How Has the Coronavirus Pandemic Impacted California Food, Agriculture, and Environment?

Jun 03, 2020

The University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics just released a special coronavirus issue of ARE Update. The report includes three articles addressing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on farm labor, food security, and traffic and pollution in California. ARE Professor Michael Anderson writes about vehicle traffic (and associated pollution) in California and shows that travel dropped dramatically—40 – 60%—in California following the stay-at-home order, but then began increasing in mid April, long before any restrictions on the stay-at-home order were lifted.

The report also includes profiles of leading California agricultural industries and illustrates the different ways the pandemic has impacted leading industries like dairy, beef, and produce – industries that have scrambled to repurpose products from foodservice to retail; and tree nuts – an industry that saw a temporary spike in sales as consumers hoarded storable goods. The report includes expert assessments of what the future holds for California’s cattle, dairy, produce, strawberry, tomato, tree nut, and wine industries.

Full Report can be found here: https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/giannini_public/d4/e0/d4e0d72d-648c-4a0e-9048-cef6d9f2ba77/v23n5.pdf

Source : berkeley.edu

Video: Four Star Pork Industry Conf - Back to Basics: Fundamentals drive vaccine performance

At a time when disease pressure continues to challenge pork production systems across the United States, vaccination remains one of the most valuable and heavily debated tools available to veterinarians and producers.

Speaking at the 2025 Four Star Pork Industry Conference in Muncie, Indiana, Dr. Daniel Gascho, veterinarian at Four Star Veterinary Service, encouraged the industry to return to fundamentals in how vaccines are selected, handled and administered across sow farms, gilt development units and grow-finish operations.

Gascho acknowledged at the outset that vaccination can quickly become a technical and sometimes tedious topic. But he said that real-world execution, not complex immunology, is where most vaccine failures occur.