Tulare County Research Articles

First report of Fusarium falciforme causing root and stem rot in cowpea (syn. black-eyed pea; Vigna unguiculata) in California.

In both April 2018 and September 2019, cowpeas / black-eyed peas (Vigna unguiculata) in one field in Tulare County, California were observed with tap root rot, both underground (foot) and aboveground stem rot, and in some cases canopy decline, compromising bean formation. In both fields, < 5% of plants appeared affected. Foot and stem segments (~1 cm) of 5-10 plants / field were disinfested sequentially with 0.1% Tween 20 (dip), 70% ethanol for 30 s, and 1% sodium hypochlorite for 2 min and placed on 1:10 potato dextrose agar with 0.03% tetracycline and Fusarium selective medium (Leslie and Summerell 2006). Fusarium-like isolates (dominant in isolation plates) were transferred to 0.6% KCl agar, where fusiform, curved macroconidia and varied microconidia in false heads on elongated monophialides were observed, characteristic of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) (Leslie and Summerell 2006). Isolates CS221, CS222, and CS520 (representing different plants and locations) were saved as single hyphal tip cultures. An Illumina-derived genome sequence was assembled (Burkhardt et al. 2019) and partial tef1ɑ and rpb2 sequences (O'Donnell et al. 2022) were extracted from genome sequences in silico. Sequences were 99.9-100% identical to one another and to deposited F. falciforme isolates based on Fusarium ID and Fusarium MLST for tef1ɑ and rpb2, respectively (tef1a accessions: NRRL 28562 and NRRL 32331; rpb2 accession: NRRL 22857), and were deposited in GenBank (accessions in supplementary table). Pathogenicity was evaluated in three-week-old cowpea plants (cv. CB46rk2) in the greenhouse (13.5-33.6℃; 12:12 h L:D). The tap root / stem was wounded (1 mm wide, 2 mm deep) ~ 2 cm below the soil line and drenched with 50 ml of 106 spores / ml 0.1% water agar or with 0.1% water agar (negative control). The trial was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three blocks and 2-3 plants / isolate / block, and conducted twice. 52 d post-inoculation, below ground tap root / stem rot developed in 83% of F. falciforme-inoculated plants, with lesion lengths ranging from 25.2 ± 4.2 to 29.2 ± 8.0 mm (P = 0.893 for isolate, ANOVA). Canopy decline developed in 33-50% of plants across treatments in trial 1 (P = 0.859 for isolate) but not in trial 2, likely due to cooler conditions in trial 2 (January-March) vs. trial 1 (May-July), which were less stressful. F. falciforme isolates did not affect bean biomass (dry weight) vs. negative controls (12.5-14.8g / plant; P = 0.949 for pathogen treatment). FSSC isolates were recovered from 100% of symptomatic plants in the inoculated treatments but not in negative controls (both trials) and representative isolates from all treatments were confirmed as F. falciforme (tef1a analysis; trial 2 only). This study establishes F. falciforme as a root and stem rot pathogen of cowpea in California-a disease previously attributed to the morphologically and phylogenetically distinct F. phaseoli (syn. F. solani f. sp. phaseoli), but which lacked modern etiological studies (Frate et al. 2018; Geiser et al. 2021). This work is consistent with previous reports of F. falciforme as a root / stem rot pathogen in cowpea (Ajamu et al. 2023) and other beans (Sousa et al. 2017; Duarte et al. 2019). Clarification of disease etiology will improve accurate diagnosis and effective crop rotation-based management, since F. falciforme is also a pathogen of other California crops including melon, tomato and pistachio.

The synergistic health impacts of exposure to multiple stressors in Tulare County, California

Tulare County is located in the Central Valley region of California (CA). Its population is exposed to stressors that include high levels of air, water, and soil pollution, socioeconomic strain, and poor access to walkable areas and healthy foods. As a result, this population suffers from a high disease burden compared to other CA counties. We hypothesize that environmental and socioeconomic stressors interact in complex ways to raise the burden of disease in the Tulare population beyond additive impacts. We used CalEnviroScreen to select Tulare County as the subject of the study and characterized the geographical interaction of stressors. The CalEnviroScreen indicators provided the basis for population-weighted average calculations to determine the most critical environmental and socioeconomic stressors in Tulare County. We also analyzed and interpreted walkability and dietary access through open-source data. In addition, we compared disease-based mortality in Tulare County to CA state averages. Our evaluation reveals that the population living within the census tracts of Tulare County is exposed to environmental stressors at significantly higher levels relative to many other Californian census tracts, specifically for fine particulate matter, ozone, and drinking water quality. Relatively high exposures to socioeconomic stressors can compound resulting health impacts. We use dose–response curves and stressor mapping to characterize how multiple stressors may augment a population’s vulnerability and effective doses from exposure to multiple stressors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data, the differences in mortality rates between Tulare and CA were not significant. However, notable differences in mortality between CA and Tulare occur for Alzheimer’s disease, diseases of the circulatory system, influenza, and pneumonia, which were all statistically higher in Tulare County, and for diabetes, endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, and neoplasms, which were statistically lower Tulare. Previous health-impact studies have linked individual environmental stressors to their respective measures of disease. However, many communities continue to be exposed daily to numerous stressors that individually are within regulatory limits but could significantly magnify risk due to the synergistic effects. Dose–response curves tailored to population vulnerability provide a basis for quantifying the synergistic risks of multiple stressors on specific measures of disease.

A Vascular Flora of the South Fork Tule River, Southern Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California

A Vascular Flora of the South Fork Tule River, Southern Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California

Community perspectives on pharmacist-prescribed hormonal contraception in rural California

ObjectivesIn the United States, numerous states have enabled pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception. Little research focuses on the perspectives of potential users of this service in rural communities. This study sought to describe awareness of, interest in, acceptability of, and support for pharmacist-prescribed contraception in a rural California county. Study DesignWe conducted a community-based survey in 2019–20 in Tulare County, California. Researchers partnered with community members to design, implement, and analyze the survey. We recruited respondents who were ages 15 to 44 and assigned female sex at birth, using passive community-based approaches, social media advertisements, and social networks. Analyses focused on 177 respondents with a potential future need for contraception. ResultsThirty-one percent of respondents were aware that pharmacists could prescribe hormonal contraception in California, with more accurate knowledge among older respondents (p = 0.015). After receiving brief educational information about pharmacist-prescribed contraception, respondents expressed high levels of support and acceptability: they perceived pharmacist-prescribed contraception to be safe, time saving, and more convenient. Respondents were more comfortable talking about contraception with traditional contraceptive care providers compared to asking pharmacists questions about contraception. Fifty-seven percent were somewhat or very interested in obtaining contraception from a pharmacist, with higher levels of interest among those who preferred to use a different method. ConclusionAwareness of pharmacist-prescribed contraception in a rural California community was low, though people are supportive of and interested in utilizing this service. This research suggests that increased availability of pharmacist-prescribed contraception could support individuals’ reproductive self-determination and address gaps in access. ImplicationsDespite limited awareness of pharmacist-prescribed contraception, interest in using and community support for this service was high in a rural California community. This analysis suggests that increased availability of pharmacist-prescribed contraception could support reproductive self-determination and address access barriers, particularly for people whose contraceptive needs are not currently being met.

Living with Climate Change in Farmworker Communities

Living with Climate Change in Farmworker Communities David Bacon (bio) According to Dr. Jessica Hernandez, a Zapotec scholar and board member of Sustainable Seattle, 'indigenous peoples are the first impacted by climate change'. She points to the fate of the small municipality of San Pablo Tijaltepec, high in the Sierra Mixteca of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico: 'Accelerated changes to our climate due to urbanisation, fossil fuel industry, etc. continues to result in devastating impacts. The heavy rains that have recently taken place in Oaxaca, Mexico, have destroyed many of the harvests Indigenous peoples depend on. For the pueblo San Pablo Tijaltepec, their milpas [corn fields] were completely destroyed. This leaves 800 Mixtec families without the communal harvest they all depend on'. Losing the milpas and harvest is a blow that falls on people already having a hard time surviving. The Mexican government says family income in the municipality averages about $500/month, leaving half its residents in extreme poverty. In 2020 only an eighth of San Pablo Tijaltepec had access to a sewage system, and over a tenth had no electricity. The region's Mixteco-speaking people have been leaving and searching for work for decades as a result, joining the 400,000 who leave Oaxaca for northern Mexico and the U.S. every year. In California's southern San Joaquin Valley, the most productive agricultural region of the world, people from San Pablo Tijaltepec have created a new home, an extension of their Oaxacan community, in the small town of Taft. For over two decades they've worked as farmworkers in the surrounding fields. Here, instead of torrential rains, they face another environmental danger–the summer's heat, which can rise to over 110 degrees in July and August. The connection between climate change and increasing summer temperatures has been dramatised by the 'heat dome' that covered the Pacific Northwest in July, leading to similar temperatures in a region accustomed to lesser heat. Portland had a high of 116 degrees. In the nearby Willamette Valley one farmworker, Sebastian Francisco Perez, died as he continued to work in the heat, moving irrigation pipes, in order to pay a debt to a 'coyote' who'd smuggled him across the border. Scientists, and even President Biden, attributed the heat dome to climate change and its associated drought. In the southern San Joaquin Valley town of Poplar, extreme heat in the summer is the normal condition in which people live and work. It is one of the poorest communities in the state. Air conditioning in trailer homes or crowded houses normally consists of old 'swamp coolers', which hardly lower temperatures. At work people bundle up, using layers of clothing to insulate against heat and dust. Poplar's families are almost all immigrants or their children, who have travelled here from other parts of Mexico, or have crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Philippines. Many now are older people, long accustomed to the heat. Yet for them the danger is greater as they get older. Some already have health conditions springing from poverty and the hard conditions in the fields. 'In extreme heat, the body must work extra hard to maintain a healthy temperature', cautions health journalist Liz Seegert. 'Older adults are at higher risk for heat stroke, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and other serious health issues due to poorer circulation and less effective sweating that comes with aging'. This rural poverty of the southern San Joaquin stands in stark contrast to the enormous wealth the labour of its people produce. Poplar's Tulare County produced $7.2 billion in fruit, nuts and vegetables last year. Yet the average income of a county resident is $17,888 per year, compared to a U.S. average of $28,555, and 123,000 of Tulare's 453,000 residents live below the poverty line. Poverty forced farmworkers to continue working during the pandemic. Tulare County's COVID-19 infection rate was much greater, per capita, than large cities. A year ago Tulare had 7,603 confirmed cases, and 168 deaths. Heavily urban Alameda County had 9,411 confirmed cases and 167 deaths. But Alameda County's population is 1.67 million, over three times that of...

Economic tradeoff between domestic well impact and reduced agricultural production with groundwater drought management: Tulare County, California (USA), case study

Formal policy analysis can aid resource management where groundwater is used intensively. Approaches for developing equitable and effective pumping allocations for drought are evaluated in the context of the 2012–2016 drought in Tulare County, California, USA. Potential economic impacts of policy alternatives on two user groups with conflicting interests are considered. Tradeoffs between losses of agricultural profit and response costs for domestic wells that run dry are estimated for various maximum groundwater depth policies. A welfare maximizing approach for identifying policies that limit depth to groundwater is evaluated and found to be ineffective because agricultural opportunity costs are much larger than domestic well costs. Adding a fee for additional drought groundwater pumping is proposed as a more impactful and balanced management policy approach. For the case study presented, a fee range of $300 to $600/acre-foot ($300–$600/1,233 m3) yielded an effective groundwater management policy for reducing domestic well impacts from drought and balancing agricultural impacts of drought with the need to replenish additional drought pumping in wetter years. Recent management policies enacted in the study area agree with this finding. These results may provide a useful perspective for analytically examining and developing groundwater management policies near the study area and elsewhere.

Improved draft reference genome for the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis), a vector for Pierce's disease.

Homalodisca vitripennis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), known as the glassy-winged sharpshooter, is a xylem feeding leafhopper and an important agricultural pest as a vector of Xylella fastidiosa, which causes Pierce’s disease in grapes and a variety of other scorch diseases. The current H. vitripennis reference genome from the Baylor College of Medicine's i5k pilot project is a 1.4-Gb assembly with 110,000 scaffolds, which still has significant gaps making identification of genes difficult. To improve on this effort, we used a combination of Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing technology combined with Illumina sequencing reads to generate a better assembly and first-pass annotation of the whole genome sequence of a wild-caught Californian (Tulare County) individual of H. vitripennis. The improved reference genome assembly for H. vitripennis is 1.93-Gb in length (21,254 scaffolds, N50 = 650 Mb, BUSCO completeness = 94.3%), with 33.06% of the genome masked as repetitive. In total, 108,762 gene models were predicted including 98,296 protein-coding genes and 10,466 tRNA genes. As an additional community resource, we identified 27 orthologous candidate genes of interest for future experimental work including phenotypic marker genes like white. Furthermore, as part of the assembly process, we generated four endosymbiont metagenome-assembled genomes, including a high-quality near complete 1.7-Mb Wolbachia sp. genome (1 scaffold, CheckM completeness = 99.4%). The improved genome assembly and annotation for H. vitripennis, curated set of candidate genes, and endosymbiont MAGs will be invaluable resources for future research of H. vitripennis.

P80 Exposure to Healthy Food Increases Food Preferences Among Children and Youth in Low-Income School Settings

<h3>Objective</h3> To increase healthy food preference through taste tests among children and youth <h3>Use of Theory or Research</h3> This study utilized the short-term outcome indicator of the SNAP-Ed evaluation framework to examine food preference intention at the individual level, from tasting a variety of foods from the 5 food groups, consistent with Dietary Guidelines recommendations. <h3>Target Audience</h3> K-8th graders in SNAP-Ed eligible schools across 2 counties of Central California. <h3>Program Description</h3> In 2019-20, Calfresh Healthy Living, UC (CFHL, UC) nutrition education program was implemented with tasting activities among K-8th graders. Youth taste tests occurred as part of the direct and indirect nutrition education, and policy, systems, and environment initiatives in collaboration with community partners. <h3>Evaluation Methods</h3> Nutrition educators administered the Youth Taste Testing Tool to capture student intention in food preferences immediately following food tastings. Descriptive analysis was performed. In Tulare county, 363 tastings were conducted and in Kings county, 106 tastings were conducted. <h3>Results</h3> In Tulare county, of the 7,614 students tasting variety of food, 14% of students tasted the target food before, 97% tried it today, 81% were willing to eat it again, and 79% were willing to ask for it at home. In Kings county, of the 1,920 students tasting variety of food, 31% of students tasted the target food before, 98% tried it today, 84% were willing to eat it again, and 82% were willing to ask for it at home. Foods tasted were from all food groups- fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy and served raw, paired with a familiar food, cooked or included in a mixed dish. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Taste tests provide opportunity to try a variety of foods from 5 food groups that compose MyPlate which is a promising strategy for promoting healthy food preferences among children and youth. Healthy food preferences, in turn, are associated with healthy food consumption patterns.

P78 Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program Building Household Food Resilience Among Low-Income Families

<h3>Objective</h3> To improve nutrition and food resource management practices and household food security among low-income families. <h3>Use of Theory or Research</h3> Efforts to strengthen nutrition and food security is needed to build household food resilience (ie, being resourceful) more than ever as low-income families face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID pandemic. The rising food insecurity in California is concerning, which is linked to poor dietary outcomes and obesity. <h3>Target Audience</h3> Parents recruited from low-income community settings in Tulare County, California. <h3>Program Description</h3> During FY2019-20, trained bilingual nutrition educator implemented the 9-week Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in English and Spanish using series-based adult curriculum Eating Smart Being Active. Each class was held once a week for 60-90 minutes in duration. <h3>Evaluation Methods</h3> Participants completed demographics questionnaire, Food Tracker dietary recall, and a pre-post Food & Physical Activity Questionnaire (FPAQ). Descriptive and Pre-Post analyses were completed using WebNEERS reporting tool. <h3>Results</h3> Of the total 149 program families reached, 136 participants who attended all the lessons graduated with a certificate. Majority of the participants were Hispanic. Differences in change from pre-to-post indicated improvements in all the program areas. Of the 136 graduates, 88% of participants showed improvement in 1 or more food resource management practices, 92% showed improvements in 1 or more diet quality/ nutrition practices, 88% showed improvements in 1 or more food safety practices, and 91% showed improvements in 1 or more physical activity behaviors. A noteworthy program impact was a random sample (n = 19) of these participants reported saving an average of $44.50 on food per month. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The EFNEP program empower families to build household food resilience with knowledge and skills to adopt healthy practices in the areas of food resource management, food security, nutrition/physical activity, and food safety.

Subsidence-Derived Volumetric Strain Models for Mapping Extensional Fissures and Constraining Rock Mechanical Properties in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

Large‐scale subsidence due to aquifer‐overdraft is an ongoing hazard in the San Joaquin Valley. Subsidence continues to cause damage to infrastructure and increases the risk of extensional fissures.Here, we use InSAR‐derived vertical land motion (VLM) to model the volumetric strain rate due to groundwater storage change during the 2007–2010 drought in the San Joaquin Valley, Central Valley, California. We then use this volumetric strain rate model to calculate surface tensile stress in order to predict regions that are at the highest risk for hazardous tensile surface fissures. We find a maximum volumetric strain rate of −232 microstrain/yr at a depth of 0 to 200 m in Tulare and Kings County, California. The highest risk of tensile fissure development occurs at the periphery of the largest subsiding zones, particularly in Tulare County and Merced County. Finally, we assume that subsidence is likely due to aquifer pressure change, which is calculated using groundwater level changes observed at 300 wells during this drought. We combine pressure data from selected wells with our volumetric strain maps to estimate the quasi‐static bulk modulus, K, a poroelastic parameter applicable when pressure change within the aquifer is inducing volumetric strain. This parameter is reflective of a slow deformation process and is one to two orders of magnitude lower than typical values for the bulk modulus found using seismic velocity data. The results of this study highlight the importance of large‐scale, high‐resolution VLM measurements in evaluating aquifer system dynamics, hazards associated with overdraft, and in estimating important poroelastic parameters.

Automatic silage maize detection based on phenological rules using Sentinel-2 time-series dataset

ABSTRACT Recently, availability of valuable high spatial and temporal resolution optical satellite imagery such as Sentinel-2 has provided a great opportunity for a wide variety of crop-related studies including crop phenology detection, crop biophysical and biochemical parameter estimation, and crop-type mapping. Most current crop mapping methods focus on supervised classification, demanding a large number of field sampling points to feed the classifier. In this paper, we propose an automatic method for silage maize mapping based on Sentinel-2 time-series data in three agricultural areas in Iran (namely Marvdasht, Abyek, and Mashhad) and an individual area in USA (Tulare County, California). We considered Marvdasht as the training site and other three sites as the test sites. After the preprocessing step, temporal profiles of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were computed from Sentinel-2 time-series images in 2017 and 2018. Then, the Savitzky–Golay filter was applied to the NDVI profile for noise reduction. Linear interpolation was also used for the construction of continuous NDVI time-series during the maize growing season. Then, phenological parameters were extracted in Marvdasht, for maize and other crops. After comprehensive analyses, the ratio of the slope from the peak of the greenness to the harvest (SPGH) to the length of the growing season (LOS) was suggested as an appropriate variable for automatic maize detection. Evaluation of this variable in the study sites confirmed its feasibility for automatic maize mapping, with the kappa coefficient values of 0.89, 0.8, 0.9, and 0.8 in Abyek, Marvdasht, Mashhad, and Tulare in 2017, respectively. The performance of the suggested method for the second year (2018) is close to those of 2017 which means that maize detection algorithm results are consistent and robust across years. Moreover, to ascertain high potential of the proposed variable, the results were compared with those of the maximum likelihood (ML) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers in the test sites. The performance of SVM (with a large number of training samples) was analogous to that of the suggested automatic method in terms of accuracy; however, inferior performance of ML was evident. The results of this research demonstrated the great potential of our proposed phenological method in automatic silage maize mapping.

Estimation of the top of the saturated zone from airborne electromagnetic data

In an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data set acquired in unsaturated and saturated zones, the depth of the top of the saturated zone (TSZ) at the time of data acquisition should be accounted for in the resistivity-to-lithology transform. We have developed and tested a methodology for estimating the TSZ from AEM data, using data collected in three survey areas in the Central Valley of California and water-table elevation (WTE) measurements from nearby wells. The methodology is based on the difference in the distribution of resistivity values above and below the TSZ, using the WTE measurements to optimize two components of the general workflow. From the AEM data acquired in Tulare County, in the southern portion of the Central Valley, where the WTE measurements were acquired two to four weeks before the AEM data acquisition, we have found estimates of the TSZ with a root-mean-square (rms) error of 10.6 m when compared to the WTE measurements. From the two survey areas in Butte and Glenn counties, in the northern portion of the Central Valley, where WTE measurements were available at the time of, and closer to the locations of, AEM data acquisition, we have found estimates of the TSZ with an rms error ranging from 3.8 to 5.3 m, depending on the form of inversion. The level of error found in the three survey areas is comparable to the thickness of the layers in the resistivity models at the depths of the TSZ. Because the intended use of these estimates is to locate the TSZ for use in developing and applying the resistivity-to-lithology transform, the level of error associated with this new methodology is acceptable.

Obsidian Hydration Dating of Proposed Paleoindian Artifacts from Tulare Lake, California

ABSTRACT In this article, we report an obsidian hydration dating (OHD) analysis of 32 obsidian artifacts from the Witt Archaeological Locality in Tulare County, California. The artifacts (Western stemmed points, concave base points, crescents) were recovered from agricultural contexts, where provenience is indeterminate. Effective hydration temperature (EHT) was computed from local meteorological records. Hydration rates were based on geochemical source and adjusted for EHT, and ages computed based on the square–root–of–time model. Of the mean OHD ages, 80% are in the 7,000–9,000 cal BP range. The probability that the actual ages could be Clovis or earlier (>∼13,200 years) was computed based on the mean and standard deviation of the OHD ages.

Spread of Citrus Tristeza Virus in Citrus Orchards in Central California.

In California, citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is regulated by a State Interior Quarantine. In CTV abatement districts in central California, trees with CTV that react to MCA13 (MCA13-positive [MCA13+]), a strain-discriminating monoclonal antibody, are rogued to prevent virus spread. The Tulare County Pest Control District, however, does not participate in this abatement program except for a 1.6-km2 zone around the Lindcove Research and Extension Center, Exeter, CA. To quantify CTV spread under these two disparate management programs, CTV surveys were conducted in abatement plots with mandatory aphid control and nonabatement plots. Abatement plot surveys used hierarchical sampling of 25% of trees with samples pooled from four adjacent trees. Detection of MCA13+ CTV in a sample prompted resampling and testing of individual trees. From 2008 to 2018, incidence of CTV increased by an average of 3.9%, with only two MCA13+ samples detected. In contrast, in nonabatement plots, incidence of CTV increased by an average of 4.6% between 2015 and 2018. Increase in MCA13-negative (MCA-) isolates was 11 times greater than that of MCA13+ isolates, with the number of MCA13+ trees increasing by 19 trees between 2015 and 2018. MCA13- isolates were more randomly distributed, suggesting primary spread, whereas MCA13+ CTV isolates were more aggregated, suggesting some secondary spread. These results suggest that spread of MCA13+ isolates was limited by a combination of tree removal and aphid vector suppression. MCA13+ samples were VT isolates with some mixtures with T30 isolates. Despite the presence of VT isolates, all CTV-infected trees were asymptomatic.

The Social Production of the Great California Drought, 2012–2017

California is still in the process of recovering from the Great California Drought. Though the drought has been alarming for California at large, given the state's dependency on water-intensive agriculture and long-distance water transport to supply its growing population, the impacts have by no means been distributed equally. In this article I highlight the ways in which the Great California Drought was socially produced, revealing how exposure to the drought was funneled to the most marginalized populations in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Tulare County is often labelled as the epicenter of the Great California Drought because it has had the most domestic well failures of any county in California. There is a clear relationship between large-scale industrial agriculture well drilling and domestic well failure, suggesting the narrative behind agricultural water scarcity in the region is not simply a climate crisis, but a socioeconomic crisis as well. East Porterville, a small community in Tulare County, was one of the most exposed communities during the drought. Their increased exposure, coupled with the social status of its residents, produced a type of political vulnerability not experienced by other Californians. This case study reveals that the Great California Drought magnified preexisting socioenvironmental inequalities and geographically uneven development. Access to water was not determined by geography, but was socially produced.

Communicating Risk for a Climate-Sensitive Disease: A Case Study of Valley Fever in Central California.

Valley Fever, or Coccidioidomycosis, a fungal respiratory disease, is prevalent with increasing incidence in the Southwestern United States, especially in the central region of California. Public health agencies in the region do not have a consistent strategy for communication and health promotion targeting vulnerable communities about this climate-sensitive disease. We used the behavior adaptation communication model to design and conduct semi-structured interviews with representatives of public health agencies in five California counties: Fresno, Kern, Kings, San Luis Obispo, and Tulare County. While none of the agencies currently include climate change information into their Valley Fever risk messaging, the agencies discuss future communication methods similar to other health risk factors such as poor air quality days and influenza virus season. For political reasons, some public health agencies deliberately avoided the use of climate change language in communicating health risk factors to farmers who are particularly vulnerable to soil and dust-borne fungal spores. The effectiveness of health communication activities of the public health agencies has not been measured in reducing the prevalence of Valley Fever in impacted communities. Given the transboundary nature of climate influence on Valley Fever risk, a concerted and consistent health communication strategy is expected to be more effective than current practices.

Management Factors Affecting Antibiotic Residues and the Establishment of Antibiotic Resistance in Dairy Calves

Management practices that may contribute to antibiotic residues in dairy calves were surveyed on 42 large-scale dairies in Tulare County, California. The survey covered antibiotic use in cows and calves, colostrum use, feeding of milk from cows treated with antibiotics, treatment personnel, and record keeping.

P61 EFNEP Families Adopting Healthy Choices in Tulare County of California

Objective To implement/evaluate a USDA funded Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) among low-income families. Use of Theory or Research Existing research indicates behavioral and economic benefits of nutrition education programs with limited resources population who are likely to have poor eating habits, inactive lifestyle, and higher risk for multiple chronic diseases. Target Audience Primary caregivers of young children across schools/community settings in Tulare County, California. Program Description During FY2017-18, trained bilingual nutrition educator implemented the nine-week EFNEP program using series-based adult curriculum-Eating Smart Being Active. Each class was held once a week for 60-90 minutes in duration. Evaluation Methods Participants completed About Me demographics questionnaire, Food Tracker dietary recall, and a pre-post Food & Physical Activity Questionnaire (FPAQ). Descriptive and Pre-Post analyses were completed using WebNEERS reporting tool. Results Of the total 239 program families reached, 159 participants who attended all the lessons graduated from EFNEP. Majority of the participants were Hispanic. Differences in change from pre-to-post indicated improvements in all the program areas. Of the 159 graduates, 80% of participants showed improvement in one or more food resource management practices, 94% showed improvements in one or more diet quality/ nutrition practices, 85% showed improvements in one or more food safety practices, and 55.06% indicated a positive change in physical activity behaviors. Additionally, results indicated $57.30 in average cost savings. Conclusions EFNEP program reached low-income families in Tulare county of California. Findings advance the field of nutrition education and behavior with implications for programming, policy, and practice. Nutrition education matters and EFNEP is helping save dollars. Continuing to fund EFNEP is a good investment and public policy. Making informed food decisions can help families improve nutrition and food resource management behaviors essential to maximizing use of limited resources, supporting a healthy diet, and improving food security. Funding Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.

Domestic well reliability: evaluating supply interruptions from groundwater overdraft, estimating costs and managing economic externalities

The effects of groundwater depletion may impose costs on many people that rely upon the resource. Such costs are not borne entirely by the high-volume pumpers that largely create the problematic conditions. Ideally, sustainable groundwater management should include addressing economic externalities and social equity, although information quantifying these concerns is often unavailable. This work estimates impacts to domestic water well owners from groundwater overdraft caused mostly by pumping deeper agricultural wells. A study is presented for Tulare County in the southern Central Valley of California, USA, where many interruptions in domestic well supplies occurred during a recent drought. The case has unusually well-documented conditions and data available for analysis. A method is developed to model supply interruptions and estimate costs for maintaining domestic water well supplies that are impacted by declining groundwater levels. The analysis is performed in the context of planning for sustainable groundwater management and suggestions for managing the economic externality are made. This work may provide a basis for evaluating the economic impacts on well owners from over-pumping in basins outside the study area where less data may be available.

First Report of Citrus viroid V Naturally Infecting Grapefruit and Calamondin Trees in California.

The Citrus Clonal Protection Program–National Clean Plant Network, University of California, Riverside (UCR), received citrus budwood samples in June 2016 from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for virus and viroid testing under the mandatory California (CA) §3701 Citrus Nursery Stock Pest Cleanliness Program. Samples originated from nonsymptomatic budwood sources, two redblush grapefruit (RG) (Citrus paradisi Macfadyen) and four variegated calamondin (VC) (C. madurensis Lour.), and were found in a nursery in Tulare County, CA. TRIzol-extracted RNA was tested with a SYBR green I reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for the universal detection of citrus viroids (Osman et al. 2017). Amplicons with melting temperatures similar to the Citrus viroid V (CVd-V) control (Vidalakis and Wang 2013) were produced in 50% of the RG and 25% of the VC samples. Citron (C. medica L.) Arizona 861-S-1 indicators were graft-inoculated with RG and VC blind buds (two citrons each) and maintained under warm greenhouse conditions (27 to 41°C). By 8 months, all citrons had developed mild stunting and leaf bending coupled with midvein necrosis, indicative of viroid infection. Sequential polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the symptomatic citrons identified circular and linear viroid-like RNAs with electrophoretic mobility similar to CVd-V. RT-PCR with primers specific for the full CVd-V genome (Wang et al. 2013) produced amplicons of the expected size of 294 bp from both the RG and VC samples and from the four indicator citrons. Cloning and sequencing of the RT-PCR CVd-V amplicons produced complete viroid genome sequences (GenBank MF477857 to MF477876). The RG isolates (MF477857 to MF477866) had 99% similarity with the KM isolate (JQ348924, Pakistan), with one nucleotide change (A₆₅ > U). The VC isolates (MF477867 to MF477876) had 99% similarity with the MO isolate (JQ348925, Pakistan), with two nucleotide changes (G₆₉ > A and A₂₅₁ > U). To further test the infectivity of the identified viroid, RNA extracts from the RG and VC graft-inoculated citrons were slash-inoculated onto four new citrons budded on rough lemon (C. jambhiri Lush.) rootstock. All citrons developed symptoms, and CVd-V was identified with RT-PCR, cloning, and sequencing. The CVd-V identification results were independently verified by CDFA’s Plant Pest Diagnostic Center, and the original source trees were destroyed. CVd-V was first reported in Spain (Serra et al. 2008a) and has been detected in various samples including a source from UCR, but the source of the UCR field material was not recorded (Serra et al. 2008b). This note reports the natural occurrence of CVd-V in CA and corroborates the CVd-VCᴬ variant report from the UCR source (Serra et al. 2008b). This note also demonstrates the importance of regulatory testing of propagative materials and elimination of infected citrus germplasm source trees to prevent the spread of viroids into commercial citrus.