UC Blog
Apply to review AFRI grant proposals
While the National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grants program is getting a lot of attention these days, it is more than just another grant opportunity. It represents a significant and strategic shift in the funding philosophy and goals that reflect the formation and purpose behind the formation of NIFA. One of those goals is to better integrate research and extension in order to solve difficult problems.
ANR academics who are NOT planning to apply for the 2010 AFRI grants are encouraged to consider becoming peer reviewers for the federal funding program.
By participating on a review panel, not only do you get a chance to see and compare proposals, you also have the opportunity to influence the quality and effectiveness of the extension delivery elements of these and future grant programs.
To be considered as a potential reviewer, send an e-mail message with your contact information and area(s) of scientific or technical expertise (limit to 4 or 5 keywords) to newreviewer@nifa.usda.gov and to appropriate AFRI program area leaders.
Candidates should also send a C.V. containing their qualifications and experience to the AFRI program area leaders, whose contact information is listed at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/afri/afri_program_deadline_dates.html.
For more information about the AFRI peer-review process, see http://www.nifa.usda.gov/business/pdfs/afri_reviewer_guidelines_fy2009.pdf.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
These announcements are also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Fisher report influenced by timber industry
UC Berkeley wildlife ecology professor Reginald Barrett will present a 15-page letter to the California Fish and Game Commission at their meeting in Monterey tomorrow explaining that a new Department of Fish and Game report about the Pacific fisher misrepresents his input.
The Pacific fisher is a small, nocturnal carnivore that typically perches all day high in large, old-growth pine and oak trees. Related to the mink, otter and marten, fishers historically ranged throughout the mountainous West, from the southern Sierra into Canada. However, only two isolated populations remain today, one in the Sierra Nevada and one near the California-Oregon border.
The Department of Fish and Game submitted its Status Review of the Pacific Fisher in California to the Fish and Game Commission in February. The report concludes the fisher does not warrant protection under the California Endangered Species Act.
In his letter to the Commission, Barrett said he reviewed and commented on a DFG draft report that "is so different in content and tenor from the final (report) that I recommend you request a re-analysis by the panel of reviewers, as would normally be done when a manuscript is substantially modified."
Barrett's letter was the basis of a Sacramento Bee story last week that said the new status report was altered by state officials to favor the logging industry.In 2008, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Game Commission to list the Pacific fisher under the Endangered Species Act. After at first declining, the commission asked the Department of Fish and Game to prepare the report based on biological information, Barrett said.
"It is evident that more emphasis was placed on timber industry input via personal communications and unpublished industry reports than the scientific literature," Barrett wrote. "What I am concerned about is the fact that the Commission is being given a recommendation by DFG that has apparently gone beyond the expected biological, scientific information to include political and economic considerations."
Consideration of the DFG report is the third item on the commissioners' April 7 agenda. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Best Western Beach Resort, 2600 Sand Dunes Drive, Monterey.
A Pacific fisher clings to a tree trunk in the Sierra Nevada.
Suburbanites fight regs that limit food production
City dwellers are fighting local governments in communities across the nation to permit the production of food in their residential gardens, according to a story that appeared in San Diego's North County Times over the weekend.
The story, written by Raquel Maria Dillon of the Associated Press, opened with the frustrations of LA flower grower Tara Kolla, who produced poppies, sweet peas and zinnias on her 21,000-square-foot lot to sell at a farmers market. Neighbors complained to the city about dusty pots, odorous compost and flies - and prevailed.
Nevertheless, the story said growing plants in urban areas to eat or for profit is becoming more popular. "People are putting edible plants in the front yard," the story quoted UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Sue Ehrhardt.
The reporter gave the following examples of nationwide interest in the urban farming trend:
- Farms in San Diego County are getting smaller and more numerous. A few years ago, six acres was the average farm size; now it is four.
- In Detroit, the city planner is part of a work group rewriting regulations that currently ban growing crops and raising livestock for profit.
- Seattle has loosened its rules for backyard goats.
- New York City is taking steps to legalize beekeeping.
- In Los Angeles, the city council is clarifying city policies on urban farms.
The UC Master Gardener Program offers extensive information on the California Gardening Web site to California residents who wish to grow food or create an aesthetically pleasing landscape.
California Gardening Web site.
Giannini book documents family's gifts to UC
A new book with historical and contemporary information related to a generous 1928 gift to UC supporting agricultural economics will be available to the public April 15, according to a UC Davis news release distributed yesterday.
The new publication, titled A.P Giannini and the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, is being sold through the ANR catalog for $50 for softcover and $75 for hardcover.
The Giannini name has been long associated with UC. Amadeo Peter Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy (which later became the Bank of America), donated $1.5 million to build Giannini Hall for the College of Agriculture at UC Berkeley and to establish the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, according to the release.
Currently, the foundation supports activities in agricultural, resources and environmental economics at UC Davis, Berkeley and Riverside. Research conducted through the foundation has focused on issues such as price instability, management of surplus production, design of marketing institutions, impacts of water development, and competition for water, land and labor.
The new book, edited by UC Davis emeritus professors Warren Johnston and Alex McCalla, contains:
- Proceedings of the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics’ 75th Anniversary Symposium, held in spring 2006
- Giannini Foundation annals, spanning 1928 to 2009, including membership and leadership information, honors and awards, list of doctoral recipients, and foundation activities and publications
- Archival materials that document the history of agricultural economics at the University of California, early foundation history, and reflections from oral histories and biographies of selected members
- A collection of historical documents and news clips associated with the gift to the University of California.
Amadeo Giannini in 1922. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons.)
Light brown apple moth eradication unlikely
A recently certified report on light brown apple moth asserts that the pest, native to Australia, cannot be eradicated from California.
"Given the increases in LBAM population densities and the extent of contiguous spread of LBAM observed over the past 2 years, coupled with a lack of area-wide management tools, eradication is no longer feasible in California," the USDA report says.
The "area-wide management tools" referred to in the report includes aerial pheromone spraying, which drew the ire of many environmentalists. Instead, control will be attempted with twist-ties that release pheromones and with the release of sterile moths to disrupt breeding.
According to the AAAS ScienceInsider blog by Ingfei Chen, CDFA concurs with the USDA finding. The agency's main goal is to "contain, control and suppress" the pest, Chen wrote. An article in the Stockton Record said ag officials will still try to eradicate small, discrete infestations such as those found in Manteca and Tracy.In an article about the strategy change, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat noted that the January-March 2010 issue of UC's California Agriculture journal included a peer-reviewed article about LBAM control in New Zealand. The article said the moth “is successfully managed” there with modern pest control techniques. LBAM was an economically important pest from the 1960s to 1980s in New Zealand, and developed resistance to broad-spectrum insecticides, but today a combination of biological control and judicious use of selective insecticides keep LBAM at bay.
Chen said in her blog that the new focus on pest control, rather than eradication, is what some critics of LBAM eradication, including UC Davis biodemographer James Carey, have been advocating for some time. Chen is the author of a lengthy profile of Carey and his LBAM views that appeared on the AAAS Science Web site in January.
LBAM is in California to stay.