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4-H & Families
Seed planted to grow Northern California Ag Innovation Hub
On Jan. 30, 2018, another seed was planted for the future of Northern California's agriculture industry. That seed was a commitment to innovation and new technologies in a region where the primary economic driver is agriculture.
Around 200 people, including farmers, ag innovators and venture capitalists, attended an event in Woodland titled “Creating Northern California's Ag Innovation Hub,” presented by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, AgStart, The Food Front and the City of Woodland.
Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources, gave the keynote speech and talked about the importance of synergy between agriculture, innovation and technology in California, while discussing 21st century challenges, such as rural broadband connectivity, going forward.
“Entrepreneurship in our rural areas is far greater than in our urban areas,” Humiston said on ?ag tech innovation.
She urged ag innovators to use UC institutions and programs, including the UC Integrated Pest Management Program, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, the Agricultural Issues Center, UC Informatics and GIS, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, California 4-H, California Naturalist, the UC Master Gardener Program, the UC Master Food Preserver Program, the California Institute for Water Resources, the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, the UC Cooperative Extension system, the UC Research Extension Center system, Apps for Ag, along with all of the UC campuses.
There were two panel discussions during the event, both of which were moderated by Lon Hatamiya of The Hatamiya Group.
The first panel focused on agriculture in the global and statewide perspective. Panelists included Gabe Youtsey of UC ANR, Seana Day of Better Food Ventures and The Mixing Bowl Hub, Megan Nunes of Vinsight and John Selep of AgStart.
“One of the key innovations that needs to happen is marrying the ‘strange bedfellows' of data science and the grower and ag community,” said Youtsey, UC ANR's chief innovation officer.
He talked about thinking outside the box on public and private partnerships to create a better ecosystem for collaboration in the California ag tech community. Youtsey also noted that rural broadband connectivity was the limiting factor to bridging the gap between the Central Valley and Silicon Valley, and affirmed that UC ANR's Verde Innovation Network for Entrepreneurship (VINE) was working hard to address this.
“We have the opportunity here to create a world-class innovation hub that will be second-to-none,” he said.
Nunes of Vinsight, a software for winegrowers, stated that “UC Davis research is kind of the first ‘open source' for ag tech and innovation.”
The second panel focused on the regional and local perspective of agriculture. The panelists were Justin Siegel of the UC Davis Genome Center, Frank Muller of Muller Ranch, Dennis Donohue of Western Growers, and Ken Hiatt of the City of Woodland and The Food Front.
Siegel indicated that the tech industry is beginning to hit a steady state now and doesn't have as much exponential growth as before, but there are still huge numbers of entrepreneurs flooding into it.
“Ag tech needs to capitalize on educating them about ag,” he said.
Muller of Muller Ranch, a Yolo County diversified farm consisting of several thousand acres, touched on the importance of technology in agriculture.
“For me, ag tech is finding new ways to produce more with less and to do it more sustainably,” he said.
Woodland officials have already identified a 351-acre site for a mixed-use research park about eight miles north of UC Davis, where both commercial and residential development will be modeled after other successful tech parks near research universities in California. The only difference will be that this one will be focused on agricultural technology and will provide a place for new companies to incubate, grow, collaborate and prosper.
Related reading about creating Northern California's Ag Innovation Hub:
https://www.comstocksmag.com/longreads/woodland-way
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/business/20180130/woodland-as-ag-hub-topic-of-forum
Learning and development update: Register for ANR Statewide Conference
When: April 9-12, 2018
Where: Ontario, California DoubleTree Inn
All ANR academics and staff are invited. Non-academic employees need to discuss and obtain approval from their supervisors, county directors or program managers before registering or making travel arrangements.
See and hear what your colleagues (staff and academics) across UC ANR are doing and share your own work during this multi-day event. Discover what's new in Extension and Agriculture Experiment Station research. Engage with leaders of the University of California and interact with invited leaders of peer organizations across the state. Network with colleagues and cultivate new partnerships and new ideas.
ANR pays for your attendance. You will provide an estimate for your travel and lodging when you register and will get an approval or a resubmit from Program Support.
To register or to get more information, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/statewideconference2018.
ADMINISTRATIVE ORIENTATION FOR NEW ACADEMICS AND STAFF
When: May 23, 2018, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Where: ANR Building Davis, 2801 Second Street, Davis, CA 95618
Who should attend: New Academics and Staff
Registration: Will open in March
More information can be found at http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations/Administrative_Orientations.
UC PEOPLE CONFERENCE
When: Aug. 7-9, 2018
Where: UCLA Luskin Center
Who: ANR People Managers who have completed the UC Performance Management Series Certificate (UC Learning Center). (Browse course titles and codes here).
Cost: ANR will be sponsoring fees, travel, and lodging for several ANR People Managers. Managers must complete the Series by June 26, 2018 and can apply for funds here.
The UC People Management Conference brings together leaders from across the UC network to learn about current management topics, exchange best practices, collaborate with their peers, and continue their development and growth as UC people managers and leaders. This year's conference will explore the importance of cultural change. After an unforgettable two days of learning, inspiration and fun, participants will walk away re-energized with knowledge, connections, and tools to help them achieve their goals and maximize their teams' full potential.
NEW! ANR ONBOARDING BUDDY GUIDE
People Managers: Could you use some help onboarding your new hire? Do you have a star employee that could introduce your new employee to the rest of your team and others at your location? How about someone to share the workplace culture, safety plans, ANR Collaborative Tools, ANR processes and procedures...and more.?
If yes, read the ANR Onboarding Buddy Guide and think of sharing this guide with your next onboarding buddy.
LYNDA FEATURE
Leading and Working in Teams
Organizations thrive or fail to thrive based on how well the teams within those organizations work. If you want to know what it takes to create a high-performing team, complete the course “Leading and Working in Teams”.
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmonson reveals how high performance arises when teams are encouraged to take risks, fail, and learn from those failures, a process she calls “teaming.” Learn more here.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL WEBINARS
The annual performance appraisal is an opportunity for staff and supervisors to recognize accomplishments, identify opportunities to build skills, and align individual efforts to high-level unit and division goals. Take time in the next month to review and reflect on the past year, and plan your future work with your supervisor.
The staff performance review period runs from April 1, 2017, through March 31, 2018. An annual appraisal should be completed for all ANR staff employees, including represented and non-represented, career and contract employees with at least six months of service as of March 31, 2018.
The recommended first step for the process is for employees to complete a Summary of Accomplishments. This year ANR supervisors have the option to have their staff prepare a self-appraisal in lieu of the summary of accomplishments using the 2017-18 Employee Performance Appraisal Form.
Upcoming webinars
ANR Human Resources will host Zoom webinars for staff and supervisors during the month of March. Please hold one of these dates/times on your calendar. (Zoom meeting details will be sent prior to the first session.)
Employee Role: March 1, Thursday, 10 a.m.–11 a.m.
Employee Role: March 14, Wednesday, 3 p.m.–4 p.m.
Supervisor Role: March 23, Friday, 10 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Supervisor Role: March 28, Wednesday, 1 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
If you are a supervisor, you only need to participate in a supervisor session.
For those unable to join a live session, the sessions will be recorded and posted on the ANR HR website http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management.
More information about the annual process, including timelines, guidelines and Performance Appraisal Tools are available on the ANR Human Resources website http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management.
Note: ANR staff based at the Office of the President will follow the UCOP-HR performance process with separate trainings, timelines and forms.
If you have questions regarding the appraisal process, please contact Mary Vlandis at maroberts@ucanr.edu or Jodi Rosenbaum at jrosenbaum@ucanr.edu.
Recording of staff engagement survey results discussion available
Human Resources and Staff Assembly hosted an online town hall with Vice President Glenda Humiston to discuss ANR's results of the staff engagement survey on Feb. 6. The discussion focused on three main areas raised in the survey: change management, performance management and wellness.
If you missed the town hall, a video recording of the Zoom meeting is available at https://ucanr.zoom.us/recording/play/gL9SQUszO9DdC-P-Ec7HHusAJC5RLuRbDgcN2Qt__VBccf6cR0FZ-BJ-T8cs47u3.
To hear only the audio, visit https://ucanr.zoom.us/recording/play/ikr3TuSmSXNFMbv4snPwcDWtOYjOCu5Jt8uEPNqbUzBq32NaiVyO7pvXavceuLP-.
Both links display an autogenerated transcript of the audio, but the transcript is not a reliable representation of the discussion. For example, John Fox's introductory statement was transcribed as “I'm joined here in the room and Davis by Pam con rise from Strategic Communications Christina Adam sinned from IBM is also One of the leaders of our staff assembly group shame and guilt from HR, who's also in staff assembly as a junior delegate to the cook. So organization and our Vice President going to Houston.”
What Fox actually said was, “I'm joined here in the room in Davis by Pam Kan-Rice from Strategic Communications; Christina Adamson from IPM, who's also one of the leaders of our staff assembly group; LeChe McGill from HR, who's also in staff assembly as a junior delegate to the CUCSA organization; and our Vice President Glenda Humiston.”
The staff engagement survey results and a recording of the Dec. 13, 2017, ANR Engagement Survey orientation webinar are available at http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the CUCSA tab.
Eggs tested for contaminants
Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is providing free egg testing for California backyard chicken owners. Pitesky's staff is testing eggs for different types of contaminants, depending on the county the eggs are from.
He asks ANR colleagues to encourage backyard poultry owners to submit their eggs for the study.
For eggs from counties recently affected by wildfires, Pitesky will test for fire retardants. He is also looking for lead and PCBs in eggs from certain regions of the state.
“Our goal is to better understand the connection between the environment and our food with respect to exposure to various inorganic chemicals,” said Pitesky.
Results will be shared individually with each owner, and cumulative results will be summarized and made available to the general public.
For more information about the study and how to package and ship eggs, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/Egg_Contaminant_Testing.
UC sets policies for drones and independent contractors, seeks comments on military pay supplement
UC has opened the employee comment period for the Draft Revised Presidential Policy on Supplement to Military Pay. The university also announced that two new policies have been published regarding unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, and independent contractor guidelines for tax purposes.
Employee comments sought
The university invites comments on the Draft Revised Presidential Policy on Supplement to Military Pay – Four-Year Renewal, as described below:
The proposal provides eligible employees with supplemental payments equal to the difference between the employees' University pay and their active military duty pay for a period not to exceed the employee's tour of active military duty, until June 30, 2022, or until the separation date of an employee's University appointment, whichever comes first. Benefits provided under the Policy are subject to a two-year lifetime limit. The proposed revisions renew the current Policy for a four-year period, effective July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2022. The Presidential Policy on Supplement to Military Pay applies to all university academic and staff employees.
The Policy proposal is posted under the “Systemwide Review” tab at: http://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policies-under-review/index.html.
If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu, no later than Monday, May 7, 2018.
Unmanned Aircraft System (Drone) Policy http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3500671
Independent contractor guidelines for tax purposes http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3600670
