Ag Alert®

Syngenta agronomist Brandon Hunt describes machinery used to clean watermelon seeds after harvest in Sutter County. After detections of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus in Sutter County and elsewhere, a Clean Seed Agreement was drawn up, under which only cucurbit seeds certified to be free of the virus are to be planted. Cucurbit crops susceptible to the virus include watermelons, cucumbers and cantaloupes.
Photo/Kevin Hecteman

Seed growers cooperate to slow plant virus
The rate of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus in Sacramento Valley fields is low—and seed growers intend to see that the plant disease never establishes itself in California. Read more...

Farmers’ planting plans hinge on water, pandemic
As California farmers weigh decisions on what to plant and how much, lack of rainfall so far this winter has further clouded a 2021 crop outlook already complicated by market uncertainties created by the pandemic. Read more...

State water board imposes new rules on most wineries
Despite pleas from winery owners and their representatives—one of whom described the wine sector as "an industry on the brink"—state water regulators adopted new regulations on wastewater discharge. Read more...

Commentary: Collaborative projects help Sacramento River salmon
In the latter part of 2020, various actions were implemented in the Sacramento Valley to promote salmon recovery that point positive as we begin 2021. Even during a pandemic, partners were working together on efforts to advance science to inform salmon recovery decisions and tangible projects to improve habitat for fish. Read more...

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