NEWS BRIEFS
Klamath gets more water Walnut IPMproject starts To show the effectiveness of mating disruption to control walnut pests, re- searchers want to recruit six farmers to host demonstration sites. Irrigators and wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin will see water supply increases.
In the area treated with mating dis- ruption, orchards will be flooded with a synthetic pheromone thatmakes itmuch more difficult for male and female pests to find one another. Project organizers said results of the IPMpractices will be shared widely with farmers, pest control advisors and certi- fied crop consultants inarticles,meetings and field days.
The disease, which affects the diges- tive, nervous and respiratory systems of birds, ultimately caused about 1.2million birds to die or be euthanized, according to CDFA, after the virus spread exten- sively in backyard poultry and infected commercial flocks. Stefanou to lead ERS An agr i cul tura l economi s t who earned his doctorate at the University of Cal i fornia, Davi s, has been ap- pointed admini s t rator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Spiro Stefanou will come to the ERS after serving as a professor of eco- nomics at the University of Florida Inst i tute of Food and Agr icul ture. Earlier, Stefanou was a professor of ag- ricultural economics at Pennsylvania State University. Prior to earning his doctorate in ag- ricultural economics from UC Davis, St e f anou rece i ved a mas t er ’s de- gree from the University of Maryland and bachelor ’s degree from George Washington University. The ERS works to anticipate trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food, the environment and rural America. It said it “shapes its research program and products to serve those who routinely make or influence public policy and pro- gram decisions.”
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation an- nounced last week it would be able to deliver more water due to “modest im- provements inhydrology” during the late summer, combinedwith operational ad- justments by the project. BureauCommissioner BrendaBurman saidtheadjustmentswouldallowKlamath Basin farmers “to close out agricultural activities as planned” andbring addition- al relief to area wildlife refuges. She said farmers and refugemanagers have had to copewith the second-lowest allocation in Klamath Project history due to “extreme drought conditions” in the basin. After assessing available supplies in Upper Klamath, Clear Lake and Gerber reservoirs and the needs of the project and wildlife refuges, the bureau said it would make three adjustments to water deliveries during September: shipping 5,400 acre-feet to wildlife refuges to help curtail an outbreak of avian botulism; ex- pediting a temporary exchange of 10,000 to 15,000 acre-feet from Upper Klamath Lake to farms in theKlamathProject; and increasing the Klamath Project alloca- tion by up to 8,000 acre-feet fromUpper Klamath Lake, if needed. The adjustmentswill close out the 2020 irrigation seasonand “preparewater sup- plies for 2021,” the bureau said.
University of California Cooperative Extension and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers will conduct a three-year research project through a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Biologically Integrated Farming Systems Program. The California Walnut Board is also part of the project team. Project sites, to be located in the Sacramento Valley and northern San Joaquin Valley, will demonstrate how mating disruption can control two im- portant walnut pests: codling moth and navel orangeworm. Jhalendra Ri jal , UC Cooperat ive E x t ens i on i n t e g r a t ed pe s t man - agement advi sor for San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties and the lead scientist on the project, said farmers need alternatives to the insec- ticide chlorpyrifos, which California regulators have determined may no longer be used as of Dec. 31. UC said six farmers will be recruited to enroll at least 80 acres each in the demonstrations. Forty acres at each site will be treated with commercially avail- able mating-disruption products, while the other 40 acres will not.
State vet earns honor
In the wake of California eradica- tion of a serious poultry disease, State Veterinarian Annette Jones has been honored by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Dur ing the associat ion’s vi r tual annual meet ing last week, NASDA presented Jones with an award recog- nizing an individual for outstanding work in providing service to agricul- tural producers. NASDA said Jones and the California Department of Food and Agriculture Animal Health Branch “exhibited out- standing leadership” in eradicating vir- ulent Newcastle Disease from Southern California, and for managing other ani- mal diseases in the state. On June 1 , CDFA and t he U. S . Department of Agriculture declared vir- ulent NewcastleDisease eradicated from SouthernCalifornia, two years after it was first detected in Los Angeles County.
CALIFORNIA IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM CIMIS REPORT | www.cimis.water.ca.gov
For the week August 27 - September 2, 2020 ETO (INCHES/WEEK)
YEAR
3.0
THIS YEAR
2.5
LAST YEAR AVERAGE YEAR
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
MACDOEL II (236)
BIGGS (244)
DAVIS (06)
MANTECA (7O)
FIREBAUGH (7)
SALINAS-SOUTH (214)
FIVE POINTS (2)
SHAFTER (5)
TEMECULA (62)
IMPERIAL (87)
THIS YEAR LAST YEAR AVG. YEAR % FROM AVG.
1.45 1.43 1.40 3
1.19 1.41 1.40 -16
1.75 1.88 1.73 0
1.78 1.80 1.55 15
1.34 1.66 1.46 -8
1.37 1.60 1.58 -13
1.52 1.63 1.52 0
1.07 1.28 1.19 -10
1.12 1.30 1.38 -19
1.77 1.92 1.77 0
W eekly reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the rate of water use (evapotranspiration—the sum of soil evaporation and crop transpiration) for healthy pasture grass. Multiplying ETo by the appropriate “crop coefficient” gives estimates of the ET for other crops. For example, assume ETo on June 15 is 0.267 inches and the crop coefficient for corn on that day is 1.1. Multiplying ETo by the coefficient (0.26 inches x 1.1) results in a corn ET of 0.29 inches. This
information is useful in determining the amount and timing of irriga- tion water. Contact Richard Snyder, UC Davis, for information on coefficients, 530-752-4628. The 10 graphs provide weekly ETo rates for selected areas for average year, last year and this year. The ETo information is provided by the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) of the California Department of Water Resources.
For information contact the DWR district office or DWR state headquarters:
SACRAMENTO HEADQUARTERS: 916-651-9679 • 916-651-7218
NORTHERN REGION: Red Bluff 530-529-7301
NORTH CENTRAL REGION: West Sacramento 916-376-9630
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION:
SOUTHERN REGION:
Fresno 559-230-3334
Glendale 818-500-1645 x247 or x243
September 9, 2020 Ag Alert 19
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