California faces many complex challenges in the future. California must address these challenges to ensure a high quality of life, a healthy environment, and economic success for future generations.

The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resource ( UC ANR), a statewide network of UC researchers and educators dedicated to the creation, development, and application of knowledge in agricultural, natural, and human resources, recently released a Strategic Vision recognizing that California’s future depends on

• sustainable, nutritious, and safe food;
• clean, healthy, and sustainable places to live, work, and grow;
• resilient, biologically diverse, and healthy ecosystems;
• clean, secure, and sufficient supplies of water;
• cleaner and more secure energy;
• educated and engaged people; leaders prepared for and capable of making strategic decisions;
• innovative solutions and informed choices;
• economic opportunity and jobs.

The Strategic Vision identifies nine strategic initiatives as a start to address the challenges that face Californians. The following multidisciplinary, integrated initiatives represent the best opportunities for ANR’s considerable infrastructure and talent to seek new resources and new partnerships within and outside UC to find solutions for California.

The conceptual initiatives are:

1. Improve Water Quality, Quantity, and Security. Water is the life blood of California’s economy. As such, water supply and quality for agricultural, urban, and environmental systems is a critical issue facing the state over the next 20 years and beyond.

2. Enhance Competitive, Sustainable Food Systems. California agricultural competitiveness will depend upon adopting new scientific and technological innovations derived from new knowledge in agriculture and nutrition.

3. Increase Science Literacy in Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Nutrition. California is undergoing a remarkable social transformation driven by two forces that have shaped the state throughout history: dramatic demographic changes in the number, age, and diversity of the population and the impact of science and technology. Education will be a key contributor to the successful outcome of this transformation, providing the principal means of making informed decisions about complex issues.

4. Sustainable Natural Ecosystems. Population growth, coupled with climate and land use changes, are the most important issues that will affect California’s natural resources.  Future urban and suburban growth is projected to shift more toward rangelands and forests.

5. Enhance the Health of Californians and California’s Agricultural Economy.

Improving the health of Californians, enhancing their quality of life, and reducing health care costs are critical to the future of California.

6. Healthy Families and Communities. The major challenge for our families, schools, and communities is to promote positive development of children, youth, and adults.

7. Ensure Safe and Secure Food Supplies. Food-borne illnesses affect one in four Americans annually, with higher rates in California. Food-borne illnesses place a burden on our health care system and reduce the productivity of our workforce. Food insecurity, which currently affects one in ten California households, places additional burdens on our health care system as poor nutrition is directly related to numerous human diseases and increased health care costs.

8. Manage Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases. Increases in the number and kinds of pests and diseases may negatively impact California agriculture, natural resources productivity, and ecosystem functions, affecting Californians’ quality of life.

9. Improve Energy Security and Green Technologies. California faces diminishing and more costly supplies of energy, which can be addressed in part by California’s vast agricultural and natural resource base.

The Ventura County UCCE office is already working on several of these initiatives that are within our area of expertise. Throughout the state, many other dedicated scientists, researchers, and program representatives are also working hard today for the future.

To protect water resources and comply with increasing regulation, greenhouse managers are wise to make changes to prevent pollutants, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and container media from ending up in surface and ground waters. One way to do this is to use vegetated buffers.

Vegetated buffers are areas or strips of land maintained in permanent vegetation to prevent erosion and improve water quality by trapping and treating contaminants. Vegetative buffers can also provide many other benefits such as increasing beneficial insects for biological control of crop pests and protecting streambanks. In addition, they can be used for green waste and secondary crop production.

Some examples include vegetated buffers are bioswales, vegetated filter strips, and constructed wetlands.

• A vegetated bioswale is a stormwater conveyance system that channels stormwater. This type of buffer system improves water quality by reducing flow velocity and increasing sedimentation, filtering pollutants, and allowing infiltration into the underlying soils.

• A filter strip is a band of vegetation that can be used between a greenhouse and a waterbody. The purpose of the filter strip is to slow runoff from the production area and trap sediment, fertilizers, and pesticides before they reach surface water.

• A constructed wetland is an artificial marsh or swamp for treating wastewater, controlling flood waters, and reducing erosion. In greenhouse production, they can be built to further remove pollutants in the effluent from a retention basin.

Although there are different types of vegetative buffer systems, most work in a similar manner. Runoff containing soluble nutrients and pesticides, and sediments with adsorbed pesticides, enters the buffer. Vegetation in the buffer slow surface flow and sediments drop out. Some water infiltrates into the root zone and subsoil, while the remainder becomes lateral subsurface flow. When the roots of buffer plants grow to sufficient depth, they intercept infiltrated water, taking up the soluble nutrients and pesticides. Pesticides adsorbed to soil particles become trapped in the root zone, and high soil organic matter provides conditions for denitrification and pesticide degradation.

Things to consider before constructing a vegetative buffer.

When planning and designing a vegetative buffer, it is best to consult a licensed engineer or the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Buffers need to be designed and constructed to comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Plant species that are used in buffers should be selected based on their adaptability and tolerance to site conditions. Check local information sources, such as the NRCS and Cooperative Extension, before making selections. Some points to consider are: cost, growth rate, potential of plant invasiveness if not using native plant species, and the ability to use the buffers for producing secondary crops. Growers who are interested in developing techniques to produce secondary crops in vegetative treatment systems should contact Cooperative Extension and the NRCS for guidance.

Planting should be timed so buffers are established prior to expected runoff. Maintenance of vegetative buffers is necessary to sustain buffer function and effectiveness.

The information above was extracted from a larger document, written by Ventura County Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, Julie Newman. Please contact us if you would like to read the original document in its entirety.

UC has a great web site designed to inform the public and other UC scientists about the research they are doing related to climate change in California. It can be found at http://groups.ucanr.org/CAClimateChangeExt.

The site was designed by Monique Myers, UCCE coastal community development advisor for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and Susan Schlosser, UCCE marine advisor for Humboldt and Mendocino counties. “The objective is to raise awareness and get good science-based information out to the public. By expanding the site to include pages that highlight researchers doing California climate change research at UC, I think the info will be useful to other UC researchers,” Myers said.

The site is extremely interesting and features researchers covering many fields including: plant science, biometeorology, hydrology, sustainable energy, oceanography, environmental policy, climatology, geochemistry and much more. Information can be viewed in text format, or by watching video interviews with the researchers. The interviews are segmented into “Quick Topics” which are about 2-3 minutes in length. Not only do the interviews extend information, but the researcher’s positive commitment and passion on the issues add a powerful and personal touch. Examples of Quick Topics include: Climate Change Impacts on Water Supply, The West is Particularly Vulnerable, Emissions Trading, Transportation Solutions, and Carbon Footprinting.

Further information about the scientists and their research projects and publications is easy to find. A section of further links provides direction for additional learning.

An interesting study looking at the water requirements of common landscape plants, as told by Ventura County UCCE Staff Research Associate Maren Mochizuki.

Plants used commonly in the California landscape may have different water requirements for growth and aesthetics depending on the location in which they are grown.  One indicator of the amount of water a plant needs is the local evapotranspiration (ET), which is the loss of water to the atmosphere from the surface of plants and soil (evaporation) and from plant tissues via their pores or stomata (transpiration).  More information on evapotranspiration can be found at the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) website at, http://wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/infoEtoOverview.jsp.

Evapotranspiration varies considerably with the weather and location.  In studies conducted by UCCE researchers across the state, (north coast, north inland, south coast, and south desert climates) nine common landscape species including agapanthus, day lily, and star jasmine are being watered based on 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% of daily local ET measurements.  In the south coast region watering has ranged from weekly during the summer for the 80% ET to never for the 20% treatment.

Here in the south coast, the project is being conducted by Jim Downer, Ventura County UCCE Farm Advisor; Don Hodel, Los Angeles County Environmental Horticulture Advisor; and Maren Mochizuki, Staff Research Associate. When starting the project they allowed the plants to establish first, watering all of them equally and now have measured clippings and rated their appearance for the past two years. They are currently analyzing the data gathered so far and will continue the study one more year.  Check back soon for some preliminary results!

agapanthus

day lily

star jasmine