Vegetable Crops, Agronomic Crops and Administrative Programs
Mike Murray, Farm Advisor &
Jerry Schmierer, Farm Advisor
The major vegetable crops grown in Sutter/Yuba counties during 2006 included processing tomatoes, honeydew melons and non-certified seed crops. The seed crops, ranked by farm-gate value, were watermelon, cucumber and squash/pumpkin. The total 2006 crop value for vegetables was $23.6 million, harvested from 12,074 acres. Essentially all the production was in Sutter County.
Honeydew acreage is also about half of "historical" averages. This is due to increased production in other locations and limited market opportunities for our region.
Vegetable seed crops were down, reflecting the long-term trend. Production of these crops is cyclical, and based on carry-over inventories, world demand and US economic competitiveness in production costs.
The CE vegetable crops programs in Sutter & Yuba counties are conducted by Colusa County Farm Advisor Mike Murray. It is likely that CE vegetable crops programs in these counties will continue to be covered by one advisor, as the size of the industries and the decreasing acreage trends make it difficult to justify devoting two Advisor positions. Educational activities being conducted in Colusa County, such as production meetings or newsletters, are extended to Sutter/Yuba clientele. The applied research conducted in Colusa and other surrounding areas mostly apply to Sutter conditions and are made available to interested persons. Field calls and office visits related to vegetable crops are made on an as-needed basis. Although not ideal, there is coverage of vegetable crops in Sutter & Yuba counties, albeit at a reduced level.
Jerry Schmierer is the Agronomy Farm Advisor in Colusa, Sutter and Yuba Counties and covers alfalfa in Glenn County. The Sutter/Yuba Agronomy Program crop assignment consists of alfalfa, winter cereals, dry beans, safflower, sunflower and corn as well as a general weed control assignment.
His undergraduate training in agronomy was at Fresno State and he has a Masters Degree from Chico State in agronomy with an emphasis in weed control. He has recently earned a graduate certificate in Management Information Systems from the School of Business at Chico State.
The majority of his professional career has been working with alfalfa, sugarbeets, wheat, barley and oats. Weed control and plant nutrition have been the focus of his research programs. Farm profitability and the use of precision agriculture techniques such as GPS and GIS to aid in management decision making are a new focus for this advisor's programs.
The major agronomic crops (excluding rice) grown during 2006 in the two-county area, again largely in Sutter county, included: alfalfa hay, wheat, field corn, dry beans and safflower. Acreage for alfalfa has been increasing the last couple of years, which reflects both increased demand and higher hay prices. Wheat acreage was low in 2006 due to the prices and problems with varieties losing Stripe Rust resistance, but commodity prices have increased acreage substantially for the 2006-07 crop year. Similarly, field corn acreage was at an all time low in 2006 but will probably be at an all time high for the 2007 season. The demand for corn to produce ethanol is driving up the price of corn and all of the other commodity grain crops. It is also having an effect on the alfalfa market because the higher prices for grain feedstuff in cattle rations are increasing the demand for alfalfa.
Jerry conducted field research evaluating the economics of fungicide applications to control wheat Stripe Rust and cooperated in a study evaluating the causes of early cut-out in dry beans. The work that he is doing in Colusa and other locations on wheat variety adaptation, alfalfa stand establishment, weed control and pest management apply to Sutter/Yuba conditions. He makes his educational programs available to local growers through his newsletter, production meetings and farm calls.
While traditional summer dry bean acreage is down, winter-grown garbanzo beans have been on the increase. The