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Congress approves Farm Bill reauthorization

The House and Senate have passed the compromise Farm Bill, sending the legislation to the president for his signature.

Capital Public Radio's Julia Mitric asked Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources, what the Farm Bill holds for UC ANR and California.

"What's fascinating about the Farm Bill is, after all that hyper-partisan debate … it's really a lot of the same of what we already had," said Humiston, adding that it includes an increase of $25 million a year for research on specialty crops.

That's good news for California growers because nearly all of California's 400 crops are considered specialty crops in federal parlance and over 50 percent of the nation's fruits and vegetables are grown in California. Those federal grants will cover many areas, from developing climate-resilient farming practices to combating California's many invasive pests, Humiston said.

The Farm Bill removed hemp from the definition of a controlled substance, which will allow it once again be produced for agricultural purposes. This is exciting for UC Cooperative Extension researchers who are interested in helping farmers manage and grow this new crop.

Reauthorization of the Farm Bill is important to UC because it provides critical support for the nation's land-grant institutions, including agricultural research extension and infrastructure programs and nutrition education programs.

Overall, the final version of the Farm Bill represents a positive outcome for UC. In addition to specialty crop research, the bill contains strong support for organic agriculture research and also includes helpful provisions to address unnecessary regulatory burdens faced by researchers. The bill also preserves the competitive grants for citrus research.

Italian Ryegrass Resistance to Herbicides

WESTMINSTER, Colorado - November 23, 2018 - Herbicides have been instrumental in managing Italian ryegrass, a weed that frequently competes with perennial crops in California. Herbicide-resistant populations have become increasingly commonplace, though, including paraquat-resistant Italian ryegrass found recently in a California prune orchard.

A team of scientists set out to determine if the paraquat-resistant population might also be resistant to other postemergence herbicides. Seven other herbicides commonly used in fruit tree and nut tree crops were included in the study, including clethodim, fluazifop-P-butyl, glufosinate, glyphosate, pyroxsulam, rimsulfuron and sethoxydim.

Researchers found the paraquat-resistant population was also resistant to both clethodim and glyphosate. Among the remaining herbicides, glufosinate, rimsulfuron and sethoxydim were found to deliver the best postemergence control. Unfortunately, though, other populations of Italian ryegrass have developed resistance to the three herbicides, indicating their effectiveness may be short-lived.

"Overreliance on postemergence herbicides from a variety of chemical classes can result in weed populations that exhibit multiple resistances," says Caio Augusto Brunharo, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Davis. "Effective herbicide-resistance management programs are necessary for sustainable weed control."

The researchers recommended a number of preemergence herbicides as control options for Italian ryegrass in fruit and nut tree crops, including tank mixes containing indaziflam and flumioxazin.

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Full text of the article, "Multiple Herbicide-Resistant Italian Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) in California Perennial Crops: Characterization, Mechanism of Resistance and Chemical Management" is now available in Weed Science Volume 66, Issue 6.

About Weed Science

Weed Science is a journal of the Weed Science Society of America, a nonprofit scientific society focused on weeds and their impact on the environment. The publication presents peer-reviewed original research related to all aspects of weed science, including the biology, ecology, physiology, management and control of weeds. To learn more, visit http://www.wssa.net.

italaian ryefrass resistance

Something Sweet and Something Neat: Entomological Holiday Gifts at UC Davis

Just call these "something sweet" and "something neat." Yesterday on Bug Squad we featured holiday...

Sweet! The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is selling honey and offering free recipes.

Sweet! The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is selling honey and offering free recipes.

UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) offers t-shirts year-around and they're especially popular during the hoidays. From left are president Brendon Boudintot, t-shirt coordinator Jill Oberski and Corwin Parker with their award-winning shirts. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) offers t-shirts year-around and they're especially popular during the hoidays. From left are president Brendon Boudintot, t-shirt coordinator Jill Oberski and Corwin Parker with their award-winning shirts. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT :: Assistant Professor--IPM

The Central Oregon Agricultural Research and Extension Center (COAREC) invites applications for a...

Dirt Conference

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