Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
Controlled environment agriculture courses offered online
UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education and The VINE launch indoor farming classes
A new, comprehensive and advanced learning experience in indoor farming is now available for growers. The VINE, an initiative of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education have opened enrollment for their new Controlled Environment Agriculture Program. Courses begin on July 1.
Controlled environment agriculture is a technology-based method of growing plants that offers precise control over temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide and air circulation. CEA can take place in greenhouses, indoor vertical farms or hydroponic farms.
"Unpredictable and extreme weather, pests and growing demand for year-round, local produce are driving growers to move crop production indoors,” said Gabe Youtsey, UC ANR chief innovation officer and co-founder of the VINE.
The CEA Program is designed to impart a deep understanding of both the scientific and practical aspects of indoor farming. The series of four detailed courses, designed to be completed in less than a year, are offered through a flexible online platform. This program is suitable for a wide range of professionals from various sectors including farming operations managers, horticulturists, indoor farming specialists, early-career agriculture professionals, and those in related fields.
"As the agricultural sector evolves, our CEA Program aims to provide the foundational knowledge and practical skills crucial for success in controlled environment agriculture," said Youtsey. "We are preparing participants to effectively manage and innovate within their own agricultural practices."
Participants in the program will receive instruction from international experts in controlled environment agriculture. The curriculum includes an exploration of various business models in CEA, optimal crop selection for different environments, and effective strategies for managing pests and diseases. Additionally, it covers the application of data to enhance growing conditions and profitability, as well as best practices for ensuring product safety and quality.
"Students in this program will gain a deeper understanding of the operational aspects of indoor farming and how they can apply this knowledge to real-world scenarios," said Jennifer Greenier, Ph.D., UC Davis Life Sciences Workforce Development director. "We are committed to providing educational pathways that nurture the skills necessary for advancing career opportunities in agriculture."
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Program is structured around four core courses, each designed to build specific skills and knowledge essential for success in indoor farming:
- Introduction to CEA – Fundamentals of indoor farming, business models, and technological advancements.
- Plant Production in Indoor Farming – Planning and implementing effective operations, understanding plant physiology, and nutrition management.
- Postharvest Processes: Ensuring Crop Quality and Safety in CEA – Food safety, proper storage, distribution, and marketing strategies.
- Data-driven Growing – Developing data management skills and optimizing operations through data analytics.
Individual course fees are $1,000 to $2,000 and the full CEA Program is priced at $6,000. Completely online, the courses are accessible to professionals both domestic and international.
To attend an informational session on June 6, visit https://bit.ly/IndoorAginfo. For additional details, visit the UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education website: https://cpe.ucdavis.edu/subject-areas/controlled-environment-agriculture.
UC SAREP helps boost food access, workforce development in Plumas County
On a small production farm in Plumas County, the Lost Sierra Food Project (LSFP) increases rural food access and provides workforce development and farm education opportunities while serving as a key community gathering place.
LSFP Executive Director Jessie Mazar credits the Small Grants Program administered by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program as “a major funding springboard” that supported the establishment and growth of this successful project.
At the core of the LSFP is Rugged Roots Farm, a 2-acre farm that serves as a classroom for technical education and hands-on learning while growing produce for the programs, partnerships and community. Through the Small Grants Program, LSFP has expanded farming education programs, piloted field trips with students from K through sixth grade, and offered a free community cooking and preservation workshop series that was met with great enthusiasm from attendees.
“We have seen a growth in community members and children that feel a sense of ownership in the farm,” said Mazar. “Students returned to farm stands with their parents, guiding them on tours and exclaiming that Rugged Roots Farm was ‘their farm.'”
In 2011, Plumas County farmer Elizabeth Powell received a planning grant from the Small Grants Program to establish the Plumas Sierra Food Council. A community needs assessment conducted by the Council in 2017 outlined priority areas to address in the community including food access and farm education, which led to the establishment of the Lost Sierra Food Project in 2019.
“Projects like LSFP address critical food systems needs in the communities they serve,” said Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, interim director of UC SAREP. “Outcomes of these projects demonstrate that a small investment can go a long way in producing meaningful impacts."
Programs increase food access and education for underserved communities
LSFP has received two subsequent $10,000 Small Grants Program grants. With the funding in 2023-24, they were able to significantly expand K-12 educational programming and establish new partnerships with the Plumas Unified School District.
This continued support has positively affected the regional food system and surrounding rural communities. A high school student intern reflected on summer programming at the farm: “I learned how to harvest things I'd never eaten before, which taught me about how and where food grows. I also learned about teamwork and how to ask for help without embarrassment.”
Improving food access for underserved community members has been highly successful. Through LSFP's Farm Bucks program, residents get weekly credit at the farm stand in exchange for volunteering nine hours on the farm and participating in three cooking and nutrition classes – or in lieu of volunteering, payment of a subsidized amount.
During this past season, LSFP's programming reached 724 youth and adults, and they hosted 1,129 hours of volunteer time. Additionally, LSFP donated over 750 pounds of food to local food pantries and wellness centers in 2023.
Grants help with navigating long-term viability challenges
Finding long-term solutions to maintain farm-based programming and staffing is a major challenge for the project. There is a clear community need for this practical knowledge and experience, but there is little economic revenue derived from offering these programs.
Mazar noted that as a nonprofit they can negotiate some of these barriers through grants and individual donations. “Fortunately, through the support of programs like the SAREP Small Grants Program, our team has grown a lot. And new funding opportunities are becoming available,” Mazar said. “With further effort, we hope to amplify the work that has been conducted and expand our reach into adjacent communities.”
Mazar and her team are passionate about achieving the program's mission to cultivate a regional food system where every community member has access to healthy, affordable food and feels empowered to grow their own produce. They are currently developing a five-year strategic plan as a road map to ensure delivery of programs that meet their goals while supporting their staff.
This article is part of a series on the impact of the UC SAREP Small Grants Program. To support this program, please donate here. Choose SAREP Small Grants Program for the designation.
New UC study estimates costs for growing coastal organic strawberries
A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for Central Coast organic strawberries was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.
The cost study models a management scenario for a 30-acre farm, 27 acres of which are planted to organic strawberries. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads, and buildings. The study describes the cultural practices used in organic strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.
The 20-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.
The new study, “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.
Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For more information about the organic strawberry cost study, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.eduor Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.
A U.S.-China trade war would cost California farmers
Loss of China's preferred trade status could hurt crop, dairy and livestock exports
The Biden administration recently announced large, increased tariff rates for Chinese electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors, and aluminum and steel products. This raises the possibility of another trade war with China that could impact agriculture.
Economists from UC Davis and North Dakota State University evaluated the potential implications of the U.S. revoking China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. They found that if China retaliated against a change in China's PNTR status, it could lead to a 9.5% increase in China's agricultural import tariffs, resulting in potential trade losses to California agriculture of around $1 billion annually.
California agriculture was hit hard by the 2018-19 trade war with China, and many industries have still not recovered from its effects. Despite this, there is increasing support in Congress for further restrictions on trade with China, with proponents asserting that China is not complying with the World Trade Organization's regulations.
The authors' research suggests that some product groups – such as horticultural products, dairy, livestock and meats – would likely experience even steeper than average increases in import tariffs.
“The impact on import tariffs for non-agricultural sectors would be even larger, with the average import tariff going up from 3.9% to 32.5%,” said co-author of the study Colin A. Carter, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis.
For all California agricultural exports, they estimated an average decline in export value between 28.4% and 34.8% when comparing a scenario where China's PNTR status is revoked to one where it is not. This translates into an estimated trade loss of between $800 million and $1 billion, using 2023 California agricultural exports. Some crops that rely heavily on China for exports, such as tree nuts, would be more severely impacted by these effects, particularly considering that some of them are still subjected to residual tariffs from the 2018-19 trade war.
The last trade war between the United States and China led to significant decreases in crop prices and lost export opportunities. As co-author Sandro Steinbach, Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics and the Director of the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies at North Dakota State University notes, “Once access to a market is lost, gaining it back is difficult, as the 2018-19 trade war has shown.”
To learn more about the potential implications of the United States revoking China's preferred trade status, read the full article by Carter and Steinbach: “Revoking China's Preferred Trade Status Would Be Costly for California Agriculture,” ARE Update 27(4): 1–4. UC Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, online at https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1715033514/20982/.
ARE Update is a bimonthly magazine published by the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics to educate policymakers and agribusiness professionals about new research or analysis of important topics in agricultural and resource economics. Articles are written by Giannini Foundation members, including University of California faculty and Cooperative Extension specialists in agricultural and resource economics, and university graduate students. Learn more about the Giannini Foundation and its publications at https://giannini.ucop.edu/.
Green Hall of Famer Oki retires after 29-year UC career
UCCE specialist's research prevents water pollution, reduces water use
When interviewed to become a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist in environmental horticulture, Lorence “Loren” Oki was asked what kind of research he wanted to conduct.
In response, he showed the hiring committee a photo of a residential gutter. “Water is a big concern, and I found very little research on runoff from homes,” said Oki, explaining that studying residential runoff is what “started his career” with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources back in 2002.
Although he remains active supporting growers and advising industry leaders, Oki retired from UC ANR in July 2023. Before joining ANR, Oki worked as a researcher for UC Davis' Department of Environmental Horticulture studying greenhouse irrigation in 1994, bringing his total time with the University of California to 29 years.
Oki, professor emeritus of Cooperative Extension at UC Davis, led many research projects that advanced the green industry which includes landscapes, nurseries and floriculture.
“Loren is the epitome of a specialist,” said Darren Haver, UC ANR's Research and Extension Center system director, who has worked with Oki for more than 20 years on projects that have significantly improved urban water quality and water conservation efforts across California.
Research influences pesticide management statewide
With a $3 million grant funding a statewide study, Oki and Haver set out to characterize runoff from residential sources over a five-year period. They determined the volume of irrigation runoff from residential land use, as well as the pollutants in the runoff.
Oki and Haver, co-principal investigators, along with researchers from UC Davis and UC Riverside, discovered that the degradation products of the insecticide fipronil – commonly found in runoff water – were more toxic than its parent compound. The study led to an investigation of human pathogens and pathogen indicators in residential runoff, the first of its kind.
Another contribution was the early detection of a new pesticide used for ant control, enabling strategies to be put in place to prevent it from reaching local streams and creeks. Oki and Haver's work also persuaded the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to change pesticide labels to minimize the chances of pesticides moving off target during irrigation and rain events.
These changes included preventing pesticide application before predicted rain and preventing irrigation after applications, keeping pesticides from impervious surfaces, and restricting applications on lawns and landscape beds within two feet of impervious surfaces and others.
Plant trials expand beyond California
Oki was also the principal investigator of the Climate-Ready Landscape Plants project, which may be the largest irrigation trial in the western U.S., and the UC Plant Landscape Irrigation Trials, the California component of that project. The UCPLIT trials originated in 2004 at UC Davis as a research project by Karrie Reid, retired UCCE environmental horticulture advisor for San Joaquin County, while she was pursuing her master's degree. In 2017, the irrigation trials were duplicated at the South Coast Research and Extension Center.
These projects evaluate landscape plants under varying irrigation levels to determine their optimal performance in regions requiring supplemental summer water. Throughout the trial, Oki identified many landscape plants, including rose cultivars, that remain aesthetically pleasing with little water.
Today, the trials have expanded beyond California as the Climate-Ready Landscape Plants Project at Oregon State University, University of Washington, University of Arizona and Utah State University.
Growing up in the nursery industry
In 2017, Oki obtained tenure, allowing him to expand his professional responsibilities to include production horticulture, specifically greenhouses and nurseries, an industry he was extremely familiar with. “I come from a nursery family,” Oki explained. “My grandfather started Oki Nursery in the early 1900s.”
During World War II, Oki's family was incarcerated in the Poston Relocation Center in Arizona and lost their homes and property. When they were released, they returned to the nursery industry to rebuild their lives. “After World War II, my father and uncle got more involved with my grandfather's work,” he said.
The Oki family played an instrumental role in technological development for nurseries in general. Oki Nursery, which was located in Sacramento, worked closely with IBM and was the first to use a computerized system in the industry.
Oki developed computerized scheduling for the bedding plants, poinsettias, chrysanthemums, bulbs and other crops. He developed a method to calculate the cost of any crop grown by the nursery at any point in the crop cycle and computerized greenhouse environmental and irrigation controls. This may not sound impressive now, but that was in the 1980s.
“My father was known for being progressive and he also knew everyone at UC Davis,” said Oki. “He wanted to work with anyone who had an interest in doing something good for nurseries.”
Inducted into Green Industry Hall of Fame
In the 1950s, Oki Nursery partnered with researchers from UC Davis' agricultural engineering program and developed the overhead sprinklers commonly used in nurseries today. Until the 1980s, Oki Nursery was the largest nursery in Northern California. Before it shut down in 1993, Oki worked in the family business as a greenhouse manager when runoff became a growing concern.
“I remember getting served with a notice by the Regional Water Quality Control Board stating that we needed to prevent runoff because it was polluted with nitrate fertilizer, which was common in the nursery industry,” Oki said.
One of those efforts focused on using controlled-release fertilizer instead of applying fertilizer via irrigation as a liquid feed. “What we learned is that if we converted nurseries to controlled-release fertilizer, we could reduce the nitrate runoff,” he said. While a member of the Oki Lab, Bruno Pitton earned his Ph.D. studying nursery hydrology and the fate of nitrogen fertilizers in container crop production adding to the information on runoff and nitrate management. Pitton is now the environmental horticulture advisor for Placer and Nevada counties.
In 2023, Oki was inducted into the Green Industry Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals with a minimum of 20 years in the landscape, nursery or floriculture industry and who have made significant contributions to the field.
Having grown up in the industry, Oki said that his father taught him to never be afraid to try new things. “If you think you have an idea that might work, do the best you can to make it work. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. And that's OK,” he said.
Revitalizing space for greater impact
This mentality encouraged Oki whenever tackling new tasks, like rebranding the California Ornamental Research Federation, a space for education and collaboration, as UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance.
In 2009, Oki and David Fujino, executive director of the California Center for Urban Horticulture, became co-directors of CORF, which catered to the cut flower industry. At that time, Oki and Fujino realized that nurseries generated much greater revenue in the state than cut flowers.
“It was a strategic decision to change CORF to UCNFA, which included floriculture and nurseries in the name,” Fujino said. Combined, nurseries and floriculture have consistently placed in the top five agricultural commodities in the state.
When reflecting on their partnership, Fujino said that working with Oki was a “natural fit.” “I couldn't have asked for a better partner, a better colleague and, ultimately, a better friend to have my back and work side by side,” he added.
Since UCNFA's launch, the two have worked to maintain the group's impact by hosting “Ask your Advisor” webinars to connect advisors to growers, as well as co-hosting large-scale events such as the annual conference for the International Plant Propagators' Society — an organization focused on greenhouse and nursery production education — for the Western Region, which Oki's father helped establish in the 1960s.
Encouraging a return to education
Gerry Spinelli, UC Cooperative Extension production horticulture advisor for San Diego County and member of UCNFA's administrative committee, described those who have learned from Oki as his sons and daughters. “When I meet someone that's learned from Loren or worked with him, that person instantly becomes my friend. That's the kind of effect Loren has on us,” Spinelli said.
Grant Johnson, UC Cooperative Extension urban agricultural technology advisor for Los Angeles and Orange counties, credits Oki for his master's degree in horticulture from UC Davis.
“Loren gave me a lot of direction as far as career choices and research interests. He instilled in me a dedication to life-long learning, just like he continues to do,” said Johnson. Before Oki became his professor, Johnson worked with Oki as a staff research associate at the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.
Another influential person in Oki's life is John Kabashima, emeritus environmental horticulture advisor for UCCE Orange and Los Angeles counties and fellow Green Hall of Fame inductee. Like Oki, Kabashima grew up in the nursery industry.
Oki, who earned a bachelor's degree in ornamental horticulture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master's degree in plant science from UC Riverside, decided to pursue a Ph.D. in ecology at UC Davis with Kabashima's encouragement.
While Oki was still working in his family's business, Kabashima said that Oki relied on UC ANR researchers for scientific information and felt like Oki wanted to be one of them. “I told him that he's a good nursery guy, but he's a better scientist,” said Kabashima. “His heart is in science.”
The two began working together as soon as Oki became a graduate student and have been colleagues and friends for nearly 40 years. “My favorite response from Loren whenever people ask him a question is, ‘It depends,'” Kabashima said. “It always leads to people opening up and giving more context. That's what Loren does, he gets you to think.”
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