The Robert Mondavi Institute - Center for Wine Economics will sponsor a symposium from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 14. It will feature a roundtable discussion of boom and bust cycles and emerging opportunities in the world wine industry, focusing on the roles of evolving markets, resource constraints, and technologies.

The symposium will begin with a keynote presentation by Peter Hayes, a leading figure in the Australian wine industry with broad experience at the senior level in viticulture, management of issues, and management of R&D, and a graduate from the UCD Department of Viticulture & Enology. Hayes will draw upon his experiences in international wine industry affairs, wine company operations and R&D investment/management to address global wine trends, the structure and delivery of industry-wide funding and investment in R&D for wine and irrigation-based industries and potential for new priorities and directions for development.

Agricultural and Resource Economics Professors Dan Sumner and Richard Howitt will open the discussion with brief forward-looking presentations about markets and resource constraints, to be followed by a roundtable discussion involving all participants.

The symposium presentations will be followed by a hosted reception.

Some background information can be drawn from the recent special issue of ARE Update “The World of Wine: Economic Issues and Outlook" http://www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/extension/update/issues/v13n6.pdf

Registration is free but space will be limited. Please register by sending an e-mail to Jonathan Barker at jbarker@ucdavis.edu.

More event information is at http://aic.ucdavis.edu/boomandbust.

The UC Riverside Turfgrass & Landscape Research Field Day will be held on
Thursday, Sept. 16, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event will be at the UCR Turfgrass Research Facility, Dept. of Agricultural Operations at 1060 Martin Luther King Boulevard in Riverside. Registration is $50, but rises to $65 after Sept. 10. 

To register or for more information, go to http://ucanr.org/sites/UCRturfgrasslandscapefieldday/.

Apply now to serve on the UC ANR Peer Review Committee to review academic merit and promotion requests for Cooperative Extension advisors. The new Peer Review Committee will replace the Senior Administrative Council, or SAC, which was composed of the three regional directors and four program leaders and chaired by the associate VP.

This new committee will be chaired by Kimberly Rodrigues, executive director for Academic Personnel, and include seven advisors.  The members will serve 2- to 3-year overlapping terms to ensure consistency in the review process.  The work of this committee requires concentrated effort/review between April-May.  Ad hoc peer review committees will be developed for promotions.

Sept. 9 is the deadline for applying to be part of this important process.

For more information and the application, please see http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/files/47841.doc.

Dear Colleagues,

Secretary Vilsack convened a discussion yesterday with leading Land-Grant University representatives to discuss the critical need to rebuild the agricultural infrastructure in Afghanistan and Iraq. He indicated that USDA is seeking accomplished research and extension professionals willing to participate in an integrated team to assist in this important effort. I am passing along the information below to you so that you can access the information directly if you are interested.

Dan Dooley
Senior Vice President

To the leaders of our U.S. Land-Grant Institutions:

Once again, thank-you to those who joined Secretary Vilsack today to discuss how we can work together to contribute to the U.S. Government's mission in Afghanistan and Iraq.

To apply for jobs in Afghanistan or Iraq, please direct employees to visit www.usajobs.com and search under the keywords of "USDA Iraq" or "USDA Afghanistan."

Your employees may also learn more about the work in each country by visiting www.usda.gov/afghanistan or www.fas.usda.gov/country/Iraq/development/iraq.asp or by contacting Bobby Richey of USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service.

Contact:  Bobby Richey
Assistant Deputy Administrator
Office of Foreign Service Operations
Foreign Agricultural Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
E-mail: Bobby.Richey@fas.usda.gov
Voice: 202-720-8832

As the Secretary highlighted during the call, agricultural experts are doing great things in Afghanistan and Iraq. If your staff is willing to serve abroad in these harsh environments for at least one year, we know that they will undergo a positive, life-changing experience. Therefore, we encourage each of you to reach out to your respective communities – academic, research, extension, alumni and retirees – and encourage all experienced and eligible individuals to apply.

Specializations such as natural resource management and conservation, crop production and post-harvest management, animal husbandry and extension are vital to mentoring and building the capacity of Afghans and Iraqis in their respective agricultural institutions. At the same time, agricultural experts often find themselves in fluid situations requiring flexibility and a willingness to tackle issues that may fall outside their sphere of expertise. Therefore, the most important traits are a positive outlook, maturity and people skills.

We appreciate the support that many of you have demonstrated in the past, and we ask for your support once again in helping to revitalize these significant agricultural economies.

Thank you.

On behalf of

James Miller
Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services