- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
UC, The Organic Center, University of Rhode Island partner on $3.5m food-safety study for organic produce growers
Grazing sheep and other livestock can help convert cover crops to fertilizer for orchard crops. To develop best management practices, the University of California and The Organic Center are collaborating on research to help organic orchard growers safely incorporate livestock grazing into their farming practices. The project is funded by a $2 million grant recently awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative research program.
Interest in grazing livestock on cover crops in nut orchards has increased in recent years. However, research is needed to determine the best way to improve soil health and pest suppression, and to address concerns about food-borne pathogens and food safety.
“Organic farmers typically follow the USDA National Organic Program standards for raw animal manure, waiting 90 to 120 days between incorporating raw manure into the soil and harvesting the crop,” said Alda Pires, UC Cooperative Extension urban agriculture and food safety specialist in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.
“Little research has been conducted to verify adequate waiting periods to reduce contamination risks in integrated crop-livestock production systems,” she said. “This research will fill the knowledge gap and facilitate the development of science-based food safety guidelines for grazing small ruminants in orchards.”
For this four-year project, “Influence of Orchard Grazing on Soil Health and Pest Control While Mitigating Food Safety Risk,” the scientists will study organic almond, walnut and pistachio orchards in two distinct nut-growing regions in California – the Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley. The scientists will assess the effects of livestock grazing of cover crops on bacteria populations, soil health, pest control and economics.
Building soil health
“Growers have consistently raised the need for more information on grazing impacts on nutrient availability during tree growth, as well as potential to build up the biological, physical and chemical pillars of soil health,” said Amelie Gaudin, associate professor and endowed chair of agroecology in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
Livestock grazing may provide an opportunity to quickly enhance the amount of nitrogen that can be used by plants and microbes when the cover crop is terminated. “This project will help growers develop nitrogen budgets for these more diversified systems and quantify additional benefits and potential tradeoffs for soil health – such as compaction and salinity – to guide the development of place-based best management practices,” Gaudin said.
Pest management
Houston Wilson, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside, will be studying the effects of livestock grazing on orchard pests.
“Navel orangeworm, or NOW, is by far the most destructive pest of almonds and pistachios,” Wilson said. “These moths overwinter in unharvested nuts in the orchard, and so removal and destruction of remnant nuts over the winter is the foundation of NOW control. While farmers typically use machinery to do this, grazing with animals may present a unique alternative that is more cost-effective and provides additional ecosystem benefits, such as soil health and weed control.”
Outreach to farmers
As part of the project, The Organic Center was awarded $75,000 to work with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources to direct national extension and education outreach activities. These will include a social media campaign, webinars and educational sessions and a technical report for growers.
“There is an increasing interest from organic farmers to learn how to incorporate livestock into their operations to gain better soil health and fertility,” said Amber Sciligo, director of science programs at The Organic Center.
“This research is very exciting because it will holistically explore the potential risks and benefits of livestock not just to soil health, but also pest control – a truly interdisciplinary project that matches the whole system of the organic farm.”
Produce food-safety management tools
For another organic food-safety project, Pires and Sciligo will be working with Patrick Baur, professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at the University of Rhode Island.
The University of Rhode Island and The Organic Center received $3.5 million from USDA's Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative research program for the new organic food-safety education project.
“We're going to develop a new food safety management tool designed specifically for organic soil amendments,” said Baur, who is leading the project. “We're also going to develop a suite of new communication and training tools aimed at the entire fruit and vegetable sector to build a shared language between organic agriculture and the food safety community and help them work better together.”
As part of the produce project, Pires of UC Davis was awarded $1.16 million to conduct a risk assessment and create a publicly accessible dashboard to meet the specific needs of organic growers operating at different scales, under different cropping systems, in different regions.
Also participating in this project will be Beatriz Martinez Lopez, professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, and Abhinav Mishra and Govindaraj Dev Kumar of the University of Georgia.
/h3>- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Survey results will help to identify critical areas that need additional research or extension services related to parasites management in organic production. The questionnaire takes 10-15 minutes to complete. The provided information will not include any identification beyond regional location and will be kept strictly confidential.
More information about the Farm Animal Risk Mitigation Prepare, Prevent, Evaluate project and webinars can be found at the FARM PPE website.
The deadline for participating in the organic livestock survey has been extended to May 31. The survey link is https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_77pA9H94xKMA27s.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact Alda Pires, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, at pireslab@ucdavis.edu or Noelia Silva del Rio, UCCE specialist, at nsilvadelrio@ucdavis.edu or Teresa Miranda at teresa.fernandes.miranda@gmail.com.
- Author: Jodi Azulai
Each year, UC ANR Learning and Development sends several women to systemwide UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development.
UCWI is a unique, experiential professional-development program committed to enabling the full participation, success and advancement of woman-identified professionals at the University. The program is open to all who support this mission and who are interested in the development of woman-identified professionals.
Several of the 2021-2022 participants shared their unique experience.
– Marilynn Ljungberg, Community Education Specialist
The UC Women's Initiative gave me the tools and confidence to take control of my career, specifically through developing my professional Board of Advisors and thinking through my values and the impact I make while creating my professional narrative.
– Kathryn Stein, Executive Assistant
I really enjoyed this program, it provided a framework to be a better leader and mentor.
- Alda Pires, Associate Professor of Cooperative Extension/Associate Specialist
UCWI was just the kickstart I needed to be more invested in my career development. This program helped me eliminate my fear of networking and allowed me to put together a board of advisors to council me on my career.
- Sibani Michael Bose, Chief Business Officer, Nutrition Policy Institute
Because of this exceptional program, I will be able to share better feedback, and ask more succinct questions to get the information I need.
– Terri White, Executive Assistant
The UCWI program connected me with women throughout the UC system. Together we created a safe environment to share, built a support system, and created friendships that will last for years. As a result of my participation in the program, I have increased my self confidence in my role in the organization and in leading my team. I feel empowered explore what opportunities for career advancement exist around me and to take steps to surround myself with people and opportunities that will allow me to transition into those positions.
- Rita Palmer, California 4-H Statewide Staffing Plan Coordinator
The overall program UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development is designed to:
- Cultivate a professional network that spans the UC system
- Provide access to top UC leaders — women and men — to learn about their diverse leadership approaches and journeys
- Strengthen skills and confidence through hands-on practice with a range of tools in the areas of:
- Professional development and impact
- Strategic relationship building
- Developing and delivering a compelling narrative regarding one's professional accomplishments and vision
- Negotiating at work
- Peer coaching
Interested? Stay tuned for ANR nomination announcements in early February 2023!
/span>- Author: Conor McCabe, Global Food Initiative fellow
In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of backyard poultry farms as people have taken an increased interest in farming. With raising these animals comes new challenges in taking care of them and ensuring they stay healthy.
However, there is a gap between the needs of these small avian communities in Californians' backyards and the current services available that generally work for service large-scale poultry operations alone.
This is where Beatriz Martinez Lopez, professor of infectious disease epidemiology, and Alda Pires, associate professor for Cooperative Extension and agronomist, come into play. Both in UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the two women work on projects addressing avian influenza, animal health and food safety needs of people raising backyard poultry and livestock.
“Alda has a lot of experience and her work is amazing,” said Martinez Lopez.
To better address the diseases and problems associated with raising birds in the California context, they completed a series of needs assessments to understand the animal health requirements of small farms and backyard chickens.
“It has helped us be more organized and structured in our outreach,” Pires said. “There is a need to apply simple, practical biosecurity plans that are adapted for multiple species to small-scale, backyard and diversified farms.”
Through a multistate project funded by the USDA National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, they created a website, FARM PPE, for producers to easily access biosecurity plan templates and additional resources. PPE stands for prepare, prevent and evaluate to reduce disease risk.
“Our clients are benefiting from the structured network we created,” Pires continued. “This website project, FARM PPE, aims to improve uptake of biosecurity measures on small-scale farms, by focusing on farmers and other professionals, including extension educators and veterinarians.”
The website project also created several trainings for farmers and educators to generate consistent messaging for small-scale farms.
With backyard birds being one of the potential sources of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, it is important to understand how the disease could spread to commercial flocks. The major challenge of the project is the complexity of the human/wildlife interface and the difficulties in predicting where an outbreak may arise.
Together, Martinez Lopez and Pires have published several papers about modeling disease transmission, and the work yields valuable information about hotspots for targeting surveillance strategies and wildlife surveys.
Their professional partnership is rooted in their personal connection; the scientists met as graduate students in 2006 and were delighted to cross paths again at UC Davis.
“Our collaboration started with friendship and our common interests in epidemiology and animal health,” said Pires.
As exemplified by their own careers, Martinez Lopez and Pires stress the importance of networking, getting involved and taking risks.
“Invite farm advisors and outreach partners from the beginning of the process so that they are part of the team,” Pires said. “That way you can create solutions that will give them the knowledge and resources they need.”
- Author: Amy Quinton
A new study by UC Davis researchers finds a low risk of contamination of foodborne pathogens on produce and meat at Northern California certified farmers markets, but still finds cause for some concern.
The study, published in the Journal of Food Protection, examined the prevalence of Salmonella on meat and produce, as well as the prevalence of generic E. coli on produce. Samples were taken from 44 certified Northern California farmers markets, including in the Sacramento region and Bay Area. Less than 2% (1.8%) of animal products sampled, including beef, pork and poultry, tested positive for Salmonella, while all produce samples tested negative. Slightly more than 30 percent (31.3%) of produce tested positive for generic E. coli. Generic E. coli is an indication of fecal contamination, but not all E. coli is harmful. This study didn't test for pathogenic E. coli.
“Based on this data, I think it's safe to consume meat and produce from farmers markets,” said lead author Alda Pires, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist and research scientist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “That's a low risk of contamination of foodborne pathogens, especially Salmonella.”
While the prevalence of generic E. coli may seem relatively high, the concentrations were low. Pires said that's especially so compared to previous studies of contamination at farmers markets elsewhere in the United States. The prevalence of Salmonella in meat sampled from Northern California farmers markets is also much lower than what previous studies have found in grocery stores.
Among the produce sampled, leafy greens had the highest prevalence of E. coli, followed by root vegetables.
Consumers should still be cautious
Consumers and farmers should still be aware that produce and meat were not free from contamination. Consumers need to make sure the foods they prepare from farmers markets follow the good hygiene practices recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consumers should also keep produce separate from meat to avoid cross-contamination.
“The study raises awareness that it's not just very large farms that can have contamination,” said co-author Michele Jay-Russell, with the Western Center for Food Safety at UC Davis. “Farmers need to pay attention to everything they're doing, from planting to storage, to avoid contamination.”
While certified farmers markets are inspected for food hygiene, microbiological quality is not explored. Smaller farms, those making less than $25,000 a year, are also exempt from certain food-safety provisions of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety and Modernization Act. Foodborne illness costs the U.S. economy more than $15 billion annually.
Other co-authors include James Stover, Esther Kukielka, Viktoria Haghani, Peiman Aminabadi and Thais De Melo Ramos of UC Davis. Research support came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.