UC Blog
Santa Barbara County mulls over UCCE budget
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is tentatively scheduled to review a UC Cooperative Extension funding request at its July 27 meeting, according to an article published yesterday in the Lompoc Record.
The county had approved $111,700 for the programs and staff expertise provided by UCCE, but at its budget hearings in June, $68,000 in additional funding was requested. On June 22, the Board of Supervisors couldn’t get the four votes needed for approval.
For the article, reporter Sam Womack spoke to Don Kingborg of UC ANR Advocacy and County Partnerships.
“The $68,000 is to get us to the minimum level necessary to continue this program," Klingborg was quoted in the article. "Over the past years, the Santa Barbara County program has been funded in the range of $200,000 to $225,000. With this move and other adjustments, we recognized the terrible fiscal shape our counties are in and were able to decrease the cost to $180,000."
With the additional funding, the Santa Barbara County offices would close, but the advisors, services, programs and research would continue out of San Luis Obispo and Ventura county offices, the story said.
Interim director of Santa Barbara County UCCE Mark Gaskell told the reporter he already spends about half his time outside of county boundaries. For example, he conducts agricultural research at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.“I don’t think its necessarily a critical issue where you sit and type at your computer,” he was quoted.
Feds don't define *extra virgin* olive oil
Selecting an olive oil that proclaims itself "100% extra virgin" on the label doesn't ensure a high-quality product because the federal government hasn't set standards that define the terminology, according to a story in yesterday's Los Angeles Times.
Many industry officials agree that "extra virgin" olive oil is cold-processed to prevent degradation of aromatic compounds and has higher levels of healthy fats and antioxidants.
Federal law bars companies from selling a blend of oils as "olive oil," but labeling lower-quality oil as "extra virgin" is technically legal in the U.S., the article said.
Vito S. Polito, professor of plant sciences at UC Davis and co-chairman of the school's Olive Center, told reporter P.J. Huffstutter that the lack of rules has made the U.S. a dumping ground for cheap olive oil.Some state lawmakers are taking on the problem. California, Oregon and Connecticut have their own state regulations, the article said. The California regulation established definitions for various grades of olive oil; it requires oils sold in the state to be labeled according to international standards. New York and New Jersey are also considering olive oil legislation.
The USDA has set chemical parameters for olive oil freshness, purity, fatty acid levels and ultraviolet light absorption. However, companies only have to comply if their products have the federal seal of approval or if retailers require it.
"It's like saying you have to stop at stop signs, but there are no cops at the corner," UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Paul Vossen told the reporter. "Standards are a good start, but enforcement is important."
The fed government has lax olive oil standards.
Gov extends chicken cage rule to imports
Egg prices will rise about 2 cents each at the farm gate when new laws go into effect in 2015 that require egg-laying hens be given more space to move around. California voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. 2 in 2008, requiring the state's producers to modify their egg production practices.
This week, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a law that requires the producers of all eggs sold in California - even if they are out of state - to follow the same guidelines.
In stories about the latest development, the media sought expert analysis from Dan Sumner, director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, who co-wrote a report that said the California egg industry produces almost 5 billion eggs per year and was worth $337 million in 2007.
Sumner told the San Francisco Chronicle egg prices will rise across the board because of the new production practices.
"People will eat fewer eggs, but not a lot fewer eggs because they are still pretty cheap," Sumner said. He noted that about 40 percent of eggs consumed by Californians are in processed foods or are "liquid eggs" that are not in shells and that those that are imported are unaffected.
In a story yesterday on KGO-TV, a San Francisco news outlet, Sumner called consumer reaction to the new laws "a bit of a puzzle."
Currently consumers can choose to purchase the more-expensive cage-free eggs, but about 97 percent of consumers choose regular eggs.
"This is a product that just about everybody eats and almost everybody chooses to eat eggs raised with hens in cages; and we take that product and make it illegal," Sumner said.Farmers tell their stories with social media
Frustration at being the targets of technologically savvy environmental and animal rights groups has inspired farmers to get involved with social media communications outlets like Facebook and Twitter, according to an Associated Press article by Julianna Barbassa.
"There is so much negative publicity out there, and no one was getting our message out," Denair dairy farmer Ray Prock Jr. told Barbassa. Prock writes blog posts and tweets regularly on everything from emergency drills for handling manure spills to lactose intolerance. On his blog, Prock said he took up the pen because he is tired of having someone else tell his story.
Besides giving them a voice, farmers are finding that social media can help them build community and share valuable information. One source of information is the Facebook and Twitter pages developed by UC viticulture specialist Matt Fidelibus and UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor Steve Vasquez. Last week, for example, Fidelibus' Twitter followers learned that swarms of small flying insects in a Parlier vineyard resembled leaf hoppers but turned out to be false chinch bugs.The AP article said the duo started using social media as a way to get important information to grape growers quickly — if the risk of powdery mildew on grapevines was high for a particular region, farmers could react in time, for example. In fact, Fidelibus tweeted on July 1, "Parlier Grape Powdery Mildew RAI threshold on 07/01/10 is 70. For additional SJV locations visit http://ow.ly/2603J."
A tool like Facebook, Barbassa wrote, also allows farmers to share photos or video. They can post an image of something problematic and get advice from experts like Fidelibus or each other immediately.
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A photo gallery on the San Joaquin Valley Viticulture Facebook page.
Smith-Lever increased funds to be focused on program development
The Executive Working Group has been notified that ANR is receiving an increase in USDA Smith-Lever funding, and has directed these funds in FY 2010-11 to program development by advisors and program representatives. These funds will be allocated to county directors in the amount of $1,000 per advisor and $500 per program representative, regardless of their source of funding.
These funds are to be used in support of professional development expenses such as professional travel to meetings, conference registration, seminars and in-service trainings. Use of these funds will be approved by each county director.
Funds will be transferred by the Business Operations Center at Kearney to a program development account for each county director to manage, allocate and approve expenses.
EWG hopes to provide similar funding in future years.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.