- Author: Mike Hsu
Atef Swelam begins as director of Kearney and West Side Research and Extension Centers
In the fields around the Egyptian city of Minya Al-Qamh, “port of wheat” in Arabic, a boy rubbed his eyes wearily as he helped his father irrigate their crops at 2 a.m. – when they could access the scarce water that reached their farm, located at the tail end of the canal. The family, which had been farming the land around the village of Sharqia for many generations, barely had enough water to sustain their wheat and vegetables.
Swatting in the darkness at the incessantly biting mosquitoes, a young Atef Swelam made a vow.
“I said: ‘I will do my best to not let anyone suffer like I have suffered, like my father suffered – I will help to improve the lives of others,'” recalled Swelam, who went on to become an irrigation engineer improving water-use efficiency.
During the World Food Forum (Oct. 16-20), Swelam was recognized by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization as a “Water and Food Hero” for developing irrigation techniques that save water and boost yields across the Nile Delta and beyond.
Swelam started on Aug. 10 as director of both the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier and the West Side REC in Five Points. Both facilities are part of a network of centers operated by University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“Our organization, and more importantly the communities we serve in the Central Valley and across California, are so fortunate that Atef has joined our team,” said Brent Hales, UC ANR associate vice president for research and Cooperative Extension. “He brings not only a record of truly impactful research and innovation but a genuine passion for learning the needs of people, working with them and developing collaborative, science-based solutions.”
Making a difference in the lives of people
After earning his master's degree in land and water management from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari in Italy, Swelam returned to Egypt for his Ph.D. in agricultural engineering at Zagazig University. There, he advanced to become a professor of irrigation and drainage engineering in 2019; he was also a senior scientist and research team leader with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (CGIAR-ICARDA). Most recently, Swelam was the agricultural research officer of the U.N.-FAO's Office of Innovation in Rome.
Swelam explained that the mandate, function, mission and vision of UC ANR's research and extension network – and its strong reputation for making an impact through co-creation with clientele – attracted him to this position in California.
“I'm always looking to make a difference on the ground and in the lives of people,” he said. “If you look at the locations where all RECs are located, they are inside the communities themselves, and in the heart of the farming system.”
Swinging between Kearney and West Side RECs, Swelam said he feels he works in an empowering environment, created and supported by the leadership as well as by the staff at both centers – “a dynamic is which hard to find elsewhere.”
Darren Haver, recently named director of the statewide system of RECs, said he will work with Swelam to explore ways to secure the resources that the Kearney and West Side teams need.
“Atef brings a wealth of experience in conducting research as well as working to elevate and amplify the research and outreach of others,” said Haver, formerly the director of South Coast REC in Irvine. “He clearly is committed to making a difference locally, nationally and globally and we are excited to support him as his vision for these two RECs evolves.”
Being a farmer and a scientist, Swelam feels he is on the same wavelength with both of the RECs' clientele groups – researchers and growers. In his first months on the job, Swelam said he will get to know the needs of the grower community and the researchers at the RECs.
“What I like most about this job is that the REC system, with its research for development approach, supports the scientists, who are in turn supporting the farmers and communities that are on the front line in achieving food and nutrition security,” he explained.
When tailoring solutions to meet local conditions, Swelam added that it's essential that community members are involved so they feel a sense of ownership and are committed to sustaining its impact beyond the time limits of a research or extension project.
Innovative irrigation technique used worldwide
A prominent example of Swelam's community-based work is his long-term mechanized raised-bed (MRB) irrigation program, the technology for which he has garnered numerous international honors.
While he was a researcher at the CGIAR-ICARDA, Swelam led several projects between 2010 and 2020 to study new soil and water practices at farm level. Through a project at his home village, he developed a cost-effective, small-scale machine to enable growing wheat on raised beds. This was in contrast to flat flooded land – the traditional, labor- and resource-intensive method that produced irrigation inefficiencies and caused shortages for downstream farmers like his father, Haj Ibrahim.
With MRB, precisely placed trenches between the raised beds would hold exactly the amount of water the adjacent crops need and thus leave more water for all. And while the technique seemed promising, Swelam had to convince skeptical farmers to adopt the practices – including his neighbors and his own father.
“He was very resistant to me in the beginning, because this was the first time ever in Egypt using raised beds for wheat cultivation…he even tried to convince people not to follow me,” Swelam said, with a chuckle.
So father and son divided their fields, with one half planted and irrigated using traditional methods, and the other using the raised-bed approach. Gradually, as MRB began to prove its worth, Haj Ibrahim warmed to the technology and became an active collaborator on the research – even helping the scientist when he was puzzled by experiment results.
“My father was my mobile library,” Swelam said. “He was illiterate – he had never been in a school – but his thinking and knowledge about the real agriculture and farming system were much better than those of a professor like me!”
After the initial research trials produced successes in his village and the larger governorate (a political division within Egypt), the technique was replicated in other governorates across the country – which then attracted the attention of other nations and international organizations.
Overall, Swelam said, the technology helped the growers reduce applied water by 25% and cut farming costs by 25%, while boosting fertilizer use efficiency by 30% and increasing yield by 25%.
Today, MRB is applied by more than 2 million farmers in the Middle East and North Africa to a variety of crops and is recognized as a good agricultural practice by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
“The biggest recognition and reward for me out of this impactful innovation is seeing the smiles on the faces of farmers,” Swelam said.
Spreading best practices across San Joaquin Valley and beyond
Swelam said he hopes to see similarly positive results for farmers here in California with a wide range of innovations. He and other researchers at Kearney and West Side RECs will continue to make sure that the science and knowledge generated at the centers reach farmers. He added that partnering with local growers to optimize their on-farm practices is crucial on a host of issues, from pest management to water conservation.
“Whatever we do to improve supply management at system level, if the water is not used efficiently at farm level, then we lose everything we had achieved at that macro level,” he explained.
Swelam added that investing intensive time and effort in developing practical, cost-effective solutions will pay off in the long run as they become naturally adopted across the grower community.
“Farmers are very clever and skilled with their farming systems,” he said. “When they see or get benefits from something, they promote it among themselves.”
Swelam's father was one example. After leading the resistance against mechanized raised beds initially, he eventually became its most vocal proponent.
“He became the biggest promoter for this technology; he even promoted it on local and international TV and radio programs,” Swelam said. “I was proud of my father.”
Haj Ibrahim died in 2017 and Swelam continues to pay tribute to his father through his life's work on research and extension – inspired by their long struggles to bring water to their crops, and the shared triumph of their new techniques.
/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Deanne Meyer
Last week was a world wind tour of three Research and Extension Centers (RECs). Oranges, cotton and sorghum were not yet harvested at our South Valley RECs. Darren Haver, Maru Fernandez and I had great visits at these RECs. It was thrilling to hear about the various research projects and how UC ANR and campus faculty are finding ways to improve California agriculture.
Jasmine Del Toro (Business Officer), Don Cleek(superintendent) and Ashraf El Kereamy (Director) shared activity at Lindcove from research projects to how the processing/packing shed works. We were just a few weeks before harvest begins so we imagined the packing shed in full swing. Citrus of all types, from kumquats to pomelos and Buddha's hand, are grown at Lindcove. There's even a project on reuse of ground trees as mulch. This year's fruit is not yet harvested and already blossoms were on trees continuing the cycle. Maru spent quality time with Jasmin to help through new financial record keeping requirements. Much better than doing it over zoom.
Buddha's hand, Lindcove Pistachio tree, West Side Greenhouse, Kearney
At West Side we met with Karen Motly (Business Officer), Brian Neufeld (superintendent) and Tom Turini (Interim Director). Tom discussed center history and needs. Brian gave us a top-notch tour of the REC. Karen worked with Maru and Darren. It was exciting to see pistachios still on the tree. We were able to pick them and realize how soft the shell is while the nut is on the tree. If you're used to almond hulls, pistachios don't have that amount of external cover.
Wednesday we toured Kearney. There's much activity with detailed alfalfa work, organic plots, trees (fruit, nut, novel), vines, hemp, etc. Also, there is IR-4 work. Scientists from University of California campuses (Davis, Riverside and Berkeley) make Kearney their home. It was great to meet our newest Cooperative Extension Specialist Jackie Atim as well as see exciting work done by others.
All three RECs work to address issues growers face related to nitrogen management, water conservation and integrated pest management. It's fabulous to have land available for controlled experiments, greenhouses, and areas to isolate plants and pests. These facilities provide researchers from all over California with unique opportunities. Thank you to all the staff who keep the RECs running.
An exciting part of the week was a Zoom meet and greet with many Community Nutrition and Health Advisors, Amira Resnick and many new colleagues at UC San Francisco. The combined group spent focused on community-based research and outreach programs to improve health. This is the first of many interactions. The groups had so much in common.
Human Resources and many search committees have been busy! We welcome student assistants Taylor Baisey and Sia'h Jimissa (NPI), Cedric Renaudin (NFCS), Amritpal Kaur (Kern), Yolanda Tabarez (Desert REC); agricultural technician, Jovani Renteria, Lindcove; Lab helper, Tyler Waltrip; Blank Assistants Shayna Blythe (BOC), Katherine Fessler (State 4-H office), Robin Martin (Central Sierra MCP) and Andrea Rayray (SWPR). Rounding out our new hires were Joaquin Vega (Facilities, Planning and Management), Uriel Gonzalez (IT Services) and Benjamin Saltzman (IGIS Programmer). Three more Advisors joined our ranks too: Stephanie Mar, Organic Waste, South Coast REC; Joanna Solins, Environmental Horticulture, Capitol Corridor MCP, Yu-Chen Wang, Plant Pathology, Santa Cruz.
It takes many people to keep UC ANR running! Thank you for your contributions.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As sorghum plants cope with drought conditions, the plants' roots and adjoining microbial communities are communicating in a chemical language that appears to improve the plants' chances under water stress.
“It's amazing,” said Peggy Lemaux, UC Cooperative Extension specialist. “We know there are lots of microbes in the soil and, for the most part, ones in the surrounding soil stayed the same under drought conditions. We only saw changes in those microbes closely associated with the roots.”
The role of drought in restructuring the root microbiome was the first published discovery to come out of a sweeping drought research project underway since 2015 in the fields at UC Kearney Research and Extension Center in Parlier. The five-year study, funded with a $12.3 million grant from the Department of Energy, aims to tease out the genetics of drought tolerance in sorghum and its associated microbes. Using sorghum as a model, scientists hope the research will help them understand and improve drought tolerance in other crops as well.
The new research results from the lab of USDA's Devin Coleman-Derr at UC Berkeley, published April 16, 2018, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, document the fate of microbes associated with sorghum roots under three distinct irrigation regimens. Because the San Joaquin Valley generally sees no rain during the growing season, it is the ideal place to mimic drought conditions by withholding irrigation water.
All plots received a pre-plant irrigation to initiate growth. In the control plots, sorghum was irrigated normally, with weekly watering through the season. In the plot simulating pre-flowering drought stress, the plants received no additional water until flowering, about halfway through the season. The third treatment was watered normally until it flowered, and then water was cut off for the rest of the season.
Beginning when the plants emerged, the scientists collected samples from each plot on the same day and time each week for 17 weeks. In a mini, in-field laboratory, roots, rhizosphere (zone surrounding the root), leaves and soil samples from 10 plants in each plot were immediately frozen and transported to Berkeley, where they were disseminated to collaborators, who investigated the plant and microbial responses at the molecular level.
“When a sorghum plant is subjected to drought, it starts sloughing off metabolites, nutrients and amino acids from the roots. The compounds appear to communicate to the neighboring microbial community that the plant is under stress,” Lemaux said. “That selects out a certain population of microbes. Certain types of microbes increase, others go away. When you add water back, the microbial community returns to its pre-drought population in just a few days.”
The researchers cultured two specific microbes that were enriched in the rootzone under drought conditions. They coated sorghum seeds with the microbes and planted them under drought conditions in a growth chamber. This treatment encouraged the plant to grow more roots.
“The microbes appear to improve plant growth during drought,” Lemaux said. “Those microbes appear to be helping plants survive drought. We didn't know that was happening before we got these results.”
Lemaux said the research might lead to future field use of the research breakthrough.
“A lot of companies are interested in the microbiome,” she said. “Some are already selling microbes to coat seeds.”
- Author: Roberta Barton
How are you celebrating American agriculture in your life? In advance of National Ag Week, March 19-25, and National Ag Day, March 21, Central Valley third-grade students were “learning with lettuce” how to bring more agriculture into their lives last week. The UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center offers the free lettuce plantings every year at Farm and Nutrition Day in Fresno County and Kings County, typically around the time of National Ag Week.
Students with the help of volunteers learned how to plant tiny lettuce seedlings into a pot of healthy soil to take home for transplanting later. In addition to helping the students connect their food to agriculture, the lettuce planting offered an engaging, hands-on experience growing healthy and nutritious food at home.
National Ag Week is a nationwide effort coordinated by the Agriculture Council of America to tell the vital story of American agriculture and remind citizens that agriculture is a part of all of us. National Ag Day encourages every American to:
• Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
• Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.
• Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
• Acknowledge and consider career opportunities in the agriculture, food and fiber industry.
Each American farmer feeds about 144 people. As the world population soars, there is even greater demand for the food, fiber and renewable resources produced in the United States. Agriculture is this nation's #1 export and incredibly important in sustaining a healthy economy. That's why National Ag Week is a great time to reflect on and be grateful for American agriculture.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert. Adaptado al español por Leticia Irigoyen.
Hace cincuenta años, la compañía Thomas J. Lipton Inc. financió un estudio realizado por el Centro Extension e Investigación Agrícola de UC Kearny en Parlier (UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center), el cual está despertando hoy en día el interés de los científicos. Durante 18 años, los investigadores mimaron y convencieron a 41 clones de té intentando determinar si las plantaciones de este producto podrían ser una alternativa lucrativa para los granjeros del Valle de San Joaquín.
Los científicos de aquellos tiempos predijeron un potencial económico, para las futuras plantaciones de té en California, de hasta 25 mil dólares. Hoy día, el té representa una industria de 3,800 millones de dólares en Estados Unidos y UC Davis lanzó recientemente la Iniciativa Global del Té (Global Tea Initiative). Kearney presentó los reportes de sus investigaciones, correspondencias y recortes de periódicos sobre el estudio que se hizo hace algún tiempo acerca del té a la colección de investigación y enseñanza y alcance agrícola que se extiende a las ciencias sociales, salud, cultura y economía del té en general.
Eso llamó la atención de Jacquelyn Gervay-Hague, profesora de química de UC Davis, quien estudia los microorganismos que crecen en la tierra donde se cultiva el té y su potencial impacto en los atributos saludables de este.
“Creo que existe un intercambio microbiano que termina en la taza”, señaló Gervay-Haague.
Cuando el programa para la investigación del té se abandonado en 1981, un investigador clarividente contaba ya con un puñado de los mejores clones de té plantados en el paisaje que rodea los edificios de Kearney, donde permanecen en forma de arbustos indescriptibles que florean durante el otoño.
Hague, juntamente con sus estudiantes con frecuencia viaja fuera del país para probar la tierra en plantaciones de té, supo sobre las plantas en Kearney y reconoció la oportunidad de conducir estudios en California.
“Es realmente increíble”, dijo la experta.
El director de Kearney, Jeff Dahlberg, cree que el renovado interés por el té del citado centro, las cada vez más reconocidas propiedades saludables del té y el creciente entusiasmo por los tés artesanales y cultivados localmente pueden convertir a este producto en un lucrativo cultivo especializado para los granjeros a pequeña escala del Valle de San Joaquín.
“Esto podría ser algo como los arándanos azules”, indicó Dahlberg. “Hace 20 años, la gente creía que no podían ser cultivados en California. Pero con la investigación realizada aquí en Kearney, ahora existe una próspera industria de arándanos en el Valle de San Joaquín y en la costa.
Esa fue la misma intención que impulsó a los predecesores de Dahlberg a apoyar los estudios sobre el té en las décadas de los 60 y 70.
En ese tiempo, se propagaron 41 clones de té en una casa de tablillas en Kearney y después fueron plantadas en una parcela de medio acre. En 1967, el investigador agrónomo de Extensión Cooperativa de la UC, Karl H. Ingebretsen, le contó al reportero de un periódico que las plantas provenían de clones que sobrevivió un estudio similar del USDA en la década de 1880.
“La mayoría de las plantas importadas fueron traídas de un cultivo en Carolina del Sur, donde la compañía Lipton las encontró 10 años antes creciendo de manera silvestre”, dijo Ingebretsen en 1967.
El superintendente de Kearney en ese entonces, Frank Coddington, manifestó que los científicos esperaban que una experimentación positiva los llevara a variedades de tés adecuadas para la cosecha mecánica y la producción de té instantáneo, un producto que en esos días se hacía cada vez más popular.
Los clones del té de Kearney crecen bien y aparentemente de manera saludable, indica el reporte. Las plantas de té toleran el clima seco de California y aguantan el calor cuando se les riega apropiadamente. Se reportó que cinco de los 41 clones demostraron ser “prometedores” pero cuando el proyecto del té llegó a su fin en 1981, solo algunas de las plantas representando dos de los clones fueron salvadas como arbustos para paisaje. Nueve plantas crecen ahora al oeste de una bodega de lámina corrugada y cuatro bajo la sombra de unos perales en flor justo al sur del edificio original del sitio.
Gervay-Hague planea apoyarse en los resultados de la investigación de Kearney usando las herramientas de producción agrícola del siglo 21.
“No voy a repetir el trabajo realizado en la década de los 60, pero ellos no sabían acerca de microbiomas o genética en ese entonces”, dijo la experta. “UC Davis cuenta con la capacidad de imágenes tridimensionales, la cual deseo usar para ver las plantas cambiar. Me gustaría hacer pruebas de ADN”.
La química de UC Davis está solicitando fondos para construir un repositorio de plantas que podría convertirse en la base para los jardines de té comerciales de California.