Niamh Quinn teaches participants about physical characteristics that can help pest management professionals identify the different rodent species. All photos by Saoimanu Sope.

Tail length, fur color, eye size, ear shape and nose structure are some of the characteristics highlighted during the “Rodent Speed Dating ID” activity at West Coast Rodent Academy (WCRA). If you thought you would find rats at WCRA, you wouldn't be wrong. The medium-sized rodents are the main attraction in teaching participants how to accurately identify different rodent species. Rotating from one table to the next, participants get to examine the taxidermic creatures and assess their bodies up close.

The unique urban rodent management workshop – co-hosted by the University of California Cooperative Extension, Target Specialty Products and Veseris – is in its eighth year, and continues to help pest management professionals better understand rodent ecology and integrated pest management including rodent disease, trapping, monitoring and much more.

From Oct. 9–11, 45 participants gathered at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center (SCREC) in Irvine and learned from industry experts including Niamh Quinn, UCCE human-wildlife interactions advisor for Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

“West Coast Rodent Academy is a great example of the research-extension continuum.  Every year we are able to bring brand-new research to our participants,” said Quinn.

Sylvia Kenmuir of BASF answers questions during Rodent Speed Dating ID.

Participants in attendance have professional experience ranging from zero to 40 years. Paige Reyes, who is less than a month into her role as a pesticide applicator, attended WCRA thanks to a scholarship.

On the first day of the workshop series, participants learned all about commensal rodents, or rats and mice that inhabit spaces frequented by human activity, including roof rats, Norway rats and house mice. Lectures focus on the biology, behavior, identification, trapping and excluding of such rodents.

“I had no idea how prolific some of these rodents are,” said Lance Swift, director of Maintenance, Operations and Transportation for Princeton Joint Unified School District in the greater Sacramento area. Swift has been a licensed qualified pesticide applicator for 19 years but was a first timer at WCRA.

“I live in an ag community, so I mostly deal with field mice and burrowing pests. What I really love about this training experience compared to others I've participated in is how specific they are. I'm learning a lot,” said Swift, who also received a scholarship.

WCRA scholarship recipients: Josue Campos (left), Lance Swift (center) and Paige Reyes (right)

On day two, participants were assigned to groups for a series of exclusion activities that required every member to secure potential entry points using materials like mesh, caulk and mineral wool. To hype participants up and establish a sense of team spirit, groups were given punny names such as “Final Pestination,” “The Great Ratsby,” “Do the Rat Thing,” and “Rats All Folks,” to name a few.

Josue Campos, who has been working in pest management for the last 22 years, said he appreciates the detailed teaching on the biology of rats during WCRA. After completing the exclusion activities with his group, the Bay Area entrepreneur said he's excited to share the skills and knowledge he gained with his colleagues back home.

“The industry has evolved, and we need to stay up to date. Coming here and learning about what doesn't work anymore and what we need to start doing is helpful,” he said. Campos has been working for a small pest-management business in San Jose, but recently started his own company called Go For It Pest Solutions.

Participants test their exclusion skills during a hands-on group activity.

“For mom-and-pop shops, like the business I work for, we don't always hear about opportunities like this. But when we do, we get access to good information that we can pass on to the next generation of industry leaders,” said Campos, adding that he waited a year to finally participate in WCRA. “It was worth the wait!” he said.

Later in the day, participants focused on rodenticides and research explained by Quinn. She talked about her research funded by the Department of Pesticide Regulation on monitoring rodenticide exposure in live carnivores as well as her California Department of Food and Agriculture-funded research on rodenticide resistance.

For their final activity, participants were presented a fictional rodent management issue centered on a structure at SCREC. The challenge puts the participants' new knowledge to the test and concludes with them pitching proposed solutions to three judges who represent different audiences. One judge focuses on innovation, another on technical accuracy and the third on customer satisfaction.

On the last day, participants engaged in conversations about regulation compliance and industry updates. They also learned strategies on how to communicate with the public about the nature of pest management.

To learn more about West Coast Rodent Academy, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/WCRA/.

Participants pose for a group photo after completing the exclusion skill-building activity.

UCCE advisors provide free training to nursery and greenhouse staff

Gerry Spinelli (center) and an irrigator from Boething Treeland Farm confirm the amount of water captured from sprinklers. Photo by Saoimanu Sope.

Working as an irrigator seems straightforward at first: if you're not watering plants by hand, you're building and managing systems that can do the watering. What could be complex about a job like this?

University of California Cooperative Extension advisors Bruno Pitton and Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli can tell you – or better yet, show you.

Pitton and Spinelli, members of the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, offer a one-day technical training in irrigation best-management practices for irrigators working with containerized nursery plants. The comprehensive curriculum – developed with input from two focus groups of California nursery and greenhouse managers – aims to improve irrigation efficiency, reduce water consumption and improve plant health.

Thanks to funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, nursery and greenhouse managers in California can request this training for free and advisors like Pitton and Spinelli will travel to conduct the training on-site.

The complexities of irrigation incorporate concepts like evapotranspiration, salinity, irrigation uniformity, capillarity, pressure and flow rate. Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor for San Diego County, said that irrigators have a critical role in the industry because of all the things they must consider to do their job well.

“Our goal is to support irrigators and help them become more confident decision-makers and experts in the field,” said Pitton, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor for Placer and Nevada counties.

Bruno Pitton (left) observes irrigators measuring water pressure during the training at Generation Growers. Photo courtesy of Bruno Pitton.

Interactive sessions reveal nuances of irrigation

The training consists of a presentation on fundamental concepts for managing irrigation in container plant production and hands-on demonstrations. “In the nursery industry, where precise irrigation is crucial for the health and productivity of our crops, having access to expert knowledge is invaluable,” said Mauricio de Almeida, general manager of Burchell Nursery in Fresno County. “The training's practical demonstrations and real-world examples made the concepts easy to grasp, allowing our team to implement the strategies immediately.”

For one of the demonstrations, the advisors used sponges to model soil saturation when water is applied. Ana, an irrigator at Burchell Nursery, appreciated the step-by-step explanations, which helped her better understand how water pressure differs in drip irrigation, sprinklers and watering by hand. Doing this out in the field, as an example of how irrigation audits occur, was extremely helpful for attendees.

Francisco “Frank” Anguiano, production manager of Boething Treeland Farms in Ventura County, observed his team of irrigators as they learned how to measure distribution uniformity with water collected from sprinklers. “This training isn't just about irrigation and plant management. It's also about savings, both water and costs. Who doesn't want to save money and use less water?” Anguiano said.

Burchell Nursery irrigators work together during an activity using drip lines. Photo courtesy of Bruno Pitton.

Reducing the barriers to learning

Many of the irrigators attending these trainings gained their skills and knowledge from life experience rather than a college education, explained Peter van Horenbeeck, vice president of Boething Treeland Farms. “It's important that my irrigators learn from external experts, but it's more important that they can relate to them. And that's what Gerry was able to do,” van Horenbeeck added.

Regarding content and delivery, and referencing what he learned from the focus groups, Pitton wanted the trainings to be easy to understand and engaging. For example, scientists use the term “matric potential” to describe how soil particles hold water against gravity, which is the same as capillary rise. “We demonstrate this concept with a paper towel held vertically and dipped into a beaker of dyed water that it absorbs,” said Pitton.

Many of the irrigators in attendance agreed that hands-on activities and visual aids were instrumental to their learning. Charli, another irrigator at Burchell Nursery, shared that the in-field examples and hosting the training in Spanish kept them engaged.To address language barriers, Spinelli has been conducting trainings in Spanish – a common request from many nurseries with eager participants.

Irrigators at Generation Growers learn how to measure distribution uniformity. Photo courtesy of Bruno Pitton.

Maintaining state regulations and partnerships

Although the technical aspects of irrigation management are key elements of the training, regulatory compliance is also addressed. Recognizing the finite availability of water and the environmental impact of pollution, the advisors highlight irrigation and fertilizer management and runoff prevention as critical components of compliance.

Under Ag Order 4.0 administered by California's Water Resources Control Board, growers must comply with stricter policies regulating nitrogen use. As irrigators learn from the training, better control of irrigation can certainly make a difference.

Deanna van Klaveren, chief operating officer and co-owner of Generation Growers in Stanislaus County, said the most valuable aspect of the training was learning on-site and completing an audit on her own systems. “It is so much more impactful to have trainings like this on-site where our staff can learn and then go out into the nursery and actually put it into practice while the presenters/experts are there,” van Klaveren said.

Pitton and Spinelli described the partnership between UC Cooperative Extension and CDFA as “symbiotic” given the technical and educational capacity of UCCE advisors who conduct research and extension.

“It's a great example of how the two institutions can collaborate successfully. Californians are the ones who win because they get a service for free,” added Spinelli. “And it's rewarding for us to see so much interest in what we, as advisors, do.”

UCCE advisors, Pitton and Spinelli, pose with irrigators from Burchell Nursery to conclude the training. Photo courtesy of Bruno Pitton.

If you are a nursery or greenhouse operator and would like to request the Irrigation Best Management Practices training, please contact the UCCE advisor assigned to the region that corresponds with your nursery location below. 

Northern California

• Jessie Godfrey, UCCE environmental horticulture and water resources management advisor, jmgodfrey@ucanr.edu

Central Coast (Santa Cruz County to Ventura County)

• Emma Volk, UCCE production horticulture advisor, evolk@ucanr.edu

San Joaquin Valley

• Chris Shogren, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor, cjshogren@ucanr.edu

Southern California

• Grant Johnson, UCCE urban agriculture technology advisor, gejohnson@ucanr.edu

Spanish Trainings Only

• Gerry Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor, gspinelli@ucanr.edu

An irrigator at Boething Treeland Farm collects water from an irrigation line. Photo by Saoimanu Sope.

4-H Youth in Ventura County engage in learning during a farm field trip. Photo courtesy of Annemiek Schilder.

When 4-H in Ventura County sought to raise funds that would help it meet the needs of local youth now and in the future, the community responded with tremendous generosity.

A national youth development organization, 4-H aims to empower young people with leadership skills for personal and professional growth. In California, the 4-H program falls under the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources umbrella and is administered through local UC Cooperative Extension offices based in counties across the state.

In May 2023, the Ventura 4-H Volunteer Management Board established the Forever 4-H Ventura County Endowment to ensure sustained financial support for future Ventura County 4-H youth.

Recognizing the value of long-term financial sustainability for 4-H, the Ventura County Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture organized a donation drive to grow the endowment. By July 2024, their members and supporters had donated over $30,000 in support of Ventura County 4-H youth.

“With deep gratitude, the UC 4-H Youth Development program in Ventura County would like to thank every individual and organization for their generosity,” said Shannon Klisch, UC Cooperative Extension Area Director for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

“A special thank you to our partners at the Farm Bureau of Ventura County for their leadership in raising over $30,000 to support 4-H youth. We know that 4-H youth are more likely to be civically engaged and make healthy choices than their peers and the difference that 4-H can make is in large part due to the supporters and donors that make programming possible," she added.

Funds from the endowment will support general 4-H operations and new programming for youth in 4-H which may include establishing a 4-H camp in Ventura County, increasing programming for youth at the Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and providing youth with opportunities to develop leadership and life skills.

To learn more about the Forever 4-H Endowment Fund, visit: https://ucanr.edu/sites/4hfoundation/Forever_4-H/

To learn more about 4-H in Ventura County, visit: https://ceventura.ucanr.edu/Families_-_Communities/

Editor's note: The month of donations last received has been updated and program plans for the funds have also been specified in the last paragraph.

Brooke Latack, UCCE livestock advisor, presents a poster on bovine nutrition. Daniel Obrist, center, and Glenda Humiston, right, interacted with UC Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors during the poster session. All photos by Evett Kilmartin.

In late April, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources hosted its first regional meeting for UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists based in Southern California. The meeting, hosted by Daniel Obrist, vice provost, and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, director for county Cooperative Extension, brought together 50 participants over two days for networking and collaboration.

Based on feedback collected from ANR's Statewide Conference in April 2023, academics indicated a desire to meet more frequently opposed to waiting for the conference that occurs every five years. As a result, ANR is hosting regional meetings throughout California to provide an in-person opportunity for academics to discuss their research projects, interact with senior leadership, gain clarity related to merit and promotion, strengthen communication skills and network.

On the first day, academics had the option to attend an Impact and Outcome Writing Workshop presented by Martin Smith, Emeritus Professor of Cooperative Extension at UC Davis. The session also included an interactive segment, facilitated by Katherine Webb-Martinez, director of program planning and evaluation, and Christina Becker, program policy analyst for PPE, that broke down impact reporting into theory and application.

To end the day on a social note, attendees were invited to dinner where they could continue informal discussions and networking. During that time, academics got to interact with senior leaders, including Obrist and Schmitt-McQuitty, county and Research and Extension Center (REC) directors such as Rita Clemens for Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, and Jairo Diaz of Desert REC, as well as statewide support staff like News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS).

“A key opportunity of these meetings is to build peer networks with colleagues and collaboration opportunities in the regions. So many of our academics are new to ANR, and the regional meetings allow us to welcome and onboard new colleagues and get to know each other,” Obrist said.

Fatemah Khodadadi, left, and Ana Pastrana participate in an interactive session on impact reporting.

The meetings are also beneficial for those transitioning into a new academic role within ANR. Natalie Levy who currently works as a specialist for water resources at South Coast REC, participated in the meeting with her new position, soil health and organic materials management advisor, which begins June 3, in mind.

“It was helpful to have senior leadership present. I spoke to Lynn the most and she gave me good feedback about developing a new program and my research interests,” Levy said. “I also liked the session discussing merit and promotion because it gave me a framework to use as I step into a new role.”

The morning of the second day, academics participated in a poster session to share their research with colleagues. Attendees also engaged in discussions to understand and address regional needs, build new partnerships and engage senior leadership for support.

“I learned a lot about my colleagues from the poster session. I felt more connected to their work because I could visualize how we can collaborate,” said Ashley Hooper, urban community resiliency advisor for Los Angeles County. “It can be isolating for advisors who don't have counterparts in other counties or in ANR. Seeing how others are managing their programs during the poster session gave me reassurance that I'm on the right track in my position.”

In the afternoon, academics heard from Vice President Glenda Humiston, who addressed ANR's budget and career pathways for academics. Niamh Quinn, human-wildlife interactions advisor for Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, presented on the merit and promotion process to remind academics that “swallowing the eBook” (Guidelines for UC ANR Academics Preparing the Thematic Program Review Dossier) is the best way to learn how merit and promotions work within ANR.

Philip Waisen, left, and Oli Bachie discuss their research.

Finally, Saoimanu Sope, digital communications specialist, showed academics how to leverage social media as an extension tool. Ricardo Vela, program manager for News and Information Outreach in Spanish, and Miguel Sanchez, broadcast communications specialist for NOS, described how to produce videos using a smartphone. 

“It was useful to see colleagues from other counties, especially those who work in different disciplines,” said Quinn, who, like Hooper, is programmatically isolated given her program niche. As someone who uses social media for her program, Quinn described the social media presentation as informative. “I felt better educated and equipped to make improvements afterwards,” she said.

The regional meeting schedule is as follows:

Region 3:  May 30-31, at UCCE San Joaquin County Building in Stockton

• Counties: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Mariposa, Mono, Inyo, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern
• RECs: Kearney, Westside and Lindcove

Region 5:  June 10-11, at UC Santa Cruz

• Counties: Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey

Region 2:  Sept. 12-13, Central/Northern Sierras, specific location TBD

• Counties: Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne
• REC: Sierra Foothills

Region 1:  Feb. 26-27, 2025, Redding, specific location TBD

• Counties: Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Mendocino, Lake and Plumas-Sierra
• RECs: Intermountain and Hopland

Miguel Sanchez, left, and Ricardo Vela, center, interview Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty on camera.