UC Blog
Wireless company announces contract from UCCE
WPCS, a publicly traded company that provides wireless infrastructure and communications systems, issued a press release this week announcing $9 million in new contracts, including one for UC Cooperative Extension. According to the release, which was picked up by numerous business Web sites, including the International Business Times, UCCE selected WPCS to deploy a wireless data collection network.
"The project entails the deployment of wireless devices powered by solar energy located at certain watersheds throughout the state," the release says. "These wireless devices will obtain data on the volume and chemical composition of the water collected through natural rainfall and will transmit the data via a wireless connection back to the science center for analysis."
The new system means scientists will no longer need to undertake the time consuming task of visiting each watershed to collect data from manual recording devices.
"The project with the University of California Cooperative Extension is another example of how wireless technology saves time and money while increasing productivity," the company's executive vice president was quoted in the release.
If you know who in the UCCE system is working on this project, please leave a comment. This might be a good topic for a news release of our own that gives more details on the implications of what seems to be a fascinating use of high technology for natural resources research.
Western Farm Press covers Dooley speech
Long-time ag reporter for Western Farm Press, Harry Cline, wrote a lengthy article about UC ANR vice president Dan Dooley's recent speech to the California Association of Pest Control Advisers.
Cline wrote that blending Dooley, the Division's first non-academic leader, with academicians and scientists could be like mixing gasoline and fire or it could go together like peanut butter and jelly, opposites that combine well.
The article, published online today, said Dooley has set firm deadlines for the work he wants done in his department.
“The joke around the system is that people are drinking from the Dooley fire hose," the article quoted Dooley, because he sets unreasonable lines. However, to his surprise, his deadlines are being met.
Other telling tidbits from Dooley reported in the article:
- Regarding the fact that 80 percent of county directors will retire within 10 years . . . “Maintaining consistency within the division will be a real challenge moving forward.”
- “We have to look closely at how to optimize our resources. Hanging on to the historic structure is eating us alive. We cannot continue that."
- Dooley says the research community is too focused on finding out the causes for climate change. It should be focused on the consequences of the changes and its interaction with the ecological system of pests, weeds and other factors affecting agriculture.
- Maneuvering within the UC system is like trying to steer a battleship with a canoe, but years as a legal advocate have given him “sharp elbows” to muscle UC administrators into acknowledging the importance of his division and why it is relevant.
- “Some people say I am the best thing since sliced bread. Others say I am exactly what they thought I was when I showed up.”
Dan Dooley
Half Moon Bay paper uses UC experts for two stories
Two Half Moon Bay Review reporters featured ANR experts in unrelated news stories on the same day this week. Mark Noack opened his article about growing public acceptance of "recycled" water with an anecdote from UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Paul Vossen.
Vossen told the reporter that, years ago, participants on a research plot tour willingly munched on fresh vegetables that had been irrigated with treated sewage water.
“Our conclusion at the end of our survey was that 95 percent of people have no problem with using recycled water,” Vossen was quoted. “There was only one really concerned person out of all the people we interviewed — ‘Oh my gosh!’ he said. ‘You can’t use this water! You’ll poison everybody!’”
Reporter Greg Thomas talked with UC Berkeley forestry pathologist Matteo Garbelotto for a Sudden Oak Death overview. The story contained information about the disease's introduction and spread, and concluded with a ray of hope for its eventual control.
Thomas wrote that Garbelotto has discovered a handful of tanoaks unaffected by the disease. Acorns from those trees were collected and are being studied at UC Berkeley.
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:
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Crescent-shaped ravioli stuffed with scallops served over split lobsters
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Baby octopus with peas
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Lobster in cauliflower sauce
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Clams in a garbanzo bean sauce
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Sicilian-style sauce, containing fresh dill and crushed hot peppers
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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.