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Thoughts on Rice
This podcast is for growers, PCAs, consultants, and other industry professionals in the California rice industry. We'll primarily be focusing on the Sacramento Valley and Delta Region of California. The UCCE Rice Farm Advisors aim to deliver extension information relating to the California rice industry.
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Thoughts on Rice
Stem Rot with Luis Espino
In this episode, Luis Espino and Sarah Marsh Janish give a rundown on stem rot, one of the main diseases of rice in California. One disease that can be found in practically every rice field is stem rot. This fungus causes the tillers to rot at the water level and, when severe, it causes blanking and lodging.
Stem Rot Resources
UC Rice Blog Post about Injury Thresholds
UCANR Stem Rot and Aggregate Sheath Spot Fact Sheet
Other Resources
Rice in the Delta
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Hello and welcome to Thoughts on Rice, a podcast hosted by the University of California Cooperative Extension Rice Advisors. I'm one of your hosts, Sarah Marchionish, and I'm a Rice Farm Advisor for Colusa and Yolo Counties.
SPEAKER_00:I'm Whitney from DeForest. I'm the Cooperative Extension Rice Advisor for Sutter, Yuba, Placer, and Sacramento counties.
SPEAKER_02:My name is Luis Espino. I'm the Rice Farming Systems Advisor for Butte
SPEAKER_00:and Glynn counties. I'm Michelle Leinfelder-Miles. I'm a farm advisor in the Delta region. I work on all sorts of field crops, grains and forages, but one of those is rice. And the counties that I cover are San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo-Solano, and Contra Costa counties.
SPEAKER_01:Together, the UCCE Rice Farm Advisors seek to provide relevant, topical, research-backed information relating to California rice production. In this episode, Luis Espino gives us a rundown on stem rot, one of the main diseases of rice in California. Now, one disease that can be found in practically every rice field is stem rot. This fungus causes the tillers to rot at the water level, and when severe, it causes blanking and lodging. Now, at the time of recording, the fields around us are, for the most part, either starting to drain, well underway, or even sort of starting to harvest the 2025 crop. This is the time of year when we take our tiller samples to rate for diseases like stem rot so that we can evaluate the effects of different fungicides applied earlier this year at approximately mid-tiller. While this doesn't allow for recommendations for the current season, this does give perspective and guidance on what to expect in the coming season. Here to tell us more about stem rot, some of the research involving this disease. Here's Louisa Spino. Luis, thanks for making the time to be here today. I know it's a busy time of year.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, it's coming to an end. So it's, you know, there's light at the end of the tunnel.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I have to say, I get really excited when I see all the combines and the bank out wagons start to enter the fields. One, because it's an exciting time of year and I love the smell of rice harvest, but also because it kind of indicates that, okay, we're almost to the finish line.
SPEAKER_02:We're getting to the end, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So So Louise, I got to ask you here today because I wanted to talk about stem rot, which is a disease we've been talking about quite a bit these last few weeks because you have been in the midst, in the thick of doing stem rot ratings. And so I thought it might be a good idea for us to hop on here, talk a little bit about what stem rot is. And so for that, would you mind just giving us a quick briefer on what the symptoms of stem rot in rice are?
SPEAKER_02:Yes. So stem rot is a very common disease and is caused by a fungus. What happens is the pathogen infects the tillers. It starts with the leaf sheets at the water level. And then the lesions it causes are these black, blotchy spots on the leaf sheets. And as the disease gets more severe, it penetrates those leaf sheets into the tiller. If it gets very severe, then it reaches the culm, which is the main stem. That's after you peel all the leaf sheets on a tiller, you end up with the main stem. That's what we call the culm. And that gets infected. And then that can get all rotted. And once that happens, you start getting a lot of blanks. The stem, the tiller then also becomes weak and you see a lot of lodging. And so, yeah, those are kind of the symptoms and what the disease causes.
SPEAKER_01:And so it's because that that stem becomes rotted or overall weakened that it starts to fall over, starts to lodge and might also bring some of the surrounding plants down with it as well, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And it has a characteristic look. So, you know, a lot of times, a lot of years we see a lot of rice lodging and that's kind of normal, you know. This year seems like we're not having, it's not going to be a lodged year. Like there's not a lot of rice down. I'm sure there'll be some. But when it's caused by stem rot, it doesn't look flat. So when the rice lodges, typically at the point where it's rotted, the tiller, because of the stem rot, that's where it will kind of bend. And so it gives it a more, not a uniform, but there's a pattern to it. So you see these ups and downs on the field. Some of the stems are kind of up, but then the rest of the is down. And so that can be a pointer to that what's causing it is not just regular lodging, but caused by stem rot.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, we know stem rot's incredibly common. You see it in almost every rice field. But is there a reason why it's so widespread? I mean, how does the disease spread once it's established?
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's a good question. So typically, yes, we see stem rot in every field. So the level of stem rot varies, but all fields have stem rot. So it's pretty widely distributed. Now, I think over the years, the disease can get worse because what happens is the pathogen, when it grows inside in the tiller and towards the end of the season, actually right now, you know, if you pick up a few tillers that have stem rot and you peel them, you will see these, they look like grains of sand but they're black. And those are the resting structures of the pathogen. Those are called the sclerotia. And so these sclerotia are able to survive in the residue and in the soil as well. And then as they accumulate, then the disease becomes more severe. And there's research from back in the, I believe it was maybe the late 80s, where they did the work where they recovered the sclerotia from the soil and then related that to the level of severity of disease in the field. And as you had more sclerotia, the disease was more severe. And so over the years... And this might be related to, you know, when we stopped burning, this disease started to become more apparent. Over the years, those sclerotia, you know, you accumulate them and you get more and more if you're not doing anything to avoid that development, right? And so that's how you get to some fields where you have high levels of stem rot.
SPEAKER_01:So you're not doing anything to manage that residue in a way that completely declines or removes it from the field, the sclerotia are hardy enough to survive the winter, reproduce, and potentially cause more of an infestation of stem rot in the next year.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so those sclerotia, Bob Webster, who was the pathologist, you know, back in the day, they determined that sclerotia half-life is almost two years. Wow. So they can survive quite a bit of time in the soil. And like I said, as they accumulate, then the disease is worse and worse. And so, you know, there was a study they did where they would have fields where they didn't do any straw management versus fields where the straw was incorporated and then the field was winter flooded and other fields. Well, and then, yeah, and then burning and other fields were burned. And so where you had the least accumulation of sclerotia was where you were burning. burning because you were getting rid of all the residue, including the sclerotium. Then on the winter flooded, you know, with the residue incorporated, that was kind of medium. And then where you had the most accumulation was in fields where nothing was done. The straw was left on the surface and then just worked in in the spring. So that's where you had the most. So, you know, and depending on the winter, the, you know, the degree of Decomp that you get varies, and so the better decomp you get, it helps reduce the amount of sclerotia. And the other thing also, so the sclerotia survives in the straw. It can also survive in the soil, but the sclerotia is going to be in the straw. And once we get into those maybe late February, early March days, and it starts warming up, a little bit, those sclerotia can germinate and they feed on that straw and then produce more sclerotia. And so that's why it's so important to try to get rid of that residue because then you don't get that, you know, increase that can happen during this, you know, late winter, early spring.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, it sounds like burning used to be one of the best ways for us to reduce the amount of... inoculum in the soil. Obviously, we've talked about this before, you and I, earning at least in large scale acreage is no longer that viable of an option, at least in the vast majority of the rice acreage. I think CARB only allows about 20% of the rice acreage. And then there's a certain amount of acreage each county gets. And so it's definitely eliminated. Growers have had to look into different methods of decomp in order to remove their straw and try to account for any disease management
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And I think, you know, burning, I mean, we always knew that burning was a positive in terms of disease management because, you know, we were getting rid of all that sclerotia. And there's also aggregate she-spot, which is another very similar disease that also, you know, survives via sclerotia in the soil. And then blast and to a point back. So, yeah, we always knew that burning was good for disease management. But since we lost that, I think we've seen disease management become more important. And maybe the impact of some of these diseases that in the past were not that impactful, you know, we're seeing them become a little bit more concerning. And so, yeah, the management strategy still is to try to do the best you can when it comes about managing straw and decomposing straw, getting rid of that straw. Now, you know, I don't think there were any studies looking at baling. But baling can be very variable. It depends on what height you're cutting that straw. And even when you bale, you're cutting as low as you can, there's going to be a lot of residue left in the field. Theoretically, removing residue with sclerotia would be positive, but to what degree, I don't know. It's going to depend on how low you can go with the baling, how low you can cut.
SPEAKER_01:And then what you do with your stubble as well. And then that's just another pass to get in before winter. So a lot to worry about.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Maybe if you burn that stubble, that might work out to be as effective as a burn, you know, a regular burn.
SPEAKER_01:And if you can't get in burning, maybe you stomp it, I guess, if you can.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. But I don't know to what degree, you know, growers that are baling, are they still, you know, too concerned about trying to get that stubble incorporated We've
SPEAKER_01:talked a bit about some of the management options that are available. And first and foremost, of course, is just straw and straw decomp. But there's also a factor that fertility can play, at least when it comes to the incidence of stem rot. And I understand from some of the work that you and Bruce have done is that excess nitrogen can actually increase the severity of stem rot. Would you care to touch on that a little bit?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So, and yeah, and then again, we've talked a lot about the importance of We've also known this from back from Webster's days. Yes, excess nitrogen. So if you have high levels of nitrogen, you will have higher stem rot. And you typically see it just like with blast. You see it on the headlands where there's overlaps. That's where you would typically see more stem rot because you have more nitrogen. But the other nutrient that's important is potassium. And I, you know, every time I... I talk to growers and PCAs about stem rot. I always tell this story where, you know, I was working with a grower that had a really severe stem rot field. And, you know, yield was in the 70s or so. And, you know, we did trials for a couple of years, you know, try different fungicides, different timings, and nothing seemed to make a difference. And then one year they realized they were low on potassium. And so, and I didn't think of that, but they, you know, addressed that issue and increased their potassium fertility to a level that, you know, was recommended. And then the stem rot kind of went away. It didn't go away completely, but their yields went up, you know, back to the 90s or so. So, yeah, potassium is, it's a really important nutrient when it comes to And does it matter? I
SPEAKER_01:know in some of the work you've put out, you've noted specifically that surface supply potassium fertilizer is reported to reduce race stem rot development. Is there any other types of stem rot? of application of potassium fertilizer that you've looked at?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I see. Like thinking about maybe foliar fertilizers?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Has there been anything you've looked at with that?
SPEAKER_02:You know, no, we haven't. I don't think there's any data showing, I mean, any other type of fertility that would, either way, like that works or not. Yeah, the work that was done earlier was looking at, well, I would have to look at what they used, but it was just, yeah, dry fertilizer, you know. What we don't know is, so usually we put the potassium with the phosphorus either as a, you know, early before when we're doing field work or you put it later, you know, about 20 days after planting because just to avoid the scum with the phosphorus if, you know, most likely putting phosphorus as well. What we don't know if later a light potassium would be as effective. And that's out there and that might be something that might be worth, you know, researching a little bit because some cases you don't realize that you have a deficiency or, you know, a potassium or a stem rot issue until late in the season. And so at that point, you know, would it be worth putting some potassium in, you know, would that correct some of the deficiency? We don't have, we don't know.
SPEAKER_01:And then another, I guess, cultural manage option when it comes to stem rot is also your varietal choices. And I know that I think I've read that the shorter season varieties, your M105, your S102, Kalmochi 101, I think it is, they might be more susceptible to stem rot and the other diseases rather than maybe mid-season. So 209, 210. Is there a reason for that, Louise?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I think it's just, we have with later season varieties like N211, you have a thicker, more structurally strong tiller, say an M105. And yeah, we've seen that in trials. We did that three years of trials comparing varieties. And we did see that these varieties with thicker tillers had developed less stem rot. They still developed it, but the severity to which they developed it was less than the thinner tiller varieties. And also something to keep in mind is all the varieties have different responses. And so the varieties from the rice experimentation when they put them out they do have a stem rot score so one could compare those scores you know or I don't think growers are going to choose a variety based on that but you know you can see what the score is to have an idea compared to say an M206 or an M210 but yeah I think in general varieties that have thicker bigger stems or tillers tend to develop less severe stem.
SPEAKER_01:I have heard that about 211, that it leaves a lot of straw behind and it's got really thick stems. So that makes sense. It's possibly more structurally sound, more able to resist.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, somehow, you know, we thought about it. What could it be? But I, you know, I don't have a good answer because the tiller is... There's nothing inside the tiller. The tiller is just a structure, and then inside the tiller there's nothing. So it's not like the tiller is thicker. They're all about the same thickness, but maybe just the tiller being bigger allows the plant to be able to withstand that stem rot better. There's still some tissue by which the plant can move nutrients up to fill those kernels. But anyway, but yeah, we measured tillers and we did find that thinner meant higher severity.
SPEAKER_01:So, I mean, there aren't a ton of options when it comes to chemical control of these diseases. In fact, I remember a talk you gave, I think last year, when you were talking about fungicide treatments and then your next slide was just saying like, and basically we've got quadris. Because in California rice, it's pretty much is and occasionally propiconazole, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I don't think propiconazole has much of an effect on stem rot. But yeah, it's one active ingredient we have, azoxystrobin. And we've done quite a few trials over the years, and we do see a reduction in severity. It's not huge. It's maybe a 20-30% reduction. Especially when stem rot severity is moderate to maybe high. But if it's very high, then it's very difficult to control it, to reduce that severity. But anyway, yeah, with azoxystrobin, we can reduce the severity when we apply the fungicide at the early heading stage. So sometime in between the, you know, when you got that boot split and the first few panicles are visible above the canopy, you know, that's about the time when, if you do an application, you'll have a reduction in severity. For many years, you know, we thought that putting the fungicide early, like maybe with Propanil, at Propanil time, would be more effective. Because at that time, you know, you don't have a canopy that's as thick as later. And so you can actually get the fungicide down at the water level. But all the trials we've done, rarely do we see a benefit when we put it at that time. So... It could be that it's a little bit too early. Reviewing the information that's out there, the stem rot seems to be or infects the plant at about PI. So, you know, propanil time is a little earlier than that. So maybe it's a little too early and there's not enough residual effect to protect. But the fact is, yes, we don't see much benefit early. The benefit is at heading, early heading. Which I think works well because that's also the blast timing, you know, in case blast was a problem.
SPEAKER_01:Two birds, one stone. You're doing, taking care of your diseases at the same time.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Or trying to, anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. With, yeah, the other disease, you know, that's, like I said, is similar, is aggregate sheath. But that one, yes, you know, if you apply early, you're at propanil time, the esoxystrobin, we do see a benefit there. Aggregate she spot is much easier to control than stem rot, I think. We see a much higher efficacy of the fungicide when trying to reduce aggregate she spot levels. And, you know, in general, we don't have a lot of very severe aggregate she spot, you know. So the levels of disease that are out there, it's not very high. So maybe that's why we see, you know, more efficacy. But yeah, it's a little easier to control. to manage that. But yeah, so yeah, that's the timing for stem rot is early hitting.
SPEAKER_01:And then when it comes to monitoring in your fields and then figuring out when to treat, if you need to treat at all, what does it mean when we say like, when do you monitor for stem rot? What does that look like? And then do we have treatment thresholds for this disease?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so the monitoring, you know, I've been working on that for a few years now. And so typically the way we determine the severity level of a field is we take samples at drain time. You know, we cut tillers, then rate them, and then we know the severity. Now, you know, growers, PCAs, they're not going to do that because it takes a lot of time. And, you know, at that time, all you get is information maybe for next year. Yes, there's a lot of stem rot in this field, you might want to do a better job of straw management or incorporate a fungicide in your program or consider that stem rot might be an issue. So what I've been doing is trying to relate stem rot incidents early at about the boot stage, so before a treatment would be done, with our ratings at drain time. And there seems to be a relationship. We're still doing it this year, so this might be the last year we've done it. But what we have done so far, I've seen that if you get about half of your tillers with stem rot lesions at the boot stage, then that's going to mean you're going to have a lot of, well, 100% of tillers with stem rot at drain time. So that would be a way to kind of monitor for stem rot, is you can go at the boot stage, look at your tillers, and if you're seeing, 50% of them with stem rot, then you might want to think, okay, maybe you need to do something. And so we'll, you know, we're still refining this. Like I said, we're doing another year of trials. And hopefully, you know, next year or in a couple of years, we'll have something more solid. But that's what I've been sharing with the PCAs and growers right now. So about 50% at boot time. Or if you're just looking at drain time, you know, just kind of checking things and seeing, you know, what the crop's going to be like. If all your tillers have stem rot lesions, you're probably at a higher, at a high severity of stem rot. And so you might want to consider, you know, trying to burn or, you know, trying to really up your straw management.
SPEAKER_01:And when you say that the tillers have lesions, is there a certain severity of those lesions or severity of the disease incidence that has any relation to that?
SPEAKER_02:No, just if you can just see the lesion, that, yeah, that means that the disease is there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, Luis, when you say that we're doing ratings at drain time for tillers, let's talk about what that looks like. What does it mean when we take the crew out there and take a bunch of tillers and then how do we figure out how much stem rots out there?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. And again, we do this for research purposes. So this is not something that, you know, we would expect growers or PCAs to do. But so what we do is, you know, we have our plots and we go into our plots. We take three handful of tillers from different areas and then we just randomly select 50 tillers. And then each of these tillers, we start peeling them and looking for stem rot lesions. And so if we only find stem rot on the outer leaf sheaths at the water level, then we consider that, we give that a rating of one. If we peel that and we see on the next layer, the next leaf sheath, you know, there's a lesion there, then that would be a level two. And you continue peeling until you get to the, usually after that you get to the main column, the main tiller. And so once you get to the main column, if you see a lesion on that, then that's a level three. And then if that column is rotted, so it's black all around and you open it up and you can see actually the white mycelia growing inside, then we consider that a level four. And obviously if the tiller's healthy, which we also find healthy tillers those would be zeros and so that's how we rate and so we rate then we count how many tillers for each each level and then we calculate like a weighted average sort of and that gives us our severity index and what we found is when we are at a level two or more that's when you see very high numbers of tillers will show lesions so so the incidence is very high but you cannot differentiate just looking at incidence or so the number of tillers you know that are infected you cannot differentiate between a two and a three just two and high two and above it's always 100 incidence so that's why we say you know if you're 100 you're probably severity two or above so it can be very severe But like I said, that's, you know, we do that for research. Now, you know, sometimes when we go out to the field, you know, we show a grower, a PCA, what it looks like. You know, you can peel those leaf sheaths and then look at the comb, and if it looks nice and clean, well, you can feel, you know, comfortable that, yeah, the stem rot is not very severe. But if you start finding a lot of tillers with lesions in that main comb, then that means that, yeah, there's, you know, that is a severe stem Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for explaining that, Luis. So Luis, obviously you get a lot of like disease calls and especially at this time of year, do you have, I guess, an estimation or just a guess on if this is a high disease year or if this is just kind of a low level disease year across the region?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I see. In general, not just Tembra. So You know, real quick, bacchani is still around. Nothing that would, I think, affect yields, but still something that's an eyesore early on. You know, you see all these plants that are, you know, obviously affected by bacchani and, you know, it can be a concern. But like I said, nothing that would cause a yield reduction. Aggregate sheath spot is typically not a very important disease. So we see it every now and then, but I've never seen it very severe as to be of concern. Stem rot, you know, the fields that have it, they will continue to have it. And fields that do not have it, they might increase or decrease. You know, how severe stem rot is kind of tends to be, you know, pretty stable. Now, the other disease that varies quite a bit is blast. And there's been some blast this year. Most of the fields I've seen have been in the northwest side of the valley, so Glen County near Willows. Some fields have been severely affected. I think they're going to have a yield loss. Other fields, there's just spots, you know, the nitrogen overlaps. That's where you see it. There was some leaf blast early on. I did not see it until later, until, you know, just last week where I was looking at some fields. But there was a little bit of leaf blast. And so... We'll see in these fields if they actually see much of a big yield loss, but some fields, the disease came late, and so the panicles were already, you know, filled. So hopefully those are not going to be too affected. So overall, you know, up in Willow's area, yeah, blast was present. Everywhere else, I really haven't seen much, any blast. And SMOD, I have seen very little SMOD. Very, very little. So, yeah, best way to avoid SMOD is let me put a trial in your field. So anyway, yeah, I think those are our main diseases.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're pretty fortunate. I mean, knock on wood, here in California, we don't have the disease pressure that other areas do and grateful for it. But it always makes us a little nervous, I think, if we do start to see a bit of creep up and disease like we did a couple of years ago with that blast infestation.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, we're lucky. So this is unrelated, but so in the southern U.S., you know, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, now they're finding this, the risal facet, which transmits the... And so now they have a new disease they have to worry about. And, you know, hopefully we won't have to worry about that. But it's good to keep an eye out for this bug.
SPEAKER_01:Luis, is there anything else you want to share? Any upcoming events or information you want to share with the crowd here?
SPEAKER_02:So, yeah, I was thinking that with this year, you know, I had one experiment where I was looking at the effects of COVID-19. of top dress on Stambra. And so, you know, some of the work that Bruce has done has shown that it's better to put all your nitrogen up front as aqua. And if you don't need a top dress, then, you know, don't put it. If you typically put a top dress, instead of putting those 30 pounds of nitrogen, you know, at that time, just add your aqua. Increase your aqua by 30 units and don't top dress. And some people have adopted that. But I was wondering, well, does the top dress have any effect on stem rot? You know, because we're putting the nitrogen right about the time when stem rot becomes to be a problem. And so, yeah, I had a small trial, you know, at the station in Biggs. And I've looked at some of the data. And, you know, it's not significant, but in all the plots where we put a top dress, the stem rot was slightly higher. And in plots where we didn't put a top dress, we just put all the nitrogen initially as aqua. So, you know, it was just a kind of, let's see what happens. I think I'm going to do it again next year. Any
SPEAKER_01:events or anything, Luis, or any resources you want to point people towards?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, well, so we have our fact sheets, you know, and there's a fact sheet on tiller diseases, so stem rot and aggregate sheet spot. There's a fact sheet on on potassium as well. And I've been directing growers' PCAs to those when we get calls about disease management. Yeah, and events, I don't think that we have anything coming up until our winter grower meetings, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Luis. Well, thank you so much for making the time.
SPEAKER_02:All right. Yeah, no problem. This was fun.
SPEAKER_01:Now, we don't have any upcoming rice events, but there is an upcoming event with the UC Master Gardener program based out of the Colusa office. The Colusa UC Master Gardeners will be hosting a pumpkin centerpiece workshop just in time for the fall season on Thursday, October 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Colusa Industrial Properties Conference Room. Registration is required for this event. You can visit our office or call in to save your spots and you better save your spot pretty quick because the spots for this workshop go pretty quickly if you have any questions please reach out the number is 530-458-0570 there is a cost associated with this workshop it is$30 per person and that includes all supplies needed to take your lovely pumpkin centerpiece home with you just in time for the fall season We've also been asked to make an announcement on behalf of the Western Region Certified Crop Advisor Program, also known as WRCCA. They reached out to us to ask us to help celebrate some accomplished individuals that they honored at the WRCCA annual meeting this past week in Visalia, California. The WRCCA program is committed to refining the knowledge and skill of those making decisions in the CCAs play a vital role working with producers to ensure sustainability and long-term success. For more information, visit wrcca.org. WRCCA announces the 2025 CCA of the Year and Alan Remander Scholarship and Mentor Award program winners. The Award for Certified Crop Advisor of the Year in the Western Region acknowledges the members' exemplary dedication and contributions to agriculture and WRCCA is excited to announce the 2025 CCA of the Year recipient is Eric Pooler. Eric's career has focused specifically on wine grape production, spanning time with many of the most distinguished wineries and farming operations within the U.S. wine industry. Congratulations, Eric. The Alan Romander Scholarship and Mentor Awards Program honors the life work of dedicated agriculturalist and leader, Alan Romander. 1941 to 2019. Alan Romander was one of the first CCAs in California, and his passion for agriculture created a lasting impact on those around him. We would like to congratulate the following individuals for receiving a scholarship. In the South Valley, we recognize Carlos Vega Lara, hailing from Parlier, California, and attending Reedley Community College and majoring in plant science. Next year, he plans to transfer to Fresno State to earn a bachelor's in plant science with a minor in agronomy, while gaining experience to take to the certified crop advisor exams. In the North Valley, we recognize Reed Scott from Yuba City, California, currently pursuing a major in integrated plant sciences at Washington State University. His goals include obtaining a CCA, PCA, and QAL to further his value in education in the industry. In the desert region, we recognize Joseph Clark from Yuma, Arizona, presently enrolled at University of Arizona with a major in agricultural systems management. She plans to become a CCA as she graduates in 2026. In the coastal region, we recognize Roberto Lopez from Oakdale, California, currently pursuing a degree in agricultural science with a minor in plant protection at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. Looking ahead, he plans to continue combining hands-on farming experience with agribusiness insights to support innovations sustainability, and workforce development across California agriculture. We congratulate all these scholarship winners for their achievements. Mentor awards are granted to exceptional professors who teach agronomy-related coursework. Our mentor award recipient is Delia Melendez, adjunct professor of plant science at Los Angeles Pierce College. Delia is a student of Pierce College herself and has associate degrees in both horticulture and landscape design, and a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Oregon State University, and a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Oregon State University. Oregon State University. With the honorarium grant funding, the students will benefit by applying it to two student projects at Pierce College. Both projects provide the students with opportunities to experience hands-on learning and to gain knowledge about various aspects of agronomy as applied to a practical situation. We congratulate the Mentor Award recipient, Delia Melendez. WRCCA is proud to announce the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Service Award This award acknowledges a retired certified crop advisor, CCA, who has dedicated their career and volunteer time to the CCA program in agriculture industry. WRCCA is excited to announce the 2025 Distinguished Service Award recipient is Fred Strauss. Fred Strauss began his career as a pest control advisor and was an active member of the California Association of Pest Control Advisors, or CAPCA. He was recognized as a CAPCA member of the year in 1991 for the time and effort he generously gave to the organization. When the Certified Crop Advisor organization was established in 1992, he was among the first to get certified. He was later asked to serve on the CCA board, holding various positions including chairman. For many years, Strauss spearheaded the marketing efforts of the Western Region CCA program, manning booths and prioritizing the growth of the organization. He eventually began working with Western Farm Service, which is now known as Nutrien. After retiring, he remained engaged in the industry, volunteering with the International Certified Crop Advisor Board. Advisor Strauss is well known in the industry for his kind demeanor, passion for the CCA program, and the ability to have an engaging conversation with each person he interacts with. Congratulations to Fred Strauss. Remember, Like the growers like to say, have a rice life. The material and information presented here is for general purposes only. The University of California name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.
