- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Vice President Glenda Humiston led a delegation representing California to the virtual annual joint meeting of the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and the Administrative Heads Section (AHS) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, March 1-4.
Over a series of Zoom calls, CARET delegates met with California's Congress members to discuss the specific impacts of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources in their districts and the importance of strong federal funding to support the programs, including Cooperative Extension, 4-H Youth Development, nutrition education, and the research and extension centers.
“CARET was our last in-person meeting in 2020 so we weren't sure what to expect with virtual visits in 2021, but they were even more productive than in years past,” said Anne Megaro, UC ANR director of government and community relations.
“We had more time with congressional staffers and members in each meeting and our conversations were more detailed and thoughtful. Congress is working hard to meet the needs of their constituents and they were very interested to hear about UC's work in wildfire and everything we've been doing to support communities through COVID, particularly with our communities of color and those where English is a second language.”
Collectively, the group visited 22 congressional offices, including meeting with members Jim Costa, Jimmy Panetta and Ami Bera.
CARET delegates – new delegate Ishmael (Ish) Herrera of California Forward, San Diego County nurseryman Mike Mellano, Humboldt County rancher Dina Moore, and Environmental Solutions Group managing partner Jean-Mari Peltier – explained how their businesses and industries have benefited from UC ANR research and extension. Bill Frost, former UC ANR associate vice president and UCCE advisor emeritus, also served as a CARET delegate.
UCCE forest and natural resources advisor Ryan Tompkins, UC Master Gardener Program Director Missy Gable, and UCCE County Director for Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Madera counties, Karmjot Randhawa, were the UC ANR academics and staff who described how their work and programs impacted members' districts over the past year. COVID-19 was a strong theme, as well as wildfire and forest management.
Building on the success of the virtual CARET visits, Megaro arranged a few more meetings for UC ANR academics and congressional staffers over Zoom.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Everyone in the UC ANR community is invited to join virtual events to learn, share, support and celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month every Tuesday in May from 3 to 4 p.m.
- May 4 - The Asian Pacific Identity: Experiences and Stories
- May 11 - Asian Pacific Farmers in California: Past and Present
- May 18 - Violence in Asian Pacific Communities: Exclusion, Internment and Hate Crimes
- May 25 - Supporting Our Friends and Colleagues: Bystander Intervention Training
The weekly events will begin May 4 with a discussion of who is included and what is meant by the terms Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander. Surendra Dara will describe his immigration experience and Soo-Young Chin, a cultural consultant and ethnographer from Ethnoworks will present.
On May 11, we'll hear perspectives from Asian Americans involved in agriculture, starting with a video about Koda Farms and how this Japanese-American family continues to farm since starting to grow rice in 1928. Kellee Matsushita-Tseng will talk about her work with Second Generation Seeds, representation in Extension, and the current acts of hate. UC ANR's very own Sua Vang, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) community health specialist, will talk about her experience farming and continuing connections with Southeast Asian farmers in Fresno County.
On May 18, we will review some history of violence and discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S., then May Lin, postdoctoral fellow at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality at the University of Denver, will encourage participants to think beyond the framing of individual hate crimes and more towards community approaches – such as the Black-Asian solidarity efforts in Oakland – to dismantle systemic violence.
On May 25, Advancing Justice Chicago, in partnership with Hollaback! and CAIR-Chicago, will give us a crash course in how to de-escalate harassment and support people who are targets of harassment and violence.
All of the sessions are scheduled for an hour, but speakers will remain online beyond 4 p.m. if needed to answer questions and allow for extended discussion.
Register at http://ucanr.edu/aphm2021.
The image for UC ANR's Asian Pacific Heritage Month was designed by Surendra Dara, UC Cooperative Extension entomology and biologicals advisor in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
The font and colors are representative of Asian Pacific heritage. The cherry blossoms represent spring, new life and vibrancy. The lanterns symbolize light, and light represents knowledge, wisdom and education. Lanterns representing the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand are included. The shapes and colors of the lanterns are different, but the lanterns all serve the same purpose: to shine light. For UC ANR, the cherry branch represents our role in food production and natural resources while the lanterns represent our role in outreach.
Your APHM planning team:
Apurba Barman
Sibani Bose
Surendra Dara
Charles Go
Greg Ira
Pam Kan-Rice
Janice Kao
Dohee Kim
Vikram Koundinya
Elaine Lander
Tunyalee Martin
Yu Meng
Stephanie Parreira
Devii Rao
Marisa Tsai
Sua Vang
Laura Vollmer
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The “Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan” won the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals bronze award in the category of Book or Comprehensive Program Curriculum.
The team includes Toby O'Geen, Bill Birmingham, Brooke Latack, DJ Eastburn, Dan Macon, David Lewis, David Lile, Devii Rao, Fadzayi Mashiri, Jeffrey Stackhouse, Jim Downing, Josh Davy, Julie Finzel, Kenneth Tate, Laura Snell, Leslie Roche, Lucien Crowder, Matthew Shapero, Michael Lennox, Morgan Doran, Randy Dahlgren, Rebecca Ozeran, Rob Atwill, Sandra Osterman, Stephanie Larson, Theresa Becchetti and Tracy Schohr.
The Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan represents the evolution of the UC Ranch Water Quality Planning Partnership and shortcourse program. The Instructor's Guide was published in two formats – a dynamic PDF document and an HTML webpage. Both formats integrate 29 educational and instructional videos in a curated playlist on the UC ANR YouTube channel. This comprehensive training resource gives instructors the tools to plan and deliver a shortcourse that trains private and public grazing land managers to develop land stewardship and water quality management plans. The Instructor's Guide provides a wealth of contemporary information and resources about water quality management on rangelands and supports adaptation of the curriculum content and elements to local conditions and needs. The team began outreach and extension of these resources in November 2020. Through January 2021, the materials were downloaded 110 times and received 240 unique page views.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Big Dig Day is June 4. The 24-hour online fundraising campaign is an opportunity to collect supplemental support for UC ANR programs and research.
Register by filling out this 3-minute survey.
On May 3, the Big Dig toolkit will be available on Box.
Happy McGivins is our Big Dig Day mascot. You will find a "Flat Happy" in the toolkit that can be printed. Take Flat Happy with you to your garden, workplace, virtual club meetings, etc. and snap a selfie! Then post it on social media with a message that says, "I dig (INSERT PROGRAM NAME) because...(FILL IN THE BLANK!") #BigDigDay #GiveBack
On May 5, at 12 noon, there will be a Master Gardener webinar "Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success."
If you have questions, contact Emily Delk, director of annual giving, at eddelk@ucanr.edu or (916) 564-4862.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Cattle ranchers have a new source for cattle research news from UC Cooperative Extension. CattleCal podcast is produced by Pedro Carvalho, UC Cooperative Extension feedlot management specialist; Brooke Latack, UC Cooperative Extension livestock advisor for Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties; and Richard Zinn, UC Davis professor in the Department of Animal Science.
Released on Wednesdays, CattleCal varies the focus each week of the month. The first two weeks they interview a guest who works in the cattle business – the first week they discuss the guest's career path and the second week they discuss specific research. The third week of the month, Carvalho and Latack discuss feedlot research. The last week of the month features “Quiz Zinn,” with Zinn answering listeners' questions related to feedlot nutrition and management.
The podcast episodes range in length from 8 to 30 minutes. Ranchers can listen to the cattle research updates on Spotify on demand on their computers or mobile devices.
Carvalho did a Q&A, answering questions such as “Why did you name it CattleCal instead of Cattle Call?” at https://bit.ly/3dLbNzm.
CattleCal joins other ANR podcasts including Water Talk, Growing the Valley and Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know.
Water Talk is hosted by Faith Kearns, academic coordinator for the California Institute for Water Resources, and UC Cooperative Extension specialists Mallika Nocco and Samuel Sandoval, both in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources.
Growing the Valley is hosted by Phoebe Gordon, UCCE orchards systems advisor for Madera and Merced counties, and Luke Milliron, UCCE Orchard System Advisor for Butte, Tehama, and Glenn counties.
Sheep Stuff Ewe Should Know is hosted by Dan Macon, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor for Placer, Nevada, Sutter and Yuba counties, and rancher Ryan Mahoney.
