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Posts Tagged: UC
UC SAREP offers small grants for sustainable agriculture, food systems projects
The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program is accepting proposals for its 2025-2026 Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Small Grants Program. The program funds research, education and outreach, and planning projects that support the development of sustainable farming and food systems.
Proposals are due Tuesday, Jan. 14, 5 p.m.
Program Priority Areas
UC SAREP is interested in projects that build the capacity of farming and food systems businesses and organizations to become reflective, adaptive learning organizations that can respond effectively to ecological, economic and social change and disruption.
UC SAREP will fund projects that fall within two priority areas:
Priority Area 1: Support California's farmers, ranchers and tribal and non-tribal land stewards of all scales in piloting, evaluating and transitioning to:
- environmentally regenerative approaches to producing crops and livestock (including but not limited to soil health, organic and agroecological practices, integrated pest management, crop diversification);
- pathways for realizing economic return from ecologically-sound crop management practices and fair labor practices;
- marketing and distribution strategies that support diversified, decentralized and locally based supply chains;
- strategies that promote producer-to-producer networking and/or producer-to-supply chain networking.
Priority Area 2: Support California's rural, urban and tribal communities in identifying, implementing and evaluating strategies to:
- expand access to healthy, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods;
- ensure worker well-being across the food chain;
- minimize the community and environmental costs of food production and distribution;
- strengthen connections between consumers and producers;
- establish and strengthen producer-to-producer connections and producer-to-supply chain connections.
Who may apply
Eligible applicants include:
- farm or food system businesses operating in California (business applicants must demonstrate benefit beyond the immediate recipients),
- nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations operating in California,
- state and local government agencies, Tribal governments, and
- California public and private institutions of higher education.
Funding availability & proposal categories
Individual grants will be limited to a maximum of $10,000, with one Applied Research Grant awarded up to $20,000. Proposals are requested for three types of projects:
- Planning Grants
- Education and Outreach Grants
- Applied Research Grants
Please visit the UC SAREP Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Small Grants Program 2025-2026 webpage for more information and to download the RFP.
Eppele, Black named UC ANR’s UC Bonnie Reiss Climate Action Fellows
Eppele is a community development graduate student at UC Davis focusing on environmental education, STEAM, science communication and citizen/community science.
As a Reiss Fellow, she will work with Strategic Communications on communications campaigns to promote sustainable agriculture and food practices, writing blog posts, creating infographics, and contributing to social media campaigns.
“I am excited to connect the public with what is going on in the world of sustainable agriculture in order to help break the barrier between academia and the public,” she said. Eppele hopes to increase awareness of sustainable agricultural practices, helping California make greater progress towards mitigating climate change impacts.
“I am incredibly grateful to be a part of this fellowship and looks forward to the future of sustainable agriculture where there is a clear commitment to widespread education and community involvement,” Eppele added.
Black will work closely with the Nutrition Policy Institute's Farm to Corrections team. For his project, he will focus on food insecurity and access to sustainable food options for formerly incarcerated individuals in California as well as delving into the barriers that community-based organizations typically face around the issues of providing food assistance, alleviating food insecurity and encouraging sustainable consumption.
“It is pivotal that researchers have a clear understanding of how theories–specifically around these issues–influence policy and how they are implemented into practice, as it allows us to refine policies and better support our citizens,” Black said. “I am honored to be a part of a fellowship that emphasizes sustainable food options for marginalized populations as it is incredibly impactful though rare to find work.”
Black hopes that one day efforts like his will bring awareness for more sustainable food options, and that in doing so there will be new developments and initiatives recognized and supported on the federal level.
The UC President's Bonnie Reiss Climate Action Fellowship Program funds student-generated projects that support the UC system's climate action goals. It encompasses the former UC Global Food Initiative and Carbon Neutrality Initiative. All 10 UC campuses, five academic health centers, plus the UC Office of the President, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory participate in the program.
The program, which began in spring 2015, is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, and administered at each location to ensure that student efforts align with local needs.
Celebration Corner
Postfire grazing fact sheet wins award
A group of UCCE natural resources experts received the National Association of County Agricultural Agents' National Finalist Award for the fact sheet “Rapid User Guide: Postfire Grazing on California's Intermountain Rangelands.” Co-authors Janyne Little, UC Cooperative Extension community education specialist in Lassen County; David Lile, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor in Lassen County; Laura Snell, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor in Modoc County; and Leslie Roche, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis share the recognition.
The rapid user guide is designed for public and private land managers and livestock producers. It walks them through key considerations and timelines that should go into their decision-making process following wildfires on California's intermountain perennial rangelands. The fact sheet can be downloaded at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8730.
On behalf of the team, Snell accepted the award on July 16 at the NACAA annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
Legislators, congressman honor UC Master Gardeners of Napa County
UC Master Gardeners of Napa County were honored July 25 for their outstanding community service. Alex Pader, senior field representative for state Senator Bill Dodd, and Laura Elana Beltran, senior field representative for Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, presented the certificates. Congressman Mike Thompson also provided certificates.
The certificates acknowledged individuals who volunteered from 50 to over 300 hours of community service.
UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County win first place at fair
The UC Master Gardeners of Ventura County won first place at the Ventura County Fair for their garden display. As a result of this award, the volunteers helped bring in $550 in prize money for the program.
“The volunteers worked incredibly hard on this,” said Emma Volk, UC Cooperative Extension production horticulture advisor for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. “Everyone who attends the fair will get to enjoy the garden and identify all of the beautiful plants and see what's possible when you only have space for a small container garden. In addition, we have a separate booth with educational materials, including information about the invasive Asian citrus psyllid.”
Miller award supports careers in Cooperative Extension
Four students plan to share their knowledge
Four students connected to the UC Davis Department of Plant Science have received grants from the Milton D. and Mary M. Miller Plant Science Award, which supports learners interested in careers with Cooperative Extension.
The 2024 awardees are Maya Shydlowski, Erika Escalona, Sam Dudley and Ben Baldi. All four students said they are eager to share what they are learning with people in the field who need solutions for everyday problems.
“They are all fantastic students and do a lot of work with cooperative extension,” said Kelly Paglia, advisor supervisor for the department.
Maya Shydlowski: Use fertilizer more efficiently
Maya Shydlowski already graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Department of Plant Sciences, and has returned as a master's student in the horticulture and agronomy graduate group, studying with Mark Lundy, an associate professor of Cooperative Extension. In between, she worked for University of California Cooperative Extension in Santa Clara County. “I enjoyed working in extension and am interested in continuing to explore that as an option for my career,” Shydlowski said.
The award will support her work to find practical solutions to problems faced by growers.
“I'm working on a project that can help us better estimate nitrogen use efficiency by calculating the nitrogen status of a plant,” Shydlowski said. “I hope that would eventually help growers apply fertilizer more efficiently and reduce harmful nitrogen losses.”
Shydlowski also is working with Lundy on a project to explore how growers can still produce despite using less water -- a reality imposed by drought and ever-tighter water regulations in the state.
Erika Escalona: Soil health and pest management
Erika Escalona grew up in a family of agricultural workers in Watsonville. “My childhood sparked my passion for agriculture and inspired me to study ways to tackle key challenges, like improving soil health and pest management,” Escalona said.
She's now in the horticulture and agronomy graduate group. She works with Steve Fennimore, a professor of Cooperative Extension in the department, on ways to manage soil organisms that affect crops in her home area.
“I'm really interested in a career in extension because it's all about bringing research directly to the community and farms, which I find important and inspiring,” Escalona said. “I believe this field will let me keep connecting the agricultural community I grew up in with academic research.”
She'll use the award to finalize her master's thesis, publish her findings and present her research at conferences. “I want to share my work with a bigger audience, highlight the importance of our findings, and contribute to improving alternative pest management practices,” Escalona said.
Sam Dudley: Drought-tolerant grapevines
Sam Dudley is a doctoral student in the horticulture and agronomy graduate group. He studies the drought tolerance of grapevine rootstocks and how the physiology of root systems can help growers save water. “I hope to use genetics, physiology and mathematical modeling to make it easier to breed new drought-tolerant rootstocks,” Dudley said.
“Working with UC Cooperative Extension in my undergraduate education is what inspired me to pursue a career in science, and I would feel lucky to have the opportunity to continue to work with cooperative extension in the future as well,” Dudley added. “The intersection between science and practical applications to the field is a crucial link that I plan to continue pursuing.”
He'll use his Miller Award “in collaboration with Cooperative Extension to parameterize and simulate a structural functional plant model to predict drought tolerance of grapevines at the field scale. He's working with Megan Bartlett, in the Department of Viticulture and Enology.
Ben Baldi: Empowering underrepresented groups
Benjamin Baldi is working a master's degree in international agricultural development, with an emphasis on plant pathology. In the fall, he'll start a doctoral program with the horticulture and agronomy graduate group, shifting into weed science.
“My journey with plants has taken me across the globe and through several aspects of agriculture including farming, extension and education, with a strong focus on farmer empowerment,” Baldi said. “There are many challenges for smallholder and organic farmers in weed management, including access to emerging and advanced technologies that could assist them.
“During this program, I plan to collaborate with the dedicated UC ANR extensionists, farmers and researchers to address related projects, while honing my scientific methods and preparing for a career in extension,” Baldi added. “I hope, with this opportunity, to be involved in contributing innovative solutions and support to underrepresented agricultural communities."
Baldi's PI is Mohsen Mesgaran, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.
More about the Miller Award
The Milton D. and Mary M. Miller Plant Science Award is given each year to undergraduates and graduate students in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences interested in a career in Cooperative Extension. In addition, it is available to members of UC Cooperative Extension aiming for advanced degrees.
Awards range from $2,000k to $5,000. For more information about the award or to apply, contact Kelly Paglia, advisor supervisor for the Department of Plant Sciences, at kpaglia@ucdavis.edu.
Program Council visits UC ANR sites in Monterey Bay area
Every year the UC ANR Program Council visits programs for one of their monthly meetings. In June, they toured several sites in the Monterey Bay area.
Their first stop was UC Santa Cruz, where they met with Katharyne Mitchell, sociology professor, Agricultural Experiment Station faculty member and dean of the Division of Social Sciences. Joji Muramoto, UC Cooperative Extension organic production systems specialist, and three of the five new AES faculty located at UCSC – Matt Sparke, professor of politics; Greg Gilbert, professor of environmental studies; and Michael Loik, professor of environmental studies – described their research. The group walked around the UCSC Farm, learning about its 53-year history advancing small-scale, organic production and hearing from students what the experience has meant to them.
Next they headed to Marina to discuss the innovation initiatives at the UCSC Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology Center (MBEST) and the developing collaboration with UC ANR focused on ag tech research and homebase for the new UC Cooperative Extension specialist position to work on food safety, drones and remote sensing.
They had lunch with staff at the UCCE Monterey County office in Salinas, then local farm advisors gave presentations on their research and extension. Michael Cahn discussed CropManage. Aparna Gazula and Mark Bolda described their work with non-English speaking farmers. Devii Rao talked about cattle grazing as a tool for wildfire prevention.
Their last stop was at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Lab for Crop Improvement and Protection Research in Salinas, where the recently announced UCCE specialist in coastal produce safety systems will be located, growing the cohort of UCCE specialists there.
