Coffee Shop Blog
How to Learn Spanish
Many grape growers would like to learn to speak Spanish in order to communicate more effectively with farmworkers who are more comfortable communicating in that language. However, the task of learning a foreign language just seems to be too difficult. This...
Soil Moisture Monitoring
Here are the basic facts of water in vineyards. Water resides in the soil, the atmosphere, and the grapevines. The water in these vineyard elements is interconnected and forms a continuum. In California, after the last spring rain, water moves mostly from the soil to...
Development of Virtual Weather Stations in Lodi
Devising strategies for control of powdery mildew is a major focus of winegrape growers and pathology researchers. Many growers rely on nearby weather stations (such as a CIMIS station), the powdery mildew risk index, and other site-specific historical and seasonal...
Sustainable Agriculture – A Historical Perspective
This month I would like to discuss sustainable agriculture. The following comments are my own and do not represent the official policy of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. I am sharing them in order to stimulate further discussion on this topic. I believe that...
How Will Farmers Respond to the 2014 California Drought?
For the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project, the Department of Water Resources forecast in late January 2014 that there would be zero water deliveries to the 25 million people and 1 million acres of farmland that typically rely on its...
Introduction to the Central Valley Farmland Trust & Agriculture Conservation Easements
The Central Valley Farmland Trust (CVFT) is a non-profit public benefit entity (501 c(3)) engaged in the preservation of prime irrigated farmland in the Central San Joaquin Valley. We work to preserve local farmland mainly through the voluntary acquisition of...
Economic Benefits from Certified Leafroll-free Grapevine Stock
Plant viruses affect many crops and cost billions of dollars annually in preventative measures and damages. In grapevines, most long-distance spread of viruses is caused by the movement of infected plants, which can be controlled effectively if clean stock is made...
Herbicides and Winegrape Yield: A Research Gap
When I was a pest management student in college I had a Chilean-born professor named Leo Caltagirone. He used to tell us that we should always focus on the crop that we were working with rather than the pests. The reason he said this was because of the natural...
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