Taking a dramatic departure from the clean planting beds seen on most California vegetable farms, scientists are starting to identify the benefits of growing crops amidst a tangle of organic matter leftover from a cover crop planting.

To discuss the advantages and problems posed by this pioneering system, the University of California will host a lineup of experts from throughout the nation and some of the Central Valley's most innovative west side farmers at identical conferences April 22 at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center, at Oakland and Lassen avenues just south of Five Points; and April 23 at the UC Davis Agronomy Field Facility, west of Highway 113 on Hutchinson Drive. Both programs run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is $10 before April 10; $15 at the door.

The meetings will focus on issues related to tilling the soil, a common practice that is now implicated in the decline of soil organic matter, which may lead to problems with water infiltration, aggregate stability and nutrient absorption, according to meeting organizer Jeff Mitchell, UC Davis vegetable crops specialist based at the Kearney Agricultural Center near Parlier.

"We will have an exceptionally prominent group of individuals coming to California from Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Virginia and Oregon to share the latest research on no-till options for vegetable farming," Mitchell said. "Whether these systems will work on California's large-scale vegetable farms is something that remains to be seen."

Speakers will include:

• USDA Agricultural Research Service soil scientist Don Reicosky, who will set the stage for the conference with information from his research in Minnesota spanning several decades on the importance of carbon -- or organic matter -- in the earth's soil systems and in agriculture in particular.
• Louise Jackson, an agroecologist in the Department of Vegetable Crops at UC Davis, who will present aspects of her work on reduced tillage systems in the Salinas Valley.
• Aref Abdul-Baki, a plant physiologist at the USDA ARS Vegetable Laboratory in Beltsville and the 1996 winner of USDA's highest award for environmental conservation, who will describe a no-till vegetable production system that has met with great success. Abdul-Baki's experience with the system leads him to believe no-till vegetable production will be the norm in the United States 20 years from now.
• Ron Morse, professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech, who will discuss the successes and problems that he's had using no-till transplanting equipment.
• John Lana, director of Oregon State University's Sustainable Agriculture Program, who will be on hand to present a session on his strip-till process, where a narrow bank of the cover cropped bed is laid bare for direct seeding or transplanting.
• A panel of leading California growers, who will discuss their concerns and ideas related to the use of no-till, strip-till or other minimum till systems in California.

After lunch, conference participants will go into the field to see a demonstration of no-till equipment provided by Ralph Seseņa of Buffalo Equipment Company. Finally the group at the West Side Research and Extension Center will look at Mitchell's demonstration projects, where no-till and strip-till systems are being used to grow tomatoes and melons on an experimental basis.

To register send a check payable to "UC Regents" with name, address and telephone number to: Lita Santos, UC Kearney Ag Center, 9240 S. Riverbend Ave., Parlier, CA 93648. For more information contact Santos at (209) 646-6506, or lita@uckac.edu.

Jeannette Warnert
Public Information Representative
UC Regional Office
550 E. Shaw Avenue
Fresno, CA 93710