Sustainable California

Food

California agriculture grows more than 400 crops, generating billions of dollars in revenue and leading the nation in production. UC is focused on healthy communities, food systems and environments while producing fruits, nuts, vegetables and fiber for California, the nation and the world. Learn about the research and outreach to agriculture and food systems.

Bioeconomics of Sustainable Fisheries

9/20/2018

Globally, over the past century, coastal fisheries have faced overharvesting and mismanagement. California is no exception. This video recounts stories from fishermen, and others engaged in commercial fisheries, about the decades-long struggle to replenish stocks through a variety of management measures. Through their experiences, we discover the many successes in recovering stocks, the capricious nature of the biology of some species, and also emerging challenges for managing...

Recharged: Improving Freshwater Supply and Quality

7/26/2018

University of Santa Cruz hydrogeologist Andrew Fisher leads a team of researchers looking for better ways to capture runoff and use it to not only increase groundwater quantity, but also quality. They are using the Pajaro Valley on the central California coast, a productive and valuable agriculture area, as their practical laboratory, working with farmers and water managers to recharge groundwater. Recharge net metering is a novel practice of crediting groundwater.

California's Watershed: Beyond the Brink

7/13/2018

Drought, climate change, an aging infrastructure and growing population threaten the water California's San Joaquin Valley uses to supply most of the nation's produce and a large proportion of its livestock and dairy. "Adequate water for food for the nation is a water security issue, and it's also a national security issue," says UC Merced CITRIS researcher Roger Bales in a new documentary examining water problems and solutions across the United States and...

California Agriculture Drought Management Tips: Citrus

5/7/2018

Because periodic droughts will always be a part of life in California, the UC California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR) produced a series of videos to maintain drought awareness and planning, even in years when water is more abundant. This episode addresses citrus cultivation with Lisa Brenneis of Churchill Brenneis Orchards and Ben Faber, UCCE Advisor from Ventura County explaining strategies to sustain citrus through drought.

California Agriculture Drought Management Tips: Almonds

3/12/2018

Because periodic droughts will always be a part of life in California, the UC California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR) produced a series of videos to maintain drought awareness and planning, even in years when water is more abundant. Raj Meena of Meena Farms shares how they collaborated with UCCE Advisor David Doll to implement new irrigation strategies to continue production.

Merging Conservation Tillage with Overhead Precision Irrigation

11/12/2017

See how California farmers and UC agricultural researchers are working to merge both conservation tillage practices and precision irrigation to save time, labor, and water while reducing the cost of producing crops for California agriculture.

Minimum Tillage Systems

10/17/2017

Farmers can't control the costs of seed, fertilizers, chemicals, water or the price they can get for their crops - but they can control tillage costs. Learn how California's farmers, ag industry and UC researchers are working together and finding ways to cut costs with minimum tillage practices.

Conservation Tillage Dairy Silage Cropping Systems

9/1/2017

Explore how California dairy farmers are working together to perfect techniques to maximize the benefits of conservation tillage in producing dairy feed to reduce inputs and costs, increase quality and ensure healthier more productive and sustainable agricultural soils and production.

Conservation Tillage Tomato Cropping Systems

7/31/2017

With an over 700 percent increase in productivity in the last century, the California tomato industry represents 95 percent of all processing tomatoes produced in the US. See how UC scientists and California farmers continue to develop methods to sustain this productivity, improve soils and reduce water use.

The Value of Residues in Conservation Agriculture Systems

7/13/2017

The norm in conventional agricultural practice is to make the residue from old crops disappear, a practice that hasn't changed in over 70 years. Explore how California farmers and UC scientists are working together to perfect techniques to maximize the benefits of these crop residues to develop healthier more productive soils, reduce water consumption, and ensure sustainable agricultural production.

UC Global Food Initiative Fellows Tour the Sacramento - San Joaquin Region

6/23/2017

The third class of UC Global Food Initiative student fellows from University of California campuses throughout the state who gathered for a springtime field trip in the Central Valley to learn more about the relationships between food, farming and the environment, share about their work on UC's efforts to sustainably feed the world's growing population.
Recorded on 04/28/2017.

Introduction to Conservation Agriculture Cropping Systems

5/20/2017

Throughout history, the loss of arable land has attended the decline of great civilizations, from Mesopotamia to the Nile. Now with the stresses of environmental change and ever increasing demands on agricultural productivity, efforts to maintain the viability of our agricultural natural resources are ever more important. This introduction to the principles of conservation agriculture shows how California's farmers and scientists are collaborating on developing the practical...

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