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Posts Tagged: sustainable

4-H teaches kids environmental awareness at inaugural camp

4-H teens planned and presented a week-long camp for local youth called Sustainable You! at the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville.
Twenty-five schoolchildren learned what it means to be “sustainable” at the inaugural 4-H Sustainable You! Summer Camp at the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville, reported Michael Dukes in the Imperial Valley Press.

The environmental impact of humans is something children need to be aware of, said Shanna Abatti, UC ANR 4-H Youth Development Program representative. The camp was designed to provide new or different perspectives on how to save water, recycle, use renewable energy and understand the benefits of buying local food.

Preparation for the camp began last July, the article said. Abatti called upon 15 4-H high schoolers to help run and coordinate activities. 

“Being the first year, it was a lot of work," said recent Central Union High School graduate and camp council president Natalie Gonzalez. "The camp was originally (designed) for Utah, so we had to change a lot of the games to fit the Valley and what we have here, the weather we have here, the crops that we grow."

The first day centered on recycling, composting, and how waste effects planet earth. The campers did activities on landfills and took home worm composting bins. Day 2 focused on air, with campers learning about air quality and the impact of pollutants. The campers finished the day by harvesting fresh vegetables at the research center. Day 3 the campers learned about food packaging, food origins, and the importance of buying local or regional food. The campers visited a local dairy. Day 4 was focused on energy, with activities involving wind turbines and a solar oven. The campers took part in an (indoor) "camp out" and glow-in-the-dark nature walk. The camp ended with a session on water. Campers tried out water quality testing and took a virtual tour of wetlands. Each of the campers had perfect attendance.

The camp was made possible by support from the Vesper Society.

Posted on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:45 AM

New sustainable ag major is a return to UCD’s roots

A new bachelor’s degree program at UC Davis is meant to gives students an understanding of the social, economic and environmental aspects of farming and food systems, reported Cory Golden in the Davis Enterprise. Some of the lessons taught in the program will harken back to the interdisciplinary courses that have been taught at UCD’s Student Farm for more than three decades.

Effective pest control for indoor citrus nursery production
Cary Blake, Western Farm Press

California and Arizona citrus nursery growers are shifting production of critical plants from the outdoors to ‘indoor protective structures’ to gain protection from the Asian citrus psyllid insect and its primary vectored disease Huanglongbing. The change will require growers to adjust to new pest control techniques. “You’ll likely find extra pests indoors that you haven’t dealt with outside including mites and thrips,” said Jim Bethke, UC Cooperative Extension floriculture farm advisor in San Diego County. “It’s very hard to exclude mites with screening material. The screen can exclude the Asian citrus psyllid, but will not keep out thrips.”

Mark Van Horn, director of the Student Farm, gives a UC Davis class a tour of the farm's market garden.
Mark Van Horn, director of the Student Farm, gives a UC Davis class a tour of the farm's market garden.

Posted on Monday, August 29, 2011 at 9:22 AM

UCD scientist helps farmers turn waste into electricity

Brothers Steve and David Gill, co-owners of Gill Onions in Oxnard, credit a UC Davis researcher for helping them turn a liability - millions of pounds of onion waste - into an asset.

The brothers wrote in an article published last week in The Business Journal that their fresh-cut onion processing firm used to truck onion leftovers to surrounding farm fields and plow them into the soil as compost. But as the company grew and produced up to 1.5 million pounds of onion waste each week, the solution became too costly and environmentally unsustainable.

UC Davis bioenvironmental engineering professor Ruihong Zhang determined that onion juice was very good food for methane-producing microbes. With her research data, the company's engineers and contractors developed an anaerobic digester system that turned leftover onions into electricity.

This year, the system will save the company $700,000 on power bills and $400,000 on trucking costs, the article said. The leftover onion pulp is a high-quality cattle food.

"Thanks to Professor Zhang, our waste problem is now an energy source and new product line. We expect to make back our $9.5 million capital investment in six years," the brothers wrote.

The Gill Brothers used their opinion piece to support UC Davis' $1 billion fundraising campaign, launched two weeks ago.

Onion waste can be turned into electricity.
Onion waste can be turned into electricity.

Posted on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Tags: electricity (1), onions (1), sustainable (8)

Consumers look for the sustainable label

Responding to consumer demand, grocery retailers are pushing growers to practice "sustainable farming," according to a feature in the Fresno Bee.

"This is not an issue that is going away, and it's one that more retailers will likely adopt," the story quoted Gail Feenstra, food systems coordinator with the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program at UC Davis. "It is best that farmers get out ahead of the game to the extent that they can."

Examples of sustainable marketing include:

  • Walmart's Oct. 14 announcement that it will train 1 million farmers and workers worldwide on crop selection and sustainable-farming practices

  • Sysco's online assertion that it offers products that come from suppliers that take care of the land

  • Del Monte Foods' formalization of its environmental goals in three key areas - waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water

Feenstra said climate change and high energy costs have caused retailers to take a harder look at how they do business, including their supply chain.

"The sustainability of their own operations relies on them getting products from farmers," Feenstra said. "And that isn't going to happen if the soil and air are contaminated."

Reporter Robert Rodriguez described the process undertaken by West Side farmer John Deiner to grow "certified sustainable" products. The farm is audited once a year by a non-profit certification group. Inspectors verify Diener's farming practices and assign points for using water-saving irrigation equipment, applying fewer pesticides and providing his 20 employees with health insurance and a retirement plan.

"You could say that you don't want to go through something like this," Diener was quoted in the article. "But then who will you sell to? In some cases, we don't have a choice."


Farmer John Diener
Farmer John Diener

Diener is a UC research collaborator and a member of the UC Agricultural Sustainability Institute advisory board.

Posted on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at 7:00 AM
Tags: Gail Feenstra (7), sustainable (8)

UC Davis receives $1.57 million grant from Kellogg

A $1.57 million grant from the Kellogg Foundation will create an endowment for the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute to support a network of scholars at 14 universities working to improve children's access to healthy food, said a brief article in the Modesto Bee.

The article was based on press release distributed yesterday by UC Davis.

“This gift recognizes the work of leaders from across the United States, and I am gratified that my colleagues in the network have endorsed the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute as the network’s host,” said ASI director Tom Tomich. “We also are grateful to the Kellogg Foundation for supporting such important work."

Tomich is also the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at UC Davis.

In addition to UC Davis, the network currently includes scholars from:
  • Iowa State University and its Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Michigan State University
  • North Carolina A&T State University
  • North Carolina State University
  • Ohio State University
  • UC Santa Cruz
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • University of Minnesota
  • University of New Hampshire
  • University of New Mexico
  • University of Vermont
  • University of Wisconsin
  • Washington State University

Tom Tomich
Tom Tomich

Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 7:46 AM
Tags: ASI (1), sustainable (8), Tom Tomich (4)

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