Half the funds for the endowed chairs was provided by UC President Janet Napolitano; the other half was donated by the California Pistachio Research Board. One is the UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Tree Nut Genetics; the other is the UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Tree Nut Soil Science and Plant Water Relations.
“The establishment of endowed chairs represents an historic occasion for UC ANR and is something we've never before enjoyed during the 100-years UC ANR Cooperative Extension has served California,” Humiston said. “The pistachio industry's contribution demonstrates its high level of confidence in our research and outreach program, and President Napolitano's match shows her recognition of the work we do not only on campuses but throughout UC ANR.”
UCCE is the applied research and outreach arm of the University of California that serves the agricultural industry, coordinates the 4-H program, supports natural resources stewardship, and provides nutrition education programs throughout the state.
The California Pistachio Research Board has a long history of funding ANR research. Since its establishment in 2007, the program's donations have totaled more than $3 million. Relative to other major California commodities, pistachio production is new. The first commercial crop was produced in 1976. In 2014, farmers harvested 519 million pounds of pistachios, valued at $1.8 billion.
Tom Coleman, a Fresno County pistachio farmer and chair of the Pistachio Research Board, said he enjoys informally comparing notes with other growers, but that doesn't substitute for scientific research.
“I find it absolutely invaluable to have good scientific research to apply on our farms,” Coleman said. “With impending changes in our water situation and a changing climate, research is really our only option.”
In fact, the industry has already felt the impact of climate change on yield. The pistachio growers expect the 2015 yield to be nearly 50 percent lower than the previous year, in large part due to a lack of sufficient winter chilling and water supply cuts, said Bob Klein, manager of the California Pistachio Research Board.
“We know that our future is going to look better with more research as we face the challenges of a warming climate and less water,” Klein said.
Napolitano created the Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs last year for UC campuses and UC ANR to use as an incentive to encourage donors to establish endowed chairs to fund research. Endowed chairs help attract and retain top-flight academics. Once established, endowed chairs provide a dedicated source of funds, in perpetuity, for the chair holder's scholarly activities.
“Donors who endow chairs are helping support the agricultural industry today, and contributing to future growth, innovation and success,” Humiston said. “We hope to establish more endowed chairs in UC Cooperative Extension with the help of our partners.”
More than 350 people participated, with the greatest number attending the lunch conversation with President Janet Napolitano and VP Glenda Humiston. Among the topics Napolitano and Humiston discussed was ANR's role in the President's Initiatives, including Global Food, UC-Mexico and Carbon Neutrality.
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Videos of trainings, PowerPoint presentations and posters have been linked to the conference website:
- Some of the in-service trainings were recorded. To listen to the speakers deliver their presentations and view their PowerPoints, visit the In-service Trainings website and click on “Video” under each presentation. Not all of the trainings were recorded.
- PDF files of Tuesday's highlighted presentations PowerPoints have been added online. Click the titles in the online conference agenda (not the PDF) to view the description for each presentation and to open the PDFs.
- PDFs of posters displayed at both of the receptions are posted. Poster presenters, if you do not see your file, please send it to ANR Program Support so it can be added.
Ross wrote about the experience in her Planting Seeds blog while Humiston, Parker and other participants posted Twitter updates from their climate smart agriculture tour with the hashtag #CSAmission.
During the visit, Ross and the Netherlands Minister of Agriculture Martijin van Dam signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate on shared agricultural issues.
“The agreement between California and the Netherlands can speed up solutions for the agricultural industry to adapt to climate change,” Humiston said. “With Dutch collaboration on climate-smart research, we'll be able to develop new technology and improve agricultural productivity faster.”
“The innovations in water use, green house technology and saline agriculture are practical on-farm solutions that can assist California's farmers,” Ross wrote in the blog.
At Wageningen University's research farm, the group met Salt Farm Texel growers who are using saline water to produce food crops such as potatoes and tomatoes. “California has both saline groundwater and saline soils in some areas,” Parker said. “In those areas, our growers may be able to use some of their techniques.”
Noting that the Netherlands has similar water quality concerns to California's, Parker said, “The people we met in the Netherlands are interested in learning from our efforts to find ways to help our agricultural sector produce healthy, environmental sound and sustainable products.”
“With our partners at the University of California, we have the opportunity to expand collaboration with Wageningen UR to develop joint research projects on climate smart agriculture – bringing the lessons and practices learned in the Netherlands, home to California,” Ross wrote. “When I see the reuse of water for food production, taste horticultural products grown with salt water and observe the production gains that greenhouse management systems can bring to our berry industry – these are connections that our growers would be eager to learn more about.”
Humiston said, “We will be following up with our new friends in the Netherlands to look at ways our researchers can exchange ideas and information with their Dutch counterparts.”
The Netherlands is just one of the countries facing challenges similar to those in California where UC ANR hopes to increase collaboration. On Jan. 12 and 13, UC ANR's California Institute for Water Resources will be co-sponsoring “Proven Solutions to Drought Stress: Water Management Strategies for Perennial Crops with Limited and Impaired Water Supplies,” a workshop in Modesto for scientists from Israel and Australia to discuss drought management with California scientists.
Downtown Oakland was the site of December's biannual UC President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources (PAC) meeting, which focused on President Janet Napolitano's Carbon Neutrality, Global Food, UC-Mexico and Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiatives, and the ways in which UC ANR can support them moving forward.
After opening remarks from UC ANR vice president Glenda Humiston, each of the Presidential Initiatives took center stage, with two-to-three person teams each offering brief presentations. The teams each included one or more UC ANR representatives, who spoke about the division's contributions – current and future – to the initiative in question.
Tapan Pathak, UC Cooperative Extension specialist for climate adaptation in agriculture (at UC Merced and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute), offered insights into what UC ANR is doing in regards to carbon neutrality. Pathak's expertise is focused on how the latest climate science can help agricultural producers reduce risks and enhance profitability.
On the UC-Mexico Initiative, Khaled Bali, UC Cooperative Extension advisor for irrigation and water management and director for Imperial County, spoke about UC ANR's collaborative research and education programs with Universidad Autonoma de Baja California in Mexicali. Mike Janes, UC ANR's strategic communications director, discussed the division's News and Information Outreach in Spanish operation in Riverside, noting the variety of communications products that office disseminates to California's Latino and Spanish-speaking populations that might be leveraged by the UC-Mexico initiative.
David Doll, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in pomology in Merced County, addressed UC ANR's work related to the UC Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization Initiative. Among other data points, Doll alluded to the many patents and licenses generated by UC ANR throughout the years.
Finally, to demonstrate just one UC ANR activity that has successfully been supporting the Global Food Initiative, Rose Hayden-Smith, UC Cooperative Extension advisor for 4-H youth, family and community development in Ventura County, discussed the UC Food Observer blog she created in support of the GFI. She offered demonstrable evidence of the blog's vast reach and impact.
Following lunch, UC President Napolitano offered glowing remarks about UC ANR's contributions, not only to the Presidential Initiatives but to the UC system generally. She said she was committed to the division's growth and sustainability.
A series of updates followed from the deans of the UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources (Keith Gilless), the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Science (Helene Dillard), the UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Michael Anderson), and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (Michael Lairmore).
To give PAC members an opportunity to converse with the presenters about the initiatives informally, they concluded the meeting with a dinner reception at the nearby home of President Napolitano.
VP Glenda Humiston visited UC Cooperative Extension staff in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties in January. During her visit, she met with several cooperators, including a blackberry farmer, a vegetable grower and community members who work with youth, families and community development.
