Items Tagged with 'plant breeding'

Funding from the USDA Organic Research and Education Initiative and Western SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) helped plant scientists at the University of California, Davis, develop organic dry bean varieties that taste good, can survive the bean common mosaic virus and are viable in organic systems.

The rainy season is kicking off with enough moisture to ease some Californians’ water worries, but the long-term outlook for agriculture remains one that calls upon farmers to maximize “crop per drop.” In the case of almonds, one of the state’s most profitable crops, it could take decades to transition from existing trees to others that can achieve similar yields with less water.

A UC Davis soil scientist says three themes should drive research and policy in sustaining California agriculture under climate change.