- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
To close out this short Thanksgiving week, there are a number of UC Ag and Natural Resources hits in the media:
Capitol Press covered an agritourism seminar held recently in Stockton and developed a detailed article with much information drawn from a presentation by Holly George, UCCE's Sierra and Plumas county livestock and natural resources advisor.
Besides the more conventional agritourism ventures - pumpkin patches, corn mazes, wineries and U-pick operations - "serious" farms can benefit from the trend by opening their farms to the public for activities such as hunting, bird watching and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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....
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
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....
