- Author: Wendy Powers
This week has been a whirlwind. I almost missed posting. Between Program Council, annual review conversations and paperwork, and moving forward on Immunization Education and Small Farms opportunities, plus random other meetings, I am struggling to keep my ‘to-do' list updated.
I attended a portion of the UC CORO graduation. I had a chance to meet with this cohort when they first started their journey. That may have been in January 2020; it's difficult to recall exactly but it was back when we did things in person. Jing Yu, from our Oakland office was our UC ANR graduate. Congratulations, Jing! The Northern cohort developed an anti-racism learning and reflection tool and user guide for supervisors and staff. The intent is that leaders of staff set the stage for widespread anti-racism across UC. Take a look at the cohort's deliverable consider integrating into your own personal and professional growth activities. I liked the emphasis on the opportunity for an individual to be the change and continue ensuring that the conversation is a movement, and not a moment. Another great link is the UCOP anti-racism resources page.
UC ANR's own staff assembly team continue to be active. For a second year, The ANR Staff Assembly Council is sponsoring the ANR Grows Program f to encourage ANR Staff to grow their own healthy food. Inspired by the Victory Gardens during World War II and implemented during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program goal is to inspire staff to channel their energy into cultivating their own food. The program reimburses ANR staff up to $50 for soil, seeds, transplants, compost, and gardening supplies and was wildly successful last year, with 114 staff members participating. A few ANR staff members who got growing with the seed money from ANR Staff Assembly shared some of their thoughts and photosof their gardens with the ANR Employee News. Applications are open for the current year through May 15, 2021 for all staff who would like help starting a garden. Don't wait to apply – gardening season is already here!
Also occurring for a second year, ANR Learning and Development is sponsoring the Staff Mentorship Program. This is another exciting opportunity for staff career development. The program is unique in that the mentors are both staff and academics, providing a breadth of experiences and perspectives for the staff mentees. The call for mentees is currently open and all interested staff are encouraged to participate in the informational webANR on May 20, 2021 and chat with past participants.
I have quite a bit of gardening to do this weekend. I hear the weather will be beautiful for spending the weekend outside. I hope you each get a chance to enjoy the outdoors.
- Author: Wendy Powers
Congratulations to our ANREP winners! A group of CE Specialists, CE Advisors were recognized with a Bronze Award for their “Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan”. Take a look at the list of recipients: Anthony O'Geen, Bill Birmingham, Brooke Latack, D.J. Eastburn, Dan Macon, David Lewis, David Lile, Devii Rao, Fadzayi Mashiri, Jeffery Stackhouse, Jim Downing, Josh Davy, Julie Finzel, Kenneth Tate, Laura Snell, Leslie Roche, Lucien Crowder, Matthew Shapero, Michael Lennox, Morgan Doran, Randy Dahlgren, Rebecca Ozeran, Robert Atwill, Sandra Osterman, Stephanie Larson, Theresa Becchetti, and Tracy Schohr.
The other winner at ANREP was Lenya Quinn-Davidson! Lenya received the Early Career Award. We couldn't agree more with the selection committee! Be sure to take a look at the write up (page 27). Thanks so much to Yana and Susie for the nomination of their colleague.
Take a look at a recent Morning Ag Clips article that featured some of Dorina, Anne, Marcel, Katherine, and Kendra's work! I am anxious to see impact statements as this important work progresses! I took a getaway near Cambria last weekend for my own mindfulness exercise.
Thanks to the research reviewers who mined through the Project Board data to identify stories for the federal research report. I will share more stories in the future, or be sure to take a look for yourself.
Youth & Community Develoment: Martin Smith
Nutrition: Karina Rios Diaz
Livestock/Rangeland: David Lile
Forestry/Fire: Yana Valachovic
Water: Doug Parker
SFS: Neil McRoberts and Deanne Meyer
EIPD: Jim Farrar and Georgios Vidalakis
In addition to 11 annual evaluation conversations this week and ‘first Friday' meetings with REC and County Directors, I have spent the week at a virtual conference of Western Extension and Experiment Station Directors. In addition to the business meetings and Center updates, we heard from a University of New Mexico FRTEP Advisor who shared with us the challenges for the Navajo reservation residents during the pandemic lockdown with few grocery stores and a need to continue ag production in order to feed residents. The death rates and COVID incidence numbers shared are alarming and sad. The Advisor talked about increased youth participation in Master Gardener program and other virtual programs since the pandemic began in addition to increased collaboration and partnering with other institutions. Vaccine education is a critical ongoing effort to provide this and other COVID relief services. The program seeks opportunity to develop a partnership for pre-college programs and a sheep herd health program.
- Author: Wendy Powers
It is federal reporting time. Katherine and her team are hard at work assembling the reports based on stories a group of academics gleaned from Project Board. I had a chance to take a quick peak. Here's a sample of the great stories you will find on the Condition Changes webpage:
Change in condition: Participants saved money.
Program evaluation findings from 2020 indicate that EFNEP adult graduates reported an average monthly food cost savings of $58.10, which collectively saved California EFNEP families $1,532,445.
- Families in Los Angeles and Orange County saved an average of $80 and $95.40 a month on groceries, respectively, after participating in EFNEP's ESBA workshop series.
- Families in Tulare County saved an average of $44.50 on groceries per month after participating in Eating Smart Being Active.
Change in condition: Jobs created.
The French Meadows watershed restoration project partners have appeared on various forums highlighting the role of UCCE research in changing the pace and scale of forest restoration in California. UCCE's continued engagement with research, education, advocacy, and fundraising resulted in 3,100 acres of forest restoration within the 28,000 acres of federal and private land. In the year 2020 alone, the project generated jobs for over 100 contractors. In addition, it removed 1.4 million board feet of timber to a local mill and more than 1,200 tons of biomass to local renewable energy facilities to help offset restoration costs, and contributing to the local economy.
Change in condition: Improved productivity.
Through conversations and on-farm observations, it has been noted that those who attended the UCCE Watermelon Grafting Field days in 2019, have either increased their acreage of grafted watermelon in 2020 or plan to increase in subsequent seasons. Currently, the estimated total acreage of grafted watermelon in the northern San Joaquin Valley, the biggest watermelon region of California, has at least tripled from less than 200 in 2019 to over 600 in 2021. Growers mentioned that successful grafted fields can produce 15-25% more watermelon fruit than the non-grafted fields per acre on average, and the average plant population per acre in grafted fields is about two-thirds that in non-grafted fields.
Thanks to everyone for their great effort and contributions to Project Board. I will share more stories in the coming weeks. And, as we head into our long weekend, let's thank farm workers and their families for all that they do to ensure a safe, abundant food supply. The public value of their efforts is unrivaled.
- Author: Wendy Powers
And the UC ANR nominees for the WEDA Award of Excellence are: Loren Oki, Karrie Reid, Darren Haver, and Jared Sisneroz for UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trials Program and Deanne Meyer, Betsy Karle, Jennifer Heguy, David Lewis, Jeffery Stackhouse, Nicholas Clark, Randi Black, Daniela Bruno, and D. Denise Mullinax for California Dairy Quality Assurance Program- Environmental Stewardship: A Public Private Partnership. The two teams were selected for nomination to the Western Extension Directors Association awards program. The winner at the regional level will provide an overview of the program at the virtual WEDA Summer Meeting in June. We'll know more in a few months if either team is successful, but they are both winners with UC ANR. Congratulations to the teams for their outstanding work!
I am reminded that winter isn't quite over, yet. Laura shared that she had quite a bit of snow in Modoc County earlier this week. And, Mark saw ice on the lake over the weekend! No wonder why my garage remains cold.
Program Council met this week. We had a full agenda. The meeting left me a bit brain dead, making it difficult to do much evening catch up on emails or evaluation reviews. I don't seem to be progressing on those very quickly. However, I think I am more than half way through annual calls to review progress on goals. I enjoy the calls, but get behind on everything else. I am making some progress wrapping up agreements. I have a couple yet to be completed before spending some time connecting with partners.
I spend the next two weeks in virtual conferences. One nice thing about the virtual approach is that the meeting time is reduced, though there seems to be more homework to prepare for conversations. I guess it keeps me out of trouble.
- Author: Wendy Powers
Twice this week I heard a reference to baseball. Someone referred to Babe Ruth as the ‘home run king' while also holding the ‘strikeout king' title. I heard a similar statement in reference to Reggie Jackson. I'm not sure which one of them is/was the true ‘king'. Clearly, some are ready for baseball. I suspect Bill Frost is one of them.
Congratulations to Dan Putnam! Dan is the 2021 recipient of the James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award, awarded by the UC Davis Academic Federation. A number of his colleagues from UC Davis and UC ANR were responsible for the nomination. We are all pleased to see Dan receive this important recognition!
Highlights of recent activity with the 4-H Military Partnerships Program were shared with NIFA. My favorite part of the report was a quote from one of the many youth participants, "I always thought I was a leader but now I know how to be a better leader." Congratulations to the team across the state for their successes in this program. It has been difficult during the pandemic, but the successes are mounting nonetheless.
I hear there was something of a mass gathering of UC ANR personnel at a vaccination clinic in Woodland this week. That leaves some taking a bit of a sigh of relief with one dose down and one to go. The new CDC guidelines suggesting that those vaccinated can cautiously resume some activities is welcomed news! I know we all look forward to resuming our networking time and in-person activities. Let's keep getting those vaccination appointments scheduled!
The Dean's Council met this morning. I believe the Deans enjoyed the virtual Hill visits this year and had nice things to say about the ANR team that participated, under Anne's leadership. In a side chat with Bill Frost last week, he lamented over missing the social time together in DC and shared how impressed he was with those he worked with to make office visits. Thanks to Missy, Ryan, Karmjot, and all who made time for the meetings. Tiring, I am sure, but much easier than the days of running between the Cannon and Rayburn buildings.
I have some reading to do later this week and through the weekend. I hope the rain keeps up throughout so that I don't feel guilty for not doing any yardwork. I spoke with a colleague in Kentucky earlier today and he mentioned talk of isolated wildfires in Kentucky. While technically possible, it feels far too early in the year for talk about that.