Tour Details
Thursday, August 17, All Day
Cost: $75 including lunch
Chartered Bus will depart from Moscone Convention Center at 7:00 am and return between 5:00PM and 6:00PM
We will travel along various agricultural sites in the Sacramento Valley. The tour will be both scenic and educational, including presentations from agricultural experts and visits to research laboratories and agricultural fields under production.
First Stop – University of California, Davis (UC Davis), a land grant college noted for its agricultural research. UC Davis is number one in the nation for agriculture, plant sciences, animal science, forestry, and most recently, agricultural economics. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis is a global leader recognized throughout the world for its scientific expertise. The campus has 2,300 acres devoted to agricultural research and teaching, so there will be a lot to see and do. The campus tour will demonstrate how the College is addressing critical issues related to agriculture, food systems, and the environment.
Welcoming remarks from the Dean’s Office within the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences will be followed by visits to campus laboratories and agricultural locations. We will meet representatives from the Cooperative Extension Plant Sciences Field Crop Research program, who will give a presentation on pesticide research in support of specialty crops. For more than 100 years, UC Cooperative Extension (CE) has been working with local farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, and others to identify concerns and provide innovative solutions that support productive agriculture, and healthy ecosystems and communities.
Second Stop – Our next visit is to the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. It is home to the university’s winemaking, brewing, and food science programs and their facilities. We will tour various sensory labs, a food innovation kitchen, a winery, and brewery. Research objectives will be presented at each stop. The central mission of the Institute is “enhancing public understanding of wine, brewing, and food sciences.” Robert Mondavi himself summed up the importance of the Institute by stating “We are greatly honored to support UC Davis with facilities that ensure its position as the world’s leading educational center for viticulture, enology, and food science.”
Third Stop – We will next tour the campus research vineyard with presentations by campus viticulturists who will provide insights into the optimal conditions for growing grape varieties and the impact of climate change. Following the vineyard, we will visit the UC Davis Olive Center. The Center is an example of a self-supporting university/industry partnership that is shaping future olive crops worldwide to ensure sustainability. The world-renowned center brings together nearly 60 UC faculty members, research specialists and farm advisors. We may have opportunity to purchase award winning olive oil produced at the Center. A UC Davis Special Edition Extra Virgin Olive Oil is grown, harvested, milled, bottled, and designed 100% by UC Davis Olive Center students.
Fourth Stop – Since 1963, the IR-4 Project has been the primary resource for facilitating registrations of conventional chemical pesticides and biopesticides for specialty crops and minor uses in the United States. We will hear a presentation illustrating how IR-4 projects develop required data to support the registration of pest management products. The Project’s research efforts have yielded over 45,000 use registrations in the past 60 years.
Lunch – We will enjoy a box luncheon at the Putah Creek Lodge on campus. A lunch speaker will provide a wrap-up of the morning’s activities. After lunch we will travel to the USDA Germplasm Repository and Experimental Orchard. Staff horticulturists will provide an overview of the repository’s genebank a walking tour of the orchard and viewing of their grape diversity collection. Table displays will illustrate the genetic diversity of the orchard and provide tasting opportunities. Following this stop we will hear about pre- and post-harvest fungicides. We will then visit a prune grove which will be one of our last field stop.
Return Trip – Our bus trip home will be highlighted by a presentation on Gallo Winery. Founded in 1933 by brothers Ernest and Julio Gallo, E. & J. Gallo Winery is a family-owned company and global wine and spirits industry leader. The winery is known for its lasting commitment to sustainability and quality. Our last tour activity will be a toast to AGRO and California agriculture with a glass of bubbly graciously supplied by Gallo. Sparkling apple juice will also be available.