With the agriculture industry today tending toward high technology equipment, a new device developed by UC scientists looks more like a throwback to the past. Mounted on bicycle tires and light enough to be pulled through the field by one person, the prototype "bicycle sprayer" will be demonstrated to farmers at the 1998 Fall Vegetable Crops Field Day, 8 a.m. to 12 noon Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the UC Kearney Agricultural Center near Parlier.

The bicycle sprayer is intended for small-scale farmers who rely on sometimes inefficient and less precise backpack sprayers, or no chemicals at all.

The bicycle sprayer can be calibrated for accurate chemical application, is capable of treating up to nine rows at once, can be adjusted to spray row and trellis crops, is easy to clean, and may be pulled by a tractor, when one is available.

The innovation also provides safety benefits. As workers pull the sprayer through the field, they keep their distance from chemicals being applied, as opposed to walking along while directly applying a spray from a backpack.

"It looks a little strange as it crawls down the field like a spider on bicycle tires," said Manuel Jimenez, the vegetable crops farm advisor for Tulare County UC Cooperative Extension, who developed the sprayer with UC Integrated Pest Management Weed Ecologist Tim Prather. "But it presents a new option for farmers that could help them use chemicals more efficiently and increase their profits."

The bicycle sprayer demonstration will be from 9:45 to 10:20 a.m. Other presentations at the annual field day program are:

• Insect and disease management and production of squash, eggplant and sweet corn using plasticulture/drip irrigation systems, by UC Davis Entomologist Charlie Summers and UC IPM Plant Pathologist Jim Stapleton,
• Vegetable production using conservation tillage, by UC Vegetable Specialist Jeff Mitchell,
• Gailon (Asian broccoli) variety trial results, by UC Cooperative Extension small-scale farm advisor in Fresno County Richard Molinar, and
• Green bean and squash virus resistance variety trial results, by Manuel Jimenez and Richard Molinar.

The program is free and open to all farmers and others interested in the vegetable crop production. No pre-registration is necessary. (Organizers have applied for four hours of PCA credit.) The Kearney Ag Center is at 9240 S. Riverbend Ave., off Manning Avenue just east of Parlier. For more information contact JoAnne Coviello at (209) 646-6525 or Lois Strole at (209) 646-6545.

Jeannette Warnert
Public Information Representative
Ag and Natural Resources
UC Center
550 E. Shaw Avenue
Fresno, CA 93710