I. Workgroup purpose and general information
II. Workgroup Membership, July 1999
III. Workgroup activity description

I. WORKGROUP PURPOSE AND GENERAL INFORMATION

Name of Workgroup: Small Grain Workgroup

Chair/Convener: Lee Jackson, Department of Agronomy & Range Science, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530) 752-0701. Email: lfjackson@ucdavis.edu

Suggested Program Area Affiliations: Ag Productivity, Ag Policy and Pest Management

Overall Purpose: The Small Grain Workgroup has been active since the early 1980’s. It is a multidisciplinary workgroup whose membership includes Cooperative Extension Farm Advisors, Cooperative Extension Specialists, and UC research faculty from various departments on the UC campuses who have research programs or interest in some aspect of small grain (primarily wheat and barley, but also oat and triticale) production and/or utilization. Faculty from the Departments of Agronomy & Range Science, Plant Pathology, Entomology, LAWR, Botany, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, Food Science and Nutrition, and Plant Sciences-UCR are or have been represented. Membership also includes USDA scientists attached to Campus departments or located in Albany, CA at the USDA Western Regional Research Center. The Director and staff of the California Wheat Commission and staff of the California Crop Improvement Association also participate. The Workgroup provides a forum for the exchange of information on current and planned research projects and extension programs, setting of priorities for research and extension activities, and planning for needed publications. Subject matter in-service training activities for farm advisors also are provided. The Workgroup applies a team-approach to problem solving and helps improve coordination of efforts in all areas of small grain production and utilization.

Small grain germplasm evaluation
Conservation tillage
Modeling wheat growth and development
Wheat and barley plant population dynamics
Research and marketing efforts of the California Wheat Commission
Wheat, barley, oat, and triticale breeding and genetics
Seed allocation, fields management, and field inspection programs of the Foundation Seed Program
Response of wheat yield and grain quality to late season fertilization
Publication of the Small Grain IPM Manual
Nematode research at the UC IMREC
Publication of the Small Grains weed control bulletin
Population dynamics and management of aphids affecting cereal grains
BYDV of small grains
Footrot of small grains
End-use research of wheat: Anza-type wheat for Chinese food products
Triticale utilization and potential markets
N-quick tests for wheat: availability and reliability
Models of wheat/wild oat interaction
Economic thresholds for weed control in small grains
Intensive crop management for maximum profit: perspectives from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys

Workgroup Structure & Operational Procedures:
The Small Grain Workgroup is a multidisciplinary workgroup whose membership includes Cooperative Extension Farm Advisors, Cooperative Extension Specialists, and UC research faculty from various departments on the UC campuses who have research programs or interest in some aspect of small grain production or utilization. The Departments of Agronomy & Range Science, Plant Pathology, Entomology, LAWR, Botany, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, Food Science and Nutrition, and Plant Sciences-UCR are or have been represented). Membership also includes USDA scientists attached to Campus departments or located in Albany, CA at the USDA Western Regional Research Center. The Director and staff of the California Wheat Commission and staff of the California Crop Improvement Association also participate. Each year the Workgroup as a whole has one or two meetings where topics and issues relevant to small grain cereals in California are presented and discussed. The Workgroup meetings also serve as a primary method for communication among small grain research and extension programs. Communication among workers also is accomplished though email, through publication (3 issues/year) of the Small Grain Newsletter, and informally by member to member contact. Progress in applied research and status of important issues in small grain cereals are highlighted during the Annual Small Grain Field Day at UC Davis. Annual planning and training meetings for subgroups of the Small Grain Workgroup (Sacramento Valley advisors, San Joaquin Valley advisors, and Intermountain-area advisors) are held to develop regional programs, to enhance research coordination, and to facilitate communication within and between regions.

II. WORKGROUP MEMBERSHIP LIST:
Small grain workgroup, July 1999

III. WORKGROUP ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION:

Name of Activity: Workgroup meetings (4): February 2000, May 2000, February 2001, May 2001.

Purpose and Goals: The main purpose of the Workgroup meetings is to plan for coordination of efforts in research and extension in issues identified by Workgroup members as important to small grain production and utilization in California. These issues include some of the Division’s highest program priorities in Agricultural Resources: Issue 1 - Productivity and Efficiency of Agriculture (Actions 1 and 6) and Issue 2 - Pest and Disease Management (Actions 1, 3, and 5). The meetings also function to facilitate communication among Workgroup members. In-service training for advisors also is an integral part of the meetings and focuses on Workgroup-identified high priority discipline areas. The meetings also facilitate the planning of Workgroup-identified high priority publications. Success of the described activities will be indicated by member attendance and active participation in Workgroup projects (Workgroup-identified high priority publications, research projects and extension activities) that are initiated or planned during the meetings.

Name of Activity: Annual Small Grain Field Day, UC Davis (May, 2000 and May 2001)

Purpose and Goals: The main purpose of the Annual Small Grain Field Day is to highlight advances in field research efforts on small grain cereals being conducted by University of California researchers and extension workers at UC Davis and other campuses. A major portion of the research conducted addresses several of the DANR–identified issues, goals and actions in the area of Agricultural Resources that are listed in Program Priorities, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, March 1999, particularly with regard to germplasm development, improvement of grain quality, marketability and yield, and protection from diseases and pests. Specifically, the research addresses Agricultural Resources: Issue 1 - Productivity and Efficiency of Agriculture (Actions 1 and 6) and Issue 2 - Pest and Disease Management (Actions 1, 3, and 5). Developing and integrating the use of disease resistant cultivars into small grain management systems is a major and continuing effort of the wheat and barley programs (recent examples are programs for Septoria tritici leaf blotch and stripe rust resistance in wheat; stripe rust, scald, and net blotch resistance in barley; and Russian wheat aphid resistance in wheat and barley) (Issue 1, Action 1 and Issue 2, Action 1). A program for monitoring pest and pathogen populations (Issue 2, Action 3) is an integral part of the regional testing program for small grains in California. The regional testing program utilizes the UC Davis Agronomy farm as a major site of the program that is conducted to determine the production potential, adaptability, and quality characteristics of small grain cereals and to provide the data needed for releasing newly developed germplasm as cultivars (Issue 1, Action 6). The Annual Field Day also provides Workgroup members with the opportunity to exchange ideas and communicate with fellow Workgroup members as well as with key small grain industry members (seedsmen, plant breeders, grain dealers, millers and bakers, etc.) who attend the field day function. Better communication among Workgroup members and grower and industry clientele, as well as potential modification of Workgroup goals and activities are expected outcomes of the Field Day activity as well as indicators of its success.

Name of Activity: Annual planning and training meetings for subgroups of the Small Grain Workgroup (a. Sacramento Valley advisors, b. San Joaquin Valley advisors, and c. Intermountain-area advisors (September 2000, September 2001)

Purpose and Goals: The main purposes of the annual planning and training meetings are to address the research/extension needs regarding small grain cereals that are region-specific, and to integrate regional and statewide programs for Workgroup-identified high priority publications, research projects and extension activities. The three regions represent small grain production systems that have both similarities and distinct differences, thus differing needs with regard to research projects and extension efforts. For instance, development of cultivars for disease resistance as well as agronomic and end-use characteristics entails different requirements in the Sacramento Valley (i.e., bread wheat with resistance to Septoria tritici blotch and stripe rust; feed barley with resistance to stripe rust and scald), the San Joaquin Valley (i.e., bread and durum wheat with resistance to leaf rust and stripe rust; feed barley with resistance to stripe rust, leaf rust and net blotch), and the Intermountain-area (i.e., soft wheat with resistance to stripe rust and feed and malting barley with resistance to stripe rust). The unifying theme, however, and integration with statewide programs and key Workgroup priorities (Agricultural Resources: Issue 1 - Productivity and Efficiency of Agriculture, Actions 1 and 6, and Issue 2 - Pest and Disease Management, Actions 1, 3, and 5) is accomplished through the regional testing program (Issue 1, Action 6). Initiation of region-specific research projects and extension publications and member participation in statewide projects are expected outcomes.

Name of Activity: Printing/reproduction/dissemination of UC Davis Agronomy Progress Report on Results of Regional Barley, Common and Durum Wheat, and Triticale and Oat Performance tests in California.

Purpose and Goals: The main goal is to extend results of the regional small grain cereal evaluation tests to Workgroup members, growers and industry clientele. The publication represents the documentation of Workgroup efforts in some of the Division’s highest program priorities in Agricultural Resources: Issue 1 - Productivity and Efficiency of Agriculture (Actions 1 and 6) and Issue 2 - Pest and Disease Management (Actions 1, 3, and 5). The regional trials of small grain cereals are conducted statewide to determine the production potential, disease resistance, adaptability, and quality characteristics of cereal grains and to provide the data needed for releasing newly developed germplasm as cultivars (Issue 1, Action 6). Disease incidence and severity data also are included and provide an efficient method of monitoring pest and pathogen populations (Issue 2, Action 3). The expected outcome (and indication of success) is a changing pattern of cultivar distribution and acreage that reflects improvement in productivity and end-use characteristics of new cultivars while minimizing vulnerability to diseases and pests in specific areas of production.

Name of Activity: Printing/reproduction/dissemination of the Small Grain Newsletter

Purpose and Goals: The main purpose of the activity is to communicate with members of the Workgroup and disseminate research-based information to farm advisors, who in turn will extend appropriate information contained in the Small Grain Newsletter to growers and industry clientele in their counties. The Small Grain Newsletter addresses Workgroup activities in the Division’s high priority issues, goals and actions in the area of Agricultural Resources, particularly with regard to germplasm development, improvement of grain quality, marketability and yield, and protection from diseases and pests. The expected outcome is that farm advisors will make the information in the Small Grain Newsletter that is most relevant to growers and industry clientele in their counties available to their clientele by reproducing it in county newsletters or emphasizing it at grower/industry meetings.