Samuel Sandoval Solis is teaching Environmental Science and Management 121, "Water Science and Management."

Cooperative Extension

Making the Connection  

CE's In Action

Professors Ken Shackel (left) and Bruce Lampinen in a walnut grove at UC Davis measure plant water stress with a pressure chamber, pressure bomb. Pressure chambers let farmers get a more accurate read when their trees need water. Their work is increasing walnut quality and yield. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

A long-term experiment with researchers at the University of California, Davis, shows growers can improve walnut production if they hold off irrigation until later in the season and directly measure their trees’ water needs.

For more than 100 years, UC Cooperative Extension (CE) has been working with farmers, ranchers, environmentalists and so many others to identify concerns and innovate solutions that support productive agriculture, healthy ecosystems and prosperous communities throughout California.

Rooted in every county in the state, CE specialists connect the campus to the people they serve. It’s a two-way link. CE researchers provide science-based strategies and solutions, and local communities help scientists understand what issues to address, find working landscapes to conduct their experiments and circulate findings back to the field. Together, they build a better future for California.

 

Making a Difference 

Because of its campus-community connection, UC Cooperative Extension is able to customize resources and opportunities to meet the diverse and changing needs of individual communities. CE specialists partner with county experts to restore ecosystems, improve crop production, enhance water and air, improve human health and much more.