Ag Alert is the newspaper of the California Farm Bureau Federation, reaching Farm Bureau agricultural and collegiate members. Agricultural members are owners and decision-makers on California farms and ranches. The California Farm Bureau Federation is a non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary membership organization whose purpose is to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout the state of California and to find solutions to the problems of the farm, the farm home and the rural community. Farm Bureau is California's largest farm organization, comprised of 53 county Farm Bureaus. Farm Bureau strives to protect and improve the ability of farmers and ranchers engaged in production agriculture to provide a reliable supply of food and fiber through responsible stewardship of California's resources.
Olive acreage declines Legal battle also shakes up industry
Resistant Rice Experimental station breeds varieties to fight disease
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www.cfbf.com • www.agalert.com SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
Field Crops ® Vegetables ®
s p e c i a l r e p o r t s
ByChristine Souza California’s reservoirs are nearly empty due to historic drought conditions. Water supplies for many farmers are curtailed or cut off entirely, leaving them to hope thatMotherNaturebringswinter rainand snowpack to rescue themnext year. But, until then, irrigation districts in several Central Valley farm communi- ties are going to court, challenging the authority of state officials to curtail their senior water rights. Lawsuits, filed in recent weeks, are at- tempting to overturn drought emergency water curtailments imposed lastmonthby the StateWater Resources Control Board. The Aug. 20 board action halted water diversions for 10,300 water rights on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It effec- tively closed the surface water faucet for some 4,500 farms in America’s largest ag- ricultural economy. Theboardsaid theactionwasnecessary due to lowwater levels andconcernabout next year’s supply. A suit challenging the curtailment was filed in Fresno Superior Court on Sept. 2 by the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority. It represents Modesto Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District, Oakdale Irrigation District and South San Joaquin IrrigationDistrict. The authority’s districts irrigate some 325,000 acres of farmland. In addition, water pulled by the authority from the Tuolumne River serves 2.7 million Bay Area residents. The districts—joined in the suit by the CityandCountyof SanFrancisco—charge that state officials are violating water rights that predate 1914. That was the year California enacted its water rights law. It gave preference to senior water rights holders—includingmunicipalities suchas SanFranciscoandmany irrigationdistricts and farms—that had established water claims before the lawwas on the books. See LAWSUITS, Page 18 Regional districts file suit over state water supply cuts
Capitol rally calls for ‘card check’ veto With fellow employees behind her, Duarte Nursery labor manager Patricia Lopez, holding microphone, speaks at a rally last week at the Capitol in Sacramento. Listening at left is California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson. The two urged a veto of a bill that would make it easier for unions to organize farm employees and said attention should be paid to water and other crises facing California farms and ranches.
ByKevinHecteman Amid a punishing drought, a bill that wouldmake it easier forunions toorganize California farms and ranches has landed on the governor’s desk. Acontingentoffarmersandfarmemploy- ees visitedSacramento lastweek to suggest that someprioritiesneededreordering. “The focus in California should be
keeping California agriculture employed and working,” California Farm Bureau President JamieJohanssonsaidinaspeech on the Capitol’s south steps. Johansson suggested that focus is be- ing underminedby legislationnowon the deskofGov.GavinNewsom.He joinedral- ly participants in calling for a veto. Assembly Bill 616, by Democratic
AssemblymanMarkStoneof ScottsValley, wouldoverturna longstanding traditionof secret-ballot elections for union organiz- ing. Itwouldallowforanorganizingsystem knownas “cardcheck.”Critics say itwould leave workers vulnerable to undue coer- cion or potential retribution if they fail to sign paperwork to unionize.
See AB 616 Page 12
n e w s p a p e r
From the Fields........................ 4-5 Field Crops...................................7 Vegetables................................. 13 Classifieds........................... 21-23 Inside
Published by
How California ignored lessons of an epic drought
By JustinFredrickson The epic California dry spell that even not-so-old drought historians like to call attention to—1976-77—tracks uncannily close to our current exceptional drought conditions of 2020-21. Sadly, California’s statewide water sys- temhas changed almost not a whit since
COVID“Comeback” package. Of that amount, nearly $1.8 billion goes tocleanwater for small anddisadvantaged communities. That’s an important priority for many rural and agricultural areas, but doesn’t includeanydirectwater supply for parchedCalifornia farms. Over $1.2 billion is earmarked for vari- ous fishandhabitat purposes—including $500 million for euphemistically labeled “multi-benefit land repurposing to sup- port growers.” To translate, that means converting dried-up farmland into some- thing else. For actual agriculture-related water supplies, the spendingplan includes $300 million for local groundwater sustainabil- ity, $200 million for regional water con- veyance, $220 million for Salton Sea res- toration, $60million for a state farmwater conservationprogramand$91million for improvedweather and runoff forecasting. The total proposed spending—$870mil- lion—onlymodestly fortifies diminishing farmwater supplies. Future generations may well one day look back, aghast, on a remarkable tale of multiple generations in California having had an astounding lack of vision and fail- ure to plan, lead and act. California can no longer afford to stand by listlessly or undertake partial mea- sures as the state lurches fromdrought to drought as our already inadequate infra- structure crumbles. If California is truly serious about beinga leaderinconfrontingtheclimatejuggernaut, it must move forwardwith historic invest- mentsandvision.Wecannolongeraffordto betheenablers—throughlackofaction—of tomorrow’s foreseeablewater crises. (JustinFredrickson is environmental pol- icy analyst for theCaliforniaFarmBureau. Hemay be contacted at jef@cfbf.com.)
t he 1970s . And stresses andstrains on the systemhave mounted expo- nentially, leaving us arguably in a far worse place. In the 45 years s i nc e t he s t a r t o f t he 1 9 7 6 - 7 7 d rough t t o t he alarmingdéjà vuof
The New Melones Reservoir, pictured in 2018 before current drought conditions, was California’s last major water project. It was completed two years after the devastating 1976-77 drought.
ter extraction as shrinking snowpack and more frequent andseveredroughts further strainedwater resources for agriculture. Despiteoverwhelmingvoterapproval of the Proposition 1 water initiative in 2014, the signature project—Sites Reservoir— isn’t anticipated until 2030. In the inter- im, California is unable to capture surface water in wet years that can be stored to improve drought resilience in dry years. But over many years, California’smajor economic and urban population centers have been investing to bulletproof their own portions of the system. Well-heeled moralists in these fortifiedbastions of arti- ficialwater reliabilityhavebeenpointing to the rest of our bone-dry state andwagging a disapproving finger. But, if things continuealongour current path, dry conditions may imperil coastal cities as well. Ju s t l a s t mon t h , t he powe r f u l Metropolitan Water District of Southern California issuedasupplyalert afterU.S. of- ficialsdeclaredawatershortageonacritical LosAngeles supplier, theColoradoRiver. Meanwhile, it hasn’t been the rest of
state’s fault that a long and almost unbro- ken string of decisions, indecisions and non-decisions left landlocked disadvan- taged communities and California’s mas- siveagricultural sector—theGoldenGoose of our Golden State—high and dry. In the face of all of this decline, agricul- ture is doing what agriculture does and has always done—its level best with the increasingly scarce means and resourc- es available to it. California agriculture is resourceful and resilient and will adapt. It’s just hardly like the old days, when the notion of making California fruitful and productive had the state’s wholehearted and enthusiastic support. Today, people still like and, of course, need to eat. They just don’t see or under- stand their food comes from somewhere andthat somewhere takesacertain level of water reliability to keep it all going. Last year, the Newsom administration created an action plan on water: the 2020 California Water Resilience Portfolio. As the drought and water crisis worsened, the administration in May announced a $5.1 billion water infrastructure chunk of amuch larger estimated$100billionpost-
Justin Fredrickson
this year’s crisis, California’sonceenviable statewide water systemhas steadily aged and deteriorated. The last major water project was completed two years after the 1976-77 drought, when the United States Bureau of Reclamationwrapped up years of work onNewMelones, the final reservoir of the mammothCentral Valley Project. Somehow, few lessons from 1976-77 have takenhold. Ever since, Californiahas been busy not adding much of anything. Instead, one non-decision and one new regulationat a time, thestategraduallydis- mantled a relatively reliable water supply system—replacing it with, well, nothing. Meanwhile, the Golden State’s popu- lation has ballooned fromover 20million people to 40 million. And without new water resources for growing communi- ties, California policymakers also steadily increased water demands to protect fish, wildlifeandtheenvironment at large. They placed major constraints on groundwa-
VOL. 48, NO. 34
September 15, 2021
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2 Ag Alert September 15, 2021
Legal battle shakes up olive industry as acreage shrinks
timated at 55,000 tons this year, up from 23,000 tons in 2020, according to USDA. The Olive Growers Council of California projected 2021 production at 67,000 tons. Whi le Bel l -Car ter has moved to sourcing more table olives outside of California, Musco has been urging grow- ers to replace their old orchards with higher-density, modern-style plantings that allow for mechanical harvesting. Most of the state’s table olives are still picked by hand. The new approach em- ploys shaker technology similar towhat’s used inmost other tree crops.
Musco’s “1 million trees” initiative, in which the processor supplies growers with free nursery stock for planting, rep- resents 3,000 to 4,000 acres, said Dennis Burreson, the company’s vice president of field operations. His family grows table olives in Orland. He said Musco remains committed to buying from California growers and in mechanization, which can reduce har- vesting costs by 60%. Whereas the aver- age yield on older orchards ranges from
ByChing Lee As harvest of California table olives ramps up, growers say they remain at a critical juncture as they ponder the future of the business—andwhether to stay in it. Though table olive production this year is up over 2020, California acreage of the fruit continues to decline. Growers say they strugglewith rising picking costs and prices that fail to cover what it takes to produce the crop. The current state bearing acreage stands at 12,800, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This rep- resents a historic low. Acreage last year stood at 15,500, compared to 19,000 acres in 2016 and 36,000 in 2011. Now Bell-Carter Foods—one of two major table olive processors left in the state—is embroiled in a legal dispute with one of its partners and suppliers. That’s triggering concerns over how the fallout will affect the company’s remain- ing contract growers and stability of the entire table olive sector. TheWalnut Creek-basedcanner termi- nated most of its California grower con- tracts in 2019 after selling 20%of its share to the Spanisholive companyDcoop. The partnership allowed Bell-Carter to im- port less-expensive foreignolives into the U.S. for processing while avoiding tariffs. Dcoop and two other related compa- nies filed suit last month against Bell- Carter, claiming they were induced to purchase their stake for $15millionbased on intentional misrepresentations of the processor’s inventory value, projected earnings and financial position. The Spanish companies seek return of the purchase price, plus interest and other costs. In a company statement in response to questions from Ag Alert® , Bell-Carter said it has “not purchasedmuch” fromDcoop since last year and has been working to dissolve their relationship since then. “Dcoop has demonst rated to us during the course of our engagement that they are a company that is not aligned with our core values,” Bell- Carter said in the statement. It also said Dcoop has been unable to live up to its contractual promises. Bell-Carter, which describes itself as being the leading table olive producer in the U.S. and second largest in the world, said the suit is “filled with misinforma- tion and false accusations.” The company said it intends to “defend ourselves against their baseless claims.” It added, “These issues do not impact the day-to-day operations of Bell-Carter and it is business as usual here.” The canner said it continues to build its global supply chain, which includes buying olives from California growers. This strategy, Bell-Carter said, has pre- pared the processor for aharvest this year that’s expected to yield “an abundance of smaller-sizedoliveswitha shortage of the larger sizes.”
Bell-Carter and Musco Family Olive Co. in Tracy—the state’s other major ta- ble olive processor—have for years said the state’s shrinking table olive acreage and the alternate-bearing nature of olive trees leave them short of the supply they need, particularly during “off ” produc- tion years. California table olive production is es-
See OLIVES, Page 23
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September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 3
Peter Ficklin MaderaCountywinegrape grower and vintner
What I’m hear- ing from growers this year is it’s a lighter crop. Some of the older vines are struggling
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more with a lack of water, and the younger vines we are pulling grapes from seem to have more of an average crop. We’re going to see a small crop next year if we don’t get some water into the ground and into the root zone. Smoke taint has been in the news, and California has certainly had its share of wildfires. Here in Madera, we’re isolated from that but still remain concerned. COVID has been an issue for almost a year and a half now; it’s been a real roller coaster for the tasting room in when we can taste and what regulations will allow. We have followed a recommendation to close the tasting room. Wine sales have been very good both online and for curbside pickup. We’ve stayed in touch with customers through webinars via Zoomwith tasting samples that we send out. But it certainly has put a damper on the ability to come out and taste. Crush and harvest is happening now, and we look forward to being able to share ports that we’re making with people in the future. Jim Morris SiskiyouCounty farmer and rancher In the Scott and Shasta valleys,
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the water board is curtailing all agri- cultural water use at this time. We, of course, still have
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ment of the forest is going to have to happen for safety reasons. We have communities right now that are in incredible jeopardy. We’ve got a little bit of rain, which could help, but we could still lose towns. It’s one thing to have some fires out in the woods, but when we’re losing whole communities, we need to say this is enough and come up with ways to manage forests more actively. Brian Fedora ColusaCountywalnut farmer The long days
of drought. As we move into harvest, we be- gin to plan for next year. That is also proving to be more difficult than usual, as we don’t know how much water we will have. More than ever, California needs to move forward with more water storage and a new and improved plan for water deliveries. If we want to have more people in this state and continue to farm, we need to improve the infrastructure that we already have. Denise Godfrey SanDiegoCounty nursery producer It has been a good year so far. This sentiment
demand happened organically. On the whole, this year is shaping up to be better than last year. With a lot of production coming on, we are hoping ev- erybody’s appetite is still pretty good for plants in the fall. At the start of the pandemic, everyone was just trying to get their hands on any kind of foliage. Lately, we have seen con- sumers starting to become more selective about the plants they buy. I think that’s going to continue in the spring. We are always trying new varieties, so we can continue to focus on providing durable and interesting houseplants. Along with many other operations, raw-material costs and labor availability are a couple of the biggest challenges we have seen over the last year. This did prompt a mid-year price increase. We continue to focus on how to use our re- sources more efficiently. Doug Dickson SacramentoCounty pear grower Both Bosc and Bartlett bloomed simultaneously this year. We didn’t have a lot of blight pres-
We finished Bartletts on July 29. We fin- ished Bosc on Aug. 14. Timing of irrigation was essential this year to get fruit to size, so we spent a lot of time measuring soil moisture. We irrigated probably more this year than we had in previous years because of the drought. This ranch has been farmed since the 1880s, so we have senior water rights, and we kept the water going as the fruit was sizing. The Bosc responded well to irrigating. Both vari- eties sized pretty well in June. The yields on Bartletts were pretty good. We had a record crop on the Bosc this year. As usual, the market during the first part of harvest is always the best and deterio- rates very quickly once we get into harvest. We’re all trying to get fruit to size and hit the market early, and oftentimes it’s difficult. You want to wait for more size and for the fruit to mature, so you get a bigger crop. But if the market drops in half, it didn’t do you any good. One of the reasons a lot of stuff didn’t get picked this year is if you didn’t get water on it, there were some sizing issues. We didn’t see that on this orchard, but there’s quite a bit of stuff that didn’t get picked around here because they just didn’t size. If you’re late and you’ve got smaller fruit, there’s no market for it anymore. Labor was way better than last year. Many days last year we didn’t have any pickers come. This year was pretty stable. We had some inexperienced pickers that were not doing very well, and we had to make some changes, but the labor contrac- tors had decent crews.
of bringing in the crops is here. The walnut crop looks average at this time. However, you never really know until we get the crop into the
was echoed at Cultivate in Columbus, Ohio this July. Everyone has been selling lots of plants, both
dryer. Most farmers have a love-hate rela- tionship with harvest. While every farmer and rancher wants to know how good or bad the yield will be, we also dread seeing grade sheets and price estimates. But I am hearing the price will be up from last year, so that is always a good thing. The cost of everything has gone up—fuel, labor, insurance, chemicals and more. Added to all our normal worries is still COVID and keeping employees safe. Can we manage harvest without anyone on the crew getting sick? There is no doubt that farming has always been tough, but it sure isn’t getting any easier. We have also struggled with how to keep all the crops irrigated through this summer
color and foliage. At Cultivate, there was a lot of consumer/ customer interest in what’s happening with foliage right now. Everyone was excited to see a younger generation becoming inter- ested in plants. The growing interest in foliage started a couple of years ago but took off during the pandemic as a lot of new people began starting plant collections once they were home more. It is still amazing to see all the Instagram posts highlighting favorite plants and un- usual finds. There has been a lot of talk over the last two decades about engaging with younger generations. However, this latest
sure and insect pressure. With the early bloom,
Bartlett sized well in June. We started fresh-market Bartletts on July 12, which was two weeks earlier than last year. We’re completely finished with harvest.
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September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 5
Study: Coastal winegrapes can use 50% less water Winegrape growers along California’s coast can cut irrigation levels without sacrificing yield or quality in times of drought, according to a new study from theUniversity of California, Davis.
A University of California, Davis graduate student measures pho- tosynthesis on cabernet sauvignon grapevines. A study found that vineyards can use less water without compromis- ing flavor, color or sugar content.
The study found that vineyards can use 50% of the water normally used by wine- grape cropswithout compromising flavor, color or sugar content. “It is a significant finding,” said Sahap Kaan Kurtural, a viticulturalist and pro- fessor at the UC Davis Department of Viticulture andEnology. “Wedon’t neces- sarilyhave to increase theamount ofwater supplied to grapevines.” Kurtural andseveral colleagues fromhis lab carried out the study at a Napa Valley research vineyard planted with cabernet sauvignon. The study covered the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons, whichdiffered greatly: 2019was rainywhile2020wasarid, according to the university. Kurtural and his team focused on crop evapotranspiration, which is the amount of water lost to the atmosphere from the vineyard based on canopy size. Weekly testing used irrigation to replace 25%, 50% and 100% of the water lost to evapotranspiration. The study found that replacing 50% of the lostwaterwas best formaintaining the flavorprofileandyieldof thegrapes. Afun- gus thathelpsgrapevinesovercomestress-
The county’s 2019 winegrape crop was worth nearly $938 million. Sonoma County’s crop was valued at just more than $654 million in 2019, according to the county agricultural commissioner’s crop report. Other coastal regions also feature a number of vineyards. Monterey County, sometimes called “the salad bowl of the world,” produced 44,683 acres of wine- grapes in2019, while SanLuisObispoand Santa Barbara counties grew 44,304 and 14,927 acres winegrapes, respectively, ac- cording to their county crop reports.
While the UC Davis study concerned cabernet sauvignon, Kur tural said most red grapes should respond in a similar fashion. “In the end, drought is not coming for wine,” Kurtural said. “There doesn’t need to be a tremendous amount of water for grapes. If you overirrigate in times like these, you’re just going to ruin quality for little gain.” The s tudy was pub l i shed Sept . 1 in the journal Front iers in Plant Science. It is available at tinyurl.com/ UCDavisWinegrapeStudy.
es such as water deficits was not compro- mised, and water used to dilute nitrogen applicationswas reduced, thestudy found. The study found that thewater footprint for grapegrowingwas also reduced. At the 25% and 50% levels, water-use efficiency roseanywhere from18.6%to29.2%in2019 and between 29.2% to 42.9% in 2020, ac- cording to the study. Winegrapes are the top crop by far in Napa County, which had 34,824 bearing acres of redwinegrapes and 9,386 acres of whitewinegrapes in2019, according to the county’s annual crop report.
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6 Ag Alert September 15, 2021
C A L I F O R N I A
FieldCrops A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Plant breeders at the Rice Experiment Station in the Butte County farming community of Biggs are producing herbicide-tolerant rice varieties that retain high cooking quality—a key for exports.
New rice breeds can fight disease and preserve taste ByBob Johnson Plant breeders at theRiceExperiment Station inBiggs continue to roll out newvarieties that shouldmake growers’ work a little easier ormore profitable. warmer areas of the Sacramento Valley. Rice breeders noted that the most important characteristic of this new variety is its cooking quality, which qualifies it as the first premiumCalrose variety.
The Achilles’ heel of M-211, however, is its susceptibility to blast, a common fungal disease that impacts rice. When severe, it can cause significant injury to the crop. Because variety resistance is important in controlling blast, breeders said it is critical to begin with clean seed andmanage nitrogen and crop residue carefully when growing a variety such asM-211. The experiment station next year is poised to release a breakthrough rice variety with herbicide tolerance fromconventional breedingmethods. “19Y400 will probably be released next year as our first ROXY variety,” said Kent McKenzie, who recently retired as director of the station. He continues to work as a con- sultant onherbicide-tolerant rice to theCaliforniaCooperativeRiceResearchFoundation and the crop protection company Albaugh. The line of rice known as ROXY, which stands for resistant to oxyfluorfen, are her- bicide-tolerant rice varieties. They began as a variant trait of M-206 medium-grain rice that can be crossed into other varieties using conventional methods and not genetic engineering.
Some of the varieties offer better resistance of commondiseases. Onebrings herbicide tolerance through conventional breeding. All of them figure to produce better yields of high-quality rice. “Our varieties areall highyieldingandhighquality,” saidTeresaDeLeon, a ricebreeder at the experiment station. California rice values stand at $700million to $900millionannually, secondnationally toArkansas.Growersneedhighquality tomaintain their exportmarkets, especially Japan, which buys around a billion pounds of the state’s rice. Growers support andcontrol researchat the station through theCaliforniaCooperative Rice Research Foundation. Participating at the annual Rice Field Day, De Leon stood in plots of medium-grain varieties, including the recently releasedM-211. “M-211 is a very high-yielding variety,” De Leon said. “It is premiumquality, but you have to handle it with tender loving care.” In statewide tests last year, M-211 produced greater yields than all other medi- um-grain varieties, at 9,600 pounds per acre. It is particularly well suited for the
See RICE, Page 8
September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 7
Rice Continued from Page 7
Conventional breedingmethods are es- sential to California rice growers because they rely heavily on the Japanese market, whichhasbeenslowtoacceptbiotechcrops. “This is not GMO. This is conven- tional breeding,” said Kassim Al-Khatib, University of California Cooperative Extensionweed specialist. “ROXY is toler- antof oxyfluorfen,whichisanoldmaterial. It is good on grasses except sprangletop. Youapply it beforeplanting, andonce you get to1-1/2pints, youget goodcontrol.We didsee some stunting, but theplants came back. All the herbicides cause stunting.” In addition to herbicide tolerance, 19Y400 has resistance to blast, according to McKenzie. That’s because it is a cross betweenM-210 and the variant trait origi- nally discovered inM-206. With its anticipated release next year, 19Y400 is likely to be the first of nearly 60 advancedROXY lines. M-210 is theonlymedium-grainvariety grown commercially with resistance to blast. It is widely used as an alternative to M-206 in areas with that disease problem. “Someyears, blast ispretty serious,” said Luis Espino, UCCE rice advisor in Butte
Teresa De Leon, who breeds medi- um-grain rice at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, says,“Our varieties are all high yielding and high quality.”
and Colusa counties. “I’ve seen some this year but not as bad as last year. A lot of growers have switched to M-210, which is resistant.” Rice researchershave studied theROXY herbicide-tolerance trait since 2014 and filed for a patent in 2017. They found it does not impact yield and can be used in effective weed-control systems for both water-seeded and drilled rice. UC publishes up to five years of me-
dium-grain variety rice yields in all the growing regions of the Sacramento Valley. Information is available at the UC Rice Blog, which includes the article “Considerations for choosing therightme- dium-grain rice variety.” While around 80% of California rice is medium grain, researchers at the exper- iment station are also working with con- ventional, jasmine, basmati and aromatic long-grain varieties andhave a number of promising lines. Among the short-grain varieties, Calhikari-202 has excellent cooking and eatingqualities, breeders said.But it is sub-
ject to lodgingandhas relatively lowyields. An experimental short-grain line, 17Y2087, has significantly higher yields than Calhikari-202, including as much as 35%higher yields in Glenn and Colusa counties. Other short-grain lines show higher yield potentials. Researchers are also evaluating rice lines for tolerance of cold, drought or sa- linity stress and studying approaches to diseases such as blast and stemrot. ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
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8 Ag Alert September 15, 2021
Researchers target a rice predator: tadpole shrimp
rials to use where tadpole shrimp have developed resistance. “Ininstanceswhere tadpoleshrimpmay be developing resistance to pyrethroids, DimlinandBelayareeffectivealternatives for growers,” advised Ian Grettenberger, UCCE entomology specialist. Seed midges have also been a more prominent arthropod pest in a number of areas in the SacramentoValley. Espino said researchers have seen seed midge damage at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs and near Davis, and that he’s heard frompest control advisors who
have seen it too. This early-season pest feeds on the seeds and shoots of young rice seedlings and can prevent germination. Growers have seen less damage this year from armyworms, which can defo- liate the plants and are a particular con- cern during periods of stem elongation and grain formation. Armyworms became a significant problem a few years ago. These days, Espino emails trap counts fromnumerous
ByBob Johnson
“Tadpole shrimp have been a prob- lem for many years,” said Luis Espino, University of California Cooperative Extensionriceadvisor inButteandColusa counties. “In some areas, shrimp are get- tingharder tokillwithinsecticidesandthat isworrisome.Weare tryingmosquitofish.” In addition tomosquitofish, research- ers are also looking at alternative mate-
Tadpole shrimparebecomingmoredif- ficult to manage with chemicals in some rice-growing areas. Thesecrustaceanpests feedonthe roots and leaves of seedling rice and make it more difficult for the young plants to grow bymuddying thewaterswith their activity.
See PESTS, Page 14
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September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 9
Nitrogen management for rice may help production
ByBob Johnson Riceresearchersandgrowersareworking tofine-tune the timingandtypeofnitrogen applications to produce the best cropwith the least impact on the environment. Current studies examine how to adjust nutrientmanagement theyearafterground is fallowed due to drought. They’re also looking at the best alternative when aqua ammonia isn’t practical and at the most efficient timing for nitrogenapplications. “Splitting the nitrogen last year gave better yield than applying it up front,” said Bruce Linquist, University of California Cooperative Extension rice specialist. The goal of nutrient management studies is to find the right amount of fer- tilizer to apply at the right time to maxi- mize yield without causing pollution or encouraging diseases such as blast that thrive on excess nitrogen. “We are looking at alternatives to aqua fertilizer,” said Linquist, appearing recent- ly at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs. “Weather or supply chain issuesmay force growerstorethinktheirnitrogenprograms.” Some current studies of nutrient man- agement options came after late-season rains twoyears ago. The rains forcedmany growers to try alternatives to their usual practice of applying most of their nitro- gen as aqua ammonia at planting or a few weeks later.
surements sensing the normalized differ- encerededge, orNDRE, canbeusedmuch like thehand-heldGreenSeekermeasure- mentsof normalizeddifferencevegetation index, orNDVI, toknowinadvancewheth- er a top-dressedapplicationat panicle ini- tiationwould significantly increase yield. Continuing trials are fine-tuning the response index or the ratio between the NDVI reading in the nitrogen-rich strip and the reading in the rest of the field to triggermidseasonnitrogen applications. Theprevious recommendationof aratio of 1.1 to1has been revisedafter 2020 trials to 1.07 to 1. “When a top-dressed nitrogen appli- cation was needed and applied, yields increased by roughly 200 to 1,000 pounds an acre,” Linquist said. “The larger the response index, the greater the potential yield increase.” These studies have resulted in greater confidence that the effect of in-season ni- trogen applications can be predictedwith some degree of confidence. “These are encouraging results that provide a more robust tool to accurately assess a rice fieldduring panicle initiation to determine whether the top-dress will produce a yield increase,” Linquist said. Another timely nutrient management study is focusedonhowfertilizerneedsare affectedby fallowinga field, asmanygrow- erschoose todounderdrought conditions. “There are 100,000-plus acres of rice fields fallowed this year,” Linquist said. “We’re comparing different nitrogen pro- grams. The straw will be further decom- posed and we know that straw affects ni- trogen uptake in different ways.” Studies this year at the experiment sta- tion are intended to help growers decide how tomanage fertilizer next year in fields thatwere fallowedbecauseof thedrought. Another study of planting dates for five commonmedium-grain varieties in 2020 showedthatdelayingplantingfromMay29 to June 12 slightly increased yields or had no effect. But further delay until June 26 resulted ina yieldpenalty of 1,500pounds an acre ormore. ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
Bruce Linquist, a University of California Cooperative Extension rice specialist, discusses nutrient management studies at the Rice Experiment Station in the Butte County community of Biggs.
“Sincenoresearchhadbeendone inthis area, growers had no recommendations to go on,” Linquist said. “Given that un- certainty, an experiment was conducted comparing aqua ammonia, ammonium sulfate and urea applied as the nitrogen source. The study looked at different tim- ings of applications, splitting applications and theuseof specialtyureaproducts that delay or slow the release of nitrogen.” Researchers are repeating those trials again this year after finding last year that ammonium sulfate and urea were com-
parable to aqua ammoniumand that split applications produced the best yields. Another part of current nutrient studies at theexperiment station is repeating trials of threeureaproducts that slowthe release of thenitrogen.That couldmake iteasier to match available nitrogenwith cropneed. Theuseofaquaammoniainwater-seed- ed systems prevents loss of nitrogen to the atmosphere or nitrate leaching because flooded fields are anaerobic. But studies show there can be significant losses with aqua in drill-seeded rice. “When a field is drained that still has aqua nitrogen in the soil, oxygen is intro- ducedandmicrobes cancause theammo- nium to nitrate through a process called nitrification,” Linquist said. “Nitrate, in turn, can then denitrify when the field is reflooded and is lost as nitrogen fertilizer.” Studies at the experient station and a commercial field near Knights Landing showed theseaquanitrogen fertilizer loss- es in dry-seeded fields, which are drained and reflooded, can be in the range of 20 to 30 pounds an acre. There is further evidence of the value of nitrogen-rich strips. When an area of the field is fertilized heavily enough to ensure that nitrogen is not limiting, that can be usedtoestimatenitrogenneeds for therest of the field. For midseason fertilizer applications, researchers have found that drone mea-
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10 Ag Alert September 15, 2021
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