Posts Tagged: Joe Grant

Delta farm tour gives GFI fellows a broader view of food system

The day-long tour, hosted by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, began at a farm that is maintained to support wildlife in the breezy Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta region. The GFI fellows also viewed a habitat restoration project at LangeTwins Winery then watched freshly harvested cherries being processed at Morada Produce's packing plant. They wrapped up the day with a tour of a demonstration garden and a discussion of nutrition education at the UC Cooperative Extension office in Stockton. 

UC President Janet Napolitano, who, along with UC's 10 chancellors, launched the Global Food Initiative in 2014, met with the 17 fellows for lunch at LangeTwins Winery.

“We started the Global Food Initiative several years ago with the goal of creating a pathway to a sustainable, nutritious food future for the planet. A small, modest goal,” Napolitano said, adding that she is excited to learn about the fellows' projects.

The GFI fellows are working on projects that range from raising awareness about food production to analyzing the effects of climate change on pollination, and from efforts to make soils safe for growing food in urban areas to using food waste to fuel batteries.

UC Merced senior Ever Serna's GFI project is to educate his fellow college students about where food comes from, before it gets to the grocery store.

“The tour gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation about how food is developed and grown,” he said. “I think when I eat vegetables and fruits, I'm going to be more conscious of what I eat now.”

Reid Johnsen, a third-year Ph.D. student in agricultural and resource economics at UC Berkeley, Global Food Initiative fellow for UC ANR, and participant in the Graduate Students in Extension program, is working with UC Cooperative Extension in Sonoma County to study ranchers' preferences for different payment structures for conservation easement to compensate them for the ecosystem services provided by their land.

“To be able to see agriculture in action makes such a difference to me, to see the way the crops are produced and the variety that's out here,” said Johnsen. “The diversity of crops was not something I was aware of before coming on this trip.”

“I thought it was interesting to see a lot of different agricultural production systems,” said UC Santa Barbara senior and campus GFI ambassador Bryn Daniel, who works with student activists on student food access and housing security issues.

In addition to learning more about food production, the outing gave the fellows an opportunity to network with peers from other campuses.

“That's what I liked about today's meeting, just meeting everybody and getting these fantastic connections,” said Ryan Dowdy, a third-year Ph.D. student at UC Davis who is converting food waste into energy-producing microbial fuel cells.

“I think this program, and especially the fellowship, is really important for young scientists who dive into this really huge subject of global food,” said Claudia Avila, a graduate student at UC Riverside who studies trace metals in urban agricultural soils.

Best kept secret

In welcoming the UC GFI fellows, Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources, said, “I have a feeling a lot of you aren't familiar with our division. As I travel around the state to different campuses, I keep being told that we're the best kept secret, which I personally do not think is a good thing." 

She explained that agricultural research has been part of the University of California since the land-grant institution's beginning in 1868 in Oakland. UC ANR has researchers on the Berkeley, Davis and Riverside campuses and UC Cooperative Extension advisors in the county offices, she said, adding, “Here in California, our advisors have very robust research programs.”

Farms are wildlife habitat

Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, UC Cooperative Extension delta crops advisor, and Brenna Aegerter, UCCE farm advisor in San Joaquin County, gave the fellows an overview of delta agriculture. Dawit Zeleke, associate director of conservation farms and ranches for The Nature Conservancy, explained why he farms 9,200 acres of corn, triticale, potatoes, alfalfa and irrigated pasture to enhance foraging habitat for sandhill cranes and other wildlife on Staten Island. The Nature Conservancy partners with UC Cooperative Extension along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, California Department of Water Resources, Oregon State University, UC Merced and UC Davis to study the relationships between agriculture and natural resources.

The Pacific Flyway for migrating birds passes over the delta. “Eighty percent of waterfowl depend on agriculture for food,” Zeleke said. After wheat harvest, they flood the fields. “You should see it in September, October, November and December. Thousands of birds, ten thousand cranes use this place for habitat.”

Lodi region is zin-ful

En route to lunch, Paul Verdegaal, UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor for San Joaquin County, described the Lodi region's wine industry. There are about 750 growers, many of which are small family operations. While 10 to 15 acres used to be typical vineyard size, most have 100 acres to be sustainable and one family member works at an outside job. 

“Agriculture is a tough job and there is no guaranteed income,” Verdegaal said.

About 40 percent of the zinfandel in California is grown in the Lodi region, but there are several wine grape varieties planted. 

Pointing out the bus window to a vineyard interplanted with a crimson clover cover crop, Verdegaal said, “We do see interest in using as few chemicals as possible and using techniques of the integrated pest management program.”

After eating lunch at LangeTwins Winery in Acampo, the GFI fellows took a tour of the winery with the fourth- and fifth-generation owners, Randy Lange and Aaron Lange. The Langes are founding members of the Lodi Rules Program, which helps growers produce grapes and wines in a manner that is environmentally respectful, socially sensitive and economically sound. They pointed out an array of solar panels covering the grape press room that provide electricity. The Langes are planting native plants around the winery to reduce sedimentation, improve water quality and restore wildlife habitat along the Mokelumne River.

Bing is king of cherries

When the GFI fellows visited at the end of April, sweet cherry harvest had just begun in Bakersfield area orchards, and cherries were being packed and shipped in San Joaquin County.

“Hemmed in by rain to the north and heat to the south, cherry season is only eight to 10 weeks long,” said Joe Grant, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor for San Joaquin County.

“While the Bing variety is still the mainstay of the California cherry industry because of its excellent eating and shipping quality,” said Grant, “acreage of other high quality and earlier-maturing varieties has increased in recent years to lengthen the harvest season. But Bing is still king.” Asked about the effects of climate change on cherries, Grant explained that warmer temperatures are reducing the number of winter chilling hours, which cherries need.

The fellows saw the hand-picked fruit being processed for packing at Morada Produce, a family farm in Linden that also grows walnuts, peppers and onions.

“Keeping produce cold is key to maintaining quality,” said Scott Brown, Morada's production manager, as the fellows watched fresh, cold water rain down onto the freshly picked sweet cherries. The leaves and stems floating to the top were removed as the red clusters glided in the water to the cluster cutter, which gently separated the clusters into individual cherries.  Gently conveyed through the plant in flowing water, the cherries were sorted by size and quality at the highly mechanized facility. Air ejectors spit out rejected fruit, so only 70 percent makes it into a packed box. 

“Fruit picked on Monday is packed Tuesday, then shipped to Korea, Japan, Australia and other export markets to be eaten by Friday,” Brown said.

The fellows were fascinated to see the steps taken to ensure high-quality cherries are cooled, sorted and packaged for shipping to stores and consumers. 

“It was just so much more complicated than I knew,” said Jess Gambel, a third-year Ph.D. student at UC San Diego who is studying the effects of climate change on bee pollination in squash plants.

Sustainable gardening

As the bus drove past almond orchards, Brent Holtz, UC Cooperative Extension director and farm advisor in San Joaquin County, described his orchard project studying the effects of removing almond orchards by grinding whole trees and incorporating them into the soil before replanting.

The tour wrapped up at the UC Cooperative Extension office in Stockton, with a discussion about how UC CalFresh and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program help low-income Californians attain adequate nutrition and food security, followed by a tour of the demonstration garden maintained by the UC Master Gardener Program volunteers.

“There are more pollutants in urban runoff than in ag runoff,” said Karrie Reid, UC Cooperative Extension landscape horticulture advisor in San Joaquin County. Reid described how she and the UC Master Gardeners work with home and community gardeners to reduce pesticide and water use, and noted that a Water Use Classification of Landscape Species plant list, based on UC research, is available to help gardeners choose landscape plants.

“As a soil scientist, I really appreciated the recurring emphasis on soils as the foundation for agriculture,” said a fourth-year Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley and GFI fellow with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “From talking with The Nature Conservancy farm operator about how they were conserving carbon in those soils and doing wetlands management to hearing about special properties of the sandy loam soil in this part of the county, and talking with the Master Gardener folks about soil contamination issues.”                      

This is the third class of GFI student fellows. The undergraduate and graduate student fellows, representing all 10 UC campuses plus UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have helped further UC's Global Food Initiative efforts to sustainably and nutritiously feed the world's growing population by working on food-related projects and raising awareness of this critical issue.

 

 

 

UCCE San Joaquin County tree crop advisor Joe Grant retires

If there were a hall of fame for farm advisors, Joe Grant would be nominated by Brent Barton, a fourth-generation grower. Grant, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor who is known for his research on walnuts, cherries, apples, olives and other tree crops, retired July 1 after serving 30 years with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, primarily in San Joaquin County.

“Joe Grant would be an inductee to a hall of fame because he is hardworking, persistent and takes a scientific approach to his work, but it's grounded in practicality, which farmers demand,” said Barton, who grows walnuts and oil olives.

The grower credits Grant with making pheromone mating-disruption an option for codling moth control, grower acceptance of a pressure bomb for optimal irrigation timing, rootstock research and use of cover crops in walnuts.

“Joe has been important to the statewide walnut industry,” Barton said.

Because the codling moth biocontrol method reduced pesticide use, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation honored Grant and the Walnut Production Research Advisory Council Entomology Working Group with its IPM Innovator Award in 2013.

Grant is not only a trusted scientist, he's fun to work with, according to Barton, who explained that Grant puts on a gruff demeanor and grumbles, “What did you do that for?” in deadpan humor. “He rarely breaks, but sometimes you'll catch a twinkle in his eye.”

With the exception of 17 months in the 1980s when Grant took a temporary post in Madera County, he has devoted his entire career to San Joaquin County. In 1983, he began as a postgraduate researcher in pomology. After a year, he became a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor intern, then served as acting UC Cooperative Extension pomology advisor in Madera County from November 1985 until March 1987. In April 1987, Grant accepted the job that he would hold for the next 29 years.

“I worked hard throughout my career to build and conduct a program that advanced knowledge, addressed the changing needs of my clientele, and provided service back to the University, ANR and the public,” said Grant, who earned master's degrees in pomology and plant protection and pest management at UC Davis.

In 1990, Grant created San Joaquin WEATHERNET, a network of automated weather stations in the principal tree and vine producing regions of San Joaquin County, and oversaw the operations.

Over the years, Grant conducted several walnut rootstock trials aimed at managing walnut blackline, Phytophthora root rot, crown rot and root lesion nematode, the principal causes of orchard decline in California orchards.

Improved rootstocks are becoming the foundation for more productive and sustainable orchards of the future, he said.

The UCCE advisor in California's leading cherry-producing county, he also studied rootstocks to plant in cherry orchards affected by Phytophthora and cherry stem pitting. Grant helped develop techniques for managing cherry buckskin disease, which once threatened the northern San Joaquin Valley's cherry industry. He also collaborated with researchers in other states to evaluate cherry rootstocks for shorter trees and tree-training systems for intensive “pedestrian” orchards, which workers on the ground can prune and harvest, and mechanically harvestable orchards.

To synchronize bloom, advance fruit maturity and harvest date, the UCCE advisor collaborated on development of treatments for cherries that are used in nearly all southern San Joaquin Valley cherry orchards and half of northern San Joaquin Valley orchards.

In apples, Grant developed chemical thinning guidelines for Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala and Pink Lady apples, which saves growers an estimated $3 million annually.

Grant also identified Gala apple strains adapted to warm San Joaquin Valley growing conditions. These have become the strains of choice for Gala apple growers.

In 2005, Grant was appointed to the California Walnut Board Production Research Advisory Council, charged with setting long-term plans for the walnut board's $1.6 million walnut research program. He served as chair of the select group of researchers, advisors and walnut industry representatives from 2008 to 2016. He was also UC's research liaison to the cherry industry from 2004 to 2016 and to the California Apple Commission from 2008 to 2012.

Other organizations and projects Grant has participated in include the Mid-Valley Apple Association, California Cherry Growers and Industries Foundation and the California Alliance with Family Farmers.

Grant has shared his expertise in tree crops as an invited speaker at conferences in Uzbekistan, China, Iraq, Chile, Australia and the Republic of Moldova.

In retirement, he will remain active in agriculture. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources has given Grant emeritus status and he has accepted a half-time position as research director for the California Walnut Board. For pleasure, he says, “I plan otherwise to spend more time getting to know my six grandchildren, doing a little hiking and biking, and learning to play a banjo that has been stored under the bed for the past 10 years or so.”

 

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