Current Research
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Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education
Center for Agroecology researchers, staff, and students are collaborating with UC Davis to expand their SCOPE (Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education) research to develop varieties with natural pest and disease resistance, improved flavor, and higher yield for organic farms in California and beyond. Expanding SCOPE to other locations in California allows cultivars to be…
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Coupling Dry-Farm Tomato Eco-Physiology with Farmer Adoption in California and Oregon
Dry-farmed tomatoes are grown by small-scale organic farmers in coastal California and the Willamette Valley of Oregon. However, drought stress can exacerbate physiological disorders like blossom-end rot, which can result in crop failure. Understanding the physiological traits that underpin dry-farmed tomato success will allow breeders and farmers to develop tomato varieties that can tolerate drought…
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Cover Cropping Communities of Practice in California’s Salad Bowl
Addressing water scarcity and quality to promote ecosystem services Cover crops are plants not intended for harvest that are grown in agricultural fields during the off season, between cycles of “cash crops,” to protect soil health. Cover crops also improve water quality by absorbing excess nitrates from leftover fertilizer, preventing it from being washed from…
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Developing Climate-Resilient Crop Systems
A multi-trait analysis of crops and soils under dry-farmed and irrigated treatment Climate change models predict increasingly hot and dry weather conditions, raising concerns about impacts on agricultural production and food security in the decades to come. Organic dry farming is a sustainable farming practice that allows growers to produce crops under hot and dry…
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Autonomous Electric Tractors for Farming
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dejan Milutinovic and Center for Agroecology Executive Director Darryl Wong are leading a project to develop technology for fully autonomous farming using small tractors powered by solar or wind energy. The team will focus on three areas: the tractors’ ability to visually perceive its surroundings, tractor navigation along rows…
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Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) to Control Soilborne Diseases in Strawberries
ASD controls soilborne pathogens by creating a fermentation process in anaerobic soil. Several studies funded by grants from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the California Strawberry Commission have allowed the Center for Agroecology to study ASD and optimize the technique for California strawberries. Additional funds have expanded this initial work to examine the use…
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Insect Diversity and Ecosystem Services
Stacy Philpott, faculty director and professor of Environmental Studies at UCSC, and an interdisciplinary research team have been funded by two USDA-NIFA grants to study impacts of local and landscape management on insect diversity and traits, plant-pollinator and herbivore-natural enemy networks, and ecosystem services in urban agroecosystems on California’s central coast. The goal of this research is to…
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Ecological Aquaculture
Dr. Anne Kapuscinski, professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz and director of UCSC’s Coastal Science and Policy Program, and Dr. Pallab Sarker, associate research professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz, are researching how to raise food fish using sustainable aquaculture-agriculture practices. At their research facility on the UCSC Farm, the team is…
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No-Till Agriculture in Organic Specialty Crops
Center for Agroecology Executive Director Darryl Wong and Faculty Affiliate Hannah Waterhouse are examining the impact of no-till agriculture on crop productivity, carbon sequestration, and farm revenues. Given that 53% of the nation’s organic fresh fruits and vegetables are grown in California, moving towards sustainable no-till practices here could have a significant national impact on…
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Bio-Intensive No-Till Research for Climate-Smart Mini-Farms & Urban Gardens
A grant of $100,000 from the UC Santa Cruz Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) Pilot Funding Initiative will support a Center for Agroecology research trial on biointensive no-till practices for micro farms and urban gardens. The project, led by Joji Muramoto, will bring together a team of researchers and experienced growers to explore the…
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Organic Soil Treatment Methods for Nematode Control in California Carrots
A USDA-contracted research project with $153,423 in funding will develop and implement non-fumigant approaches for management of nematodes in California carrot production. Collaborative research of Joji Muramoto of the Center and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), nematologists of UC Riverside, and plant pathologists of the USDA-Agriculture Research Service, Florida, will establish replicated field trials…
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Reducing Nitrate Leaching in Rainy Winters
With a grant from California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, Joji Muramoto and Carol Shennan (UCSC ENVS) worked with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors to examine the effect of high carbon organic amendment on reducing nitrate leaching in rainy winters from fields where nitrogen-rich cole crop residues were incorporated.…