Posts Tagged: South Coast REC

$1 million grant expands climate-ready landscape plants program

A research project initiated in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis evaluates landscape plants in two-year trials under varying irrigation levels to determine the best irrigation level for optimal plant performance in regions requiring supplemental summer water. Creating water budgets is required by California's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), and the results from these research trials help landscape professionals and home gardeners make informed decisions when specifying, selecting or promoting low water-use landscape plant material.

This year, the CDFA/USDA Specialty Crops Multistate Program funded a new Climate Ready Landscape Plants project, which will replicate the successful fields that are currently installed at UC Davis and UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.

Loren Oki, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, is the lead principal investigator and collaborators include researcher Jared Sisneroz;  project leader Karrie Reid, UC Cooperative Extension environmental horticulture advisor in San Joaquin County; and Darren Haver, UC Cooperative Extension water resources and water quality advisor and director of South Coast REC and UCCE in Orange County.

Under Oki's oversight, this new $999,992 grant will support the development of additional fields at several western universities:

• University of Washington, Soo-Hyung Kim
• Oregon State University, Lloyd Nackley and Ryan Contreras
• Utah State University Center, Youping Sun and Larry Rupp
• University of Arizona, Ursula Schuch

Conducting these new experiments on landscape plants at diverse sites across the western U.S. will reveal differences in recommendations since irrigation guidelines for landscapes vary depending on climate and soil type.

The initial project was initiated as Reid's master's degree thesis research in 2004, with Oki as her major professor, and has been ongoing since then.

Project descriptions, results and images can be seen at the UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trials website at https://ucanr.edu/sites/UCLPIT.

ANR Governing Council tours South Coast REC

To gain a better understanding of UC ANR's work in communities and to see firsthand how UC's Agricultural Extension programs engage with the public in an urban setting, the UC ANR Governing Council toured the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine on Feb. 19.

The tour group saw the power of UC ANR academics at work in partnership with growers, local municipalities and UC campuses to address topics such as strawberry diseases, weed control and the use of glyphosate, water conservation and quality, invasive pests in urban forestry, and coyote and rodent management. 

The UC ANR Governing Council, which is chaired by UC Riverside Chancellor Kim Wilcox, visited UCCE specialist Alex Putman and UC Riverside graduate student Lindsey Pedroncelli's strawberry disease study, UC IPM advisor Cheryl Wilen's herbicide demonstration, and the urban landscape demonstration site, where Darren Haver, South Coast REC director and UCCE water resources advisor, conducts water studies. Niamh Quinn, UCCE human-wildlife interaction advisor, described her research on vertebrate pests ranging from rats to coyotes, and Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann, UCCE urban forestry advisor, and John Kabashima, emeritus environmental horticulture advisor, showed the council members shot hole borers and other pests that attack trees.

The UC ANR academics were joined by public and private sector partners, including Mark Lopez from OC Produce who is also the Orange County Farm Bureau president; Bryan Thompson, owner of Pest Options; Jenna Voss, South Orange County watershed manager for Orange County Public Works; Dave Erickson, Wildland Resources Planner for Orange County Fire Authority; Jim Hartman, deputy agricultural commissioner for Los Angeles County; Laura Krueger Prelesnik, vector ecologist for the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District; and Rick Howard, Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District agency manager.

Foods grown at the center were incorporated in the lunch prepared by UC ANR culinary partners Andrea Machua of Culinary Underground, Kyle Manns of Taps Brewery and Lan Pham Zenti, owner of Jadetiger Tea.

“The day was both enjoyable and informative for all,” said Kathy Eftekhari, chief of staff to the vice president. 

 

 

South Coast REC calls for proposals

The South Coast Research & Extension Center is soliciting proposals for new research and extension projects, as well as prompting researchers with continuing projects to submit an updated Land, Labor, and Facilities form and 3-year report, if required, for project year July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.

Located on 200 acres in Orange County, South Coast REC research and extension projects and programs focus on a variety of agriculture and natural resource topics including: variety development, crop and landscape pest management, irrigation management, plant disease, rootstock development, and alternative weed control methods in managed systems. As reclaimed water is the main irrigation source provided to the center by the local water district, researchers can assist in the development of reclaimed water management strategies, an increasingly important resource for the long-term sustainability of agriculture and urban environments.

The center also continues to welcome the submission of research and extension projects addressing broader topics, such as the impacts of climate change on urban and agricultural ecosystems.

South Coast REC provides research projects with skilled farming equipment operators, irrigators, some limited indoor research facilities (for example, plant sample processing lab), and technical and management support. Projects led by UC academics receive funding directly from UC ANR and South Coast REC to reduce the actual cost of research and extension at the Center. Proposals from non-UC organizations will be considered if resources (space and labor) are available, but the full cost rate is charged plus the non-university differential (NUD currently is set at 33.7%).

Full cost recharge rates and UC ANR funding levels for UC-led research projects for South Coast REC for the 2020-21 year will be published after approval on the South Coast REC website (http://screc.ucanr.edu/Research/) this spring.

Proposals may be submitted into the REC Manage System via the South Coast REC website (http://screc.ucanr.edu/Research/Submitting_a_Proposal/) beginning March 1, 2020, and are due no later than April 15, 2020.

For questions about the research proposal process or research opportunities at South Coast REC, contact Darren Haver, center director, at dlhaver@ucanr.edu, or Chris Martinez, superintendent, at cpmartinez@ucanr.edu.

UC ANR goes to Washington

“We visited offices of 26 of California's 55-member congressional delegation in two days!” said Lucas Frerichs, government and community relations manager. 

On March 6-9, a UC ANR delegation attended the 35^th Annual Council on Agriculture Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) meetings in Washington D.C. CARET is part of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). They also made congressional visits to explain the importance of science and research to California.

“Our primary purpose for the visits was to show the members of Congress all the good work UC ANR is doing throughout California, whether it's through our Cooperative Extension efforts, 4-H Youth Development program, nutrition programs, Integrated Pest Management, Master Gardeners, etc.,” Frerichs said, “and the value that Californians receive from the money Congress allocates to the university for UC ANR programs.”

Vice President Glenda Humiston was joined by AVP Wendy Powers, UCB College of Natural Resources Dean Keith Gilless, UCR College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Dean Kathryn Uhrich, Nutrition Policy Institute Director Lorrene Ritchie, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist Clare Gupta, Chief Innovation Officer Gabe Youtsey, and Frerichs. Industry partners Bill Frost, former UC ANR AVP; Cher Watte, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission; Mike Mellano, fresh cut flower grower; Dina Moore, Humboldt County rancher; and Jean-Mari Peltier, managing partner of Environmental Solutions Group, served as CARET delegates from California.

The group split up into teams to visit the offices of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, agriculture committee members, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and other California representatives.

Although no U.S. secretary of agriculture had been confirmed at the time of their visit, members expressed their support for agriculture.

“One thing that members of Congress – Republicans and Democrats – can certainly agree on is that the support for agriculture and the University of California is strong,” Frerichs said.

Read more about the CARET visits in Powers' ANR Adventures blog. 

Names in the News

Bell named Vice Provost–Statewide Programs/Strategic Initiatives

Mark Bell will join UC ANR on May 1 as Vice Provost–Statewide Programs/Strategic Initiatives position. Bell is director of the UC Davis International Learning Center, a position he has held since 2007.

In this newly created position, Bell will provide leadership for a unified UC ANR program with strong statewide, campus and local presences. He will oversee the California Institute for Water Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute, the five UC ANR Strategic Initiatives and the nine UC ANR Statewide Programs. In addition, he will coordinate the Division's participation in the UC Presidential Initiatives, including the Global Food, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, UC-Mexico and Carbon Neutrality initiatives.

“Mark's record of success working with international extension systems in the combined roles of manager and field researcher makes him the ideal choice to serve as Vice Provost–Statewide Programs/Strategic Initiatives,” said VP Humiston in announcing his hiring.

“UC ANR can benefit from his skills and experience in leveraging research-extension linkages, adult education and information technology for agricultural development,” she said. Prior to joining UC Davis, Bell, who speaks Spanish, worked for nine years at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico and 11 years at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

At IRRI, he led development of the Rice Knowledge Bank – the world's major repository for rice-oriented training and extension materials aimed to help developing countries. He is currently leading development of Ag Extension, eAfghan Ag and e-China Apple at UC Davis International Learning Center.

As vice provost, he will serve on the UC ANR Program Council and collaborate closely with the Vice Provost of Cooperative Extension and the Director of the Research and Extension Center System. He will be located in the offices at 2801 Second Street in Davis.

Bell has a Ph.D. in soil science and bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Queensland in Australia and a master's degree in soil science from the University of Reading, U.K.

Swett joins UC ANR as UCCE specialist

Cassandra Swett joined UCCE on Jan. 2, 2017, as an assistant specialist in Cooperative Extension in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis.

Prior to joining UCCE, Swett was an assistant professor and extension specialist at the University of Maryland, College Park, studying small fruit and grape diseases. Previously, Swett worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Doug Gubler, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis.

Swett earned her B.S. in plant science from UC Santa Cruz, an M.S. in tropical plant pathology from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis.

Swett is located at 260 Hutchison Hall and can be reached at (530) 752-3377 and clswett@ucdavis.edu.

Parreira joins UC IPM as writer/editor

Stephanie Parreira joined UC IPM as a writer/editor on Feb. 13. Parreira will develop new and evaluate existing publications and products such as the "Pest Management Guidelines," year-round IPM programs, online tutorials, videos, identification cards, and other training materials. She will also assist UC IPM's urban and community IPM team with training courses about the principles of integrated pest management for UC Master Gardeners and other extenders of pest management information.

As a graduate student, Parreira sought to fill five major research gaps in honey bee pesticide toxicology: effects on whole colonies, effects on nurse bees (the youngest adult bees in a honey bee colony, which do not leave to collect pollen and nectar), effects of long-term exposure to field-realistic concentrations of pesticides, pesticide interactions, and effects of exposure through multiple routes (such as nectar and pollen). Outside of her research, she took many opportunities to speak to the public about current problems in bee health and what people can do to help bees thrive. She became especially interested in working in extension because of these experiences.

Parreira earned a B.A. in environmental studies and planning with a minor in biology from Sonoma State University in 2013, and earned an M.S. in horticulture with a focus in entomology from Oregon State University in 2016.

Parreira is located at the ANR building in Davis and can be reached at (530) 750-1391 and sparreira@ucanr.edu.

Purnell joins UC IPM as a programmer

Michael Purnell joined the Statewide IPM Program on Feb. 2 as a programmer.  He will be working on developing tools for the web that will enhance and add to the existing UC IPM products.  Some of these tools include improving and upgrading the plant problem diagnostics tool, IPM decision support tool, bee precaution pesticide ratings, and herbicide symptoms photo repository.

Before joining UC IPM, Purnell was a project manager and technical lead for Intel Corporation in Folsom, CA where he and his team developed code and designed technical diagrams to integrate Intel's administrative systems with third party on-premise and cloud solutions.

Purnell earned his B.S. and M.S. in computer science at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. 

Purnell is based at the ANR building in Davis, with the IPM IT/Production team, and can be reached at (530) 750-1248 and mdpurnell@ucanr.edu.

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