ANR news blog

Easy access to fast foods makes kids fat

A new UC Berkeley study that is getting lots of media attention notes that the incidence of obesity in high school students is greater when there is a fast food restaurant within 530 feet of the campus. Nearby fast food resulted in a 5.2 percent increase in the incidence of student obesity compared with the average for California youths, according to coverage in the Los Angeles Times. Scientists said the correlation is "sizable."

Reporter Jerry Hirsch sought comment from the nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County, Brenda Roche. She said she wasn't surprised by the findings.

"If you put a McDonald's in front of a school, kids will eat there," she said. "Obesity is as much a factor of environment as it is a matter of choice."

Other media outlets that covered the story included:

• ABC Channel 7 news
• Reuters
• Gulf Times

In the Reuters story, a spokeswomen for the National Retail Federation, Ellen Davis, rejected the idea that schools be surrounded by a fast food-free zone.

"I think it would be a dangerous precedent to limit the types of legitimate, important businesses and where they're located in a city. Doesn't it make more sense for parents to limit a child's allowance or let them know when and where they can't eat certain things?" she was quoted.

Perhaps parents, schools, government and food purveyors should all be part of the effort to curb obesity.

What is clear, costly and complicated? Water

While there have been whispers of skepticism about the Great California Drought of 2009, all would likely agree that California's water woes are complicated. The Wall Street Journal today ran a story outlining the decision process for farmers considering whether they should use the water allocated to them to grow crops, or whether they should sell the water to the state and let their land lie fallow.

Writer Pete Sanders penciled out the equation for Don Bransford, who grows rice on a 700-acre farm north of Sacramento:

• The state is offering $275 per acre foot of water
• Take 100 acres of his farm out of production.
• Sell the water for $90,000

To me, that sounds like a lot of money for leaving one-seventh of a farm unworked. But the implications go far beyond Bransford's farm - think of the laborers who won't be working and the inputs that won't be applied. That's the type of information that UC Davis agricultural economist Richard Howitt has taken into consideration in his calculations about the cost of the drought.

Sanders noted in the Wall Street Journal article that Howitt has determined the drought and resulting water restrictions could cost as much as $1.4 billion in lost income and about 53,000 lost jobs, mostly in the agriculture sector.

UCCE county director rejoices over White House garden

The director of UC Cooperative Extension in Ventura County, Rose Hayden-Smith, had the opportunity over the weekend to publicly express her delight in the news that the First Lady and her daughters broke ground last week on an organic kitchen garden at the White House. Hayden-Smith was among a group of activists who for many months have called on the country's leaders to lead a Victory Garden rebirth by example.

An article in the Ventura County Star opened with Hayden-Smith's reaction to the cover story in the April 2009 issue of Oprah magazine, in which Michelle Obama commented about a new garden project on the first lawn.

“We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food," Mrs. Obama was quoted.

“I read that and thought, ‘This is really going to happen. We are going to get a garden at the White House,’” Hayden-Smith, was quoted in the article.

The story noted that Hayden-Smith was appointed director of UCCE in Ventura County last Wednesday. She is the first women to hold the position in its 90-year history.

Last week, Hayden-Smith also appeared on the Chicago radio program "The Mike Nowak Show" to relish the White House garden victory.

Both media outlets listed links to Hayden-Smith's blog, Twitter account and Victory Grower Web site.

Rose Hayden-Smith

State senator singles out UC Cooperative Extension

Before the state budget fiasco of 2009, Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) wasn't well known outside his district. But by making deals with the upper house's Democratic majority and voting for their budget, Maldonado practically became a household name. Increasing his popularity still more among many Californians, he named UC Cooperative Extension when listing California state budget priorities, according to a story by Harry Cline published yesterday in Western Farm Press.

Cline said Maldonado flew his own twin-engine aircraft to Tulare County for the World Ag Expo in February to participate in a pre-show visit with the news media.

“Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the state and it needs to be protected and worked with,” Maldonado was quoted in the story.

Maldonado also said vocational agriculture programs in high schools, the Williamson Act to protect farmland from high taxes and the University of California Cooperative Extension are programs that should be protected from draconian budgets cuts in the future, Cline wrote.

Maldonado has an interesting back story. His father was a Bracero. As a child, Maldonado worked in the fields picking strawberries alongside his father to help support the family. After college, he returned to the family's small Santa Maria farm, which under his guidance grew from a half acre of strawberries into a 6,000-acre farm that employs more than 250 people and ships produce all over the world, according to his official biography. At the World Ag Expo event, Maldonado said there is the need is to bring back a temporary worker program for agriculture and the service industry.

“I do not want amnesty. We need temporary workers like my dad who came here to work. He did not come for a free ride. He came to work hard,” Maldonado was quoted in the Farm Press article.

Scientists concerned about California's alfalfa crop

UC scientists are perplexed and concerned about the condition of California alfalfa fields this spring. Alfalfa should be a lush, green carpet, but in many areas, there are patches that appear dead; in some cases, entire fields have been reduced to bare ground, according to UC Davis Cooperative Extension alfalfa specialist Dan Putnum.

Although scientists caution that there may be several factors contributing to this damage, stem nematode symptoms are present and the pest has been observed in lab tests. Alfafa stem nematode is a voracious microscopic pest that is generally present in Valley soils, but rarely becomes such a severe problem.

UC News and Information Outreach distributed a news release yesterday to get the word out about possible causes of the poor alfalfa stands, but the situation in alfalfa continues to unfold.

Putnam said that, in touring the fields on Tuesday, he could not identify a pattern related to alfalfa variety or pesticide regime. Different dormancy groups seemed equally affected. 

"There was a little phytophtora damage deep on some roots, but most roots were relatively healthy. There were some fields with very great damage, and others without as much damage, but this could certainly be a result of crop rotation factors or lack of equipment or water transfer, as much as variety or pesticide patterns," he reported.

Putnam said most symptoms appear to be from stem nematode. However, because it is so unusually severe, scientists are keeping their options open.

UC Davis CE nematology specialist Lynn Westerdahl said scientists are considering gene sequencing to try to understand the pest and why it appears to be wreaking havoc in California alfalfa.

Stay tuned.

 

 

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