Posts Tagged: sustainable

Apply to become HFC or SFS Strategic Initiative leader

ANR is seeking leaders for two strategic initiatives: Healthy Families and Communities and Sustainable Food Systems. The new Healthy Families and Communities leader will start on Nov. 1, and the new Sustainable Food Systems leader will start on Jan. 1, 2024.

SI leaders work with their panels to help people connect while unifying, communicating and advocating for UC ANR's work internally and across the state. SI leaders seek information from their panel members to help inform discussions related to programmatic resources within ANR.

Panels vary in their frequency and duration of meetings (1 to 2 hours per month on average). The SI leaders meet monthly (2 hours) and represent their panels on Program Council (up to 8 hours/month), which provides input for programmatic policy and direction for the organization. Program Council meets the first Tuesday and subsequent Wednesday of each month (except August).

These meetings may be via Zoom, in person at the UC ANR building in Davis or at a research and extension center. These are mandatory meetings and SI leaders receive a stipend. 

To apply for an SI leader position, visit https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=40584 and fill out the brief form. The deadline for applications is Sept. 29.

To learn more about the SI leader role, feel free to reach out to Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty forHealthy Families and Communities or Rachel Surls for Sustainable Food Systems.

[Updated 9/14/23 to revise Program Council meetings from 6 hours to up to 8 hours]

SAREP, Small Farms and UC Master Food Preservers join forces to strengthen support for sustainable production, local food systems and farmer equity

Dahlquist-Willard named interim SAREP director

The past few years have intensified challenges to sustainability in California agriculture. At the same time, new opportunities for UC ANR programs to meet these challenges have arisen. Large-scale hiring, successfully competing for several multimillion-dollar grants, and expanding our reach to meet the needs of Californians are among UC ANR's recent positive developments. As we look ahead, the challenges to achieve sustainability, food security and economic development present new opportunities for our programs to work together.

UC ANR's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program is a leader in promoting safe, sustainable farming practices across the state. The recent retirements of SAREP's director and business manager, as well as multiple recent large grant awards for statewide and regional projects, have created an opportunity to integrate key programs under SAREP to meet grant deliverables and provide administrative support efficiencies. Thus, we are integrating the Small Farms Network and UC Master Food Preserver program with SAREP to form a new framework for support and administration.

These three programs have multiple shared areas of focus and activity such as local food production and marketing, diversified farming systems, food safety and enhancing equity. By integrating these units, we will not only accomplish economies of scale but also foster collaboration on shared focus areas to strengthen overall program delivery to clients and communities. The programs will retain their individual names and identities under this new framework.

Due to the substantial changes to the SAREP director position, the search for a new SAREP director is on hold while we consider how best to integrate the three programs. I have appointed Ruth Dahlquist-Willard to serve as interim director of SAREP for three years effective July 1, 2023.

Over the next six to nine months, Ruth will coordinate brainstorming sessions with academics and staff to gather input on how best to leverage shared interests and resources across the units. She will remain based in Fresno during the interim role. Recruitment will begin soon for the UCCE small farms and specialty crops advisor position in Fresno County, and Ruth will be dedicated 100% to the SAREP director position following this transition. 

I am confident that this new structure will strengthen each individual program while also creating new synergies within a powerful statewide unit that can support multiple projects and attract new funding opportunities.

Please join me in congratulating Ruth and lending your support to her in establishing this new framework to accomplish our collective goals.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

SAREP program review provides recommendations for new strategy

Recently, the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program completed a UC ANR five-year statewide program review in 2019. Vice President Humiston and I extend a thank you to the ad-hoc committee for their time commitment and thoroughness in examining the program and providing recommendations to UC ANR's Program Council. We greatly appreciate the time the UC SAREP program staff spent providing detailed information on all aspects of the program. Feedback submitted by UC SAREP partners and stakeholders during the review process is also appreciated.

We recognize the program has made significant accomplishments towards food systems goals that have led to greater health and well-being for Californians. The program has contributed to public values and condition changes such as: 

• promoting economic prosperity by developing new markets for farmers through the Farm to School program, agritourism and new specialty crops;
• improving food security by supporting urban gardening, food hubs networks and food policy councils; 
• developing an inclusive and equitable society, by helping to increase diversity, inclusiveness and cultural competency in California's workplaces by working with small-scale and immigrant farmers and providing trainings for extension professionals on uprooting racism; and
• protecting California's natural resources by assessing environmental risks, leading to policies for ensuring safe drinking-water standards for nitrates and mitigation targets for greenhouse gas reduction in crops.

The UC ANR five-year program review was coordinated with the timing of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences review of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute. UC SAREP has been operating as a unit housed in ASI since a memorandum of understanding between UC Davis and UC ANR went into effect in 2007.

Recently announced changes to the MOU with UC Davis and the leadership of SAREP were not an outcome of the program review. However, in response to recommendations from Program Council and the ad hoc review committee, and as a result of the recent organizational change, SAREP will begin to develop a new strategic plan that addresses the program's original legislative mandate to support long-term research toward food systems and agriculture production. The strategic planning committee will be asked to consider the following recommendations as it develops the plan:

• Explore how to better meet the needs around agriculture production.
• Determine how to best engage colleagues around the state who are working in sustainable agriculture.
• Support existing work being done by UCCE by being a facilitator, translating research to useful products for clientele, and collaborating with academics on final extension products.
• Consider including rangelands as part of agricultural production and food systems.
• Clearly define sustainability for the program's mission and vision.
• Be a conduit between UC students and UCCE and the research and extension centers by providing job training and internships.
• Consider an affiliate program such as the UC IPM model, identifying advisors to be affiliates for five years.
• Consider a role as a hub/curator of sustainable agriculture information from across the UC ANR network. Increase collaboration in development of, production or distribution of how-to materials for practitioners.
• Consider developing a precise strategy to engage with UC ANR Program Teams and other UC ANR Statewide Programs and Institutes. Work with these groups to develop user-friendly, sustainable agriculture practitioner documents.
• Increase representation of UC ANR academics on SAREP's Academic Advisory Committee.
• Develop a communications strategy for disseminating and archiving information, with input from the UC ANR network. 
• Identify additional opportunities for partnerships across UC and beyond.
• Develop a fundraising plan working with UC ANR Development Services.

I look forward to working with UC SAREP as it pursues these and other opportunities that may arise. Best wishes for the ongoing success and growth of UC SAREP!

Sincerely,

Wendy Powers
Associate Vice President

 

UC ANR expanding role and reach of SAREP

I am pleased to announce that UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) will be welcoming the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) back to being administered by UC ANR effective July 1, 2020. This change in management will enable closer collaboration between SAREP and the other statewide programs and institutes administered by UC ANR while also expanding our current affiliation with the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) to other campuses and partners.

Since 1986, SAREP has supported scientific research and education to advance agricultural and food systems that are economically viable, sustain beneficial ecosystem services, and enhance the quality of life in local communities. Moving forward, our farms and food systems face an ever-larger set of challenges: shifting consumer demands,invasive pests, climate change, additional regulations, lack of access to labor, and more. The need for new technologies, better systems and effective problem-solving is greater than ever.

UC ANR envisions positioning SAREP to serve as a much broader umbrella of sustainability, addressing all aspects of the triple-bottom-line: People, Planet and Prosperity. To accomplish this, SAREP will provide leadership and/or support to several promising initiatives and will facilitate our ability to capture synergies among them. Those include agritourism, ecosystem services, Climate Smart Agriculture, regional food systems, community and economic development and more.

Our sincere thanks go to UC Davis CAES and Dr. Tom Tomich, who has served as Director for SAREP for the past several years, for their leadership and support of the program since 2007. 

As part of the transition, the SAREP team will relocate to the UC ANR building at 2801 Second Street in Davis, California. The move is planned to be completed by July 1, although timing may be impacted by ongoing shelter-in-place orders.

I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Gail Feenstra, who has been serving as acting director since October 2019, has been appointed director of SAREP effective July 1, 2020. Please join me in welcoming SAREP into our UC ANR building and offering Gail and her team best wishes for the future success of the program.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Sourcing sustainable food for students is a success

The UC system's goal to purchase 20 percent of its food from sustainable sources by 2020, one of the efforts connected to the UC Global Food Initiative, has already been achieved four years early, reported Scott Thill on Civil Eats.

The residence dining halls purchased 22 percent of their food from sustainable sources and five UC medical centers have reached 20 percent.

"I think our challenge going forward is realizing that 20 percent is considered a minimum-level threshold," said Tim Garlarneau, co-chair of the UC Sustainable Food Service Working Group and co-chair of the UC Global Food Initiative's Food Access and Security Subcommittee.

One way the article suggested to make more progress in sustainable food procurement is to purchase popular foods – like coffee – from growers in California, where the bean isn't typically grown. UC Cooperative Extension advisor Mark Gaskell said that he expects to see more coffee plantings and increased overall coffee acreage in central and southern California.

“This will always be a niche crop on small farms in California destined for high-value niche markets, but fortunately we have clearly demonstrated that very high-quality coffee can be produced in California,” he said.

Garlarneau notes that crops like coffee and bananas are better grown and sourced fairly from abroad while UC focuses on local sources for California-grown foods.

Systemwide coordination for purchasing higher costing food products (such as meats) that can meet campus and medical center specifications and demonstrate increased sustainability will require going out to bid to larger entities to meet the demand. As an example, Garlarneau shared UC's Sea to Table commitment to support small-scale fisherfolk to complement larger company offerings of sustainable tunafish and other seafood.

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