Posts Tagged: urban

UC offers resources for urban farmers at EcoFarm

University of California scientists will be participating in the 44th Annual EcoFarm Conference Jan. 17-20 in Pacific Grove. EcoFarm participants gather to celebrate and learn about advances in farming and food systems throughout the state. This year, the three-day conference will highlight Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities that depend on agriculture, while also showcasing the new technological advances that further the development of agriculture.

Researchers from the UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital's Department of Population Health, the Western Institute of Food Safety and Security and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources will be attending the conference to highlight the importance of food safety and technical skills in urban farming.

At EcoFarm, the Western Institute of Food Safety and Security will showcase its Civic Urban Farmer Program with an exhibit. The program, led by UC Davis assistant project scientist Sara Garcia and supported by UC Cooperative Extension, strives to uplift BIPOC communities. 

The Civic Urban Farmer Program 

The Civic Urban Farmer Program – a no-cost, 11-week program for farmers in the Sacramento region and Bay Area – provides technical support for new and upcoming urban farmers through webinars and in-person events. The program is available for any race, gender, age and skill ability, and seeks to provide safe, expert advice for farmers at any scale.

Soil health, composting, pest management, business marketing, food safety and urban policy are among the topics covered in its lecture-style classes. 

Earlier this year, the program graduated its second cohort, with the support of two nonprofit organizations, Three Sisters Gardens in West Sacramento and Common Vision in Oakland. The program is supported by industry professionals, researchers and government officials, as well as local nonprofit and non-governmental organizations.

Elina Niño, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in apiculture, joined the Civic Urban Farmer Program to support urban farmers with training on managing pollinators to increase crop yields and create value-added products such as honey. The success of the pollinator program revealed that small urban farmers desire resources and education that are tailored specifically toward the cultivation of healthy and safe food.

For more information about the Civic Urban Farmer Program, visit https://www.wifss.ucdavis.edu/urbanfarmers.

Organic Agriculture Institute 

The UC Organic Agriculture Institute, led by UC Cooperative Extension specialist Houston Wilson, will have an exhibit at EcoFarm. UC Organic Agriculture Institute brings together growers, certifiers, consultants, community groups and other  stakeholders with UC research and extension personnel to share information about organic farming.

For more information about the UC Organic Agriculture Institute, visit https://organic.ucanr.edu.

Workshop speakers

Several UC Cooperative Extension advisors will be speaking at EcoFarm, including Richard Smith, UCCE emeritus vegetable crops advisor; Patricia Lazicki, UCCE vegetable crops advisor; and Margaret Lloyd, UCCE small farms advisor.

Connect with @ucanr on X, Instagram and LinkedIn.

 

Now is the time to plant climate-ready trees, says UCCE researcher

In a drought-prone region like Southern California, working with Mother Nature is not only wise but necessary, according to Janet Hartin, UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor for Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, who studies climate-ready trees.

In 2020, Governor Newsom launched the California Climate Action Corps, empowering Californians to protect their communities from the impacts of climate change. Newsom's call to action emphasizes the need for long-term and sustainable solutions like Hartin's research, which urges Southern California to care for existing trees and plant new ones.

In collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and other UC Cooperative Extension scientists, Hartin is amid a 20-year research study identifying trees suitable for California's different climate zones. Her work provides a comprehensive understanding of trees and their benefits related to human and environmental health, particularly as Californians navigate climate change's evolving challenges.

One of these concerns is urban heat islands. UHIs are areas in which heat is reradiated from paved concrete or asphalt surfaces. In cities covered in asphalt, like Los Angeles, average temperatures can become six degrees hotter than surrounding areas.

To reduce urban heat islands, she has been working with community organizations to plant trees. In March, for example, Hartin teamed up with the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District to increase tree canopy in the Inland Empire.

“We've collaborated extensively with her over the years, and we knew Janet had been developing a regionally scaled concept for connecting community members to climate-appropriate trees, alongside access to technical assistance from regional UCCE Master Gardeners to ensure long-term tree health and survival,” said IERCD District Manager Mandy Parkes.

Trees keep cities cool

To keep the city cool, some Los Angeles neighborhoods are repainting pavements with reflective coating. According to a 2020 study published in Environmental Research Letters, reflective coating can decrease pavement temperatures up to 10 degrees. As helpful as this is, augmenting urban landscapes to include heat-, drought- and pest-resistant tree species, whether native or not, can significantly reduce the impacts of urban heat islands too.  

“Trees can cool impervious surfaces by 40 to 65 degrees,” Hartin said. During a 2021 study, in May and June Hartin discovered that unshaded asphalt could be more than 60 degrees hotter than shaded asphalt during late spring and early summer in inland and desert cities.

Other than providing shade, trees are effective at deflecting the sun's radiation and cooling the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. Given that they absorb and store carbon as well, trees lessen the impacts of pollution from fossil fuels.

“A well-tended mature landscape tree can absorb 40 tons of carbon over its lifespan,” said Hartin. 

In a 2021 blog post, Hartin suggests trees be selected based on their adaptation to the “micro-climate” in each particular landscape, noting factors to consider like shade, proximity to buildings, space needs below and above ground, soil type and water source. She also recommends the Sunset Western Climate Zone maps for reference, noting that they are “more precise than USDA zones for our warmer climates.”

Based on the study with the U.S. Forest Service examining the performance of 12 species of underplanted but promising landscape trees at UC Riverside, favorable candidates include bubba desert willow and maverick thornless honey mesquite for their drought resistance, and red push pistache for its drought and heat resistance. 

Tamara Hedges, executive director of UC Riverside Palm Desert Center and member of the Board of Directors for the Oswit Land Trust, agrees that trees are important in our fight against climate change: 

“Through our partnerships with the UC California Naturalist and the Master Gardener Programs and many other nonprofits in the Coachella Valley, natural ecosystems are being protected and expanded and built environments cooled through the planting of appropriate tree species. These UC/USFS studies go a long way in identifying new underrepresented tree species."  

General tips for planting

For California, planting in early fall through late winter provides ample time for trees to establish a strong root system  before enduring the summer heat. Doing so also means that natural rainfall can fulfill water needs, as opposed to solely relying on irrigation systems.

Unlike newly planted trees, mature trees should be watered infrequently but deeply. Watering too often can reduce the level of oxygen in the rootzone and result in waterlogged soils prone to crown and root rots. 

During the fall, trees only need about 15% of the water they would require in the summer. When watering, keep the tree trunk dry. Because the roots of the tree grow outward and are usually a foot deep into the ground, Hartin recommends watering the area around the trunk rather than the trunk itself. This will also help avoid water waste.

“Trees not adapted to the climate they're planted in and not receiving proper care are much more susceptible to invasive pests like shothole borers and diseases,” said Hartin. “Even the loss of one front yard tree can significantly reduce shade, increase the surrounding temperature, and diminish energy savings.”

 

Backyard chickens stay healthy with help from UC researchers, website

In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of backyard poultry farms as people have taken an increased interest in farming. With raising these animals comes new challenges in taking care of them and ensuring they stay healthy.

However, there is a gap between the needs of these small avian communities in Californians' backyards and the current services available that generally work for service large-scale poultry operations alone.

This is where Beatriz Martinez Lopez, professor of infectious disease epidemiology, and Alda Pires, associate professor for Cooperative Extension and agronomist, come into play. Both in UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the two women work on projects addressing avian influenza, animal health and food safety needs of people raising backyard poultry and livestock.

“Alda has a lot of experience and her work is amazing,” said Martinez Lopez.

To better address the diseases and problems associated with raising birds in the California context, they completed a series of needs assessments to understand the animal health requirements of small farms and backyard chickens.

“It has helped us be more organized and structured in our outreach,” Pires said. “There is a need to apply simple, practical biosecurity plans that are adapted for multiple species to small-scale, backyard and diversified farms.”

Through a multistate project funded by the USDA National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, they created a website, FARM PPE, for producers to easily access biosecurity plan templates and additional resources. PPE stands for prepare, prevent and evaluate to reduce disease risk.

 “Our clients are benefiting from the structured network we created,” Pires continued. “This website project, FARM PPE, aims to improve uptake of biosecurity measures on small-scale farms, by focusing on farmers and other professionals, including extension educators and veterinarians.”

The website project also created several trainings for farmers and educators to generate consistent messaging for small-scale farms. 

With backyard birds being one of the potential sources of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, it is important to understand how the disease could spread to commercial flocks. The major challenge of the project is the complexity of the human/wildlife interface and the difficulties in predicting where an outbreak may arise.

Together, Martinez Lopez and Pires have published several papers about modeling disease transmission, and the work yields valuable information about hotspots for targeting surveillance strategies and wildlife surveys.

Their professional partnership is rooted in their personal connection; the scientists met as graduate students in 2006 and were delighted to cross paths again at UC Davis.

“Our collaboration started with friendship and our common interests in epidemiology and animal health,” said Pires.

As exemplified by their own careers, Martinez Lopez and Pires stress the importance of networking, getting involved and taking risks. 

“Invite farm advisors and outreach partners from the beginning of the process so that they are part of the team,” Pires said. “That way you can create solutions that will give them the knowledge and resources they need.”

 

New UC ANR publication educates public on cycles of cattle production, grazing and economics

The pandemic has brought more people into nearby parks and public lands for hiking, biking and other recreational activities. In areas like the East Bay Regional Parks – a San Francisco Bay Area park system totaling more than 120,000 acres where about 65% of the land is grazed by livestock – visitors might see goats, sheep and, most likely, cattle.

Those encounters with animals (or their manure) represent a prime opportunity for members of the public to learn about agriculture and the ecological benefits of rangelands, according to Larry Forero, a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor.

“In addition to supporting the raising of meat and other by-products, rangelands provide a variety of ecosystem services, including vegetation and watershed management, fire fuel control, and, increasingly, management of habitat for rare and endangered species,” Forero explained, noting that working rangelands cover around 40% of California's land area.  

As livestock grazing (mostly by beef cattle) constitutes a significant portion of land use across the state, Forero – along with fellow UCCE advisors Sheila Barry and Stephanie Larson – recently authored a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources publication summarizing the mechanics of cattle production.

“Beef Cattle on California Annual Grasslands: Production Cycle and Economics,” published in October and available as a free download on the UC ANR Catalog, describes the seasonal phases of cattle production and the factors that impact ranchers' financial calculations and management decisions.

“This concise publication walks through annual stock flows and calendar of operations and gives tables for estimating costs, return over cash, and gross income under various scenarios,” said Forero.

By covering care practices, infrastructure needs, grazing management and economics, Forero said the publication offers a succinct overview of beef cattle production and rangeland use for land managers, decision makers and the park interpreters (such as docents and guides) who educate visitors as well as the interested public.

“Even if only a relatively small percentage of park goers are interested, you still touch a lot of people with a document like this,” Forero explained.

He said he hopes park signage and QR codes will direct visitors to the publication for more information about the cattle and their seasonal movements.

“People often wonder where the cattle go when they leave the park and when they will return,” co-author Sheila Barry said. “The cattle may go to grass or feed yards in other places in California or even out of state.”

But, as this new UC ANR publication explains, the cattle production cycle turns over anew.

“There will be more cattle next fall, I promise,” Barry said.

Cover cropping season has begun: Free recorded webinars, demos available

Cover crops, typically planted in early fall, deliver a host of agricultural and conservation benefits. But many growers have gone away from planting them due to technical challenges and extra costs associated with the practice. In partnership with the Contra Costa County Resource Conservation District, two University of California Cooperative Extension advisors collaborated to support farmers' cover cropping efforts and reduce costs.

Kamyar Aram, UCCE specialty crops advisor for Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and Rob Bennaton, UCCE Bay Area urban agriculture and food systems advisor, developed online project content for a free educational series on cover cropping, which entails growing non-cash crops to add beneficial biomass to soils.

The series – comprising 10 webinars and five virtual farm-site visits – features UC farm and urban agriculture advisors and some of California's foremost experts on cover cropping. It helps growers overcome their hesitations about the practice, which provides benefits such as alleviating compaction, improving water retention and increasing organic matter and nutrients in the soil.

“Our site visit videos include a diversity of cropping systems, operation types and scales, and levels of experience with cover crops, so we really capture a variety of perspectives,” Aram said. “Now, with the videos online, I hope that they will serve as tools for other farm educators, as well as a resource for growers directly.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic scrapped plans for in-person workshops and visits, the series organizers pivoted to online webinars, starting in fall 2020, which drew more than 150 participants. The recorded videos – which cover basic methods, financial assistance, tips for orchards and vineyards and more – expanded the potential reach and impact of the series far beyond Contra Costa County.

“Each video, whether it's a webinar recording or a virtual site visit, emphasizes different aspects, and the titles are designed to help viewers find the resources they are most likely to benefit from,” said Aram. “There really is something for everyone.”

In particular, the organizers of the series recognized the importance of including technical and extension support to urban and semi-urban farmers in the East Bay and beyond.

“We wanted to make sure to include practical support from fellow farmers that was both accessible and relevant to our diverse small and urban farmers,” said Julio Contreras, UCCE community education specialist. “This meant covering topics like seeding with spreaders or by broadcasting – using small equipment and machinery or no-till systems – and even cover cropping in planter boxes.”

Aram and Bennaton also credited their Contra Costa Resource Conservation District partners: Ben Weise, agriculture conservation manager; Derek Emmons, agriculture conservation coordinator; and Chris Lim, executive director.

The project, funded by a Specialty Crops Block Grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, was also made possible by the generous contributions of time and expertise from presenters and hosts of farm-site visits, according to Aram.

“I hope that the videos will enjoy a long life online; they really contain a wealth of knowledge,” he said.

The series is available for view at http://ucanr.edu/CoverCropsCoCo.

Read more