Valley Grower
Growing Interest: Students Plant Seeds to Help NASA Farm in Space
- Details
- Written by Steven Siceloff
- Category: Garden Hub
NASA is seeking plant varieties that could grow best in space, providing food for astronauts to eat on their way to future deep space destinations, including Mars. Teachers and students in South Florida recently began experiments to test a wide spectrum of seeds to see which would flourish in different conditions.
Iowa State University scientists propose a new strategy to accelerate plant breeding by turbocharging gene banks
- Details
- Written by Fred Love
- Category: News
Ames, Iowa - A new study led by an Iowa State University agronomist may help scientists sift through vast amounts of plant seeds stored in gene bank facilities across the globe to identify those useful to plant breeders attempting to produce better varieties.
Malaria-Transmitting Mosquitoes’ Preference for Cattle May Be Due to Chromosome Anomaly
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- Written by Kat Kerlin
- Category: Livestock news
Davis, California - Mosquitoes are more likely to feed on cattle than on humans if they carry a specific chromosomal rearrangement in their genome. This reduces their odds of transmitting the malaria parasite, according to a University of California, Davis, study published in the journal PLOS Genetics.
$2 Million Grant Funds Organic Farming Study of Manure and Food Safety
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- Written by Pat Bailey
- Category: Farm News
Davis, California - Organic farmers who use animal-based manure to improve soil quality and nourish crops are receiving help through a nearly $2 million grant for a food-safety research project, led by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and involving a multistate network of collaborators.
Direct-Marketing Farms Have Double the Regional Impact
- Details
- Written by Pat Bailey
- Category: Farm News
Davis, California - Sacramento-area farmers and ranchers who sell their products directly to consumers generate twice as much regional economic impact per dollar of output as do area food producers who don’t engage in direct marketing, reports a UC Davis agricultural economist and a team of UC Cooperative Extension researchers.
Specialty Crop Block Grants
- Details
- Written by Valley Grower
- Category: Ag News
Sacramento, California - The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting proposals for the 2017 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). Each year, CDFA conducts a two-phase competitive solicitation process to award funds to projects that solely enhance the competitiveness of California specialty crops. Specialty crops include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). Review the 2017 Request for Concept Proposals for detailed application instructions.
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