Accurate water use and soil salinity measurements are critical for managing irrigation requirements and maintaining soil health in today’s cropping systems. To address water challenges in desert agriculture, YCEDA is coordinating a large multi-institution irrigation and soil salinity management study. Collaborating scientists from the University of Arizona, University of Maryland, and USDA presented a breakout session at the 2019 Southwest Ag Summit.

The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture is a public-private partnership dedicated to bringing scientific research and the agriculture industry together to find solutions that bring value to stakeholders by addressing “on-the-ground” needs of Desert Ag production. We are working on #DesertAgSolutions for high priority issues.

Fusarium Wilt of lettuce has increasingly become a problem to AZ & CA lettuce growers since it was first identified. Steve Koike, Director of TriCal Diagnostics; Dr. Frank Martin, Research Plant Pathologist from USDA-ARS and Dr. Barry Pryor, University of Arizona Professor of Plant Pathology & Microbiology, share their expertise on the topic. A grower roundtable discussion was also part of the presentation.

4 years ago, the Yuma Center of Excellence was launched as an innovative public-private partnership between the University of Arizona & the Ag industry. We have accomplished much in the last 4 years and could not have done it without our Ag partners, collaborations with university researchers, staff members & excellent work from everyone involved!

2018 was a productive year. We hired 2 new team members, advanced research on urgent problems facing our stakeholders, furthered the utilization of drones in Ag, and so much more! In this video, we look back at our 2018 accomplishments and we look forward to an even more productive 2019!

We had a great turn out for our 2018 field demo. Thank you to all who participated! We look forward to another amazing display of advanced ag tech at our 2019 field demo!

The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) is coordinating a multi-year, cross-disciplinary research project to quantitatively track water use and salt balance across typical crop production systems and rotations. From these studies, opportunities for more efficient water and salt management outcomes will be identified. Members of the research team discussed the project and ongoing data collection at the 2018 Southwest Ag Summit.