Green Blog

Rose Hayden-Smith, UC Cooperative Extension digital communications in food systems & extension educator, talked with Matthew Shapero about his work protecting California's natural resources.

On a crisp and clear morning late last year, around 20 volunteer firefighters, landowners and community members gathered on a plot of land outside of the small rural community of Kneeland in Humboldt County.

Ranching has a long history in California, starting when Spanish missions were established in the early 1700s, continuing as ranchos under Mexican rule, and persisting as a solid industry today with about 38 million acres of range and pasture lands in the state.

Scientists are developing climate-smart farming practices, California is offering financial incentives to implement them, and now a group of 10 UC Cooperative Extension climate-smart educators are taking the program to the next level.

Scorching temperatures and parched earth are no match for the sorghum plant this cereal crop, native to Africa, will remain green and productive, even under conditions that would render other plants brown, brittle and barren.