Food Blog

Man in straw hat picks crops in a field

The Food Blog covers our latest research and extension work to advance and optimize the production and vitality of California's abundant agricultural commodities.

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Workers move cardboard boxes on the back of flatbed trucks in a lettuce field
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Will importing workers lead to importing crops?

December 6, 2024
A dwindling and aging agricultural workforce, coupled with higher labor costs, have added pressure on U.S. farms over the past decade. A recent study by University of California agricultural economists Alexandra Hill and James Sayre explores these changing trends in U.S.
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Students pose with their advisor next to the agricultural robot they designed
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Students design high-tech solutions through Farm Robotics Challenge

October 25, 2024
By Michael Hsu
A robot that navigates and weeds row-crop fields and its design team from Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts have garnered the grand prize in the second annual Farm Robotics Challenge. Five winning teams, representing various universities and colleges across the U.S.
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An artist's conception of Reservoir Farms
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Partners unveil first on-farm robotics incubators

October 23, 2024
The Reservoir, a nonprofit building tech incubators across California, and partners Western Growers Association, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Merced College, Hartnell College and venture capital firm HawkTower have announced the creation of the first-ever on-farm robot...
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