- Author: Wendy Powers
The words for this week are ‘flexible' and ‘patient'. The best laid plans for the week seem to have changed quickly and now it's sort of a minute-by-minute passage of time – mass chaos at a snail's pace. I don't think it's terribly unusual though, is it? We all learn to change course and adapt as new needs and opportunities arise. The trick is in maneuvering through the unexpected and making lemonade out of it. It's all part of what we do in Extension.
Last week when I was in Salinas I learned that it is the home or perhaps birthplace of John Steinbeck. I'm not much of a reader, unless forced, so I don't have many fun facts like author residences in my back pocket. And previously I shared that in college I made a concerted effort to avoid reading the Grapes of Wrath by instead attending what I mistakenly thought was a movie about the novel. Funny how life constantly circles back. Aside from the fact that I was actually cold while in Salinas, I really enjoyed how some of the conversations went. I had dinner with an engineer who is now with a startup that is developing probiotics for plants. His contribution is design of the delivery system of the product. Seated on the other side of me was a former bankruptcy attorney who now works with the cannabis sector, connecting all aspects of the supply chain in an effort to move production from black market to a regulated market. Also at the table and engaged in the conversation was an entrepreneur from Brazil who works for a startup that deploys sensors on farms to monitor field and surrounding conditions then packages it into a real-time app in order to facilitate improved decision making. At one point it was clear to me that I wasn't in Iowa anymore. It was a great conversation, very provocative. I'm not an expert in any of those areas but have core knowledge about microbiology (ruminant and anaerobic manure treatment; data acquisition from sensors, some expertise in odor formation and mitigation, and basic agronomy skills). And maybe that's enough. After all, if we have solid core knowledge and skills, we can be flexible in how we out those skills to use, whether it be engagement in the atypical conversation or a change in direction. If I think about the number of colleagues who have changed direction of their research program as needs changed, or moved from research to teaching responsibilities or vice versa, it's because of the core knowledge that they were able to be successful regardless of what their position description read. The fun part about flexibility is that the adventure of twists and turns can lead to pleasant surprises and unexpected greater impact.
I still need to work on the patience piece. Things never seem to happen as quickly as I'd like yet, simultaneously, I'm not always prepared for the change anyway. There's always room for improvement!
- Author: Wendy Powers
I spent the holiday weekend with a good friend in Salt Lake City watching my youngest sibling and hundreds of other people compete in the USA Fencing National Championships. While I have seen my sister fence one other time, decades ago, I had never understood the difference between epee, foil and sabre. This week my sister is fencing epee in the 40-49 year old competition while one of her colleagues is fencing sabre and foil in the 70+ veteran competition. As I watched the bouts over the last 2 days, I have gained a different perspective about knowing when to advance and attack versus when to recede and prepare for an approach. I also gained a different perspective about increasing reach through use of a French grip. What was interesting was that both my sister and her colleague warned against over-thinking a competition strategy and instead just responding to an opponent. And what seemed an obvious advantage for her opponent (height and reach) didn't stop my sister's colleague from winning a bout against a contestant who towered over her. My sister and her colleague must know something about the sport; after just a few years in the sport, my sister's colleague medaled today in sabre and is intending to qualify in foil on Thursday for the 2017 World Championships in her age bracket. Tomorrow is my sister's age bracket competition where she hopes to medal; to this point she has been warming up by competing in open class competitions.
I've learned a thing or two from each of my siblings over the years. Some of you may have heard me reference a conversation with one of them about their company's mindset towards annual change as a means of staying relevant to clientele. From the fencer, I have come to recognize the value of persistence and commitment. She practices constantly at late hours of the evening. But clearly she's found reward in a sport that she can continue for the long haul.
Dan Macon joined UC ANR on today as the Area Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor headquartered in Auburn, including programmatic responsibilities in Placer, Nevada, Sutter and Yuba Counties. Welcome Dan!
This Fourth of July weekend was definitely a big change from how I spent it last year – in Michigan wrapping up a broiler chicken study. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday tomorrow!
- Author: Wendy Powers
Welcome to Luke Milliron, the Sustainable Orchard Systems Advisor for Glenn, Butte, and Tehama Counties, based in Oroville. Luke joined UC ANR on June 11. Officially starting this weekend is Keith Taylor, Assistant Specialist in the Department of Human Ecology at UC Davis. I am looking forward to meeting both Luke and Keith soon. With all of the new hires, we are preparing to kick off a peer cohort of recent hires to help people settle in when they arrive at UC ANR. The idea is that the group can learn from each other, get to know peers who may not work in the same program area, geographic area or at the same campus and, as a group, connect with resources and information from around UC ANR. If anyone has experience with such a program or wishes to share ideas to ensure success, we'd love to hear them. The plan is to discuss it at the New Employee Orientation to be held mid-October so there's plenty of time to share your ideas and experiences.
The Forbes Ag Tech Summit was nice. I'm still digesting the information. But it was great to see Crop Manage in the Innovation tent and meet a number of people from diverse businesses. It was also nice to meet more of UC ANR; people I had only emailed with or spoken on the phone with previously. A keynote from Steve Forbes was really a highlight - turns out he is from an ag background in New Jersey and his wife is the caretaker for their 100-head herd of belted Galloways. President Napolitano received high marks for her keynote the previous day. One start up that was in the innovation competition and caught my eye applies acoustic technology to make smart irrigation systems using an algorithm that factors in the size of water droplets – fascinating. Not quite at the same level, on my ‘fascination scale' as solving odor problems encountered by astronauts but exciting all the same. More homeowners need to identify and adopt irrigation systems that sense when water is needed rather than deploy a clock-based schedule. I also saw some interesting platforms that integrate a multitude of sensor data into a single report – it made me wonder if they were easier to code than LabView (National Instruments; Austin, TX) which is the platform I coded for my labs in Iowa and Michigan. The user interface of the product was certainly nicer than what my group developed but we weren't going for pretty but rather an easy means of seeing real-time conditions.
There's always so many options of things to do each day. As a result of attending the Forbes Summit, I was unable to attend an informal gathering to recognize Chris Greer as he relocates to SLO. He will remain Vice Provost – Cooperative Extension through the end of the September but last week's heat likely has him looking forward to a change in scenery and climate. I'll have to find someone else to chat with first thing in the morning. Vice Provost Greer has been a tremendous asset to me and many of us so we wish him well but won't let him off too easy for the next several months.
I suspect many may be heading out for an extended weekend. Whether or not that's the case, I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and the holiday. Stay safe.
- Author: Wendy Powers
Last week, when I was in Berkeley, I met not only with the CE Specialists but spent the better part of the morning with the Nutrition Policy Institute. Of course I knew Lorrene Ritchie and knew of Pat Crawford's work but it was really nice to sit down and put names and faces to the incredible number of projects going on across NPI. This group really has it together and is ahead of the curve in my book. They've had a lawyer on board at NPI for some time now and he helps them translate their research into policy by making sure their message “doesn't put lawmakers to sleep”. It sounds like an obvious member of a team but who else really prioritizes such a position within a group of nutritionists? If you don't know anything about NPI, be sure to take a look at their website or Twitter feed @UCnpi . It's a large group with the vast majority of the group soft funded. The enthusiasm was contagious, but if you know Lorrene this doesn't surprise you. Not even a small earthquake during our visit (3.4, if I recall correctly what Pat reported) could shake this group from the energy they have for their work.
Today UC ANR had its annual meeting with President Napolitano. A good meeting; I was surprised how fast 90 minutes went by. The recommendation of developing a 5-yr strategic plan didn't come up (thank goodness!). Instead we talked about where we are with implementing the recently developed plan and talked about budget projections and expenditures. AVP Tu Tran fielded those questions and, as always, did a fabulous job recounting numbers that I could only begin to remember. UC ANR is quite fortunate to have someone with his business acumen.
Wednesday and Thursday this week I will be down at the Forbes Ag Tech Summit near Salinas. If I have been to Salinas before it was just driving through. More importantly, I haven't been to the Summit before so I am anxious to see what that is about and then see what ideas come out of it for me. I like to spend some time with people outside of my usual crowd; it gets me to think a bit differently and better appreciate how others think. I will be sure to have a post about any ideas the Summit conjures up. Who knows, I might even remember to take a photo. I meant to do that at NPI but good intentions don't guarantee follow through. It will be enough though if I walk away with a clever idea, like having an attorney on staff for a policy institute.
I am hoping to get to at least a few county offices over the summer. My visits to offices thus far have proven very useful and I look forward to getting to every office before June 2018 hits. I already have a fair bit of other travel booked through mid-fall but visits to the counties are a high priority for me. It's the best way to see, firsthand, all of the ‘NPI-like' programs we have in UC ANR.
- Author: Wendy Powers
This week I was fortunate to be invited to meet with the Positive Youth Development (PYD) Program Team and chat about the function of program teams. I heard what I have heard before; that is, there are too many meetings. What was perhaps different in this conversation was that the group had spent some time during the planning stage of the meeting developing an agenda that created value and purpose for the meeting. They held a poster session as a means of exchanging not only updates but ideas that might springboard into programming down the road. We all have too many meetings and the ones we would like to rid ourselves of are those we don't find value in. I applaud this group for seeking the value and I suspect that, as they continue down this path of really focusing on developing a valuable meeting, for some of them it might become one of the meetings they look forward to most.
As I write this it has me thinking about a lab meeting I held last week while I was in Michigan. I really couldn't spare the time and we've been meeting for the last year via Zoom just fine but because I was in town, we met in person which usually means a longer meeting. The nature of the meetings has certainly changed over the last year as we've been transitioning out of projects and into new careers. One of my grad students and a technician are each giving 5 minute poster presentations today at the Michigan Cattleman's summer tour. That same technician also had an interview yesterday for a new position. So last week's meeting focused on those items by having practice presentations and a mock interview. After 2 hours in the meeting I walked away thinking that was time very well spent. The content of the 5 minute presentations changed quite a bit and I think my technician was better prepared for the interview even if the questions we practiced weren't asked. We all gained from the experience, even the graduate student not presenting and not interviewing for this particular position. I gained from it as well because they are a reflection of my abilities and standards. I have no doubt the poster presentations will be a success (they are in a few hours) and I already heard yesterday from the chair of the search committee that my technician is the top candidate. We all got out of the meeting what we were willing to put into it.
Mark Bell and I met with the UC Berkeley CE Specialists on Wednesday. The weather was so much nicer than Davis this week! Among other things, the topic of program teams came up there as well. Jennifer Sowerine has obviously given this some thought as she articulated a role for program teams as: professional development, shared learning space, networking. She wasn't in attendance at the PYD meeting the day before but there are clearly some common themes emerging as these discussions take place. I suspect these functions may have been part of the thought process in developing the program team model. I also suspect that formation of program teams were the result of reduced funding available to fund work groups directly. That funding remains elusive so while there are opportunities for changes to the model and/or alignment of work groups under program teams, the resources to go back aren't buried somewhere just waiting to be dug up. We have to charge forward with what we have and optimize its use.
Vernard Lewis attended the CE Specialist meeting at UC Berkeley. He is winding down his official career but, like so many others, plans to remain engaged with UCB and UC ANR. Congratulations to everyone who is looking towards the next chapter! While it is easy for those remaining to get caught up in what we are losing, we are all so grateful for the contributions of our colleagues and friends and wish you the very best in the future. As I think about all my yet unopened boxes that the movers delivered my advice is to pack everything so as to not leave it for the next person but only move the memories; it will make unpacking so much easier.