Posts Tagged: agriculture

New UC study estimates costs for growing strawberries on the Central Coast

The strawberry cost study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs,

A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for growing strawberries on California's Central Coast was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.

The cost study models a management scenario for a 50-acre farm, 45 acres of which are planted to strawberries, located in Santa Cruz, Monterey or San Benito counties. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads and buildings.  The study describes the cultural practices used in strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.      

The 19-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle.  A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.

The new study, titled “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Strawberries” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.  

For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study. 

For more information, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.edu, or Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.

Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.

Understanding cattle grazing personalities may foster sustainable rangelands

To better understand individual grazing patterns, researchers went to the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center in Browns Valley and tracked 50 beef cows fitted with GPS collars. File photo by Ray Lucas

Matching herds to landscape can support animal growth and ecological needs

Not all cattle are the same when it comes to grazing. Some like to wander while others prefer to stay close to water and rest areas.

Recognizing those personality differences could help ranchers select herds that best meet grazing needs on rangelands, leading to better animal health and environmental conditions, according to a new paper from the University of California, Davis, published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

“Cattle can actually be beneficial for the rangelands,” said lead author Maggie Creamer, who recently earned her Ph.D. in animal behavior at UC Davis. “Vegetation in rangelands actually need these kinds of disturbances like grazing.”

Ranchers can add elements to the rangeland such as water, mineral supplements and fencing to influence where cattle graze, but little research has been done on how those efforts affect individual cows. Considering personalities could save money.

“If you're spending all this money to add a management tool in order to change the distribution of your animals, that's a huge cost to ranchers,” said Creamer. “Thinking about other tools, or selecting certain animals with these grazing traits, might be a better way to optimize the distribution on rangeland rather than spending a bunch of money for something that may ultimately not pan out for all your animals.”

Effects of grazing

Livestock graze on an estimated 56 million acres in California, and healthy rangelands host native vegetation and animals, foster nutrient cycling and support carbon sequestration.

Uneven grazing can degrade water quality, soil health and habitats. Optimizing grazing — including the even spread of cow pies — can improve the ecosystem while also reducing fuel loads for wildfires.

To better understand individual grazing patterns, researchers went to the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center in Browns Valley and tracked 50 pregnant Angus and Hereford beef cows fitted with GPS collars.

A cow at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center in Browns Valley being tracked as part of research on cattle grazing personalities. Photo by Maggie Creamer, UC Davis

The research

The cattle, which were tracked from June to August over two years, had access to 625 acres of grasslands and treed areas ranging in elevation from 600 to 2,028 feet. In the second year, a new watering site was added at a higher elevation.

Across the two years, the cows showed consistent and distinct grazing patterns even when water sources changed. Age and stage of pregnancy did not affect patterns, though cattle tended to clump near water and rest sites on hotter days.

The cows that ventured into higher elevations and farther from watering sites had more variability in their grazing patterns than those that stayed at lower elevations near water. That suggests it may be harder for non-wanderers to adjust to some landscapes.

“Thinking about the topography of your rangeland and your herd of cows can benefit both the animals and the sustainability of the land,” said Creamer, who next month begins work as a postdoctoral scholar in North Carolina.

Gauging personalities

Keying in on personality type may sound difficult, but the researchers also found some clues as to how to pinpoint the wanderers and homebodies. Unlike cattle at feedlots, the breeding cow population, especially on rangelands in California and other western states, live largely “wild” lives and are rarely handled, save for vaccinations and weaning.

Research due to be published later this year found that paying attention to individual cow reactions during those events can help determine personalities. The cows that appeared more passive during those handling interactions tended to be nomadic.

“We found that you can maybe predict those hill climbers if you kind of look at how they act when the veterinarian or rancher handle them,” said senior author Kristina Horback, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis.

Informing practices

For ranchers, the findings could be invaluable, said Dan Macon, a livestock and natural resources Cooperative Extension advisor in Placer and Nevada counties for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“Any time we can improve our understanding of cattle behavior, particularly at the individual level, it can improve how we handle livestock and manage the landscape,” he said.

Macon said that during the recent drought, it was hard to get cattle into higher country, but if ranchers could have selected the nomads, it may have saved money in terms of ranch labor and other efforts.

“If you ask a rancher who has been attentive to their cattle over many years, they know the personalities,” Macon said.

For Creamer and Horback, the research opens new doors into understanding herd behavior and dynamics, one that could be a cheaper alternative to high-tech solutions.

“Animal science tends to look overlook the mind of the animal when searching for solutions to challenges,” Horback said. “It's always been a direct line to genetics for immunity or nutrition, but nothing about the mind of the animal. And that's such a loss. There's so much we can learn from behavior in the end.”

The Russell L. Rustici Rangeland and Cattle Research Endowment supported the research.

This article was first published on the UC Davis News site.

Organic strawberry yields boosted by technique refined through UCCE research

There is a stark difference in plant vigor between an ASD-treated plot (left) and a standard untreated plot in an organic field infected with charcoal rot. Photo by Joji Muramoto

Anaerobic soil disinfestation helps suppress weeds, disease without fumigants

Troubled by puny plants, low yields and persistent mite problems, third-generation Southern California strawberry grower Glen Hasegawa was ready to give up on his transition from conventional to organic 12 years ago.

“I've always liked a challenge – but it turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be!” he said.

But then, with the help of scientists including Oleg Daugovish, UC Cooperative Extension strawberry and vegetable crop advisor in Ventura County, Hasegawa tried a technique called anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD). When applied correctly, the multi-step ASD process creates a soil environment that suppresses pathogens and weeds and makes for healthier, more robust crop growth.

“Back in the day, it was really hard to get the plant growing vigorously in organic,” said Hasegawa, owner of Faria Farms in Oxnard. “So we started using the ASD and then you could definitely see that the plant had more vigor and you could grow a bigger, better plant using it.”

Seeing that he could produce yields “in the neighborhood” of those grown in conventional strawberry fields fumigated with synthetic fumigants, Hasegawa was able to expand his original 10 acres of organic strawberries to 50 acres.

“I guess you could say I'm kind of a convert,” he said, noting that he now applies ASD to all his acreage each year in late spring.

Joji Muramoto, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in organic production based at UC Santa Cruz, has been experimenting with ASD since it was first brought to the U.S. from the Netherlands and Japan in the early 2000s. Carol Shennan, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at UCSC, and Muramoto were among the first to try the technique in California. They found that ASD successfully controlled an outbreak of Verticillium wilt – caused by the pathogen Verticillium dahliae – at UCSC's small organic farm in 2002.

Since then, Shennan, Muramoto, Daugovish and their colleagues have seen encouraging results at 10 trial sites across the state.

“We demonstrated that ASD can provide comparable yields with fumigants, in side-by-side replicated trials,” Muramoto said.

The strawberry plants in the ASD-treated plot (left) are more robust than those growing in untreated soil. A plastic mulch (typically opaque is used by growers, but clear was used here for research purposes) is crucial as part of the ASD process to improve plant productivity and control weeds. Photo by Oleg Daugovish

ASD promotes host of beneficial changes to soil ecosystem

ASD comprises three basic steps: incorporating a carbon source that is easily digestible by microbes in the soil (traditionally, rice bran has been used), further encouraging fermentation by covering the soil with plastic to limit oxygen supply, and finally adding water through drip irrigation to initiate the “anaerobic” decomposition of the carbon source and maintain the three-week “cooking” process.

The resulting cascade of chemical, microbiological and physical changes to the soil creates an ecosystem that is both conducive to strawberry growth – and inhospitable to pathogens and weeds.

“It's not like a pesticide where you have a mode of action, and thus resulting in ‘A' and ‘B' for you,” Daugovish explained. “There's a sort of cocktail of events that happens in the soil; they all happen interconnectedly.”

Compared to similar fields that did not undergo the process, ASD-applied organic strawberry fields across California have seen yields increase by 60% to 70% – and even doubling in some cases, according to Daugovish.

The UCCE advisor also shared the story of a longtime grower in Ventura County, who came to him with fields in “miserable” condition; they were plagued by one of the world's worst weeds, yellow nutsedge, and infected with charcoal rot, a disease caused by the fungus Macrophomina phaseolina. But after applying rice bran and following the ASD recipe, the grower saw phenomenal results.

“The only complaint he said to me was, ‘Now I have too many berries – we have to have more pickers to pick the berries!'” Daugovish recalled.

Via researchers' meetings, online resources, on-farm demonstration trials and word of mouth from peers, use of ASD by California strawberry growers has grown significantly during the past two decades. Tracking the purchase of rice bran, Muramoto estimated that about 2,500 acres were treated by the ASD-related practices in 2023 – covering roughly half of the 5,200 total acres of organic strawberries in California.

Muramoto directly links the growth of California organic strawberry production – which now comprises about 13% of total strawberry acreage in the state – with the increasing adoption of ASD.

“If you remove the acreage with the applied rice bran over the last 10 years or so, organic strawberry acreage is just flat,” he said.

Applying rice bran provides the easily digestible carbon source that soil microbes feed on. Once covered by plastic mulch, anaerobic conditions develop and microorganisms that prefer such an environment thrive, while pathogenic organisms and germinating weeds are suppressed. Before planting, holes are cut in the plastic to let oxygen back into the soil and encourage the growth of the strawberry plants. Photo by Oleg Daugovish

Within the last decade, acreage of organic strawberries with ASD-related practices increased by 1,640 acres, which is a boon for air quality, human health and long-term soil vitality. According to Muramoto's calculations, that increase in organic acreage translates to a reduction of about 465,000 pounds of fumigant active ingredients that would have been used in growing conventional strawberries.

“There are hundreds of reports of acute illnesses related to fumigation in the record, so it's very important to find alternatives to fumigants,” said Muramoto, citing California Department of Pesticide Regulation documents.

Research continues to make ASD more economical, effective

The popularity of ASD has come at a price, however, for organic strawberry growers.

“There's more organic out there, and I think most of the organic guys are using it, so there's more demand on the rice bran; the price has been steadily going up every year, like everything else,” said Hasegawa, adding that he has been trying to decrease the amount of carbon while maintaining ASD's efficacy.

On top of greater demand from other growers and from beef cattle and dairy producers (who use rice bran as feed), the price also has increased due to higher costs in transporting the material across the state from the Sacramento Valley. So Daugovish and his colleagues – including Peter Henry, a U.S. Department of Agriculture plant pathologist – have been searching for a cheaper alternative.

“We all want an inexpensive, locally available, reliable, easy to use and functional carbon source, which sounds like a big wish list,” Daugovish said.

Carbon sources such as bark, wood chips, or compost are ineffective, as the crucial ASD microorganisms are choosy about their food.

In a field of 'Victor' strawberries, researchers saw a 41% increase in yield using ASD with midds, in comparison to untreated soil. Photo by Oleg Daugovish

“Microbes are just like cows; you can't feed them straight wood; they get pretty angry,” Daugovish explained. “And if you feed them something with too much nitrogen, they can't digest it – they get the runs. Microbes are the same way – you have to have the right proportion of stuff so they feel comfortable doing what they're doing.”

In search of an ideal replacement, researchers tried and ruled out grass clippings, onion waste, glycerin and coffee grounds. Finally, they pivoted to a material with properties very similar to rice bran: wheat bran, in the form of wheat middlings (also called midds, a byproduct of flour milling) and dried distillers' grain (DDG, a byproduct of ethanol extraction).

After field experiments in Santa Paula, the UC and USDA researchers found that midds and DDG were just as effective at controlling soilborne pathogens and weeds as rice brain – but at 25% to 30% less cost. Their results were published last year in the journal Agronomy.

“Not surprisingly, the wheat bran has worked almost exactly the same as rice bran,” Daugovish said.

He and Muramoto are now conducting trials with wheat bran at commercial fields, and the initial results are promising. Daugovish said the grower at one site in Ventura County has seen a 90% reduction in Macrophomina phaseolina, the causal pathogen of charcoal rot, in the soil – and an 80% to 90% drop in yellow nutsedge germination. They are waiting for final yield numbers after the coming summer.

While ASD has been beneficial to organic productivity and soil health, both Daugovish and Muramoto acknowledged specific limitations in suppressing the “big three” strawberry diseases: Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt and charcoal rot. In coastal areas with cooler soil temperatures, for example, ASD can actually exacerbate the latter two diseases, as the fungal pathogens feed on the rice bran.

“We know it works at warmer temperatures, but, practically, it's hard to do in coastal California,” Muramoto said. “It would be nice if we can find a way to suppress Fusarium wilt at a lower temperature, but we don't have it right now.”

That's why researchers emphasize that ASD is not a “silver bullet.” It's just one tool in the organic toolbox, which includes careful crop rotation, disease-resistant strawberry varieties and better diagnostic tests that help growers pinpoint outbreaks and make the application of various methods more targeted and more efficient.

And scientists will continue to optimize ASD to make it more effective and economical for growers in the different strawberry regions of California – from the Central Coast to the Oxnard Plain.

“We know it can work really well; it's just finding the most sustainable way to do this in our region,” Daugovish said. “We've got to just have an open mind and keep trying.”

REC System Director Haver encourages systemic approach to agriculture

Darren Haver (center) and fellow roundtable participants raise their hands when asked the question, "how many of you work in agriculture?" All photos by Saoimanu Sope.

Agriculture generates $59 billion and employs nearly 400,000 individuals in California. The industry, however, is often threatened by challenges like climate change, land conversion and water scarcity. Motivated to act, Sustain Southern California – an organization associated with UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation – hosted a roundtable discussion on Feb. 20 featuring subject matter experts including Darren Haver, director of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Research and Extension Center System.

During his keynote address, Jose Arriaga, Orange County Agricultural Commissioner, defined sustainability as food and fiber production that does not compromise the ability for future generations to meet their needs. In doing so, he acknowledged the benefit of discussing such timely topics with key players, especially for places where agriculture is not as prevalent as it used to be. 

“Many people don't think of Orange County as a place for agriculture. It's probably because less land is being reserved for agriculture, not like back in the day. And that worries me,” said Arriaga. 

Jose Arriaga (left) and Haver (right) during the Sustain SoCal event hosted at the UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation Center.

The first roundtable discussion centered on sustainable agriculture, with Haver participating alongside other industry leaders based in Southern California, including A.G. Kawamura of Orange County Produce, Steve Brazeel of Sunterra Produce and Elevated Foods, Anthony Curci of Buttonwood Ranch and Parker Cohn from Performance Resource Management.

In discussing today's generation, Haver said that he has seen a shift over the last few decades away from yield alone, which used to be the most important aspect of production in agriculture. Today, much more attention is dedicated to sustainability – a change that Haver attributes to the younger generation of researchers and plant scientists working in agriculture.

There has also been an emphasis on sustaining the environment while maintaining economic progress. Haver recognized these important elements, but highlighted the social impact of sustainability, too.

“I don't have all the answers, but I do believe that addressing the environmental, economic and social aspects of agriculture is important. I also think that these factors should be addressed systemically rather than in silos,” said Haver.

Southern California agricultural producers, in particular, are responsible for $7.8 billion in gross receipts and nearly 100,000 jobs directly related to agriculture. In Orange County alone, where Haver is based at the South Coast Research and Extension Center, agriculture makes up $86 million of total economic output, with nurseries leading as a top commodity followed by fruit trees, vegetable production and livestock and apiary.

Climate-smart crop production workshops March 5-7 in Ventura, Salinas and Tulare

Workshops will cover the latest research and advances in managing risks to agricultural production that can result from climate change and climate variability.

Growers invited to learn how to manage risks to fruit, nut, vegetable production

UC Cooperative Extension is offering workshops in Ventura, Salinas and Tulare to help growers adapt their fruit, nut and vegetable production practices to variable climate conditions.

"Growers, farm and ranch managers, and technical assistance providers can learn about the latest research and advances in managing risks to agricultural production that can result from climate change and climate variability,” said Daniele Zaccaria, associate professor in agricultural water management for Cooperative Extension at UC Davis.

Tapan Pathak, UCCE specialist at UC Merced, will speak about climate change trends, potential impacts on agricultural production and decision support tools. Zaccaria and local experts will discuss cover cropping, pests and other issues.

During a roundtable session, participants will discuss their own production challenges resulting from climate change and variability.

“Participants will also learn about tools available to aid manage climate change and climate variability risks," Zaccaria said. 

The Climate-Smart Agricultural Production Practices workshops will be held in three locations: 

Ventura: Vegetable and Berry Production

March 5 (8 a.m.–1:30 p.m.)
669 County Square Dr., Suite 100

Speakers include UCCE advisors Andre Biscaro, Ben Faber and Mark Battany, and other scientists and experts from Ventura County Resource Conservation District and Land IQ. Register at https://bit.ly/VenturaCrops.

Salinas: Vegetable, Berry and Grapevine Production

March 6 (8 a.m. –2 p.m.)
1432 Abbott St.

Speakers include Daniel Hasegawa and Eric Brennan of USDA-ARS and UCCE advisors Larry Bettiga, Michael Cahn and Mark Bolda. Register at https://bit.ly/SalinasCrops.

Tulare: Fruit and Nut Production

March 7 (8 a.m.–2 p.m.)
4500 South Laspina St.

Speakers include UCCE advisors Jhalendra Rijal, Mark Battany, Mohammad Yaghmour, Sandipa Gautam, Brent Holtz and other scientists and experts from USDA-NRCS, Almond Board of California; California Pistachio Research Board and Land IQ. Register at https://bit.ly/TulareCrops.

Workshops are free and include coffee breaks, lunch, workshop materials along with the presentations. Registration is required. 

These workshops are supported by grants from the California Department of Food and Agriculture and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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