News

Slippery, drippy goop makes Ralstonia bacteria devastating killers of plants, causing rapid wilting in tomato, potato and a wide range of other crops, according to new research. The work, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, comes from an unusual collaboration between plant pathologists and engineers at the University of California, Davis. 

On January 5, 1909, the University Farm School, which became UC Davis, officially opened with 18 students and a mission to provide hands-on training in agricultural science and farming. After 117 years, CA&ES continues its impactful teaching, research and extension mission, earning recognition as the nation’s top agricultural college and a global leader in the field.

When pistachio hulls split before the nuts are harvested, insects and fungi can get inside, damaging the nut, costing farmers money and contaminating the nuts. About 4% of the overall crop experiences hull split, but some cultivars can split as much as 40% under certain conditions. 

California’s wildfire seasons are becoming more intense, and the state’s public bank of seeds to help replant and reforest lands after blazes is understocked by thousands of pounds. 

A new research project out of University of California, Davis, aims to help solve that problem by using decades of data from historical cone collection records to model when cones in coniferous trees from wild stands will ripen. 

For nearly 20 years, the Olive Center at the University of California, Davis, has worked to improve the olive and olive oil industry through research, education and outreach. The center, known for its work in sustainable olive growing and improving olive oil quality, has named chemist Selina Wang as its faculty director to guide the next phase of research and innovation for the state’s growing olive industry.

For 50 years, the landscape architecture program at UC Davis has helped communities imagine better streets, bike paths, gardens, parks and public spaces. One course takes that imagination a step further, letting students design and build structures that have brought a fun energy to campus. Now, their latest project will soon find a home in the City of Davis.

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Dupree Hammock, an internationally recognized scientist and an acclaimed member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology since 1980, died Monday, Jan. 5, in Davis. He was 78.

In what came to be called the “Christmas Valley miracle,” the Lake Tahoe Basin communities of Christmas Valley and Meyers were spared in late August 2021 when the massive Caldor Fire entered the basin, burning more than 222,000 acres and forcing roughly 30,000 people to evacuate during one of the hottest, driest summers on record. Outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin, the fire destroyed over 1,000 structures, many of them homes.

Monarch butterfly populations have been declining since the 1990s, driven by several factors, including a changing climate. New research from the University of California, Davis suggests rising temperatures may be altering the behaviors monarch caterpillars use to survive, sometimes in ways that increase their risk of death.