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Posts Tagged: Jason Suppes
Special education students cultivate farm skills at South Coast REC
Partnership with Esperanza Education Center provides blueprint for other adult transition programs
For students at Esperanza Education Center, an adult transition program serving students with disabilities in south Orange County, there was something deeply satisfying about handpicking 2,000 pounds of avocados.
“There's a tangible, visual element where you're like, ‘Wow, I did that – I did it, I can see it, I can feel it in my bones and my muscles,'” said Ray Bueche, principal of the school in Mission Viejo, within the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. “There's a real sense of accomplishment that you're seeing in some of these students.”
Ranging in age from 18 to 22, the students are in an adult education program that helps advance their independent living skills and prepare them for meaningful work and careers. They are able to experience the thrill of the harvest – and a variety of other farming activities – through the school's innovative partnership with UC South Coast Research and Extension Center, a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources facility that supports researchers and delivers outreach and education programs.
Given UC ANR's emphasis on workforce development, Jason Suppes, a community education specialist at South Coast REC, contacted Bueche in 2019 about a potential collaboration. While Esperanza has many partnerships with retail stores and nonprofits that give students invaluable work experiences, none of them offer the farm environment that South Coast REC could provide.
“Part of developing [our students] is getting a wide range of opportunities in a variety of vocational areas,” Bueche explained. “Agriculture is one that's very hard for us to find.”
Program ‘wildly successful' from beginning
Unlike other job sites that bring the students in less frequently, South Coast REC committed to hosting the young people every week for three hours (COVID-19 measures permitting), with Suppes and colleague Tammy Majcherek leading them in planting, weeding, maintenance, harvesting and more.
“We can provide opportunities for students to learn skills that could help them potentially find employment in a garden center, in a nursery, at landscapers,” Suppes said. “The program was wildly successful out of the gate.”
Mike Seyler, an Esperanza teacher who accompanies the students to South Coast REC, has seen firsthand the positive impacts of the partnership. He said one student – who at first balked at the idea of being outside, getting dirty and performing physical labor – eventually grew to like the work and took great pride in pulling carrots from the ground and sharing them with his family.
“To physically actually ‘see' the work you did – they don't always get to do that,” Seyler said. “It was cool to see someone, who didn't necessarily like being outdoors, really enjoy it now.”
The change of pace – and place – was especially beneficial for one young woman at Esperanza. Bueche said the nature of the work and the setting helped the student grow socially, as she relished the teamwork and camaraderie needed to accomplish their goals on the farm.
“We really saw a different person come out through her experiences there – she felt more self-confident; she was more personable with people; she was talking more,” said Bueche, who added that she has leveraged the skills she gained into a paid work-based learning experience with a local retailer.
Students bring produce to school, community
All students benefit from Esperanza's partnership with South Coast REC, as surplus produce from the center's fields is donated to make healthy school lunches. In addition, students use REC-grown fruits and vegetables at their monthly pop-up restaurant, where they hone skills in preparing and serving a three-course meal.
Their peers, who harvested the produce, derive immense satisfaction from seeing the fruits of their labor go directly to the school.
“They're able to enjoy eating the stuff that they're working for,” Seyler said. “And then they see everyone else enjoying it, and I think that really translates well for these guys.”
The students also played a prominent role in an avocado sale last summer, for which they picked 2,000 pounds of produce, bagged the fruit in 10-pound bags and then distributed preorders to the public from a stand at South Coast REC. Proceeds from the event were used to purchase farm tools, shirts and other gear.
“It was an incredible success – everyone loved the avocados,” Bueche said. “The students loved it; the parents came out; community members supported it.”
Those successes illustrate the power of a strong partnership; the South Coast REC team, in fact, received the school's “Community Partner of the Year” Award for 2020-21, for persevering through the pandemic to deliver the beneficial programs for students.
Over the last two years, Suppes and Bueche – through a lot of creativity and some trial and error – have sketched a roadmap for growing productive relationships between similar organizations and adult transition programs. And after presenting those results to colleagues, other local school districts and nonprofits such as Goodwill and My Day Counts have contacted South Coast REC to provide similar experiences for community members.
ANR in the news March 13-28
New Series of Nitrogen Management Advice Available
(Cal Ag Today) March 28
California growers can download a new series of publications summarizing efficient nitrogen management practices from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The publications are designed to assist growers in complying with state regulations for tracking and reporting nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops, in an effort to prevent nitrogen from leaching into groundwater.
https://californiaagtoday.com/new-series-of-nitrogen-management-advice-available
UC helps growers comply with new regulations
(Farm Press) Tim Hearden, March 27
A few months ago, while I was working with Todd Fitchette on a special package we were doing (or, he was doing and I was pitching in on) that focused on the 50th anniversary of the Citrus Research Board, I wrote a column about the benefits of land-grant universities such as the University of California (UC).
It's not an overstatement, I wrote, that the vast network of UC Cooperative Extension offices and research facilities has enabled agriculture in the Golden State to survive amid daunting challenges.
https://www.farmprogress.com/commentary/uc-helps-growers-comply-new-regulations
Communities come together to reforest Middletown Trailside Park
(Record Bee) Lucy Llewellyn Byard, March 27
Outdoorsman Greg Gusti, a University of California cooperative extension director emeritus who specializes in forests and wild lands ecology, addressed the crowd and gave them instructions on how to plant the trees 20 feet apart; showed them what 20 feet looked like on a tape measure, told them to plant the green side up and to keep the roots straight.
… Students dug in groups, sharing shovels and gloves. Sofie Hall and Elissa Holyoke worked with Michael Jones, a UC Cooperative Extension Forestry Advisor to plant their saplings.
The science and politics of genetically engineered salmon: 5 questions answered
(The Conversation) Alison Van Eenennaam, March 27
A Massachusetts-based company earlier this month cleared the last regulatory hurdle from the Food and Drug Administration to sell genetically engineered salmon in the U.S. Animal genomics expert Alison Van Eenennaam, who served on an advisory committee to the FDA to evaluate the AquAdvantage salmon, explains the significance of the FDA's move and why some have criticized its decision.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/The-science-and-politics-of-genetically-13719679.php
Students learn about insects at Farm Day in the City
(ABC 23) Amanda Mason, March 26
"Every single insect plays a role, even if it's only purpose is to get eaten by something. Everything is important," said Haviland.
David Haviland an entomologist at the University of California's Extension who studies insects and helps farmers manage agricultural pests, spent Tuesday at the Kern County Fairgrounds teaching students about good bugs and bad bugs at Farm Day in the City.
https://www.turnto23.com/homepage-showcase/students-learn-about-insects-at-farm-day-in-the-city
Expert: Speak up now about agriculture's carbon footprint
(Leader Telegram) Brooke Bechen, March 25
Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air quality extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California-Davis, isn't afraid to speak up, particularly on Twitter where he writes under the handle @GHGGuru. He sees 2.5 million people visiting his Twitter account each month, which provides accurate information on air emissions and busts myths distributed by those looking to attack animal agriculture.
“Being in California is like being at Ground Zero,” he said. “There are urban centers of people who think they're food experts, but most of these people have never set foot on a farm and don't know anything about agriculture.
Wildfire Speaker Series Tonight: Fire Resistant Homes & Defensible Space
(YubaNet) March 25
…Dr. Kate Wilkin is the new Forest and Fire Adviser with UC Cooperative Extension in Butte, Nevada, Sutter, and Yuba Counties. She recently moved here from Berkeley, CA where she was postdoctoral researcher focused on wildfire emissions and fire-forest-water relations. Her PhD, also at UC Berkeley, focused on the efficacy of fuel treatments in Northern California shrublands to reduce fire hazards and on mixed conifer forest-fire-water and fire-biodiversity relations. Before moving to California, Kate grew up in rural Appalachia and then explored other fire-prone regions of the US as a natural resource manager and prescribed fire burner on public and nonprofit lands. Based on these experiences and more, she knows that we need to use solutions responsibly, both old and new, to solve our forest health crisis. Kate will be focusing on incorporating fire safe concepts into residential landscaping.
https://yubanet.com/regional/wildfire-speaker-series-tonight-fire-resistant-homes-defensible-space
UC Cooperative offers water-measurement class
(David Enterprise) March 25
California water rights holders are required by state law to measure and report the water they divert from surface streams. For people who wish to take the water measurements themselves, the University of California Cooperative Extension is offering training to receive certification April 4 in Redding and Woodland.
Costa Mesa designates April as Coyote Awareness Month and approves further informational efforts to manage them
(Los Angeles Times) Luke Money, March 20
…In the past 30 days, about 20 coyote sightings or encounters in Costa Mesa were logged with Coyote Cacher, an online reporting system [created by Niamh Quinn, UCCE advisor, and IGIS].
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-cm-coyote-plan-20190320-story.html
UCCE Biologicals Conference Introduces New Crop Protection Tools for Growers
(Vegetables West) Matthew Malcolm, March 19, 2019
Biocontrol agents, beneficial microbes, entomopathogenic fungi and bacteria that can enhance crop production — these were all topics of discussion at the recent UC Cooperative Extension Ag Innovations Conference in Santa Maria, led by UCCE Entomology & Biologicals Advisor Surendra Dara. Watch this brief interview with Surendra as he shares more about what was discussed.
Landowners aim to fight fire with fire
(Benito Link) Blaire Strohn, March 19, 2019
The 2018 wildfire season in California was devastating, which left local landowners to consider how future blazes can be prevented. Their solution: more fire.
On March 14, The San Benito Working Landscapes Group and the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) hosted a meeting to discuss prescribed burning on San Benito County rangelands.
…UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor Devii Rao said the meeting also looked at Cal Fire funding and prescribed burn associations. She mentioned that last year former Gov. Jerry Brown signed two pieces of legislation related to prescribed burning:
Senate Bill 901 provides Cal Fire $1 billion for forest health, fuel load, and prescribed burns over five years, including $35 million a year for prescribed fire and other reduction projects.
Senate Bill 1260 requires Cal Fire to collaborate with public and private landowners on prescribed burns. They must also create a program for pre-certification for a “burn boss,” a private contractor that has experience in prescribed burning.
…In June, Rao will co-host a meeting with Lenya Quinn-Davidson and Jeff Stackhouse from UCCE Humboldt County. The meeting is expected to focus on how to develop a prescribed burn association, in addition to a small burn demonstration on a local private ranch.
https://benitolink.com/news/landowners-aim-fight-fire-fire
A More Humane Livestock Industry, Brought to You By Crispr
(Wired) Gregory Barber, March 19
Hopes were running high for cow 401, and cow 401 serenely bore the weight of expectations. She entered the cattle chute obligingly, and as the vet searched her uterus, making full use of the plastic glove that covered his arm up to his shoulder, she uttered nary a moo. A week ago, Cow 401 and four other members of her experimental herd at UC Davis were in the early stages of pregnancy. But now, following a string of disappointing checkups, it was all down to her. Alison Van Eenennaam, the animal geneticist in charge of the proceedings, kept watch from off to one side, galoshes firmly planted in the damp manure, eyes fixed on a portable ultrasound monitor. After a few moments, the vet delivered his fifth and final diagnosis. “She's not pregnant,” he said. Van Eenennaam looked up. “Ah, shit,” she muttered.
https://www.wired.com/story/crispr-gene-editing-humane-livestock
Climate change is hurting migrating waterbirds across the West. It could get worse
(Sacramento Bee) Andrew Sheeler, March 18
…Some birds, like the black-necked stilt and the sandhill crane, which breed early in the season, have thrived in the warming climate, said Mohammad Safeeq, a hydrologist with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and an adjunct professor at UC Merced.
But others suffer. That includes the killdeer, the Wilson's snipe, the black tern, and the western and Clark's grebe.
“We have looked at 14 species and among eight open-water and shoreline foraging species that have undergone significant population declines, five were negatively associated with temperature increases,” Safeeq said in an email interview.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article227983859.html
Group seeks healthy, resilient forests and communities
(Plumas News) March 18
…A public workshop was held at the Quincy Library on Jan. 15th. Presenter Jeff Stackhouse, the Livestock and Natural Resources advisor for the U.C. Cooperative Extension in Humboldt, presents case studies from the prescribed burn association.
http://www.plumasnews.com/group-seeks-healthy-resilient-forests-and-communities
US researchers moving abroad to avoid FDA's CRISPR-edited animal regulations
(Genetic Literacy Project) Cameron English, Alison Van Eenennaam, March 14
One day soon, farmers may be able to raise food animals immune to deadly diseases and spare them painful but necessary procedures like horn removal. These innovations, made possible by CRISPR and other gene-editing techniques, could cut the cost of food production, reduce antibiotic use in agriculture and dramatically improve animal welfare. But federal regulation may very well stifle these developments in the US.
In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a plan to regulate gene-edited animals as veterinary drugs under the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, because their DNA is “intentionally altered.” The proposal has drawn harsh criticism from animal scientists, some of whom are packing up their labs and leaving the US to avoid the FDA's rules. Food animals, these experts say, should be regulated based on the risk they pose to human health, not the breeding method that produced them.
Corky Anderson's energy, innovation helped save California's pistachio industry
(Bakersfield Californian) Steven E. Mayer, March 13
"Corky was an important player in the early pistachio industry," said a Kern County farm adviser with the UC Cooperative Extension who specializes in citrus and pistachios.
"And he was a great cooperator," Kallsen said. "He allowed lots of test trials on his properties."
… In 1980, Anderson and Puryear's first patented rootstock changed the industry, said Kevin Blackwell, general manager of Pioneer Nursery, the wholesale business founded by the two entrepreneurs.
"In our heyday, we were selling a million trees a year," said Blackwell, who said he has known Anderson for 47 years.
No one does it alone, Kallsen noted. Anderson built and refined his patented rootstock based on earlier research by the University of California.
Farmers protect crops in rain's aftermath
(Ag Alert) Ching Lee, March 13
Franz Niederholzer, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Colusa, Sutter and Yuba counties, said though cold weather does reduce the risk of most fungal diseases, other problems such as bacterial blast and jacket rot—also a fungal disease—are more prevalent during cool weather.
Cooler weather, however, does help to extend the bloom, he said. That allows farmers more time to apply fungicide, which is recommended at the beginning of bloom and again at full bloom, he said.
Brent Holtz, UCCE farm advisor in San Joaquin County, said he hasn't seen too many problems with fungal diseases at this point, because of how cool it's been, but there have been more incidents of bacterial blast, which can infect trees under stress. In orchards with high nematode populations, the bacteria can enter wounds on the surface of the plants created by frost, he noted.
"It blights the blossoms, and if the blossom is dead, they don't produce fruit," Holtz said.
http://agalert.com/story/?id=12801
Michael learns about 4-H in Fresno County
(KMPH) Stephen Hawkins, March 13, 2019
The 4-H Youth Development Program is preparing for events all over the Central Valley and you are invited.
Michael Ikahihifo spent the morning at Dry Creek Park in Clovis to see what the local 4-H has planned.
https://kmph.com/great-day/michael-in-the-mix/michael-learns-about-4-h-in-fresno-county
The City of Cypress calls for its residents to be “Coyote Aware”
(OC Breeze) March 13
The Cypress City Council recently adopted a coyote management plan to address community concerns about the presence of coyotes in Cypress. While coyotes are generally reclusive animals who avoid human contact, it is important to be aware of their presence and take appropriate action to ensure the safety of your property and pets.
…Residents are encouraged to reportcoyote activity on Coyote Cacher:
Coyote Cacher allows the City to monitor all reported encounters.
Residents can also use Coyote Cacher to view a map of reported
encounters and sign up to receive email alerts.
California's super bloom attracts swarms of migrating butterflies
(CNN) David Williams, March 13
This year's wildflower super bloom is not only filling California deserts with eye-popping displays of color -- it's also providing a feast for swarms of painted lady butterflies making their way north from Mexico.
"This is the biggest outbreak since 2005," said Art Shapiro, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who's been studying the migration of butterflies in the state since 1972.
…"I saw more butterflies in the last 10 minutes than I've seen my entire life," Jason Suppes wrote Tuesday on Twitter. Suppes is an education specialist at an agricultural research facility in Irvine.
http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/california-butterflies-trnd/index.html
Grape growers continue push to mechanize
(Western Farm Press) Lee Allen, March 13
…In Fresno, growers affiliated with the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association met to discuss the latest UC research on incidents of disease and machine injury to trunks and rootstock.
… “Growers are having a hard time finding workers to maintain their vineyards and increasing labor costs are challenging grape-farming's economic sustainability,” says UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor George Zhuang. “We're studying the use of machines to reduce the number of people needed to perform tasks like pruning.
“Because canopy architecture and yield characteristics involving mechanically-pruned vines are much different from those that are hand-pruned, water and fertilizer requirements for the mechanically pruned vines can be quite different. Performance of different rootstocks in mechanical pruning systems is critical for both yield and fruit quality of grape production in the San Joaquin Valley.”
…Kaan Kurtural, UC Cooperative Extension viticulture specialist in the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Department, whose research involves improving vineyard production efficiency through canopy and crop load management via mechanization, says the case for switching out hand labor with machines gets stronger with growers using such mechanization for pruning, suckering, and removing shoots and leaves.
“Mechanical pruning can produce more stable year-to-year fruit yields of better quality than traditional and more costly hand pruning spurs or canes.” His comments were based on a Kern County two-year research trial looking for ways for growers to reduce both cost and water use.
https://www.farmprogress.com/grapes/grape-growers-continue-push-mechanize
As Wildfires Devour Communities, Toxic Threats Emerge
(Reuters) Sharon Bernstein, March 13
At U.C. Davis, where researchers are studying eggs from backyard chickens that may have breathed smoke and pecked at ash in areas affected by wildfires, the work is complicated.
"In an urban fire you're dealing with contaminants that don't go away – arsenic, heavy metals, copper, lead, transformer fluid, brake fluid, fire retardant," said veterinarian Maurice Pitesky, who is leading the study.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-03-13/as-wildfires-devour-communities-toxic-threats-emerge
DR. GLENDA HUMISTON: Managing our Lands to Manage our Water
Maven's Notebook, March 13, 2019
Dr. Glenda Humiston is Vice President of Agriculture & Natural Resources for the University of California. At the 2019 California Irrigation Institute conference, Dr. Humiston was the opening keynote speaker, and in her speech, she talked about work being done to address drought vulnerability, the importance of managing watersheds, the goals of the California Economic Summit, and the promising future of biomass.
She began by saying that we have known for a long time that water insecurity is a huge issue, and not just due to climate change or droughts; it's also policy, regulations, allocations and technology – there are a lot of issues and managing the effects of it are very challenging.
https://mavensnotebook.com/2019/03/13/dr-glenda-humiston-managing-our-lands-to-manage-our-water/
Hearing planned to examine the future of development in California's most fire prone regions
(Lake County News) March 13
…The hearing, led by Senators Henry Stern and Mike McGuire, chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee and the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, respectively, titled “Living Resiliently in the New Abnormal: The Future of Development in California's Most Fire Prone Regions” will be held Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the State Capitol in Room 4203.
…Testifying at the hearing are:
· Mark Ghilarducci, director, California Office of Emergency Services;
· Bob Fenton, regional administrator, FEMA Region 9;
· Dr. Max Moritz, statewide wildfire specialist, University of California Cooperative Extension;
· Jeff Lambert, director of planning, city of Oxnard, past president, American Planning Association, California Chapter;
· Chief Kate Dargan, California State Fire Marshal (retired), Cal Fire;
· Chief Ken Pimlott, director (retired), Cal Fire;
· Scott Lotter, former mayor, city of Paradise;
· Tim Snellings, planning director, Butte County;
· Chief Michael McLaughlin, Cosumnes Community Services District Fire Department;
· Ty Bailey, California Professional Firefighters, president, Sacramento Area Firefighters, Local 522, fire captain, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
4-H youth learning to love nature
Youth in California will know the thrill of the find as they search out and observe birds in their own communities. The children will be taking part in the UC Cooperative Extension 4-H program's pilot study of new birding curriculum developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Cornell has long offered “Bird Sleuth” materials for use in schools. Now they have branched out to informal educational settings by writing two new curricula, “Habitat Connections” and “Nature Detectives,” which are being pilot-tested in California, New York and Illinois.
“We'll be getting kids to start observing things in nature, making a record and sharing their data with the repository at the Lab of Ornithology,” Schmitt-McQuitty said. “As we go through the monthly meetings, we'll keep a running total of the species we see.”
The classes aren't just about spotting birds and identifying them. The curriculum weaves in a greater understanding of science and environment with sessions on habitat, the food web and bird survival. Each meeting begins with an optional one-hour bird hike, adding outdoor exercise and nature observation to the science activities.
Over the course of the program, the children will identify a habitat need for wildlife at Hollister Hills. At the final class, they will be out in the field addressing the need by placing nesting boxes, planting native plants, removing invasive species or some other habitat improvement.
Other California counties involved in the pilot study are Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Orange. Cornell received a grant from the Noyce Foundation to create and test the curriculum. Representatives from the Ithaca, N.Y., school traveled to California to offer train-the-trainer instruction to 4-H advisors, program representatives and volunteer project leaders.
The curriculum comes in two versions: Nature Detectives, the one to be implemented by Schmitt-McQuitty in San Benito County, and Habitat Connections, which is adapted for afterschool programs.
4-H community educator in Orange County, Jason Suppes, will coordinate the pilot study of Habitat Connections in an Anaheim affordable housing development, Pradera Apartment Homes. Unlike Nature Detectives, in which each monthly class builds on previous lessons, Habitat Connections lessons stand on their own. The format is ideal for the Pradera program, which doesn't attract all the same children to each meeting.
“I don't expect the kids to all become avid birdwatchers, but I'll be pleased if they are able to identify one or two birds in their community,” Suppes said. “They'll get a greater sense about the environment where they live and what they can do to have an impact on the environment.”
The majority Pradera residents are of Latino descent, and most have had few opportunities to learn about nature. Because of the shifting demographics in California to a population with Latinos representing the largest segment, the stewardship of the state's open spaces and public lands could be passed to people who haven't had access or developed an interest.
“Some of these kids never leave their city block,” Suppes said. “Everywhere in the county, we're within 15 miles of the mountains or the ocean. The majority have never seen either one. In 4-H, we're shaping a new generation of land stewards.”
An initiative to maintain and enhance healthy families and communities is part of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Stratetic Vision 2025.
