Is it Friday yet? I've been asking that since Monday. Each day I am further behind and increasingly tired. I'm not sure Friday can fix all of that.

Tuesday was a long day at the Capitol. Overall, our visits went well. The stars of our team were the two 4-H'ers from El Dorado County. The Community Educator, Denise, was fantastic, as well. And rounding out the team was Faith Kearns and Ruth Dahlquist-Wilard. What an amazing group! As a team, we were able to connect with every member or staffer that we met. Sometimes it was around the 4-H program, and what the program has done for our impressive team members, sometimes it was around fire or water, and other staffers or members were particularly interested in moringa. Either way, the goal was to make a connection so that each visit left an impression despite a long day of visitors for each member or staffer. Glenda was accompanied by 4-H'ers from Butte and El Dorado Counties, Community Educators, Vera and Alena, Tracy Schohr, and Pam Kan-Rice. Maci and Sarah kept both teams on schedule and in line. We left with a few follow-up items that will keep the communication lines open. While the halls weren't packed with visitors like they are when we are in DC, we did happen to run into one of our 4-H leaders who was making visits on behalf of his professional association.

Today we were at the UC Merced campus meeting with the leadership team. If you haven't been to UC Merced, be sure to schedule a trip. I can't believe how fast it has grown just in the two years since I was last on campus! During our visits, it became apparent that there are many ways that UC ANR can work more closely with the faculty at UC Merced. We will work towards an opportunity for those in that part of the state to network with the UC Merced academics and staff.

Tomorrow is the VP Council meeting (Statewide Program/Institute and unit directors), followed by an Executive Council meeting (campus Deans). I haven't looked at the agendas for either yet. But given those teams, I anticipate excellent conversations.

Before today ends, I need to review some documents that are past due back to the authors. I am still sitting with 53 dossiers left to study. I have 3 Multistate Research Project reports to review in advance of the regional review committee meeting next week and some preparation for the Western Extension Directors Association meeting, also next week. Maybe April slows down a bit.

Welcome to Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann who starts this week as an Urban Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based at the South Coast REC, with programmatic responsibilities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Last week, Ryan Tompkins started as the Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based in Quincy, with programmatic responsibilities in Plumas, Sierra and Lassen Counties. IT is great to see our forestry capacity building.

I looked at the academic footprint numbers this weekend. It's possible we are down in numbers, but before I share the graph, I want to confirm how counting occurs for some positions. I know we are all very interested in our numbers and growing that footprint; it came up as a question during the Town Hall last week. We have a few CE Advisor and 4 CE Specialist positions yet to fill from the 2016 position call process. Plus we will backfill a Table Grapes Advisor position, based out of Kern County, as a result of a partnership with the California Table Grapes Commission. We should be moving forward with other hirings soon, too.

Also over the weekend, I had dinner with friends. We had teff as part of the meal. Did you know that UC ANR researches teff? Both the Desert REC and the Blythe area have research underway. My friend was quite interested in the study for her work. I think there may be some opportunity to work together on things; we'll see. I was interested to learn that my friends knew about Elkus Ranch and that their kids had been in 4-H! While that may not be surprising to many, it caught me off guard because they live right in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Tomorrow I head to Salinas to meet with the California Leafy Greens Research Program committee. I've met with the group a few times; every 6 or 8 months. Tuesday a dozen of us are at the State Capitol meeting with assembly persons and state senators to talk about the work of UC ANR in their districts. Then Wednesday I am at UC Merced for a tour of the campus and discussions about our partnerships with the university. Although I am home every night this week, it is shaping up to be a bit of car time. Keeping up on emails may prove to be all I can manage. The remaining 51 dossiers will still be there next week.

I stand corrected; only a couple of SI Leaders pulled together the information for the Federal report. Thanks go out to Cheryl Wilen, Doug Parker, Clare Gupta, Neil McRoberts, David Lile, Chris Greer, and Yana Valachovik for their work! I met with Katherine Webb-Martinez, and we talked about all the many uses for the information provided. It is exciting to think about the opportunities to share your stories and successes.

Now that Cheryl Wilen has rotated off serving as an SI Leader, I don't see her every month for Program Council. She made a special appearance this month to attend a musical performance by Carl Winter, following the Program Council meeting last Tuesday. Carl shared with the Davis ANR building some of his parodies that he developed as a novel method of teaching food safety principles to students. A few years ago, he was awarded a USDA competitive grant to create and deliver the songs. I suspect he may have been disappointed a bit in his stoic audience, but everyone enjoyed the performance and our opportunity to experience both his musical talent and his creativity. We can talk about Mark Bell's dancing in a different post.

Carl Winter performs at the UC ANR building

Carl's demonstrated his creativity following a Program Council ideation activity. Program Council members worked in small teams to brainstorm ideas that would position UC ANR for the future. Then we slept on it and reconvened on Wednesday to share out our thoughts and think about ‘who would get behind the idea' and ‘what would make the idea work'? The goal wasn't to move forward with the ideas themselves but to get to the development of guiding principles for making decisions going forward. This would include program reviews and resource allocation decisions. It had been a while since the guiding principles had last been reviewed (2009, I think). Like many of the Program Council members, I left thinking as much about the ideas I heard and ‘what if' as I did thinking about the guiding principles. What sunk in with me was that any single idea might be a challenge to implement but the combination of several of the concepts, while identified independently, could come together and forge a path forward. The other thing that stuck out was that those ideas that were the most innovative tended to be the ones that would be the most difficult to implement, often due to internal or external resistance, reinforcing the sentiment that change is hard. Carl commented that one of the challenges he continues to face is that often colleagues don't see him as a serious scientist. And yet, his approach to teaching is not only evidence of his scholarship and creativity, but far more impactful as far as learning and behavior change adoption, than most peer-reviewed journal publications could ever achieve.

A peek at the lyrics to one of Carl's parodies (Michael Jackson's 'Beat it!')

I spent a fair bit of time this weekend reading the draft report to our Federal partners (USDA). It is a big undertaking to craft the 78 pages of activities and impacts, beginning with each of you entering data into Project Board. Strategic Initiative leaders or other leaders within the division comb through the data to pull out key impact stories. Each of those individuals or 2-person teams submits their information to the Program Planning and Evaluation team, and from there it is formatted and compiled before editing to read from a single voice. This year we were able to organize the report around condition changes that will resonate with our partners. Below are a few examples :

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to increased agricultural efficiency and profitability.

• After presenting the sorghum trial results, 92% of 60 growers and industry consultants expressed a willingness to plant the low seeding rates that performed best in trials. Before the workshop, most growers were planting higher seeding rates because of industry recommendations. This increased efficiency should result in good yields with lower seed inputs, and thus improved profitability. (Note: this is a behavior change where follow up can confirm that the change in profitability occurred.

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to improved animal management, productivity, and efficiency.

• In 2017, 780 dairies acquired the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program's environmental stewardship certification qualifying for a 50% fee reduction in water quality fees. The actual value to producers exceeds $2,250,000 annually.

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to improved food security.

• Over 1,200 UC CalFresh participants responded to a survey about their experiences with the Plan, Shop, Save and Cook curriculum, designed to help adult participants stretch food dollars by learning shopping strategies and meal planning. Participants reported improved food security by running out of food less often (36%). Also, 4,000 EFNEP adult graduates reported an average monthly food cost savings of $38.20, which collectively saved California EFNEP families $2,916,340.The survey results support national data that, according to the USDA Economic Research Service, the estimated percentage of food-insecure households in 2013-2015 was 12.6%, which decreased by 3% from 2010-2012 estimates.

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to increased ecological sustainability of agriculture, landscapes, and forestry.

• Concerning Asian citrus psyllid, more than 10 million natural parasitoid enemies have been mass reared and released in California in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Establishment has been confirmed at 95% of release sites, parasitoids have spread up to eight miles without human assistance, and pest populations have declined on average by about 70%.

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to the increased ecological sustainability of agriculture, landscapes, and forests.

• Extension about oak restoration has led to planning and contracting several projects covering 300 acres. As of 2018, 212 acres of oak woodland have been successfully restored. Additionally, with support from UC ANR, the Natural Resources Conservation Service now has a legal permitting pathway for their oak restoration programs.

Condition Change: UC ANR contributed to improved water use efficiency.

• Garden Walks program participants saved over 9000 gallons a year on average when compared to control groups. Total water savings for all participants over the lifetime of the program are over 27 million gallons to date, and the program has cost less to run over that same time-frame than it would cost to directly buy 27 million gallons at the average rate paid by the Metropolitan Municipal Water District residential customers.

These are just a few of the many, many examples provided that are sure to impress our Federal partners as they have me.

If you happen to be following the ERS/USDA move updates, you will know that California is no longer under consideration despite, in my opinion, meeting the criteria as well as many options in the 27 states that remain under consideration. That's only eight states fewer than the original list; perhaps a strategic move on the part of the Secretary. Pretty much the whole state of Virginia remains under consideration, which makes far more sense to me than Tallahassee (the only area of Florida still under review). And, does anyone even know where Hanover Township, PA is, much less why a private citizen would submit a bid that remains under consideration? Perhaps the answers will be revealed soon.

Over the weekend I received the photo from Mark Bell. Care to take a guess where he is? That answer to follow.

If you happen to be keeping track, I have 61 dossiers remaining.