UC Blog
HFC Strategic Initiative Conference set for May
The Healthy Families and Communities Strategic Initiative Conference is scheduled for May 17-19 at ARC at UC Davis.
More information about the conference will be posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/HFC/ as it becomes available. The final version of the HFC strategic plan is posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/HFC/files/57631.pdf.
The Sustainable Natural Ecosystems Strategic Initiative Conference is tentatively scheduled for September. The exact dates and other information about the SNE conference will be posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/SNE/ as it becomes available.
As we announced last week, workgroups will be aligning under the appropriate Program Teams. The first opportunity for Program Team meetings will be in conjunction with the Strategic Initiative conferences.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Internal funding opportunity for academics
ANR academics are invited to apply to receive internal funding from the Western SARE Professional Development Program for California.
The funds must be used for professional development training activities for extension educators, CE advisors, CE specialists, Natural Resources Conservation Service field staff, or other professionals involved in outreach, and must focus on sustainable agriculture/food system practices. They can also be used for specific training activities for workgroups that are open to non-workgroup participants.
Each proposal should not exceed $4,000. The total available annual funding is approximately $34,000.
Apply for the Western SARE Professional Development Program for California by submitting a short project summary and a few other details in the “Universal Review System” of your ANR Portal. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 24.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Novato garden project gets complicated
Developing a community garden in Novato is proving more complicated and costly than expected, but local organizers are pressing forward with their plans, according to an article in the Marin Independent Journal.
The garden, which will contain 50 to 80 garden plots, is proposed by the non-profit organization Novato Live Well Network. Initially, the group thought expenses for the project would amount to $25,000. However, the price tag has swelled to $220,000 to $250,000.
Reasons cited in the article for increased costs include:
- The city of Novato's fiscal problems preclude it from assisting with infrastructure and waiving fees
- Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act is making the design more expensive
- North Marin Water District announced a 2009 moratorium on new connections. The Novato Live Well Network found a contractor to help them drill an 80-foot well on the property
Project supporters say the community garden would allow Novato residents to grow their own food and make better nutritional choices. A percentage of plots will be offered to low- or moderate-income households, and plot fees will be charged on a sliding scale. "Community gardens open up the opportunity for community members to garden, and improve health factors, making them more active and getting them to eat more fruits and vegetables," the story quoted Mark Bauermeister, the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener coordinator in Marin County. "If they're managed correctly, they can be beneficial for the environment, encourage community interaction and beautify the neighborhood." Late last year, Bauermeister, Marin environmental horticulture advisor Steven Swain and Marin community development advisor Ellie Rilla completed a Marin County Community Garden Needs Assessment. UC Cooperative Extension will host a day-long Community Garden Summit April 29 at San Rafael's Pickleweed Community Center, the article said.
Native plants on display at an existing Marin County community garden.
The best agritourism is found on real working farms
The San Diego Union Tribune ran a 1,500-word story on local agritourism last Friday, featuring UC expertise and resources front and center.
UC's agritourism coordinator Penny Leff provided reporter Emily Rizzo with a definition of agritourism, "a commercial enterprise on a working farm or ranch conducted for visitor enjoyment and education that generates supplemental income for owners."
Promoting agritourism in San Diego has been underway for years, but positioning the Southern California city as an agritourism destination, said UC small farm advisor Ramiro Lobo, is a relatively new concept.
In 1993, Taco Bell's founder opened Bell Gardens, a 115-acre educational farm that attracted 100,000 visitors annually to picnic, buy fresh produce and ride a mini-train. The ranch attracted busloads of agritourists but closed in 2003, the article said.
“It was obviously a heavily subsidized operation, but (it) created attention,” Lobo commented. “Entrepreneurial farmers started tapping into this as a real alternative to diversify their income stream.”
San Diego County now has more than 100 self-identified agritourism businesses, Lobo told the reporter.
Leff and Lobo agree that consumers want to visit real agricultural operations and have a keen sense when it comes to discerning hokey operations from working farms.
“You don’t have to create a Disneyland,” Lobo said. “We want working farmers to be able to capitalize on this without having to spend a ton of money to create something artificial. Pseudo-farms, for the most part, never really did a great job. Those have come and gone.”
Among the UC agritourism resources mentioned in the story were:
- The UC California Agricultural Tourism Directory, which highlights farms and ranches to visit and upcoming events, at CalAgTour.org.
- University of California Cooperative Extension in San Diego County
U-pick operations are a form of agritourism.
Roundup Ready alfalfa news and a news roundup
Late last month, USDA once again deregulated genetically modified alfalfa. The action prompted extensive news media coverage, with many articles centering on outcry from organic growers who are not comfortable with the idea of GMO/non-GMO coexistence.
According to a DTN blog, UC Davis Cooperative Extension alfalfa specialist Dan Putnam said he doesn't believe the deregulation puts organic alfalfa at risk.
"I don't believe it is certain. I believe it is something we can manage and prevent," he said.
Putnam's research results on alfalfa cross-contamination were noted in a blog on The Atlantic. A 2008 study found that when a Roundup Ready alfalfa seed crop and a non-Roundup Ready hay crop were grown 160 feet apart, the rate of successful gene flow from GM seed crop to non-GM hay crop was 0.25 percent - considered a small risk.
Nevertheless, Putnam said USDA's deregulaton decision likely won't put the controversy to rest.
"There's no question the lawsuits will continue. They would probably continue regardless of whichever way they went," he was quoted.
News roundup
Here are a few news stories that appeared this week that touched on ANR:
Sumo citrus. LA Times freelance food writer David Karp introduced readers to a new citrus variety, the Sumo. "Think of a huge mandarin, easy to peel and seedless, with firm flesh that melts in the mouth, an intense sweetness balanced by refreshing acidity, and a complex, lingering mandarin orange aroma," Karp wrote. "I've tasted more than 1,000 varieties of citrus, and to me the Dekopon (Sumo) is the most delicious." The Citrus Clonal Protection Program at UC Riverside played a role in making the Japanese fruit available to Americans by cleaning imported budwood to be sure it is free of diseases, a process that took several years.
Garden recycling. The L.A. At Home blog in the LA Times outlined ideas for putting recyclables to work in the garden, gleaned from Yvonne Savio, the manager of the LA Master Gardener program. The post illustrates a compost bin made of rusty bedsprings, an old bathtub turned into an ornamental shade garden, aluminum roasting pans that were recycled into seed-starting trays and plastic water bottles that double as water channeling containers.
Cheaters never prosper. In a move aimed at ending cheating at farmers' markets, the CDFA is proposing a significant fee hike for vendors - from 60 cents to $4. The $4 fee would raise about $1.5 million annually, much of which would be used to hire full-time CDFA officers based in Northern, Central and Southern California to conduct farm and market inspections, according to the LA Times.
Creating jobs. The head of USDA's Rural Development office in California visited Santa Cruz County to offer her agency's help to create jobs, said a story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. "As a nation we have hemorrhaged jobs," said Glenda Humiston. "The jobs we've lost, virtually none of them are coming back." Pointing to positive steps to alleviate the problem, she noted that the Center for Regional Change at UC Davis is studying ways to innovate financial systems to invest local money locally.
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