August 2023

Honeybee Day

Join the Museum of Ventura County: Agricultural Museum to celebrate HoneyBee Day on Saturday, August 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This family-friendly event offers an interactive bee demonstration, honey tasting, crafts, story time and more. This free event will be held at the Agriculture Museum at 926 Railroad Avenue in Santa Paula. Use this link to register: Honeybee Day Tickets.

Image: Museum of Ventura County

Agricultural Pass Program and Evacuation Terminology

This last spring, Ventura County made available to agriculturalists in the county its revamped “Agricultural Pass Program.” The purpose of the “Ag Pass,” as it’s colloquially known, is to provide commercial agriculture and livestock operators access to restricted areas during or following a natural disaster to perform “eligible activities.” Eligible activities include: 1) evacuating or caring for livestock; 2) providing feed, water, medical treatment, and other care to large-scale commercial livestock operations; 3) performing irrigation of crops or turn on water systems; 4) providing access to property or facilities used as part of an agricultural operation; and/or 5) transporting necessary equipment needed to re-establish water supplies or irrigation systems.

University of California Cooperative Extension worked closely with Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office over the last five years to re-start the program. While the Ag Pass has existed in Ventura County for over fifteen years, the program has largely been non-functional since the Thomas Fire. This new iteration of the program formalizes many of the processes associated with pass administration and provides a new online portal to apply for a pass. For those wanting to learn more, please visit this link. To start an application, navigate here.

Image: County of Ventura

UC Riverside releases a new avocado tree to the world marketplace

A new avocado variety that’s more than a half-century in the making will soon be available to growers in the world marketplace.

It’s called the Luna UCR™ and offers consumers great flavor, a rind that turns a tell-tale black when ripe, and high postharvest quality. Growers, meanwhile, will benefit from a smaller tree size, allowing denser plantings for more efficient and safer harvesting, and minimal pruning. Read more about the Luna Avocado: UCR News

Image: Stan Lim/UCR

Take the first step to become a UC Master Gardener in Ventura County by attending an Information Meeting

Join us for an online gathering on August 28, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., where we'll share valuable information about becoming a Master Gardener, register here.

Image: UCCE Ventura County

10th National Heirloom Exposition

The National Heirloom Exposition has been called “The World’s Fair of Pure Food,” It is the nation’s premier event for celebrating the history, preservation, and cultivation of heirloom varieties free from genetic modification. The 10^th anniversary of the National Heirloom Expo will be held 9 AM – 9 PM on September 12, 13, and 14, 2023, at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, Ventura, CA.

Image: National Heirloom Expo

Attention Farmers and Ranchers!



VCRCD in partnership with Cachuma RCD, Community Environmental Council (CEC), and Santa Barbara Botanical Garden (SBBG) are offering reimbursements up to $200,000 for the implementation of pollinator habitat on agricultural landscapes that meet pre-approved NRCS practice standards.

Approved NRCS practices include alley cropping (311), conservation cover (327), cover crops (340), field boarders (386), hedgerow planting (422), riparian herbaceous cover (390), wildlife habitat planting (420), and more!

Interested in implementing pollinator habitat on your agricultural land in Ventura or Santa Barbara Counties? Fill out the intake form below to get started! 

Intake Form: https://forms.gle/KUGRqcihetaDBNi7A

More information on PHP for agricultural land can be found on our website: https://vcrcd.org/php/

Please feel free to share this information with your agricultural community!

Image:Ventura County RCD

Argentine Ant Control by UCCE Ventura County Advisor Ben Faber

A new technique for controlling Argentine ants has been developed using hydrogels, allowing for precise control of this pest with little impact on other species. The hydrogels have a sugar solution for attracting the ant and can be laced with a variety of pesticides, both conventional and organically-approved. The baits, though, have a fraction of the normal amounts of pesticides that are registered for foliar or ground applications, reducing pesticide load on the environment and disruption of biological control. And they can be registered on some of these orphan crops like sapote. And in one case, the hydrogels are made of biodegradable algae. More on the blog, here  

Image: UC ANR

Field Finds: Fungus Among Us

I stumbled upon this delightful find while doing some field work in an avocado orchard. The light coming in through the canopy made it very easy to spot the branch among the leaf litter. It seemed to be a sort of shelf fungus that either settled in after the branch fell, or was itself the cause for the branch falling. I thought the decorated portion of branch would be harder to break off, but it was surprisingly easy because the wood inside was all soft and spongy, probably due to white rot. Even with all the rain we had this spring, it was still a surprise to find this treasure! Especially considering it was already dry by the time I found it. Read on: UCANR Blog

Image: Siomara Zendejas, UCANR

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