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ANR news blog
California Small Farm Conference under way
Over the next two days, the California Small Farm Conference is being held in Visalia. The Fresno Bee included a detailed roundup of the conference in last Friday's paper, giving high mention to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, a sponsor of the event.
The conference was established in 1982 by the UC Small Farm Program. The program is still involved, but the conference has taken on a life of its own. More than 400 small-scale farmers from around the state are expected to be on hand today for a presentation by "Dr. Broccoli" of Kaiser, plus numerous workshops and an awards banquet this evening.
The Fresno Bee article notes that UCCE small farm advisor Manuel Jimenez will receive the first-ever Thomas Haller award. In addition, a media advisory written by Brenda Dawson of the Small Farm Program says the program's annual Pedro Ilic Awards will be presented this evening to Darren Schmall of Madera, known nationally as the "Pizza Farmer," for outstanding farmer, and to Santa Clara County UCCE farm advisor Aziz Baameur for outstanding educator.
Huell Howser, producer and host of the PBS television program California's Gold, is the keynote speaker at the banquet.
Haagen-Dazs gift keeps giving
Media interest in the Haagen-Dazs gift of $100,000 to fund UC Davis honey bee research is incredibly strong. The story was picked up by 167 outlets, according to Google News.
Kathy Keatley Garvey, a writer in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, said the Haagen-Dazs gift points to the value of media communications. The donation is the direct result of a release Garvey wrote about bee breeder Sue Cobey, which appeared on the UC ANR Web site. Ketchum Communications read the article, called Garvey and said a “client” was interested in donating funds. The client: Haagen-Dazs.
According to Garvey, Haagen-Dazs has launched a national campaign to save the honey bee. Plans include introducing a new flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee. As part of the “Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees” or “HD Loves HB” campaign, the company will provide the $250,000 for research to UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University and will launch a Web site, www.helpthehoneybees.com to offer more information on the “unstung heroes.”
Vanilla honey bee ice cream
Media can't resist Haagen-Dazs and honey bees
A story distributed by UC Davis news service and posted on the ANR news Web site about a $100,000 gift from Haagen-Dazs to study colony collaspe disorder of honey bees was picked up widely by the news media.
Associated Press reporter Julianna Barbassa included information about the gift and an effort by personal products maker Bert's Bees to raise awareness about the threat to honey bees in her story, which moved on the wire service early this morning.
The Haagen-Dazs gift to UC Davis is aimed at averting a crisis for the ice cream maker, which uses a variety of berries, fruits and nuts in its products that depend on bees for pollination. According to the AP article, Haagen-Dazs pours a million pounds of almonds alone into its products.
The news release, written by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis entomology department, says that a third of the U.S. food supply depends on bee pollination, but bees are vanishing in massive numbers
UC Davis is home to one of the oldest bee research facilities in the country, the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. The Haagen-Dazs gift will aid research into sustainable pollination and colony collapse disorder, and will support a postdoctoral researcher.
The story was picked up by, among others,
Honey bee on salvia.
UCCE weighs in on ch-, ch-, ch-, chia
When a new health fad hits the airwaves, reporters know they can turn to UC Cooperative Extension for sound, sensible input. That's what Barbara Feder Ostrov of the San Jose Mercury News did for a story on chia, a food best known for the fact that it grows, curiously, on the outside of pots. Who hasn't see the television commercials showing pots shaped like animals or even a human head spouting the green grass-like growth of chia seeds?
According to Ostrov's article, chia seeds are the newest health rage. They are are high in protein, fiber, calcium and higher in omega-3 fatty acids than flax seeds, the story says. Online retailers report rising sales and the product was plugged on CBS News and Oprah Winfrey's show.
For the voice of reason, Ostrov turned to UC Cooperative Extension nutrition specialist Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr of UC Davis.
"I don't recommend it as a cure-all, but as a way to get more of what's healthy into our diets," Zidenberg-Cherr is quoted. Chia seeds, she said, "deserve more study."
If you can't buy them, grow them
The Associated Press launched a story yesterday about a resurgence of interest in growing food in home gardens, the result of "twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies."
For the article, the newswire conducted a telephone interview of UCCE 4-H Youth Development and Master Gardener advisor Rose Hayden-Smith.
"You always see an uptick in gardening activity in keeping with economic conditions - consumer-driven waves that emulate recession and inflation-driven economies," Hayden-Smith is quoted in the story.
She compared today's market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th Century, when the concept of "victory gardens" became popular in the U.S, Canada and Europe.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," Hayden-Smith told AP. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
Rose Hayden-Smith
