- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors expressed some concerns on Tuesday about plans to reorganize the UC Cooperative Extension service on a regional basis, reported the Calaveras Enterprise. The board took no action, but the issue is expected to be brought forward for a vote in June.
Under the plan, UC Cooperative Extension in Calaveras, El Dorado and Amador counties would be consolidated. Satellite offices would be maintained in each county and the main office located in the El Dorado County community of Placerville.
“The UC system has been hammered with budget cuts, we know you’re getting hammered with budget cuts and we’re...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Vice President of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Dan Dooley, speaking at the Farm Foundation Forum in Washington, D.C., last month, proposed a new direction for funding research and teaching in agriculture, according to an article in Lancaster Farming.
He pointed to the 1944 GI Bill, the National Defense Education Act of 1956, and the Higher Education Act and Pell Grants of 1965 as examples of earlier notable federal initiatives.
For the 21st century, Dooley suggested a “Food Security and Sustainability Act," which could lead to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California had been spending nearly $38 million a year to protect about 16 million acres of farmland under the Williamson Act, but budget cuts could mean the program designed to slow the state's staggering rate of urbanization will disappear, the Associated Press reported.
California cut Williamson Act funding funding by 10 percent in the 2008 budget year and cut all but $1,000 for it in 2009. The current budget originally included $10 million for the program, but Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated that last month. Budget negotiations are continuing, but there's little expectation the program will...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

The Fresno Bee today published an op-ed piece by UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi in which she gave examples of how UC Davis research has revolutionized the growing, harvesting and processing of agricultural crops in the San Joaquin Valley.
The article was prompted by Katehi's recent two-day tour of the valley with the dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Neal Van Alfen. The administrators met with farmers, business leaders, policy makers, researchers and alumni of UC Davis.
"The San...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

An editorial that ran over the weekend in the Bakersfield Californian declared that cuts to the budget of California's public higher education institutions will hurt the state's farmers.
The editorial was prompted by a visit to Bakersfield last Friday by UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi and UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean Neal Van Alfen.
Robert Price, editorial page editor, wrote that the Legislature's "complete and utter failure to act on behalf of higher education is likely to smack everybody else right between the eyes" - including agriculture. He noted in the story...