Humiston takes Fresh Glass host Cassandra Schaeg on a tour of South Coast REC

The Emmy-winning KPBS show “Fresh Glass” will feature Vice President Glenda Humiston and Darren Haver, director of UC ANR's Research and Extension Center System, in an episode discussing the importance of California agriculture.

In the episode, Humiston takes show host Cassandra Schaeg on a tour of South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. They talk about avocados, citrus disease, the importance of agricultural research in urban communities and more. The episode premiered at the FIRA USA robotics conference in Woodland on Oct. 23.

Humiston thanked Schaeg for attending the premiere and “for so beautifully conveying the bounty of our South Coast REC and the breadth of UC ANR's work.”

"You caught the big points,” Humiston said. “The issues are so complex; there are so many things going on. To really get the message across about the importance of food and how research fits into it, I think you knocked it out of the ballpark."

Cassandra Schaeg, left, attended the premiere. Humiston thanked her “for so beautifully conveying the bounty of our South Coast REC and the breadth of UC ANR’s work.”

For the series, co-founder, producer and host Schaeg travels across the country exploring unique flavors, captivating stories and the entrepreneurial spirit of America.

You can view the 27-minute episode online at https://video.kpbs.org/video/cassandra-gets-down-and-dirty-pzkq1b/.

The Lost Sierra Food Project works to increase rural food access and provide workforce development and farm education opportunities while proving to be a critical community anchor. It’s an excellent example of how UC SAREP’s Small Grants Program can have a large impact on the lives of Californians.

The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program is accepting proposals for its 2025-2026 Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Small Grants Program. The program funds research, education and outreach, and planning projects that support the development of sustainable farming and food systems.

Proposals are due Tuesday, Jan. 14, 5 p.m.

Program Priority Areas  

UC SAREP is interested in projects that build the capacity of farming and food systems businesses and organizations to become reflective, adaptive learning organizations that can respond effectively to ecological, economic and social change and disruption.

UC SAREP will fund projects that fall within two priority areas:

Priority Area 1: Support California's farmers, ranchers and tribal and non-tribal land stewards of all scales in piloting, evaluating and transitioning to:

• environmentally regenerative approaches to producing crops and livestock (including but not limited to soil health, organic and agroecological practices, integrated pest management, crop diversification);
• pathways for realizing economic return from ecologically-sound crop management practices and fair labor practices;
• marketing and distribution strategies that support diversified, decentralized and locally based supply chains;
• strategies that promote producer-to-producer networking and/or producer-to-supply chain networking.

Priority Area 2:  Support California's rural, urban and tribal communities in identifying, implementing and evaluating strategies to:

• expand access to healthy, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods;
• ensure worker well-being across the food chain;
• minimize the community and environmental costs of food production and distribution; 
• strengthen connections between consumers and producers;
• establish and strengthen producer-to-producer connections and producer-to-supply chain connections.

Who may apply

Eligible applicants include: 

• farm or food system businesses operating in California (business applicants must demonstrate benefit beyond the immediate recipients),
• nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations operating in California,
• state and local government agencies, Tribal governments, and
• California public and private institutions of higher education.

Funding availability & proposal categories

Individual grants will be limited to a maximum of $10,000, with one Applied Research Grant awarded up to $20,000. Proposals are requested for three types of projects:  

• Planning Grants 
• Education and Outreach Grants
• Applied Research Grants

Please visit the UC SAREP Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Small Grants Program 2025-2026 webpage for more information and to download the RFP.

You should have received an emailed invitation on Oct. 23 to take the ANR@Work Survey 2024. If you have not already completed and submitted the survey, you still have time. The deadline has been extended to Dec. 6.

All ANR colleagues are encouraged to complete and submit it. To take the survey, please click on your unique link included in the Oct. 23 email invitation. As a reminder, we have made significant positive changes based on past survey results including the following: 

• Conducted an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Summit 
• Launched the Living the UC ANR Principles of Community eLearning Course 
• Established partnership with UC Davis to respond to harassment, discrimination and racism complaints 
• Hired a Director of Workplace Inclusion and Belonging 
• Increased Learning and Development investments by 35% 
• Updated visa administration and enhanced Permanent Residency sponsorship for academic employees

You may click here to learn about all of the awesome actions that were instituted from the survey feedback covering the last several years. 

Please do not delete that email until you have completed the survey as it is the only way to access the survey and cannot be re-sent.

To thank you for your time and to encourage participation, everyone who completes the survey will have the option to participate in a drawing for a $75 gift card. While the survey is open, 40 gift cards will be awarded through random drawings. 

If you have questions about the survey, please contact satsurvey@ucanr.edu. 

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Keith Taylor talks about community broadband.

“Advancing Community Broadband,” a webinar by Keith Taylor, UC Cooperative Extension community economic development specialist at UC Davis, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3M76vXSAk9c.

In the 53-minute webinar, Taylor highlights exemplary cases of community broadband to demystify broadband development. He provides strategies for working with existing local ISPs and legacy broadband providers.

Taylor also aims to educate the public about starting up community-owned ISPs, specifically through the lens of the utilities co-op sector, where over 200 of the nation's 900 electric co-ops have developed a number of strategies for starting new, community-owned ISPs.

Taylor, who grew up in rural Central Illinois, recently gave the presentation for the University of Illinois' Extension team. He holds a Ph.D. in human and community development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is affiliated with Indiana University's Ostrom Workshop, and is a co-founder of the Electric Cooperative Innovation Center.