In response to CA SB1383, the 4-H Food Waste Busters Project provides an opportunity for youth to engage in reducing household food waste and help combat climate change.

The Issue

Household food waste is a major problem in the U.S. and the average U.S. household wastes 31.9% of the food it buys, with an estimated value of $240 billion. Food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic waste make up half of what Californians add to the landfills. Greenhouse gases released by decomposing food and yard waste contribute to climate change. To respond to this issue, California is implementing statewide organic waste recycling and surplus food recovery. California's short-lived climate pollutant reduction strategy (SB1383) aims to reduce organic waste disposal 75% by 2025. This goal requires every Californian to take action. Household food waste is a complex and multifaceted issue and is affected by food-related practices (planning, shopping, storing, cooking, eating, and managing leftovers). Consumers' misunderstanding of food date labels is associated with more frequent food discards and effective educational communication is needed for consumers to understand their meaning. Educating consumers about strategies to reduce household food waste will support their compliance with SB 1383.

How UC Delivers

Extension can play a part in addressing household food waste reduction efforts. There is a call for giving children and young people a 'voice' and a 'hand' in redressing climate change. We chose to tackle this problem through the 4-H youth development program. The 4-H program is grounded in the belief that youth learn best by doing hands-on learning in a positive environment and are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles. Increasing youth awareness and knowledge about the issue can engage them in food waste reduction and potentially influence a larger community. Youth in 4-H can highlight the issue through club projects, community service, public speaking opportunities, and civic engagement.

The 4-H Food Waste Busters Project's aim was to increase knowledge and understanding of the issue of food waste and its importance in the ecosystem. Through 4-H experiences, youth develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to live a sustainable lifestyle. This project helps youth better understand how making small changes can make a difference in their home, club, and community. As a result, youth can describe what food waste means; explain the benefit of reducing food waste; conduct a food waste audit at home; and encourage household members to adopt strategies to reduce food waste.

4-H Food Busters Project Flyer

UC ANR Advisors adapted a food waste school curriculum developed by the World Wildlife Fund into age-appropriate, inquiry-based online lesson plans that fit the 4-H project format. Since many students were still engaged in online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic this created an opportunity to focus on household-level food waste. The 4-H lesson plans provided time for team building, group agreement development, activity exploration, a capstone project, and reflection. The Advisors piloted the lesson plans with fourteen youth members through 9 weekly one-hour zoom project meetings. At the end of the pilot project, Advisors conducted a focus group with the youth to confirm that our project aims were fulfilled and to provide an opportunity for them to give feedback on the lesson plans.

The Impact

The 4-H youth were able to articulate their favorable response to the project. Youth learned about food waste's impact on the environment and strategies to reduce household waste. They shared the changes they or their family made because they participated in the project. “We realized how much food we wasted and we're trying to waste less; we are trying to have one meal of leftovers every week; we stopped cooking so much food so we don't have so many leftovers that would go to waste; we buy less food unless we really need it.” One youth shared: “This project made me realize how much food we're wasting, how much I could do about that and how much impact we're having on the world.” At the end of the project, youth completed capstone projects (poem, slide show, fact sheets) to share and educate their peers and family about food waste reduction strategies. Based on the successful pilot, we developed an online training for California 4-H project leaders. Fourteen volunteers completed project training and 78% reported that they are definitely more confident in leading this project.

4-H youth look into their trash bin

A poem by a 4-H youth

Components of the 4-H Food Waste Buster's project were intentionally created to help youth identify their household level of food waste and to develop strategies to reduce overall food waste including using left-over foods. The lessons also reinforced the importance of composting food instead of throwing it away. These experiences then contributed to conversations and learning about how household level behaviors can impact local, state, national and global levels of food waste and the environmental impacts of greenhouse gases that are produced in landfills.

The 4-H Project material was shared through the volunteer training and is in the process of ANR peer review. Once published on the ANR 4-H project sheet website, volunteers and educators from California and all land-grant universities in the U.S. will have free access to our lesson plans to deliver similar projects through their Cooperative Extension 4-H programs.

UCCE partners with a school site to promote health and wellness and develop student leaders. As a result of the program, 92% of students reported gaining skills in teaching others.

The Issue

Studies show that school gardens support student health through increased physical activity, increased consumption of healthy foods, and decreased body mass index. School gardens are also associated with positive emotions and social interactions. Additionally, school gardens have the potential to improve students' leadership skills and teamwork abilities. CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE (CFHL,UCCE) in Santa Barbara County partners with schools to gather stakeholders, create plans, fundraise, and build, maintain and teach in school gardens. One partnering school, Hapgood Elementary, has a flourishing garden that has been expanded and maintained over several years.

How UC Delivers

As COVID-19 restrictions at schools began to ease, UCCE garden nutrition educator Abbi Marrs reached out to the student leadership class to see if there was interest in developing leadership skills related to nutrition and food production in their school garden. Over 30 student leaders expressed interest in learning more about the garden. With the support of the school administration, UCCE staff met with the students to provide support and training related to growing food, composting, garden maintenance, and teaching in the garden. Throughout these trainings, UCCE staff worked with the youth to make decisions related to what they wanted to do with their new skills to support the garden. One group decided to focus on building more awareness of their garden by providing school garden tours. Another group decided to focus on supporting school and family health by providing garden enhanced nutrition education lessons in the garden.

UCCE staff supported youth by facilitating school garden training, helping write scripts for the garden tours, training in Teams With Intergenerational Support (TWIGS) curriculum, and practicing presentations. On April 15th, 2022, 26 youth delivered a garden tour to other youth, teachers, families, and community members. The mayor and city staff were invited to attend, and youth had the opportunity to share their garden and how it impacts their learning and health. In addition, 10 lessons were taught to 211 students in grades TK-6th.

Additionally, eight student leaders shared their garden experience while presenting at the 2022 California Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in September. Student leaders worked with UCCE staff to develop a presentation focused on the responsibilities of a garden student leader. The topics included: how the garden youth leader program started, garden jobs, composting, working with hydroponic towers, working with food service staff, safe harvesting practices, and how to teach garden-based and nutrition education lessons. During the presentation, student leaders shared their favorite parts of working in the garden. Some answers included teaching younger students about the garden, learning healthy recipes, and learning more about gardening in general. Student leaders then delivered a condensed version of the “Pest or Pal” lesson from the TWIGS garden-based curriculum to over fifty attendees. The presentation concluded with question-and-answers and students answered questions such as the biggest challenge they faced working in the garden, their favorite foods to grow, and how working in the garden has helped develop them as leaders.

Student leaders at California Ag in the Classroom Conference

The Impact

Youth leaders completed the Youth Leader Retrospective survey at the end of the school year (n=26). This survey asks participants to reflect on changes they see in themselves due to their participation in programming. Questions ask about behavior changes related to safely preparing and cooking healthy foods, leadership skills gained, and support received from adult facilitators.

For healthy behaviors, students agreed or strongly agreed, due to their participation in the UCCE Student Leaders Garden Committee: I wash my hands frequently (100%), my family has purchased healthier foods (92%), my family has prepared healthier foods (88%).

For leadership skills, youth retrospectively rated their ability before and after the program using a 4-point scale from No Ability to Excellent Ability. Improvement was observed in all leadership skills assessed, including the ability to work as a team member, speak before a group, teach others, and plan programs. The biggest change was observed in their ability to teach others. Prior to the program, only 1 (4%) youth reported an Excellent Ability, and 11 (42%) reported Good Ability. After the program, 11 (42%) rated themselves as having Excellent Ability and 13 (50%) rated themselves Good Ability. In addition, 0 youth rated themselves as No Ability after participating in the program, compared to 5 (19%) before the program.

For program support, youth agreed or strongly agreed with the following statements: There were dedicated adults who supported me as a youth leader (100%), I received ongoing training and support throughout the program (88%), The program made sure I had everything I needed to be successful as a youth leader (100%).

As a result of the garden tours, the Lompoc City Council adopted a school garden resolution that states the importance of school gardens to student health and the commitment of the city to support school gardens. Youth attended the council meeting and their school was gifted an apricot tree and the principal hosted a tree planting ceremony with students and family members. UCCE plans to work with student leaders next school year with 6th grade student leaders taking on the responsibility of training 5th grade student leaders. This peer to peer model will create a solid foundation for garden program sustainability for years to come. Lastly, when asked about the student youth leader the city mayor stated:

“I am so impressed with the students and the garden at Hapgood! Their passion for growing food was evident as the young scholars taught us about composting and what each part of the plant contributes to in its growth. I want to thank the UC CalFresh Education Program, all the parents and volunteers as well as the staff at Hapgood for supporting such an awesome learning experience in how our food grows.”- Lompoc City Mayor 

Through this partnership, CFHL, UCCE in Santa Barbara contributes to improved health for the local community, and guides students to become effective public leaders.  

Student leaders presenting at a City Council meeting

School Garden Proclamation

A UCCE advisor's short, effective communications on rodent management techniques helped San Diego County nurseries prevent crop losses and excess labor costs and pesticide use. 

The Issue

Rodents are known to cause extensive damage to different agricultural crops worldwide. In San Diego County, nursery and cut flower products account for the commodity with the highest reported dollar value and the highest dollar value per acre. In 2020, nursery and cut flower products had a total reported value of $1,274,784,274 and accounted for 70% of San Diego's agricultural commodities. Rodents have been reported to not only directly damage nursery crops by chewing directly on ornamental trees, seeds, seedlings, and bulbs, but they also cause extensive damage to drip irrigation systems.

How UC Delivers

UCCE Advisor Niamh Quinn's focus is on human-to-wildlife conflict, and rodents are what she knows best. When two members of the nursery and cut flower community in San Diego County reached out to her about rodent management issues, she was able to deliver practical, science-based solutions. One grower was experiencing issues where mice were damaging significant amounts of bulbs used to grow blooming plants. Another grower had an issue where mice were chewing irrigation lines used to provide water to cut flowers. Additionally, if you are not using the right pesticide, or the appropriate application method, pesticide use can be highly inflated. Thus, it is  critical to offer science-based advice on pesticide use and alternative methods.

The Impact

UCCE's technical assistance provided to the growers prevented significant crop loss. One grower estimated that the information on rodent management prevented $50,000 a year in crop loss, while the other estimated that their crop yield increased by 5% due to improved crop uniformity and height because rodents were no longer damaging drip.

Both growers reported significant cost reductions in labor. One grower has saved over $20,000 in labor costs due to a significant reduction in the amount of pesticide applied. The 90% reduction in pesticide applied not only saved the grower money on the labor needed to apply the product, but approximately $30,000 reduction in cost because less pesticide needed to be purchased. The other grower saved approximately $3,100 on the labor needed to repair drip irrigation that was being damaged by rodents.

These outcomes demonstrate how UCCE Advisors' extension programs contribute to increased agriculture and efficiency and profitability as part of UC ANR's commitment to promoting economic prosperity in California and also demonstrate a commitment to increased ecological sustainability of agriculture. Mike Mellano, CEO of Mellano & Company in San Diego says, “In today's fast paced and ever-changing world, it is very difficult, if not impossible for farmers/growers to stay on the cutting edge of every aspect. It is great to know that we have Cooperative Extension to educate us and help keep us innovative and sustainable. It seems that every day we have a new challenge, and being able to call or email an advisor to get the latest and greatest is the key to our ability to continue to stay in business and provide jobs and opportunities for our teams!"

UC ANR research on watermelon grafting helps growers produce 15-20% more watermelons while using 25-40% fewer plants than the traditional system under the same amount of water and fertilizers, contributing to economic prosperity for the agricultural sector.

The Issue

As the statewide water scarcity and rising inflation hit the California agriculture, food production with reduced inputs while maintaining productivity and controlling production cost heighten the necessity of using environmentally-sustainable farming practices. For watermelon growers, grafting, a thousand-year-old practice, has been recognized as a such practice to tackle the problems according to scientific literature. However, the adoption on grafting has been low among California watermelon growers despite the benefits being well-known. Therefore, strengthening growers' confidence with this ancient production tool is crucial.

How UC Delivers     

Extensive field visits to watermelon growers, nursery, and seed industries were conducted to understand the barrier of adopting watermelon grafting starting in 2018. Results from the interviews indicated that the increase of production cost was the biggest concern when growers considered watermelon grafting. Further investigations showed that growers pay 2.5 to 4 times more per acre for producing grafted transplants compared to non-grafted watermelons.

In addition to yielding more fruit, grafted fields should also use fewer plants to compensate for the higher cost. Since 2019, field experiments were conducted in the San Joaquin Valley to test the horticultural and economic potential of growing grafted watermelons in wider spacings. A total of eight rootstocks and four scions were grafted into 32 combinations, which were planted into the regular three feet, and wider spacings of four to five and six feet apart. The results indicated that grafted watermelons planted with the four to five feet in-row spacing balanced the best among yield enhancement, fruit quality, and control of cost. Study progress and findings were shared periodically with the cooperative growers and discussed with the watermelon industry. The information was also reported in extension articles and at various extension and scientific conferences.

The Impact

With the four to five feet in-row spacing adopted widely, the cost for grafted transplants was reduced up to $800 per acre. Furthermore, stronger confidence with grafting has led to the increase of planted acreage of grafted watermelons from less than 250 acres in 2018 to over 1,500 acres in 2021. According to the field observations, growers reported that, on average, their successfully grafted fields produced 15-20% more watermelons than non-grafted fields while using up to 40% fewer plants and the same amount of water and fertilizers. For local greenhouses, customer orders of grafted watermelon transplants increased more than 10 times in 2022 compared to 2018. These savings and increases in revenue demonstrate UC ANR's commitment to its public value of promoting economic prosperity.

Watermelons planted under 3 feet apart

Watermelons planted under 4-5 feet apart

Watermelons planted under 6 feet apart