Western Farm Press News Archive

Arizona Agri-Weekly report

Oct 6, 2009

The latest Arizona agriculture update from the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Phoenix, Ariz., field office:...

Water infiltration problems in citrus

Oct 6, 2009,

By Neil O’Connell, UC Cooperative Extension, Tulare County

By the beginning of the irrigation season, the entire root zone is usually wetted by winter rainfall....

Citrus industry gears up for HLB

Oct 6, 2009,

By Dan Bryant, Contributing Writer

The California Citrus Research Board (CRB) has mounted an aggressive, three-pronged campaign to repel the devastating citrus disease, Huanglongbing (HLB), and its vector, Asian citrus psyllid (ACP)....

WPHA focuses on water shortage

Oct 6, 2009,

By Richard Cornett, Western Plant Health Association, Director of Communications

The Western Plant Health Association hosted a regulatory conference in late August in downtown Sacramento that addressed many of the pressing issues facing California agriculture....

U.S. tariff on Chinese tires

Oct 6, 2009,

By Forrest Laws, Farm Press Editorial Staff

You have a $2-million loan at a local bank. You and your lender are on good terms, or as good as that type of relationship normally allows....

Critical zone research funds awarded

Oct 6, 2009

The zone from the treetops to the bottom of the groundwater table has been dubbed the "Critical Zone" because of its key role in processing and cycling water, carbon, and nutrients necessary for life....

Technology challenging for long-toothed driver

Oct 5, 2009,

By Harry Cline, Farm Press Editorial Staff

I can get around on an old-fashion flip cell phone. I use a “SmartPhone” Treo to check e-mails away from the computer....

Third CWT dairy herd retirement underway

Oct 5, 2009

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) is implementing its third herd retirement in 2009, effective immediately. ...

California almonds shatter records

Oct 2, 2009,

Almond Board of California

Global demand for California Almonds soared to new heights in crop year 2008-2009, bucking the trend of the global economic downturn as consumers and food manufacturers alike demonstrated their unwavering, growing desire for tasty, wholesome almonds....

USDA conducts fruit chemical survey

Oct 2, 2009

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says USDA is conducting a Fruit Chemical Use Survey. ...

EPA considers pesticide disclosure

Oct 2, 2009

The Environmental Protection Agency said Sept. 30 it is moving forward with a plan to require the disclosure of the identities of all inert ingredients in pesticides, including those that are potentially hazardous, and it anticipates publishing a proposed rule in the Federal Register “within the next few months.”...

Farm Credit renews Agri-Center support

Oct 2, 2009

Farm Credit institutions has renewed its support of the International Agri-Center, home of the world’s largest annual farm equipment and agriculture technology exposition....

Biomass conversion incentives

Oct 1, 2009

Eighteen California biomass conversion facilities have qualified under the USDA’s California Farm Service Agency (FSA) biomass crop assistance program (BCAP)....

Ag research dollars critical

Oct 1, 2009,

By Pat Bailey, UC Davis

In a Policy Forum paper published this month in the journal Science, the researchers documented a slowdown since 1990 in the growth rate of general agricultural productivity and in the growth rates of yields of specific crops including corn, rice, wheat and soybeans -- the world's major food and feed crops....