CALIFORNIA
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
USDA facility to enhance crop production research By Bob Johnson New greenhouses at the Sam Farr Crop Improvement and Protection Research Center in Salinas will be used to conduct fruit and vegetable research. At left, research is underway to develop strawberry varieties with resistance to fusarium wilt, a soil-borne disease.
impatiens necrotic spot virus, or INSV, a plant disease spread by thrips that has seriously impacted Salinas Valley lettuce crops in recent years. Richardson noted they have made progress in identifying genetic materials that show resistance to INSV. In addition to INSV, researchers are studying lettuce fusarium, which moved five years ago from warmer regions to the Salinas area. “We have a changing pathogen population,” Richardson said. “We have something new in California fields.” Over time, officials say the facility will play a leading role in developing fumigant alterna- tives to methyl bromide in strawberries and vegetables. Researchers there will also under- take studies to boost organic agriculture production and develop methods for weed control. With lettuce breeding already focused on yield and disease resistance, Gail Taylor, University of California, Davis, executive dean of life sciences, said the center uses plant breeding to help increase product shelf life, bolster food safety and reduce waste . She said researchers are studying small epidermal cells, speedy stomata and deep-green leaves for their correlation with extended lettuce shelf life. “There’s good reason to believe we can breed for these traits,” Taylor said. Researchers are also breeding for a diverse microbiome, with the hope that future gen- erations of lettuce varieties will reduce food safety issues, she said.
The new Sam Farr Crop Improvement and Protection Research Center in Salinas is ex- pected to cement the region’s place as a hub for improving fruit and vegetable production.
Opened in November, the 117,000-square-foot facility features state-of-the-art laboratories and greenhouses where scientists work to solve some of the most pressing problems facing farmers. Six new greenhouses came online in May. While much of the research is focused on finding sources of resis- tance to important crop diseases, work is also being done to enhance postharvest quality, improve food safety, produce healthier vegeta-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
bles, and breed crops that use water and nitrogen more efficiently. The research center is an expansion of a U.S. Department of Agriculture research labora- tory that has been at the site since the end of World War II. The new building was conceived in 2004 by USDA Salinas station coordinator Jim McCreight and houses employees from USDA and the University of California, Davis. “We can do more of the research, and we can do it more efficiently,” Kelley Richardson, a USDA research plant geneticist, said during an open house and tour in June. “Our capacity has increased.” The gathering served as an opportunity to outline spinach and lettuce research that will continue at the center and statewide. For example, scientists at the center are taking aim at
See RESEARCH, Page 11
10 Ag Alert July 24, 2024
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