University Farm to Open Seasonal Farm Stand on Hegan Lane

Jul 09, 2024

By Ashley Gebb

Summer Sweet Corn to Start Sales, Followed by Melons

From peaches and pastrami to pumpkins and poinsettias, the University Farm at Chico State takes great pride in offering its products to the broader community. Soon, the iconic learning lab will expand its public sales with a roadside farm stand at the corner of Nicholas C. Shouten and Hegan lanes.

Scheduled to open July 10, the summer’s offerings will start with a bumper crop of sweet corn and likely expand to melons. Chico State students will staff the stand from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday to Friday, with ears priced at $5 for a dozen or 50 cents each. Checks and cash will be accepted as payment.

“This bicolor corn is as sweet as it is beautiful, and will make a great addition to summer tables,” said Kevin Renker (Agricultural Business, ’06), row crops specialist at the University Farm. “We’re thrilled to have this new offering and hope the community will be equally excited. We’re just a short drive from the heart of Chico for some of the freshest corn you can find in Butte County.”

The farm planted 12 acres to allow for staggered harvests into September. Seeded watermelons, cantaloupes and sunflowers for cut flowers have also been planted. The money raised from sales will help support the College of Agriculture’s row crop program, where students learn the fundamentals and support research into one of the state’s top industries.

“The University Farm is an invaluable hands-on aspect of our students’ experience in the College of Agriculture,” said University Farm Director Ricardo Orellana. “Whether planting, picking, studying irrigation and pest control, or supporting sales firsthand, these hands-on learning opportunities prepare the agricultural leaders of tomorrow.”

Source : csuchico.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.