Gomes, W.R. : Vice President Agriculture and Natural Resources

W.R . GOMES Vice President Agriculture and Natural Resources do not permit proper disposal of toxic chemicals . Fire exits are ( As California Agriculture celebrates its 50th year of publication , inadequate and there is no access for the disabled . we revisit topics originally raised byformer UC President Robert The stateâ??seconomy and debt capacity limit its present abil - Gordon Sproul , in a commentary published in thefirst issue ofDe - ity to support construction needs . As part of an overall UC ef - cember , 1946 . - Editor ) fort , the Division has intensively pursued private fund raising for capital projects and made increased use of debt financing , â?? . . . the growing demands of the agricultural industry , lease - purchase mechanisms and land - lease arrangements with mean of course , that more men [ sic ] are needed for re - third - party developers . Projects today have multiple fund search , and in turn , more buildings to house them . For - sources and reflect creative funding approaches . tunately , money is available to care for immediate needs , For instance , the recent construction of the Kearney Agri - in the sum of more than seven and one - half million dol - cultural Centerâ??s postharvest evaluation facility was funded lars . â?쳌 - former UC President Robert Gordon Sproul in through a unique agreement involving private and public the first California Agriculture , 1946 sources . Though the facility was one of UCâ??s top priority items for capital improvement , its construction was delayed by the Sproul described an enviable situation in 1946 . A prosper - lack of state funding . A San Joaquin Valley grower offered to ous , peacetime economy favored major expansion in educa - construct a portion of the facility using private funds , in antici - tion . UC would soon open its doors to a massive influx of re - pation that a future bond issue would allow state - funded turning GIâ??s.The mandate was clear , and relatively few social completion . UC licensed the land to the grower who partially programs competed with education for the public dollar . constructed and gifted the facility back to the University . The UCâ??s College of Agriculture was then embarking on nearly donorâ??s portion was completed in a dozen major construction projects on three campuses . That 1992 , with the total facility completed in 1994 . construction would help create a research and extension enter - Another example is the Lindcove Research and Extension prise without equal . Center , which houses a state - of - the - art research facility dupli - Today the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources is cating nearly all conditions encountered in commercial citrus the largest research and extension program in the world , and packinghouses . The Citrus Research Board Fruit Quality one of the most highly regarded . Its scientists have advanced Evaluation Center was constructed by the Board , using the food production and environmental science for 120years . The model agreement from Kearney , and donated to UC in 1995 . effects are widespread , ranging from model production meth - At the Shafter Research Station , a program was established ods applied in third world countries to biotechnology innova - involving four - way cooperation among the California cotton tions that are revolutionizing food production and pest man - industry ( through California Crop Improvement Association ) , agement around the world . the U.S . Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) , Kern County and But today - 50 years after Sproulâ??s remarks - that re - the University to develop and maintain a modern cotton re - search enterprise is largely housed in buildings of 1950s vin - search facility . tage and earlier . The building boom of the late 1940s and Although many Division scientists are housed in laborato - 1950s was never repeated . ries and research facilities of 1950svintage or earlier , they are Many of our research and extension facilities on campuses competing in a world where state - of - the - art design is essential and in the Research and Extension Centers are in poor condi - tion , inefficient and inadequate to meet current needs . These to good science . While there are examples of modern , state - of the art facili - buildings conform to decades - old building , fire , life safety and ties available to our scientists ( USDA and the State of Califor - accessibility codes . They were built to accommodate the re - nia are in the process of providing alternative pest control search and engineering laboratory functions of the 1950s quarantine and containment facilities at the Riverside and and earlier - functions which are dramatically more com - Davis campuses ) the Division and those it serves are in dire plex today . need of modernized facilities across the state . In the oldest buildings , there are severe deficiencies in wir - Through alliances with our partners in industry and our ing , ventilation , and utilities . These buildings canâ??t be reha - private supporters , we must continue to develop creative ways bilitated because there is no space in the ceilings for utilities . of building facilities that allow our scientists to fulfill their The laboratory benches are not large enough or well - enough world - class abilities . equipped to support contemporary research teams . Facilities CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE , VOLUME 50 , NUMBER 5 2