Coffee Shop Blog

This month I would like to share my thoughts regarding how to prevent powdery mildew disease in Chardonnay grapes. For 19 years I worked with Ruby Seedless table grapes in the Reedley area, and that experience shaped my approach to preventing powdery mildew. The Ruby...

The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) (BMSB) is native to China, Korea, and Japan. The first documentation of this species in the U.S. occurred in Pennsylvania in 2001. It has been found in dozens of U.S. states either as reproducing populations or single...

Below average cold, below average rainfall, increasing costs, more regulations and tougher competition. We seem to be experiencing our own modern day Iliad. But it could always be worse and baseball opening day is only 55 days away. Dry conditions have taken front...

Sustainability is word bantered about freely these days. Initially, sustainability referred to the degree a farming enterprise depended on off-farm resources. This is important because all agricultural ecosystems, unlike natural ecosystems, are inherently unstable and...

Another year is behind us and although the 2013 growing season could not have been more perfect in terms of weather, there were plenty of frustrations to deal with.  Capacity and processing issues, winegrape crops which exceeded estimates (for the second year in a...

Growers can learn how to improve the health of their soils with the help of the newly revised book "Building Soil For Better Health", written by two prominent soil scientists. The book is available for free download by clicking HERE. Managing for soil health means...

There may be ongoing and needed discussion about whether the climate is changing and who, or what, is causing it. But what we know for sure is that the season has changed from fall to winter, and over the past few weeks we have experienced an “arctic blast”. As I...

During my entire 34-year career as a Pest Control Adviser I have recommended the use of pesticides on a “per acre” basis and the growers have applied them on a “per acre” basis.  At the annual Farm Safety Day I teach a class on how to calibrate spray rigs, and on...