Secretary of California Department of Food and Agriculture Visits Berkeley Lab

From left to right: Margaret Torn, Bill Riley, Susan Hubbard, Gary Andersen, Secretary Ross, Yuxin Wu, Bob Wynn (senior advisor to the secretary), Romy Chakraborty, Peter Nico, Louise Glass, Javier Ceja Navarro, Blake Simmons, Eoin Brodie, and Will Stringfellow. (Photo credit: N. Kooyman)

The many potential benefits of pioneering science to agriculture was on display on Monday when Karen Ross, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, visited Berkeley Lab and met with members of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area and the Biosciences Area. She also toured the Advanced Light Source.

During her visit, she learned how Berkeley Lab’s diverse efforts in both basic and applied science could help California address its agricultural and food challenges of the 21st Century, such as how to produce more food with fewer natural resources.

Deputy Lab Director Horst Simon welcomed Secretary Ross, and then Susan Hubbard, Associate Lab Director, provided a brief introduction of the National Lab system, Berkeley Lab, and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area.

Next, several scientists provided overviews of research that could be tapped to help tackle California’s challenges in agriculture, soil health, water availability, climate change, and energy.

Photo of Ross wearing a headset to view the inside of a grapevine captured at the Advanced Light Source.

Secretary Ross wears a headset to view the inside of a grapevine captured at the Advanced Light Source. (Photo Credit: E. Essner)

Among the projects presented were new research on the impacts of climate change on California agriculture, advances in groundwater management practices and water reuse for agriculture. Harnessing the power of the planet’s microbial engines was a topic that led to good discussion, with particular emphasis on how soil microbes can help improve food production, how microbes that inhabit insect guts can be targeted to fight agricultural pests, and the role that microbes play in enhancing the terrestrial carbon sink and maintaining healthy soils. Innovations in urban agriculture, advanced composting, and remote sensing methods that enable scientists to image soil and agricultural systems were also discussed.

Secretary Ross then visited the Advanced Light Source, where she learned how a 3-D microscopy technique at beamline 8.3.2 enables scientists to see water as it’s transported throughout a plant. This work has enabled scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study how grapevines respond to drought stress.

Go here to read a blog post by Secretary Ross on her visit.

News & Events

Three EESA scientists receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

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Three Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientists receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Award for 2017. Congratulations to Nick Bouskill, Charlie Koven, and Neslihan Tas Baas.

EESA Develops New Approach to Restock California’s Groundwater via Almond Orchards, Vineyards

August 3, 2017

Groundwater—the water stored underneath the Earth’s surface between the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and bedrock—is essential for the California residents and farmers who rely on it for up to 46 percent of their annual water use. Yet during the 2012-2017 drought, the state’s surface water supply was not sufficient to meet demand, resulting in excess groundwater pumping that caused land subsidence of up to 13 inches in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

Now a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area are working with farmers and partners like the Almond Board of California and UC Davis to test on-farm banking, a new approach that has the potential to manage groundwater more sustainably. It’s an improvement on the age-old method of groundwater recharge, the process of replenishing aquifers by infiltrating water from the surface into shallow aquifers.

“On-farm banking has the promise of making the most productive use of the greatest amount of land possible while increasing the reliability and resiliency of California’s groundwater supply,” says EESA scientist Peter Nico, a soil and environmental biogeochemist.

EESA Scientist Builds Cross-Border Collaborations for Geothermal Research

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Thirty-five years ago, Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientist Patrick Dobson began his career as a graduate student by conducting field mapping, collecting fluid samples, and learning the ropes from local scientists at the Los Azufres geothermal field in Michoacán, Mexico. During his summer doing field work in Mexico, he met Berkeley Lab’s Marcelo Lippmann, who was attending a symposium on the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, the subject of a collaborative research project between the Lab (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned utility.

Now—after decades of leading geothermal exploration projects all over the world, including Indonesia, Central America, and South America— Dobson’s work has come full circle.

Earlier this year, he spent two weeks in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico as a Fulbright Specialist in geothermal research. Hosted by the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), one of the main hubs for geothermal work in the country, Dobson met with Mexican researchers to share knowledge, identify areas of mutual interest, and explore potential areas of collaboration.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Brief California Science Advisory Panel for Food and Agriculture

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As two-thirds of the fruits and nuts—and over a third of the vegetables—produced in the United States are grown in California, it’s crucial that the Golden State cultivate healthy soils that are resilient to stresses such as climate change, drought, and groundwater overuse. Now scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) and Biosciences Area are contributing to the effort by sharing their expertise with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Science Advisory Panel, a group comprised of farmers, agriculture professionals, and experts in areas such as water, conservation, and resource management. Last week, EESA scientist Peter Nico hosted the panel at the Lab to brief them on research related to developing healthy soils, sustainable groundwater management strategies, and climate-adaptive agriculture.