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Sweetpotatoes are a major crop in California, ranking sixth in value among organic commodities in the state. In recent years, there has been growing consumer interest in diverse specialty varieties, particularly purple types and those associated with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, some of which are currently imported into the state. In this study, we screened 45 diverse sweetpotato varieties and breeding lines under California organic conditions in a preliminary characterization of their agronomic performance. We then conducted culinary evaluations with a tasting panel of students primarily identifying as Asian/Asian American to determine the preference for each type in terms of flavor and culinary appeal. Our results indicated that major tradeoffs exist among existing germplasm, with no variety or line excelling across all agronomic and culinary traits. These results suggest that sweetpotato breeding could be an effective mechanism to combine superior agronomic traits of major commercial classes with the high culinary quality of diverse materials that are not adapted to California organic production. These results provide a strong justification for the value of sweetpotato breeding to ultimately promote a more profitable, sustainable, and just food system in the region.

Teaching salaries are commonly adjusted for the cost of living, but this incorrectly accounts for welfare differences across states. Adjusting for area amenities and opportunities, however, produces more accurate salary comparisons. Amenities and opportunities can be measured by the wage premium other workers in a state face. The two methods produce significant differences in state rankings. Additionally, salaries adjusted for alternative wages are strongly associated with student outcomes, while those adjusted for the cost of living are not. The method of adjustment also alters results from regressions that examine the effects of other policies, like unionization, on teacher salaries.

Drought affects many agriculturally important areas, hampering the cultivation of water intensive crops such as tomatoes.Unlike processing tomatoes, deficit irrigation of fresh market tomatoes is not currently practiced. Deficit irrigation could have negative trade‐offs for yield and pest populations by changing plant nutritional values and the microenvironment.The present study compared crop response and insect populations at two field locations: an on‐farm trial with 0%, 15% and 30% water deficit treatments, and a research station trial with 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% water deficit treatments.At the on‐farm trial, water deficits of 30% affected fruit yield, leaf relative water content (RWC) and leaf δ13C, whereas, in the research station trial, water deficits only affected leaf RWC. Treatments did not change the abundance of any insect groups.Sap‐feeding insects such as silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) increased with plant traits indicating hydration such as canopy temperature depression (CTD) and RWC. Furthermore, CTD influenced the composition of insect communities.Sap‐feeding insect abundance may vary with traits indicating hydration because of turgor pressure required for feeding, as well as a more suitable microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]