Nickels Field Day
The 36th Annual Nickels Field Day will be held Wednesday, May 15 at the Nickels Soil Lab on Greenbay Avenue in Arbuckle, CA. Topics covered include Bee health and availability, irrigation technology and pest management in nut crops. For the full agenda, see attached.
May YF&R Meeting
May’s meeting for the Yuba-Sutter Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee is 6:00 p.m. Thursday, May 16 at the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau, 475 Palora Avenue in Yuba City. We will be covering elections for the officer team, reviewing the by-laws and determining future goals and projects. Pizza will be provided and all are welcome.
Sodbusters & Marysville Stampede
The annual Sodbusters dinner and auction will be held 6:00 p.m. Friday, May 24 at the Marysville Riverfront Pavilions/Cotton Rosser Arena. Sodbusters tickets are $40 each or $450 for a reserved table, available at Cotton’s Cowboy Corral in Marysville or call (530) 742-7371. The Marysville Stampede rodeo will be held 5:30 p.m. May 25 and 26, tickets on sale at Cotton’s Cowboy Corral, or call 530-742-8240.
NCWA Breakfast Forum in Marysville
The Northern California Water Association will host its Breakfast Forum 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, June 5 at the Yuba County Government Center, 915 8th Street in Marysville. The breakfast will feature Jerry Meral, Deputy Secretary for Natural Resources, speaking about the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and the related programs surrounding the Bay-Delta. Jerry was appointed by Governor Brown in January 2011 to serve as Deputy Secretary, where he is leading the Governor’s Bay-Delta Conservation Plan. No RSVP is necessary to attend. www.baydeltaconservationplan.com/.
New Mobile App Aids in Pest Fight
The California Department of Food and Agriculture said it has made the task easier with introduction of a new mobile app, available for people interested in helping keep an eye out for invasive species and then reporting suspicious finds. CDFA announced the new app, called "Report a Pest," which enables people to take photos of a suspected invasive insect or plant and send them to CDFA for evaluation. The app includes an option for GPS coordinates of the find, in case a rapid response is necessary. The app is available for Apple iPhones and iPads and may be downloaded free from the Apple App Store. CDFA said an Android version is under development.
CCOF Offers Web Tools to Streamline Organic Certification
CCOF announced that its industry-leading tool, MyCCOF, has been expanded with new services for CCOF-certified entities and organic industry buyers. The updated MyCCOF includes the first online access to digitized Organic System Plans (OSPs) and certification records as well as the new MyCCOF: Supplier Management, which allows buyers to monitor certification statuses and access certificates in real time. The organization’s move to paperless systems is delivering new tools to CCOF-certified members, saving time for buyers and providing better services through new efficiencies. See attachment for details.