UC Blog
Methyl iodide hearing prompts news coverage
Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez held a hearing of the Food and Agriculture Committee last Thursday to review the Department of Pesticide Regulation's tentative decision to approve the pesticide methyl iodide.
The hearing prompted wide news coverage over the weekend, including a story in the New York Times that said the discussion in California over methyl iodide has implications beyond the Golden State. The U.S. EPA has indicated DPR's decision may influence federal policy on the use of the pesticide nationwide.
The Times article reported that, at the hearing, members of the scientific committee that had reviewed methyl iodide for DPR - and suggested it not be registered - said the state’s decision to approve its use was made using "inadequate, flawed and improperly conducted scientific research."
“This is without question one of the most toxic chemicals on earth,” John Froines, UCLA professor of environmental health sciences, was quoted. “You don’t register a chemical when you don’t have the necessary information you need.”
Carolyn O'Donnell, the spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission, said the pesticide would be deployed by growers safely and only when needed.
“The 500-plus growers of strawberries in the state are largely family farmers who live where they grow,” O’Donnell was quoted in the Times. “When they make decisions about how and where they farm, they make those decisions with the health and safety of workers and the community in mind.”
An article in the Ventura County Star said stringent regulations would deter growers from using the chemical even if it were registered. Some proposed restrictions are a half-mile buffer zone around schools, hospitals and nursing homes, limiting application to protect groundwater and limiting the number of acres that can be treated.
The Roseville Press-Tribune said field fumigation with methyl iodide would be rare in Placer County.
“There is less need for pesticides to manage strawberry pests because we have fewer species of pests and lower pest populations, partly because we lack the intense cultivation of strawberries as on the Central Coast and farms are scattered throughout the county,” the article quoted Cindy Fake, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor for Placer and Nevada counties.
The Monterey County Herald ran a commentary about the issue written by State Assemblyman Bill Monning.
"It is unconscionable for DPR to proceed with the registration of methyl iodide when its own scientists have presented unequivocal evidence of extreme risk and insufficient data collection," Monning wrote.
The public comment period on the pending approval of methyl iodide ends on June 29.
/span>Rainy season was good for valley wheat growers
The rainy season of 2009-10 was good news for San Joaquin Valley wheat farmers, according to an article in Western Farm Press.
It was the wettest growing season in the past five years, wrote reporter Harry Cline. Central Valley dryland producers are happy; coastal and Delta farmers, however, got too much rain, which cut early production.Cline gathered the information at a UC Cooperative Extension cereal field day in Tulare County. At the field day, UCCE farm advisor Steve Wright said the rain saved growers two 4-inch irrigations.
“That is huge — saving 8 inches of water,” Wright was quoted.
One concern that arises in wet weather is stripe rust, but it caused more damage in triticale than wheat this year.
“All PCAs and growers were watching for stripe rust this year since it was projected to be a bad rust year. There were hits, but it never took off and blew up like it did in 2003,” Wright was quoted in the article. “Newer varieties still have pretty good resistance and some fungicides went on, but overall it was not that bad. Even in the Sacramento Valley, stripe rust did not take off as expected this year.”
Wheat foliage damaged by stripe rust.
Clinton lauds UC research in hunger speech
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged the contribution of UC research in combating world hunger in a speech yesterday honoring the winners of the 2010 World Food Prize.
The president of Bread for the World, David Beckmann, and president of Heifer International, Jo Luck, were honored by the State Department for expanding their grassroots organizations and bringing help to the world's hungry.
Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization that presses lawmakers to support anti-hunger policies. Heifer International brings food and income producing animals to extremely poor families around the globe.
In her presentation, titled "Remove the Barriers, Remove the Fear of Sharing," Clinton recounted a litany of work by U.S. scientists to feed the world.
"In South and Southeast Asia, we’re seeing good research being done on rice, and with our support, research at UC-Davis and the International Rice Research Institute are developing strains of rice that thrive even when they have been submerged in water," Clinton said, according to the speech text published on the State Department website.
Clinton noted that the federal government supports agricultural research and extension with funding to benefit farmers and consumers worldwide.
"Some of this is not expensive, like no-till farming, which has been adopted by thousands of farmers in Asia with help from the United States. And there is so much that we can do in conveying information about what works as well as investing in new answers," Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton
Kern County UCCE hosts air quality study
A 60-foot tower near the UC Cooperative Extension office on South Mt. Vernon Avenue in Bakersfield has been built to hold instruments aloft for air quality studies in the area, the Bakersfield Californian reported.
Researchers from around the country are conducting the studies to gain a deeper understanding of the environment and to inform air quality regulatory policy.
"You need to measure what's in the air, and then from that you go back and look at crafting regulatory policy," UCCE farm advisor John Karlik was quoted. "But science has to precede policy."
The tower is hosted by the UC Cooperative Extension and funded by the California Air Resources Board.
Bakersfield was chosen as a site for the project, which began in May and runs through the end of June, because of its problems with air quality and its relatively strong sources of atmospheric compounds, the article said.
The participating scientists - representing UC Berkeley, University of Wisconsin and University of Miami - have already begun assessing data.
"It's all about how we put those data into a larger framework," Karlik was quoted. "We think it's of broader public interest."
Taskforces to create new models for local delivery of ANR services
Challenging issues, strong beliefs and lively dialogue marked the June 8 workshop including county directors and the Executive Working Group. The commitment to ANR’s future was evident with more than 50 participants working throughout the day to identify potential positive and negative consequences associated with various administrative and programmatic structures.
Results of the recent ANR County-based Cooperative Extension Survey were presented. The survey results can be viewed at http://ucanr.org/partnerships/cdmeeting.
Dan Dooley identified the CDs as our county-based leadership and challenged them to fully participate in shaping our future activities at the community level to take advantage of the changing financial and stakeholder realities in California.
“While the commitment to local delivery and the research–outreach continuum remains at the core of ANR’s mission, new approaches for delivery and evolving relationships with clientele will be important components of our future,” Dooley said.
Next steps in the process to stabilize county funding and optimize resource investment in programs will include several taskforces to create a model or models that will meet California’s needs across the next 25 years. This work will need to include our county partners in Cooperative Extension as well as stakeholders.
Models will be presented to ANR for evaluation in the fall with decisions and implementation of any changes in place for FY 2011-12.
If you are interested in serving on a taskforce, contact Don Klingborg at djklingborg@ucdavis.edu.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
/span>