Environment

California’s $1 billion processing tomato industry is highly efficient and likely will be able to withstand higher temperatures and traffic congestion with minimal postharvest losses, according to research conducted at the University of California, Davis.

The research, published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, analyzed 1.4 million truckloads of tomatoes transported from thousands of farm fields to processing facilities between 2011 and 2020. 

This holiday season, that glass of wine on your table comes with a surprising backstory. Global wine consumption is down. And the reasons are far more complicated than you might expect. The industry is facing a convergence of challenges unlike anything in recent memory. In this episode of Unfold, UC Davis experts unpack what’s behind the trend, what it means for growers, and whether wine’s place on the holiday table is changing.

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Ecological medicine is a new approach to health science that draws on a very old idea: connecting with each other, with animals and plants, and with the natural world fosters health and well-being for people and the planet. 

“Everything you suspected was good for you -- fresh air, trees, animal companions, purpose, reciprocity -- turns out to have peer-reviewed backing,” said Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez, associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior and director of the Green Care Lab at the University of California, Davis.

Each year, a single cow can belch about 200 pounds of methane. The powerful greenhouse gas is 27 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. For decades, scientists and farmers have tried to find ways to reduce methane without stunting the animal’s growth or productivity.

UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May led a delegation to Kenya this week to advance a landmark partnership between the State of California and the Government of Kenya focused on climate action, clean transportation, climate smart agriculture, public health and innovation. Chancellor May was joined by Samuel Assefa, director of the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, as well as several university representatives. The delegation was jointly organized by UC Davis Global Affairs, Institute of Transportation Studies and the Office of the Special Envoy on Climate of Kenya.  

Rows of tightly packed olive trees stretch across California’s Central Valley. These super-high-density orchards, where trees are planted close together for faster, mechanized harvesting, can grow strong with less fertilizer than expected, according to new research from the University of California, Davis.

As climate change increases the frequency of droughts, UCLA researchers found one overlooked side effect: people report more conflicts with wildlife during drought, when resources are scarce.

“Here, Jeffy, Jeffy!” 

Hugh Safford is calling out into the woods for a tree. That’s normal enough for a forest ecologist, but the tree he’s searching for — the Jeffrey pine — was not, until recently, expected to live anywhere near here.   

California often swings between climate extremes — from powerful storms to punishing droughts. As climate change drives more intense and frequent dry and wet cycles, pressure on California’s water supplies grows.

A new University of California, Davis, economic study finds that drought in California pushes the price of water from rivers, lakes and reservoirs up by $487 per acre-foot, more than triple the cost during an average wet year. The research appears in Nature Sustainability.

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a new species of trapdoor spider lurking in California’s coastal sand dunes. The newly identified Aptostichus ramirezae is a close relative of Aptostichus simus, a species found along the coast from Monterey to Baja California, Mexico.