from the Farm Advisor

Scott Stoddard

UC Cooperative Extension, Merced County

Typically for this article I like to put on my farm advisor hat and write about things happening with vegetable crops in the area. However, this month I thought it would be good to highlight some of the recent changes going on at our office. UC Cooperative Extension has been working in Merced County for over 100 years. The first advisor was J.F. Grass, who began in 1917, and some of his first projects involved trials and methods to control puncture vine, that notorious weed that continues to be the bane bikers, dogs, and bare feet to this day. Over the years, the office has had from 2 to 8 advisors at any one time, though 6 is probably the average, conducting research and education projects in agronomy, vegetable, dairy and livestock, orchards, 4-H, and food and nutrition. In the past year we have hired two new young men as advisors to serve the agriculture community of Merced County, giving the office 4 ½ advisors and the most we’ve had in several years. The half advisor is retired fruit crops advisor Maxwell Norton, who still comes into the office on a regular basis to help manage the master gardener program.

Giuliano Galdi started May 1 as the new agronomy and weed management advisor. He will be learning about our cropping systems in Merced for cotton, alfalfa, beans, and small grains. He too brings with him prior experience with UC as the agronomy advisor in Siskiyou County, in northern California. Originally from Brazil, Giuliano attended Fresno State for his graduate work. He already has plans to do some alfalfa weed management work this summer and will also be learning about important issues facing cotton growers.

These positions fill critical gaps we have had in the Merced office for several years. Orchard and field crops have a combined farm-gate value of $950 million in 2020, on about 500,000 acres, according to the Agriculture Commissioner’s Annual Report for Merced County. Changing regulations, SGMA, new varieties and pesticides, and rapid evolution of electronics and machinery are just some of the things that require continual research, demonstration, and outreach where Cooperative Extension can play an important role for growers and PCAs.

Other positive developments: our building has had extensive work these past couple of years: new roof, gutters, HVAC, carpets, and a classroom remodel. We are also looking for student interns who would like to join our team, part time, for the summer and fall helping the advisors with doing applied agriculture research projects.

And for vegetable crops, this has been quite the spring for transplanting sweetpotatoes and tomatoes, which can be summed up by one word: delayed. Tomatoes are probably thousands of acres behind schedule, and many fields will not be planted until June. This will make for a challenging year for both powdery mildew and late season fruit molds. On a positive note, Beet Leafhopper counts are very low, which means Curly Top may not be much of a problem this year.

Please call our office regarding questions and concerns – we are here to help!