related to healthy soils, water and air. 

“Our partnership with Grimmway will facilitate bringing increased science and technology to the production of organic food,” said College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Dean Andrew Thulin. “Cal Poly is at the forefront of using the power of collaboration to solve real world problems. This new center will integrate the greatest talents in academia, private industry, government and a wide range of disciplines to benefit the organic industry as a whole.”   

The need to increase focused efforts on organic research and create pathways for students to enter the industry is clear. The organic industry is one of the fastest growing agricultural segments in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This emphasis on organic production and research is of particular importance in California, which accounts for 40 percent of all organic production in the nation.  

“This is an amazing gift and investment in the future of California agriculture and a perfect match with Cal Poly’s excellence in applied research and Learn by Doing model that prepares students for collaborative problem-solving in their careers,” said California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross. “I want to thank Grimmway Farms and the Grimm family for their generosity, leadership and confidence in the future of California agriculture – one that is built on innovation.” 

Nationally, consumer demand for organic products continues to grow – sales of organic fruits and vegetables in the U.S. reached $18 billion in 2019, up nearly 5 percent from the year prior.  

“We believe that lives are transformed through education, and that certainly applies to agricultural education,” said Barbara Grimm Marshall, co-owner of Grimmway Farms and Cal-Organic. “Ever-evolving technologies and more sophisticated business practices mean that students who wish to pursue a career in agriculture must spend as much time in the classroom as in the field. We are thrilled to be providing an avenue for these students to work with the best minds in agribusiness and soil sciences today.” 

“With this commitment, the families and Grimmway Farms/Cal-Organic are affirming our belief that agriculture is the economic and cultural cornerstone of our future,” Brandon Grimm, grower relations manager and co-owner of Grimmway Farms and Cal-Organic, shared. “Our company has been a leader in innovative and advanced farming practices since my father and uncle founded the company 51 years ago. Today we take the next step to build on that legacy by investing in vital organic and soil health research.” 

“The future of this industry depends solely on the ability to prepare, educate and excite the next generation of growers in organic production,” said Jeff Huckaby, president of Grimmway Farms and Cal-Organic. “We look forward to partnering with this dynamic educational institution to cultivate those who will ensure we continue to meet the ever-growing demand for healthy and nutritious organic produce.” 

Cal Poly is uniquely positioned to drive these initiatives forward with its polytechnic educational model and more than 10,000 acres of land for hands-on research and learning. Cal Poly’s location on California’s Central Coast surrounded by a diverse number of specialty crops that are the foundation of the state’s agricultural production, as well as the university’s strong ties with industry, gives students and faculty the opportunity to work directly with companies such as Grimmway Farms and other top producers in the organic industry through internships, research collaborations and more.  

“Our partnership will increase opportunities for students, faculty and staff to gain first-hand experience in the organic food industry and beyond,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong. “This new center for organic production and research emphasizes our Learn by Doing philosophy and will give students the tools to lead impactful careers addressing the agricultural challenges that face California and the world.”  

The new Center for Organic Production and Research will serve as a hub for students to work with experts from across the industry to develop solutions to the most pressing issues related to organic production and agriculture. Research of soil structure and biodiversity, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, water quality, composting and organic matter and technology innovation will be at the forefront of the new Center for Organic Production and Research. The new Grimmway Farms/Cal-Organic Soil Health and Sustainability Laboratories will be located in Cal Poly’s planned Plant Sciences Complex.   

“Grimmway Farms’ generous support of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and its talented students embodies the increasingly vital partnership between the private sector and the California State University,” said CSU Chancellor-select Joseph I. Castro. “I deeply appreciate Grimmway’s partnership with several CSU campuses, including Cal Poly SLO, and their strong commitment to supporting and preparing the next generation of our nation’s agricultural leaders.” 

A national recruitment for a director to lead the center will begin in 2021. Cal Poly’s model for the new Center for Organic Production and Research will emulate its demonstrated success with the Cal Poly Strawberry Center (strawberry.calpoly.edu), a collaborative partnership focused on increasing the sustainability of the strawberry industry through research and education that addresses the needs of the $3.5 billion industry. 

New actions include pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and strengthening face covering mandate

Vast majority of counties are in the most restrictive tier starting tomorrow

As COVID-19 cases sharply increase across the country and California, Governor Gavin Newsom and state public health officials announced immediate actions today to slow the spread of the virus. The state is pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy resulting in 94.1 percent of California’s population in the most restrictive tier. This change is effective tomorrow. The state will reassess data continuously and move more counties back if necessary. California is also strengthening its face covering guidance to require individuals to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions.  

“We are sounding the alarm,” said Governor Newsom. “California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet –faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic or even this summer. The spread of COVID-19, if left unchecked, could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes. That is why we are pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Now is the time to do all we can – government at all levels and Californians across the state – to flatten the curve again as we have done before.”

The rate of growth in confirmed COVID-19 cases is faster than it was in July, which led to a significant peak in cases. This requires a swift public health response and action from all Californians to slow the spread of the virus. Immediate action will help protect individuals at higher risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 and will help keep the state’s health care delivery system from becoming overwhelmed.  

“The data we are seeing is very concerning. We are in the midst of a surge, and time is of the essence. Every day matters and every decision matters,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “Personal decisions are critical, and I am I imploring every Californian to stay home if they can, wear a mask whenever they leave their homes, limit mixing, practice physical distancing and wash their hands.” 

The 28 counties moving back into Tier 1 (Purple/Widespread) include: Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Mendocino, Merced, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo and Yuba.

The nine counties moving back into Tier 2 (Red/Substantial) include: Colusa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Marin, Modoc, Mono, Plumas, San Francisco and San Mateo.

The two counties moving back into Tier 3 (Orange/Moderate) include: Calaveras and Sierra.

Today’s action will remain in effect until the State Public Health Officer determines it is appropriate to make modifications based on public health conditions and data. 

California has taken steps to prepare the state for an increase in COVID-19 cases. The state has developed additional testing capacity to allow cases to be quickly identified, recently opening a new laboratory in Valencia that is already processing thousands of tests a day. The state is averaging 164,345 tests over the last seven days. 

The state has been working in partnership with hospitals, clinics and physicians on the COVID-19 response. To support California’s health care delivery system, the state has an additional 1,872 beds available at alternate care sites outside of the system that can be made available quickly if needed to respond to a surge in cases.

California will continue to update the Blueprint for a Safer Economy based on the best available public health data and science. For more information about the Blueprint and what Californians can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19, visit covid19.ca.gov. 

By Andy Walker

Members of the Special Committee on Climate Change received a briefing recently on the California Healthy Soils program.

Dr. Amrith Gunasekara, Dr. Geetika Joshi and Rachael O’Brien from the California Department of Food and Agriculture appeared via videoconference. O’Brien, who is the Deputy Secretary of Legislative Affairs, said California has been able to stay under its greenhouse gas emissions target so far this year, adding her department works with hundreds of farmers to promote what she called “climate-smart agricultural practices” that support their land stewardship and sustainability.

O’Brien explained the Healthy Soils Initiative is funded through the proceeds of a cap and trade program administered by the state. Dr. Amrith Gunasekara, who is the manager of the Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation program, noted the state has 69,400 farms and over 400 commodities. He said the state began to direct significant resources towards soil health following severe droughts in 2014 and 2015.

Dr. Geetika Joshi, who oversees the implementation of the Healthy Soils Program, explained direct financial assistance of up to $100,000 is available to producers to implement practices proven to sequester soil carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build soil health. There is also funding for demonstration projects that is available to farmers and ranchers in collaboration with universities, local resource conservation districts and nonprofit organizations. The funding can be up to $250,000 depending on the size and scope of the project. She said matching funds are not required from the producer although that does sometimes happen.

Since 2017, the program has have funded 576 incentives projects totaling $34 million directly to farmers and ranchers and 67 demonstration projects with a total value of $8.2 million. Dr. Joshi explained “On an annual basis, there are over 100,000 tonnes of GHG reductions from incentives projects and about 9,000 from the demonstration projects. That is equal or similar to a little over 24,000 cars being taken off the roads for a year or if we were to think of in terms of carbon sequestration and forested lands, almost 150,000 acres of forested lands in a year.”

“Demonstration projects are really key for farmer-to-farmer education,” Dr. Joshi said. “When we think about long-term adoption of practices, a scientist such as myself or others on our team who are always sitting in our office often don’t make the most compelling reason for a farmer to do something. What really appeals to them is if they see other farmers such as themselves – they’re farmers – doing something − it worked out for them. “

Dr. Gunasekara explained the state’s Healthy Soil Initiative is geared to both organic and conventional producers, saying “it’s really about building the carbon content in the soil to provide multiple benefits.”

“We finally managed to tie soil management practices on farms with real carbon sequestration benefits,” he said. “That was a big momentum shift, I believe, in the state. We’ve shown that it contributes to climate change adaptation by increasing water holding capacity and also those multiple benefits that we highlight, but certainly helps with greenhouse gas mitigation and agricultural sustainability into the future as well. “

Dr. Gunasekara explained the department uses a planning tool nicknamed COMET that was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture that can estimate the greenhouse gas reductions that will likely result from an action on the farm and producers are encouraged to follow the practice for at least three years.

He noted the department is only allowed to use five per cent of the funds for administrative costs, adding the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in less on farm visits. He told Education Minister Brad Trivers his department would be more than willing to share the details of the program with PEI.

He told Summerside-South Drive MLA Steve Howard the program did not get any funding from the cap and trade fund this year since revenues were down due to the pandemic. That forced them to use other funding sources like bonds. Dr. Geetika Joshi added all of the programs are funded for three years so projects already in progress were not impacted.

In terms of carbon content, Dr. Gunasekara noted California soils range from 0.1% to 4% and he said the objective of the program is to build up to the 4-5 per cent range over time. He added ” We don’t have any set goals. There is policy discussions happening on what might be a good level, but we have over 2,500 different soils in this state and I think one of those images I really want to highlight is we’re a very big land mass and very diverse soil systems.”

In response to a question from Charlottetown-Brighton MLA Ole Hammarlund, Dr. Gunasekara said the key to an effective non-till system is specialized equipment. He added “We don’t advocate for any pesticides to be used when they’re doing our practices. That’s certainly a grower decision but our system, our incentive says okay, you follow our recipe and the recipe is something defined by the USDA on here’s what you can and can’t do.”

Dr. Joshi said non till is popular, especially for orchard and vineyard type of operations, where they have rows of land in between rows of trees or grapevines, where they have the ability to plant strips of grass or minimize tillage in those strips of land while the tree crop or the vine crop is growing on the side.

Committee Chair Lynne Lund said she would like to see PEI explore the possibility of using the COMET tool or something similar on PEI. Dr. Gunasekara offered to provide the committee with a list of “lessons learned” and successes since the start of the program five years ago. Lund said there could be opportunities for the new Climate Change school at UPEI to work on demonstration projects.

The committee chair asked if the program has examined the impacts nitrogen fertilizer or chemical fertilizers have to soil organic carbon or soil organic matter. Dr. Joshi said nitrogen combined with irrigation can sometimes create waterlogged conditions in the soil and generate nitrous oxide– a gas hundreds of times more potent than carbon monoxide.

“If there is a lot of nitrogen, it can kick start a lot of biological activity that, especially in the short-term, means that the organisms are eating a lot more and they’re metabolizing everything faster, which means that some of the stored carbon can become part of the food that they start metabolizing,” she said. ” It is certainly a very delicate balance of carbon and nitrogen and how to balance it in such a way that we could get a net carbon sequestration rather than increased carbon metabolism.”

Following the hearing, the committee decided to asked the presenters from California for the carbon abatement costs associated with each of the practices in their healthy soil program.

Link to article on PEICanada.com (no cost subscription required)

From Morning Ag Clips

West Side farmer John Diener had flash of inspiration. Why not plant butternut squash?

Diener is a long-time research cooperator with UC Cooperative Extension specialist Jeff Mitchell, who has studied innovative, sustainable farming practices for 21 years at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center under four different treatments: no-till plus cover crops, no-till with no cover crops, conventionally tilled with cover crops and conventionally tilled without cover crops.

Since it was established, the research plots have been managed in an annual rotation of cotton, processing tomatoes and, more recently, sorghum, garbanzo beans and melons. When trying to decide what crop to bring into the rotation for 2020, Diener thought of butternut squash, a relatively large, thick-skinned squash that has little pest and disease problems and a long-shelf life. He suggested the squash could be donated to the Central California Food Bank and made available to local families in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

CCFB provides food to more than 220 agencies in Fresno, Madera, Kings, Kern and Tulare counties, serving more than 280,000 people each month. Last year, CCFB supplied over 40 million pounds of food in all.

Diener arranged for butternut squash seed to be donated by David Bodine of AgSeeds. He generously paid for several days of labor to harvest the crop. Diener contacted family friend Joan Minasian, who serves on the Food Bank board, to make arrangements for delivering 101 bins of squash – more than 70,000 pounds – to the food bank’s Fresno distribution center.

“The Central Valley Food Bank is working on diversifying the food we offer in meal boxes and distributions,” Minasian said. “I’m really proud of the food bank’s efforts to increase healthy foods. We’re always looking for farmers to partner with.”

Butternut squash, a winter squash, has a 90-day shelf life without refrigeration. It is grown in the summer; the name is derived from the fact that the mature vegetable can be stored for winter eating.

In addition to supporting farmers with research and advice, UC Cooperative Extension offers nutrition education programs to low-income Californians. Deepa Srivastava – UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for Kings and Tulare counties – manages two programs that extend information to families on healthy eating, food safety, food resource management, gardening, physical activity and youth engagement.

Srivastava said butternut squash is a nutritious addition to family diets. The vegetable is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C, and also supplies vitamin B-6, protein, fiber, magnesium, potassium and iron.

Link to article on Morning Ag Clips web site

In recognition of Veterans Day tomorrow, here is an encore presentation of a video from CDFA’s award-winning Growing California series. This was produced in 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FWbirZksUU&feature=emb_logo

By John Cox, Bakersfield Californian

Tiny wasps are here to save the day!

In response to a local surge in detections of a pest threatening to wipe out California’s citrus industry, a coalition of researchers and government officials last (month) released thousands of pinhead-size wasps called Tamarixia radiata into neighborhoods around Kern County.

The wasps are native to Pakistan and natural predators of the Asian citrus psyllid, a larger but still teensy pest that can carry the untreatable disease Huanglongbing, which devastated Florida’s citrus industry and now lurks in Southern California.

HLB, as the disease is commonly known, hasn’t been found in the Central Valley so far. But researchers worry it will eventually cross into the region. The bigger question is whether they can develop, approve and distribute a cure before that happens.

Harmless to humans, the Tamarixia wasps feed only on Asian citrus psyllids, research has found. What’s more, they parasitize the psyllid’s nymphs, said Victoria Hornbaker, director of the Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program.

By that she means the wasps lay eggs under nymph, and when they hatch, the young wasps burrow into the nymph, eat it and emerge from its head.

“It’s pretty gruesome to watch but also kind of cool,” Hornbaker said.

Already this year 74 citrus psyllids have been found in Kern, with the rate increasing in September and October, according to the pest and disease prevention program, which is an initiative funded by growers and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. It said the detections have been clustered recently in the Arvin, Bakersfield, Lamont and Maricopa areas.

More broadly, the pests have been found in more than 2,000 trees south of Fresno and in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. HLB’s spread has mostly been limited to L.A. and Orange counties. (A map of where psyllids have been found, wasps have been released and HLB has been detected is available online at https://ucanr.edu/sites/ACP/Distribution_of_ACP_in_California/.)

Almost 10,000 of the wasps were released in the areas of Arvin, Bakersfield, Lamont and Maricopa. Additional mass releases of wasps are scheduled for the months ahead.

It’s not the first time the wasps have been released locally. In 2016, thousands of them were released around Bakersfield to combat the citrus psyllid. They’ve also been deployed across Southern California as detections of the psyllid and HLB itself have soared in recent years.

Kern, at the southernmost portion of the Central Valley, faces the valley’s biggest financial risk. Citrus was the county’s third highest-grossing crop in 2019, when it brought in just shy of $1 billion.

The situation has prompted people within the prevention program to call for extra vigilance on the part of residents whose backyard fruit trees may already be infected with the mottled brown pest, which measures about the size of an aphid and feeds with its body at a 45-degree angle. Young psyllids are yellowish-orange and put out a waxy white substance visible on leaves.

“Kern County residents are being asked to inspect their backyard trees for ACP and to be aware that the California Department of Food and Agriculture … will be surveying citrus trees in the area near the detection sites to look for additional psyllids,” the pest prevention program said in a news release. “Residents may also notice yellow sticky traps being placed in citrus trees.”

The organization has urged property owners to keep an eye out for the psyllid when watering, pruning, spraying or otherwise tending to their citrus trees. Anyone who spots one is asked to call the CDFA’s free pest hotline: 800-491-1899.

It says the psyllids are mostly likely to be found on new leaves. Symptoms include blotchy or yellowing leaves, it said, as well as yellow shoots and lopsided, small and bitter fruit. It listed premature or excessive fruit drop as another sign of infection.

Another important measure it listed is to avoid moving citrus plants, foliage or fruit between regions.

Link to story on the Bakersfield.com web site

CDFA secretary Karen Ross appears in this story from the PBS program Market to Market. The portion about California wildfire impacts to Ag begins at 4:00.

https://youtu.be/RIAJ162wh3c

With the weather changing and Californians beginning to think more about heating their homes, CDFA is providing a video on the invasive species risk of moving firewood as well as tips from our Division of Measurement Standards for those buying firewood to make sure you get what you pay for.  CDFA is a partner in in the “Buy It Where You Burn It” campaign, urging people to not move firewood.

https://youtu.be/AvA6oYQKRsM

What is a Cord?

Bulk firewood is sold by a measurement called a “cord.” A cord must equal 128 cubic feet. To be sure you have a cord, stack the wood neatly by placing the wood in a line or a row, with individual pieces touching and parallel to each other, making sure that the wood is compact and has as few gaps as possible. Then measure the stack. If the width times the height times the length equals 128 cubic feet, you have a cord of firewood.

Stacking a Cord for Measurement

If It Doesn’t Equal 128 Cubic Feet, It is Not a Cord!

Words that May Indicate You Are Not Getting Proper Measurement

A cord, like other measurements such as a foot, a gallon, or a ton, is defined by law. A seller may not legitimately use terms such as “truckload,” “face cord,” “rack,” or “pile” because these terms have no legally defined meaning and, therefore, you have no way of determining how much firewood you are actually receiving. If a seller uses such terms it should alert you to a possible problem. Wood can only be sold by the cord or by fractions of a cord.

Get What You Pay For – Get It in Writing

When you buy firewood make sure to get a sales invoice or delivery ticket which shows at least the name and address of the seller, the date purchased or delivered, the quantity purchased, and the price of the quantity purchased.

When the wood is delivered, ask the seller to stack it (you may have to pay extra for this service) or stack the wood yourself. Measure the wood before using any. If the cubic measurement indicate that you did not receive the correct volume, contact the seller before you burn any wood.

What to Do if You Think You Have Been Short Changed

If the seller can’t or won’t correct the problem, contact your weights and measures office before you burn any wood. It is also helpful to document the possible shortage by taking a picture of the stacked wood.

Visit the web page of CDFA’s Division of Measurement Standards

Link to the California Firewood Task Force

By Lorena Anderson, UC Merced

By 2050, the U.S. population is estimated to grow to 400 million, and the world population to 9.1 billion, requiring a 70 percent increase in global food production.

UC Merced is one of four campuses across the country uniting to meet that challenge by harnessing the power of innovation and technology to develop precision agriculture for a sustainable future.

Led by the University of Pennsylvania, UC Merced, Purdue University and the University of Florida received a new, $26 million, five-year National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers (ERC) grant to form the NSF Engineering Research Center for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag). ERC are NSF’s flagship engineering programs for convergent research to address large-scale societal challenges.

The overall mission of IoT4Ag is to ensure food, energy and water security by developing technology to increase crop production while minimizing the use of energy and water resources and lessening the impact of agricultural practices on the environment. Collectively, the IoT4Ag Center will also create a diverse talent pipeline consisting of K–12 and university students, engineers, agriculture professionals and other members of farming communities through audience-specific lessons and hands-on classroom, laboratory and field activities. Bringing together academic, government and industry partners with the farming community, the Center will create an innovation ecosystem that ensures the rapid translation of IoT4Ag practices and technologies into commercial products, and will also ensure that such a transformation is built with sustainable positive economic and social impact in mind.

“We aim to engineer cost-effective systems that farmers will adopt,” said UC Merced professor Catherine Keske, the campus lead for the new initiative. “We’ll be building upon the momentum UC Merced already has developed in precision agriculture.”

The inaugural team at UC Merced’s branch of IoT4Ag features the agriculture economics Keske researches, as well as professor Stefano Carpin’s robotics and machine learning, professor Erin Hestir’s remote sensing and spatial analysis; and professor Reza Ehsani’s precision ag inventions, though Keske said the work of other faculty members and students from across the campus will be integral to IoT4Ag’s success.

The ERC are highly competitive and this is the School of Engineering’s first participation in one. Engineering Dean Mark Matsumoto emphasized that the multidisciplinary nature of the center brings UC Merced researchers nearly limitless opportunities to collaborate with established research universities that are all prestigious members of the Association of American Universities.

“The research and related efforts that will be conducted through this grant are important to the well-being of our region by seeking to develop technologies that will improve and sustain agricultural practices,” Matsumoto said. “I am very pleased that we are a part of this important endeavor — one that points to the emerging recognition of the school and the campus.”

Part of the ERC mandate is to converge a wide range of academic disciplines in tackling challenges; another is to develop a diverse and inclusive workforce from across the United States. By partnering with industry and a broad community of students, faculty and professionals, the IoT4Ag Center will create an innovation ecosystem to continue these efforts into the coming decades.

The West, Midwest and East Coast are all represented in IoT4Ag, with collaboration nodes and education and research sites across the country, providing limitless opportunities for students, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders.

The IoT4Ag Center is divided into three integrated thrusts, with teams of researchers working on sensing, communication and response technologies.

IoT4Ag is housed in the School of Engineering, but the UC Merced branch, in the communication thrust, will include many others: the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), UC Water, drone and energy researchers, management of complex systems experts, socio-economists and big-data analysts, as well as the community, region and state.

“We want to include everyone who has a perspective on engineering ag, from farmers, farm workers and the children of farm workers among our student body to government and industry partners,” Keske said. Like the rest of the team members, Keske will wear several hats as the initiative gets underway.

She’s responsible for diversity and inclusion, and said she’s looking to hold focus groups, ask farmers and commodity groups to be on the advisory board for IoT4Ag at UC Merced and visit field sites to survey farm workers, as well.

“We want everyone to have a voice in this,” Keske said.

Penn has also allocated a considerable part the ERC budget for travel and programs to train students, Keske said. The IoT4Ag plan calls for involving pre-college, community college and university students through audience-specific lessons and hands-on classroom, lab and field work; advising and mentoring; and a variety of social and professional activities to prepare a diverse workforce of the future to address the societal grand challenges of food, energy and water security.

The world’s finite land, water and energy resources demand new technologies and innovations to improve the efficiency and sustainability of all types of food production.

“We can create the tech and infrastructure that will help farmers manage their crops down to the finest details of water and soil nutrients,” Keske said. “Digital technologies have the potential to improve efficiency, equity, safety, nutrition, health and sustainability across the world’s food systems.”

Link to story on Unversity of California web site

By Steve Davies

More than half of farmers who seeded their cash crop into a growing cover crop last year — a practice known as “planting green” — said it helped them plant earlier than than they could in fields that didn’t have cover crops, according to an annual survey. 

“Despite the crippling spring rains of 2019, 54.3% of respondents said they were able to plant cash crops sooner in their green-planted fields than in fields where cover crops were either terminated early or were not present,” said the Conservation Technology Information Center’s annual survey report.

About 10% said the practice delayed planting, while 36% said they planted fields at about the same time, whether or not a cover crop was present.

The numbers reflect those who planted green, about 52% of the nearly 1,200 respondents in the survey of 2019 cover crop practices.

Seven in 10 of those farmers also said planting green improved their weed control, and about the same percentage said it helped with soil moisture management,

The survey “indicated that some of the concerns that many growers have had about the effects of cover crops on planting dates in a wet year turned out not to be true,” said CTIC’s Mike Smith, who ran the survey. “In fact, in many cases, cover crops helped farmers plant earlier in the very wet spring of 2019.”

The report also found significant percentages of farmers who said cover crops increased yields, resulted in better weed management, and helped them save on herbicides and fertilizer.

Cover crops are increasingly being touted as a way to save money and improve the environment, by reducing runoff from fields, cutting chemical use, and sequestering carbon in the soil.

Rob Myers, regional director of extension programs for North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, said in a news release that “many farmers are finding that cover crops improve the resiliency of their soil, and the longer they use cover crops, the greater the yield increases and cost savings that are reported by producers.”

Farmers who plant cover crops continue to seed more acres. “The average acreage planted to cover crops by participants … has steadily increased over the past five growing seasons,” from an average of 337 acres in 2015 to 465 acres last year, an increase of about 38%, the report said.

That’s in line with findings from USDA’s Census of Agriculture, which found a 50% increase in cover crop acreage between 2012 and 2017.

Yield increases in 2019 were more modest than in past years, the report said. In 2019, soybean yields improved 5% and corn yields increased 2% and spring wheat yields were 2.6% higher following cover crops. The largest yield increases were recorded in the drought year of 2012. 

The report said, “While farmers appreciate the yield benefits of cover crops, additional questions in the survey clearly indicate that they are also motivated by cover crops’ abilities to deliver other benefits, like weed control, soil health, erosion control, livestock grazing and so many others,” the report said.

“Not surprisingly for a group with a strong interest in a powerful soil health building practice such as cover crops, no-till was the dominant residue management practice among respondents,” the report said. “The most popular answer to ‘what tillage practice do you use most on your farm?’ was continuous no-till, practiced by 48% (466 of 981) of the respondents, while rotational no-till was employed by another 14% (138), for a total of 600 farmers (62%) practicing some sort of no-till.”

About 19% of the respondents were horticulture producers, defined as growers of vegetables, fruits and nuts. Asked to check any of five answers to the question – “What are your primary reasons for using cover crops?” – 94% cited improvement in soil structure or soil health; 81% said improving weed management; 71% said reducing soil erosion; and 64% said improving water infiltration.

Of the horticulture producers, 28.6% said use of cover crops had allowed them to significantly decrease their tillage, with about an equal percentage saying it had slightly decreased their tillage.

“More than half of the horticulture crop producers attributed an increase in profitability to their cover crops,” the report said. “Of 184 farmers who answered the question, 34.8% (64) reported a moderate increase in net profit — defined in the question as an increase of 5% or more — and 23.4% (43) reported a minor increase of 2 to 4% in net profit.”

The survey was conducted with with financial support from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and the American Seed Trade Association.

“We are pleased to see farmers appreciate the expertise of cover crop seed companies, with 46% saying they buy from them and another 42% buying from retailers,” said Jane DeMarchi, ASTA’s vice president of government and regulatory affairs.

“Professionally produced cover crop seed is grown for seed from the start and has been selected, harvested, cleaned and tested for performance. The study shows farmers are using a range of cover crop seed and mixes to address their individual needs, with 46% paying $15 or under per acre,” she said.

Here are some other highlights from the report:

• Forty-nine percent of corn producers reported reduced fertilizer costs, as did 41% of soybean producers, 43% of wheat farmers, and 53% of cotton producers.
• About 70% of the respondents who planted green said doing so improved their weed control. “The vast majority said levels of early season diseases, slugs, and voles — often feared as the potential downsides of planting green into cover crops — were about the same or better after planting green into cover crops.”
• Although 78.6% of respondents said wet weather had delayed planting in their county, 78% “did not have a prevent plant claim — reflecting failure to seed a cash crop before a final planting date specified by crop insurance rules — despite the challenging growing season. Among those who did, 36% said prevent plant was more common in conventionally managed fields compared to cover cropped fields, 55% said the incidence of prevent-plant was equal regardless of whether the field was cover cropped, and just 9% felt prevent plant was less common in conventional fields.”
• Nearly half of all corn producers said they saved money on fertilizer, “as did 41% of soybean producers, 43% of wheat farmers, and 53% of cotton producers.”
• About 71% of cotton producers were able to cut their herbicide costs. About 39% of corn and soybean growers reported savings, and 32% of wheat producers. “Among the farmers who did not report a cut in herbicide applications or costs, a majority still reported improved weed control from cover crops.” 
• “Three out of four respondents covered at least a portion of their crop with some form of federally subsidized crop insurance, with 53% of the total respondent pool covering 100% of their 2019 crop acres. Revenue Protection was the choice of 64.8%, while Revenue Protection with Harvest Price Exclusion (RPHPE) was employed by another 19.6%. Understanding the insurance preferences of cover crop users can help guide the further evolution of federally subsidized crop insurance programs to better accommodate cover crop practices.”

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