The dry chain, modeled after the cold chain, ensures that dried commodities reach safe moisture levels before storage, preventing postharvest losses. Horticulture Innovation Lab team with researchers at the University of California, Davis, have pioneered affordable drying technologies such as the DryCard™, chimney dryer, and pallet dryer, providing small-scale farmers with practical tools to enhance food preservation and reduce economic losses.

To help producers in Uganda effectively preserve their dried products, the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s Lydiah Maranga conducted a dry chain, “train-the-trainer” workshop with seventeen attendees from different sectors including government, private sector, academia, and farmers. The dry chain is similar to the cold chain - drying products effectively, confirming they are safely dried, and safely storing them in water tight and air tight (hermetic) storage.

Regional leaders traveled from across the world to join the Horticulture Innovation Lab and Consortium specialists in Florida to choose the top research priorities for each region.

The South Asia regional horticulture workshop, hosted by FORWARD Nepal in September, wrapped up a series of four very successful workshops.

UC Davis student team leads workshops on the chimney solar dryer with refugee farmers at Sacramento's New Roots farm.

Days after completing her master’s thesis, Brooke Stefancik flew to Guinea for an internship and her first steps in an agricultural extension career.

Read the story behind a farmer-led irrigation project with women farmers in Uganda that shows the challenges and benefits of how participatory research can work.

Did you know the leaves of the sweet potato plant are also a tasty, nutritious food? In Ethiopia, where sweet potatoes can be a staple crop, a UC Davis student recently helped farmers reconsider their sweet potato crop in a new culinary light. Watch this video...

Sometimes it helps to reconnect with what motivates your work. For Karin Albornoz, Ph.D. student, that means getting out of the lab and working with small-scale farmers to improve postharvest handling practices.

Julia Jordan, UC Davis graduate student, writes about her experience working with Busitema University students considering gender issues in relation to designing irrigation solutions.

Andra Williams writes about progress in Guinea, where she has been working for the Horticulture Innovation Lab to help open a new horticulture training and services center, with young entrepreneurs called "AVENIR" agents.

What is the role of trust in our food system? It can be easy to forget that trust is a critical first step in many agricultural relationships. Establishing trust between actors in a food system has been critical for a project in Cambodia focused on increasing availability of safe vegetables for Cambodian consumers.

Meagan Terry writes about opening activities for this new project focused on drip irrigation and conservation agriculture, including initial training activities and establishing a demonstration garden.