- Author: Penny Leff
Hardesty's research and extension work has focused on the needs and opportunities of smaller-scale farmers and ranchers. Over the years, she studied cooperatives' performance, the development of local food markets and values-based supply chains, and alternative marketing channels for smaller-scale farms and ranches. She researched and reported on, among other topics, the economic impact of local food marketing and the impact of food safety regulations on smaller operators. Her well-researched studies have influenced the development of facilities, regulations and policies affecting smaller producers.
Hardesty organized numerous workshops for small-scale farmers and ranchers, covering a broad range of topics, including cooperatives, direct marketing, food safety, agritourism, specialty food businesses and other strategies for sustaining and diversifying small and mid-scale agricultural businesses.
In her Specialty Food Workshop evaluations, Hardesty often received grateful comments, such as “This was an awesome workshop! So informative, so helpful, so comprehensive”, “Well researched information - Wish had more time. Handouts great - lots of resources” and “Gave me a great reality check, before proceeding to market”.
In addition, Hardesty taught an undergraduate class about cooperatives for eight years.
“I've appreciated having opportunities to interact with so many dedicated UC Cooperative Extension advisors and staff and UC Davis graduate students on a tremendous variety of issues,” Hardesty said about her work with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “To me, it's been an incredible learning experience. I hope I have shared my insights effectively with the farming community.”
Hardesty has served on numerous boards of directors and advisory committees over the years. Since 2007, she has helped lead the California Small Farm Conference Board of Directors in organizing an annual conference for small-scale farmers and farmers' market managers. She has also served on the board of the Davis Farmers Market, the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Direct Marketing Advisory Committee, The California Sheep Commission, the National Cooperative Business Association and the Davis Planning Commission.
Hardesty, who was born in Japan, sailed with her family under the Golden Gate Bridge to the Port of Oakland when she was seven years old. The family settled in Burlingame, where Hardesty learned English as her third language. She received a B.A. in economics from UC Davis in 1973 and an M.S. in agricultural economics from UC Davis in 1974, and then worked for the UC Davis Planning and Budget Office as an analyst from 1975 to 1980.
After receiving her doctorate from UC Davis in 1984, Hardesty was hired by Michigan State University as an assistant professor of agricultural economics. She returned to California in 1987, serving as the senior economist for the California Rice Growers Association and then as principal of the Food Marketing and Economics Group, a consulting firm. In 2002, Hardesty returned to academia as director of the UC Center for Cooperatives. When the center was closed in 2004, she became a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis.
Shortly after the Small Farm Center's closure, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded the UC Small Farm Program team the 2010 National Diversity Award “…for an exemplary extension program, notable for its proven commitment to serving diverse farming communities throughout California with innovative approaches that help small farmers succeed.”
UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisors specialize in developing niche crops that work well for smaller-scale growers. Recent successes include blueberries and coffee.
“I will always remember being at the Kearney [Agricultural Research and Extension Center] blueberry field days and tasting the amazing variety of blueberries grown around California,” said Hardesty, “and the beauty of seeing coffee growing in the Santa Barbara Hills.”
In her retirement, Hardesty says she is “planning to travel with my husband to our national parks, get involved with a local food project, work on a mosaic panel for our patio and spend time with my new granddaughter and my sister. And who knows what else comes up!”
- Author: Pat Bailey,UC Davis News and Media Relations, (530) 219-9640, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu
Sacramento-area farmers and ranchers who sell their products directly to consumers generate twice as much regional economic impact per dollar of output as do area food producers who don't engage in direct marketing, reports a UC Davis agricultural economist and a team of UC Cooperative Extension researchers.
The newly released study of the four Sacramento region counties of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo found that direct-marketing food producers had a regional output multiplier of 1.86 compared to just 1.42 for producers not involved in direct marketing.
Direct-marketing channels include farmers markets, roadside farm stands and community-supported agriculture programs that provide consumers with regular deliveries of farm products.
“The direct marketers make up a relatively small part of the Sacramento region's agricultural sector, but this study demonstrates that these food producers generate both economic and qualitative benefits for the region,” said study leader Shermain Hardesty, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“It's important that the economic contributions of direct-marketing farmers and ranchers be taken into consideration so that regional policies can be enhanced to support and nurture the growth of these food producers,” Hardesty said.
The regional economic impacts identified in the study are threefold: revenue received directly by the agricultural producer; a ripple effect when the food producer purchases inputs in the region; and a secondary ripple when the producer and the suppliers of goods and services to the producer, in turn, spend more money in the region on household goods and services.
The report, along with separate economic impact reports specifically for El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties, is available online.
Sacramento region direct marketers
In the four-county Sacramento region, direct-marketing food producers are a relatively small segment of the total agricultural sector, accounting for 19 percent of the region's farms and only 4 percent of its agricultural production.
The direct-marketing farm operations tend to be smaller and more labor-intensive, and source more of their inputs locally than do nondirect-marketing operations in the area.
The new study was based on economic information gathered from 88 local farmers and ranchers, including 31 vegetable farmers, 48 orchard or vineyard growers and nine livestock producers, each of whom generated at least $1,000 in annual sales from marketing directly to consumers.
After the data were collected, they were incorporated into an economic modeling program to estimate the economic impacts of producers engaged in direct marketing.
Study highlights
Other findings from the report include:
• Sacramento region direct-market producers averaged just $164,631 in one year of sales compared to $568,105 for those not engaged in direct marketing.
• Seventy-three percent of the direct marketers also sold through wholesale channels.
• Overall, the direct-market producers generated 44 percent of their total revenues through direct-marketing channels, 55 percent through wholesale channels and 1 percent through commodity markets.
• For every $1 million of output, the direct-market producers generated a total of 31.8 jobs in the Sacramento region while the nondirect-market producers generated only 10.5 jobs.
• Direct marketers purchased 89 percent of their inputs within the region while the nondirect-market producers purchased 45 percent of their inputs in the region. This local sourcing of inputs was the primary factor responsible for the direct-market producers having a greater economic impact on the region than nondirect-market producers.
Collaborators and funding
Hardesty collaborated on the study with Libby Christensen, Erin McGuire and Gail Feenstra, all of UC Davis; and Chuck Ingels, Jim Muck, Julia Boorinakis-Harper, Cindy Fake and Scott Oneto, all with the UC Cooperative Extension.
Funding for the study was provided by the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Competitive Grants Program.
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- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Urban agriculture is one tool that has the potential to improve food security in California communities.
To better support the state's urban agriculture, a statewide assessment of urban agriculture needs was conducted by Surls, Gail Feenstra, deputy director of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP); Sheila Golden, former SAREP staff member who now works for Community Alliance with Family Farmers; Ryan Galt, professor in the Department of Human and Community Development; Shermain Hardesty, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics; Cheryl Wilen, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Diego County; Claire Napawan, professor in the Department of Human Ecology; Valerie Borel, horticulture and natural resources program coordinator in Los Angeles County; Aziz Baameur, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Santa Clara County; and Rob Bennaton, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The team conducted a survey of ANR personnel and interviewed urban farmers and policymakers.
They found that 65 percent of ANR academics and staff responding to the survey said that they had provided support, advice, technical assistance or served as a partner for urban agriculture activities within the past year.
ANR personnel said they would like to see educational materials developed specifically for urban agriculture on a number of topics, including pest management, water management, design of community projects, soil testing and remediation and tips for projects at schools.
Their study has been published in the February issue of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, a special issue on urban agriculture.
To read the full report, you can also view it at http://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanAg/files/188371.pdf.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The UC small farm program held a series of two-day workshops around California to outline the provisions of the new law. Shermain Hardesty, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, was the coordinator and an instructor for the series. The class was popular, but many of the farming participants found that the letter of the law tended to hinder their creativity rather than open new business avenues.
Hardesty said the Homemade Food Act (AB 1616) was designed to, among other things, help farming families take their surplus produce and make dried products, jams, jellies and butters. However, the California Department of Public Health is requiring cottage food operators to do all of their processing in their home kitchen, to comply with the Statutory Provisions Related to Sanitary and Preparation Requirements for Cottage Food Operations (Excerpts from the California Health and Safety (H&S Code, including H&S 113980 Requirements for Food), specifically, the CDPH requires that cottage food operators comply with the following operational requirements:
"All food contact surfaces, equipment, and utensils used for the preparation, packaging, or handling of any cottage food products shall be washed, rinsed, and sanitized before each use. All food preparation and food and equipment storage areas shall be maintained free of rodents and insects."
Cutting fruit and laying it in the sun to dry, for example, is not permitted. For jams and jellies, the law stipulates sugar-to-fruit ratios that require more sugar than fruit. For some cooks, the rules defeat the unique character of their homemade, gourmet products.
“I really try not to put a lot of sugar in my jellies. I want it to taste like fruit,” said farmer Annie Main, who took the UC class.
Main and her husband Jeff run an organic fruit, vegetable, flower and herb operation on 20 acres in the Capay Valley of Yolo County.
“I've been doing value-added for 20 years,” Main said. “In the '90s, I started making jams and jellies in a rented certified kitchen. But it's a trek to get labor, jars, supplies and fruit to the restaurant kitchen after hours and then work till midnight. We thought with the new law, I could do it in my own kitchen, which would be fabulous.”
However, she found that the rules of the law are so restrictive as to be prohibitive.
“Farmers in the class were asked whether the law extended their ability for economic return on their products. Every single one shook their heads,” Main said. “The new law doesn't help us at all.”
Hardesty said there may be other options for these producers to process and sell their foods. She is planning to offer another class this fall, “Cottage Food Plus,” to help growers find workable mechanisms for selling their food.
“They may be able to use a co-packer to do the processing or a commercial kitchen or become registered as a processing food facility,” Hardesty said.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
To survive as a small-scale farmer, it may not be enough to merely grow food. With most people eating food grown by very large commercial agricultural enterprises, small farmers can attract sales with some creativity and a personal touch, reported Gosia Wozniacka of the Associated Press.
Farm operators generated $10 billion in 2007 from farm-related activities other than crop or livestock wholesale, an increase of nearly 80 percent from 2002, the article said.
For perspective on what is known as value-added agriculture, Wozniacka spoke to Shermain Hardesty, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. Hardesty said value-added products are "a way to have a product to sell year-round, even during winter months."
Examples of value-added products are jams and jellies, farm stays, workshops and U-pick operations.
"It reinforces farmers' connection to consumers," Hardesty said. "And by getting involved in marketing their identities, they can expand their profitability."