UC Blog
Organic and sustainable ag coordinator informs media
The only sustainable and organic agriculture coordinator in the UC Cooperative Extension system, Steven Quirt of the Marin County office, is an informative source for media covering local agriculture. That proved true again this week when Quirt was quoted extensively in a Marin Independent Journal story that opened seasonably with a vignette about organic turkey.
By the second paragraph, the story became more of a trend piece on the growth of organic agriculture in the swanky, yet earthy Northern California locale. According to the article, the amount of Marin County land in organic production has increased 6,000 percent since 1999 to 24,176 acres. (Doing the math, that means organic acreage in 1999 was about 400.)
Regardless of the exponential growth, organic farming in Marin remains less a big business than a way for the county's small farmers to compete with the state's industrialized agriculture industry, according to the story.
"In the Central Valley, the big guys with 2,000 to 10,000 cows can produce milk a lot cheaper," the article quoted Quirt. "On a small farm - the average herd size in Marin and Sonoma is 350 (cows) - it makes sense to look at organic options."
Interest in organic farming rose dramatically among Marin's dairies in 2005, Quirt told reporter Rob Rogers, when the price of conventional milk plummeted while organic milk prices remained stable.
"Dairies were being paid $11 to $12 per hundredweight for milk that would cost them $16 to produce," Quirt was quoted. "The price for organic milk was around $26 a hundredweight, and it stayed up there. A lot of dairies made the switch first on economic grounds, and came on board philosophically after that."
However, the story concluded with a somber note about the high value of organic products. The organic premium helps sustain farmers, but is often too pricey for lower income consumers.
"Local, responsible organic food production is expensive, and what it's causing nationally is a dual food system," Quirt was quoted. "Those of us who can afford to be careful about what we buy and eat will pay more. I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but it's creating an elitist food system."
Steven Quirt
UC advisor gets in on food revelry
The food writer for the Vail (Colorado) Daily, Ari LeVaux, displays an almost spiritual reverence for food in a column that included a tidbit from UC Cooperative Extension small farm advisor Richard Molinar. The story recounts LeVaux' 36-hour food tour of Italy at the conclusion of the biennial Slow Food movement gathering in Turin.
LeVaux writes rapturously about the Italian food he sampled on the trip:
-
Crescent-shaped ravioli stuffed with scallops served over split lobsters
-
Baby octopus with peas
-
Lobster in cauliflower sauce
-
Clams in a garbanzo bean sauce
-
Sicilian-style sauce, containing fresh dill and crushed hot peppers
-
Ligurian-style sauce, with tomatoes, capers, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, shallots and fresh parsley
It was the capers that gave Molinar entrée in the story. LeVaux spoke to the Fresno farm advisor about the availability of the cured flower buds grown in California.
"Domestic, organic capers are already available at Whole Foods, and more caper operations are coming soon, according to Richard Molinar, a University of California Cooperative Extension small farm specialist," LeVaux wrote in the column. "Molinar believes capers could become a valuable specialty crop for California’s small farmers."
The last four paragraphs of LeVaux' column is a recipe for Ligurian sauce written lovingly in narrative style. Even if you don't cook, it is a delicious read.
California capers.
It only takes a spark to get a fire going . . .
The headline above, also the opening lyrics of a popular 1970s folk song, is a message that is again being driven home in the wake of this week's Southern California fires. A Los Angeles Times article published today focused on the dangers of flying embers to homes even some distance away from the fire frontline.
The story opened with a heart-wrenching account of Yorba Linda homeowners who thought they had done everything right: barrel tile roof, boxed eaves, brick and stucco siding, well-maintained landscape and clean rain gutters. Their home was destroyed.
"There will be a weak link in the house that is destroyed," the story quoted Stephen Quarles, UC Cooperative Extension wood durability advisor.
As he has explained at countless meetings up and down the state, Quarles told reporter Tom Barboza that it is usually not raging flames that ignite a home, but an ember slipping through a small breach: a vent, a doggie door, a gap under the garage door, an open window, a cracked roof tile.
Quarles has identified six priority areas for making changes to existing homes in fire hazard zones. He suggests homeowners start with the roof, the most vulnerable part of the house in a fire, and then continue in order with vents, vegetation, windows, decking and siding. For more details, see the story published on the UC ANR Web site after the fall 2007 wildfires.
In more fire news, co-director of the UC Berkeley Fire Center Max Moritz spoke to Ventura County Star reporter Teresa Rochester about the notorious fire mischief-maker -- wind.
In looking at California's most destructive fires - Tea, Oakland Hills, Simi, Cedar, Painted Cave, Old and Witch fires - all were fanned by strong wind, the story said.
"The common thread is fire weather patterns," the story quoted Moritz.
In the same article, UC Riverside fire ecologist Richard Minnich said the massive wind-driven fires of the last few decades are the result of fire suppression management.
"When it comes to a landslide, do we try to stop the landslide halfway down?" Minnich was quoted. "Do we build a wall to stop a hurricane? In a fire we try to fight the process instead of managing the source of it."
UC manager an eyewitness to the severe SoCal fires
"Southern California is burning . . . . I've never seen anything like this!" begins a note written yesterday by Myriam Grajales-Hall, the manager of UC ANR's News and Information Outreach in Spanish program, which is headquartered at UC Riverside.
"My family and I went to downtown LA yesterday, and by the afternoon, the sky was dark, the smell of smoke pervaded the city and ashes were falling everywhere. As we were coming back home in the evening, we could see flames on the hill . . . as far as the eye could see . . . . An eerie sight, indeed."
ANR Governmental and External Relations is getting wildfire information out to the public in an online media kit and
-
Grajales-Hall and her staff are distributing UC ANR information on wildfire to the Spanish-language media.
-
Assistant director of ANR News and Information Outreach Pam Kan-Rice distributed an English-language news release on What to do before, during an after a wildfire to the media last Friday.
-
NAIO director Steve Nation is sending information to state and federal elected officials in parts of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties on the whole gamut of resources provided by ANR and UC on what to do before, during and after wildfires so that they have the links available for their constituents.
Some news reports have described the 2008 fire season as the worst ever; and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has redefined the "fire season," saying it isn't just June to October anymore. According to a story posted on eFluxMedia.com, global warming and climate change have brought higher winter temperatures and less rainfall, making California's fire season year round.
Two media outlets used UC sources in their wildfire stories over the weekend:
The San Jose Mercury News sought comment from the co-director of the Fire Center at UC Berkeley, Max Moritz. He said 2008's disastrous fire season could have been worse.
"We got lucky this year. We have didn't that many hot dry, windy days this summer. And that's why the fire season has progressed the way it has," the story quoted Moritz.
Stockton Record reporter Dana Nichols spoke to UC Cooperative Extension wood durability advisor Steve Quarles about Australia's "stay or go" firefighting strategy. A similar approach is commonly called "shelter in place" in the United States. California officials worry that "shelter in place" encourages people to ignore evacuation orders.
But the Australia approach involves more than just staying put, Quarles said.
"There is a training aspect that goes along with homeowners in stay or go communities in Australia, so when the fire passes through and they shelter in their home, they come out and they start putting out small fires that are still around, and they train in how to do that," Quarles was quoted. "If you don't have that training, then staying isn't the best thing for you."
fire
Author holds UCCE up as a technology transfer example
A blog titled "The World's Fair: All Manner of Human Creativity on Display" posted a question-and-answer session with Keith Warner, the author of Agroecology in Action - Extending Alternative Agriculture Through Social Networks. Warner, who studied at UC Santa Cruz, is a Franciscan Friar and a lecturer at Santa Clara University.
The social networks Warner refers to in his book are the precursors to what is now generally thought of as social networking, Web sites like Facebook and My Space.
Warner believes networks of farmers, scientists, and other stakeholders must work together and share knowledge among themselves. This sort of partnership, he says, is the primary strategy for finding alternatives to conventional agrochemical use.
Warner's blog comments, which read like a college textbook, touch on the part of his new publication in which he reviews the land grant university research-extension technology transfer system. The blog post even includes a technology transfer graph from a UC Cooperative Extension training manual.
His take on land grant technology transfer isn't wholly complimentary. For example, he wrote:
"I discovered that underneath the discourses of omniscience on the part land grant universities and the farm bureau, a significant portion of the farming community questioned the inevitability of contemporary, polluting practices." (Omniscience is college textbook way to say "know-it-all.")
It appears to me that Warner's book most certainly has interesting ideas and advice for UC Cooperative Extension, but judging from the writing style on the blog, it might be a challenge to read. Warner said he wrote the book hoping it would "mobilize the public to pressure decision-makers to create an agricultural science system that serves the common good." I wonder how many members of the public would be willing to slog through this book.