I left the ASABE meeting today to head back west. I decided to test my luck along the way by assuming I could jump on an earlier flight back to SMF in time to make a Southwest connection to SoCal. No such luck. Ultimately, I had to pay a change fee and my arrival airport in order to make an early morning meeting tomorrow. Fortunately, I was able to cancel a Southwest flight and get a refund so it's almost a wash. So was this bad luck? Maybe not – my original flights were delayed to the extent that, at best, I was only going to make it to SFO tonight. Either way, I need to take a different approach to travel planning, perhaps planning ahead a bit more.

 While at the meeting, I decided to sit in on a food engineering session and discover what that sector of expertise is discussing these days. I heard some numbers that caught me by surprise. I need to fact check them but here they are:

• In North America, 21% of income is spent on food. Last I heard, that figure was 11% in the U.S. Perhaps the difference is due to inclusion of Mexico and Canada, or has it increased in the U.S. as well?
• 50% of food grown is wasted, with as much loss in the field as post-sale. Processing and distribution losses are much less than either field or consumer losses. I would have expected consumer waste to exceed field losses.
• Approximately 20 to 22% of meat and milk produced is wasted, while produce and seafood losses exceed 50%. Much of this is attributable to confusing food labels
• Real time shelf life surface indicators that change colors as function of time and temp are a developing tool that will someday replace those confusing labels.
• I learned about forced air precooling, vacuum precooling, hydrocooling, and icing technologies. Not surprising, CA leads precooling implementation from field to shipping.

 What I really enjoyed about the session was that the speakers were challenging the status quo, despite processing not being a primary driver in water or energy use nor food waste. The conversations focused on the fact that science hasn't challenged the long-standing practice of storing frozen food at -18C through out the cold supply chain, despite the fact that a tremendous amount of energy could be saved if key points in the chain could deploy -15C. The science behind current used best info available at the time, but that science is now outdated. Another discussion centered around energy use to prepare food in the home. Home prep the is biggest user of energy in life cycle for food, begging the question of whether or not we should prepare food at home? That's some creative thinking I could really get behind! And one speaker proposed the food processing water use could be drastically reduced, by as much as 75% for clean in place (CIP) processes. Who knows, we may have new recommendations forthcoming in our nutrition and food preservation programs.

 Dr. Ali Pourreza, a relatively new CE Specialist at UC Davis, @alipourreza received the 2018 Sunkist Young Designer Award at today's luncheon awards banquet. pic.twitter.com/2K7ixbXpMR. Previously, Ali was a CE Advisor located at the Kearney REC. Congratulations Ali!

Overall, an interesting week that gave me a few things to think about. Hopefully all of the other UC attendees found it to be time well spent.

With all the fire activity and displaced personnel last fall, I would never have guessed we would already be back in that same place. But with the Carr fire and now the River fire, Shasta, Mendocino, and Lake County UCCE offices have had to close and personnel evacuated. Shasta and Mendocino offices are now open. Portions of the Hopland REC have burned but no one has been injured in any location. Fire has kept clear of UCCE Riverside and San Bernardino offices, so far. Let's keep our fingers crossed it stays that way and keep everyone in our thoughts.

Once again, I learned a ton of new things last week during our Modoc County visit, from both our clientele and partners who hosted us and from the Advisors who updated us on their work. Fire was one of the topics. Much like the conversations we've had in the Central Sierra and in Humboldt County, prescribed fire is a critical piece of the toolkit that has been missing in California. This surprises me, given how important I recall it being when I was in Florida. Perhaps this will be changing in the near future. It can't happen fast enough.

Another thing I would never have guessed – that Modoc County is home to wild rice production, plum wine, and a sturgeon farm that produces high-end caviar! Whoever would have expected that, driving through the area? But that's what we saw during our visit last week. It gave me some ideas for holiday gifts from California. I believe I also saw more Monarch butterflies in the air than I did when I visited Pacific Grove during the winter break. And Blue Lake was beautiful. I can see why the locals find it a great place for recreation. But don't let the secret out or the place may become overrun with tourists! One place I definitely want to go back to see is Devil's Garden, home to wild horses. The smoke was too thick to see the plateau and the schedule was already packed full so a follow up trip will be needed. We did have a chance to meet the two summer interns who are working on a project with Laura that involves a horse inventory. The interns are learning many things this summer and are involved in many projects with partners and other researchers. No wonder Laura had applicants from across the U.S. Next year I suspect she will be inundated with applicants!

I'm in Detroit this week for the ASABE annual meeting. I haven't attended since joining UC ANR. Now that I no longer have a lab or an Extension program, it's a bit odd to be here. But then again, I am able to hear presentations from the UC ANR Specialists and Advisors that are presenting. This morning's sessions focused on water. I see Ali Pourezza has been tweeting about the keynote speaker (Margaret Catley-Carlson). What struck me about her remarks in a water security panel that followed her keynote was that, when asked what she would do with $1 million, she responded she would invest it in social media communications about the severity of the global water problems and proposed solutions, including reduced food waste. One of the other panelists, who had attended the recent Water and Agriculture Policy forum co-hosted by Israel and UC, indicated he would spend his $1 million on policy. Given it's an engineering meeting, I would not have guessed the panelists would not have all spent their money on developing solutions. Personally, I would lean more towards the ‘communication' purchase, particularly given the extent of the population that is completely unaware of the problem or their role in it, especially food waste contributions. That's just another reason why communication is so important!

Dan Putnam talks about alfalfa variety trials at the Intermountain REC Field Day (July 2018)

If you looked at the photo first, you might think I was back in Guam or Oahu. Not so. I was able to attend the Intermountain REC field day today. And that's Dan Putnam updating the participants on the alfalfa variety research he has been conducting there. The event was full of excitement and all kinds of good information, from hearing for the first time about onion smut to watching David Lile leap off the people mover so that he could make an unscheduled stop to check out some of Dan's plots. Then there was Rachel Long teaching us about the clover root curculio, an alfalfa pest, and demonstrating the proper way to sweep an alfalfa field for weevils. This was all new to me.

Rachel Long shows us the proper technique for sweeping alfalfa fields

Some of the projects discussed had been the work of Larry Godfrey or Steve Orloff, two of our strong researchers that we lost in the last year. Not surprising, others, such as Rob Wilson, Rachel Long, Dan Putnam, stepped up to continue projects. There's clearly tremendous teamwork amongst all who work at the Intermountain REC, including the staff, campus and county-based researchers, and the many local partners.

Also new, was the multipurpose building with a conference room dedicated to John Staunton, an important community figure and partner to IREC (@UCANRpam). I remember my first trip with Lisa to Intermountain REC and looking at the building plans. Now it's real! But not without teamwork, which apparently extended to even the paint color selection. Well done! Again, 2 years can make a huge difference.

The Intermountain REC isn't the only one making headlines this week. John Bailey has agreed to serve as the Interim Director at the Hopland REC. He brings much experience already as the Superintendent at Hopland. Be sure to thank John for his support of Hopland and his efforts.

And Kearney REC made the NIFA Update when a UCAN piece was picked up by NIFA. Take a look. Congratulations on the callout! Be sure to read through the entire NIFA Update. There are several topics that might get the ideation wheels turning, particularly around the idea of funding to support undergraduate experiences in Extension.

The trip up to Intermountain REC was a bit long, particularly after a long, yet productive Program Council meeting (more on that later) but it was well worth it. While I'm here, Glenda, Tu and Jan are meeting with the ANR Advisory committee – so that's on my mind a bit. But tonight we are meeting with partners in Alturas and will see some of our friends and colleagues from the field day. It may be a bit smoky but it's a good time today and tomorrow in California's northeast corner.

One of the things that emerged during a visit to the Central Sierra MCP last week was that the group didn't often have a chance to get together and learn about what each other is doing. Distance between offices is part of the challenge. The other factor is that everyone is so busy with their own work and rarely has time to stand still. As a result, taking the time to educate myself, Mark L., and Mark B. about their programs turned out to be a great opportunity to learn about each other's programs.

During an early June visit to the Sutter/Yuba office, we learned how that group had creatively bridged the internal communication gap within the office by starting a monthly stone soup lunch. The result was the development of efforts that crossed program areas and enhanced the team's ability to meet clientele needs. And, in fact, the Advisors in the Central Sierra MCP mentioned that perhaps they at least ought to make it a priority to talk or get together more regularly.

Across UC ANR there are efforts underway to seek improved methods of communication so that we all better understand what's going on and, more importantly, find ways to glean efficiencies in our own efforts by learning from others and building on what others have done.

The R&E Council had a call today and communication was a topic of conversation. This includes conveying information across the division and developing a common message. We have some homework to do to determine what works now (best practices) and what can be developed to enhance current communications (what haven't we tried?). We've implemented some things, like the Connected newsletter and the new Leadership CT group for all unit directors.

Tomorrow and Wednesday the Program Council meets. Communication is one of the topics for this month's meeting. Mark Bell led a team that developed a document describing the benefits of working across the Researcher – Specialist – Advisor continuum. I share the document with new CE Specialists, CE Advisors, and AES faculty early in their careers through a welcome email. The intent of my communication is to help new hires get to know UC ANR and how all of the pieces connect (Ag Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension, the RECs, Statewide Programs, UC ANR academics and staff, researchers, etc.).

So it seems that the topic of communication is all around us. Of course that then has me thinking about the two-sided nature of communications. That is, someone has to listen/receive the information.

Some good news – UC Merced is now, in addition to UCB and UCD, providing access to library materials for UCCE! If you missed the communication about this, take a look: https://www.library.ucdavis.edu/guide/ce2018/.