Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world’s farmers. 

The researchers published their findings Dec. 12 in the journal Nature. 

UC Davis recently boosted its agricultural research capabilities with major irrigation infrastructure improvements on 300 acres just west of Highway 113. The upgrades include five miles of new underground PVC piping, a pumping and filtering station and state-of-the-art control technology.

If you were to take a seed and zap it into the future to see how it will respond to climate change, how realistic might that prediction be? After all, seeds that actually grow in the future will have gone through generations of genetic changes and adaptations that these “time traveling” seeds don’t experience.

While clearing out your garden this fall, there’s no need for it to remain a blank, empty space until spring. If you have a year-round growing season, you can grow winter veggies and flowers, of course. But you can also add cover crops to your garden that improve the soil while you basically sit back and “watch the grass grow” –or the peas, clover and barley.

When it comes to watering walnuts, most California growers believe you need to start early to keep trees healthy and productive throughout the long, hot summer. But according to striking results from a long-term experiment in a walnut orchard in Red Bluff, California, growers can improve crop production if they hold off irrigation until later in the season and directly measure their trees’ water needs.

Art Bowman has been growing almonds in Modesto for more than 40 years. He stays up-to-date on the latest science and invests in technology that keeps his farming sustainable. He uses precision technology to apply nitrogen, for example, that essentially spoon-feeds water and nutrients to his trees.

“Our yields have increased quite a bit since we switched to precision application,” says Bowman, adjusting his hat against the noonday sun. “And that’s without adding any extra nitrogen. That’s huge.”

South of Merced, under the hot summer sun of the San Joaquin Valley, Miguel Guerrero of The Wine Group is trying a new high-wire act. In collaboration with UC Davis Cooperative Extension, Roduner Ranch vineyard manager Guerrero is experimenting with Cabernet Sauvignon vines and other varieties elevated by a single wire at 66 inches—plantings that are 2-to-3 feet higher than the traditional wine grape canopy.

Funds Will Support Genomics Research for $3 Billion Crop

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, will use the genomics of lettuce to combat a pathogen that causes losses in the $3 billion industry each year.

The Foundation of Food and Agriculture Research, or FFAR, awarded Richard Michelmore, professor and director of the UC Davis Genome Center, the first research grant through the Crops of the Future Collaborative.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Alberta, Canada, have made preliminary discoveries about how Zika and hepatitis C viruses reproduce at the cellular level, providing new insight into a family of viruses that also includes West Nile and dengue. Now their cutting-edge research will be supported by a $1 million grant from the prestigious W.M. Keck Foundation. The foundation primarily focuses on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering, and undergraduate education.

High-quality agricultural index insurance has shown promise in promoting resilience among small-scale farmers who face a constant risk of drought and other weather-related shocks. However, despite decades of investments this tool has yet to achieve its broadest impact in part because of low-quality contracts that don’t reliably pay farmers for losses and that sometimes pay when there are none.