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Posts Tagged: annual report
2021 Annual Report highlights impact of UC ANR research and extension
The Program Planning and Evaluation unit collaborated with UC ANR academics, program staff, and Strategic Communications to compile over 50 vignettes that highlight the impact of our organization statewide during 2021. Stories range from enhancing oysters' resilience as the climate changes to improving financial stability of Californians to increasing diversity and inclusiveness.
“Kudos to all for giving us these impact stories,” said Vice President Glenda Humiston. “Thanks to your work and the organization's work in developing the public values, we now have a straightforward easy way to understand our impact. These are what captures stakeholders, lay audiences, legislators and policy makers at all levels. They want to know what's in it for them.”
Vice President Humiston extends a special thank you to the following UC ANR experts who reviewed 2021 Agricultural Experiment Station research reports to identify notable research with clearly articulated potential benefit to the public: Martin Smith, Francene Steinberg, Neil McRoberts, Jim Farrar, Leslie Roche, Rob York and Doug Parker.
If you have any questions about the annual report, please contact Leyla Marandi at leyla.marandi@ucop.edu. The 2021 UC ANR Annual Report is online at https://ucanr.edu/About. Feel free to share these success stories with friends, family, elected officials and others.
UC ANR 2020 Annual Report highlights impacts during COVID crisis
UC ANR's 2020 Annual Report is now live! The Program Planning and Evaluation unit collaborated with UC ANR academics, specialists, program staff, and Strategic Communications to compile the annual report with over 50 vignettes that highlight the statewide impact of our organization during an extraordinary year.
The report illustrates many of the ways that UC ANR pivoted work to adapt to social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, 4-H advisors and staff created unique distance-learning opportunities for youth to learn about the natural world and participate in community service. UCCE advisors provided small-scale farms with technical assistance on COVID-19 safety and applying for emergency grants. Several statewide programs engaged in food-security initiatives that enhanced access to fresh produce at food banks and increased electronic benefit transfer (EBT) use at farmers markets.
UC ANR maintained its work on critical issues affecting Californians, including drought, wildfires, and climate resilience. UCCE academics led landowners and community organizations in adopt prescribed-fire tactics that reduce fuels and generated new knowledge about wildfire impacts on wildlife communities and post-fire mudslide risks. Others helped improve water efficiency and security for alfalfa growers in the Colorado Basin through innovative irrigation methods and introduced new findings on using species variations that better tolerate drought conditions for key crops like avocado, citrus, and grapes.
Programs such as UC Master Gardener and UC California Naturalist underwent organizational reflection on racial justice, strengthened efforts to increase the diversity of program volunteers, staff and participants, and worked to improve accessibility and cultural relevance for all Californians.
The annual report stories are organized by UC ANR's public values, demonstrating the organization's vision to improve the lives of all 40 million residents in California. If you have any questions about the annual report, please contact Leyla Marandi at leyla.marandi@ucop.edu.
UC ANR annual report shows impacts that benefit every Californian
These are the types of UC ANR outcomes summarized in the recently completed, 16-page 2019 Annual Report, Working for the Benefit of All Californians, produced by UC ANR's office of Program Planning and Evaluation.
“As we pulled this together, we realized that UC ANR research and extension branch out widely, reaching much further than is obvious on the surface,” said PPE director Katherine Webb-Martinez. “If you eat food grown in California, enjoy the outdoors, care about the state's less fortunate residents and find hope in the future of our state under the leadership of today's youth, UC ANR enhances your life.”
The new publication provides 60 examples of the hundreds of research and extension projects conducted in 2019 by UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists, and researchers who are part of the campus-based Agricultural Experiment Station.
Among the stories in the annual report is the work of UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Mary Blackburn to teach Alameda County senior citizens how to make simple, healthy meals on a budget. Her classes resulted in 92% improvement in understanding food advertisements.
In Santa Clara County, UCCE 4-H advisor Fe Moncloa provided training for teenaged teachers and afterschool staff in delivering computer science programs to young children. All of the 52 teens reported increased teaching confidence and most of the 35 staff members increased their understanding of the material.
UCCE specialist Dan Putnam and UC Agricultural Experiment Station researcher Charles Brummer at UC Davis tested alfalfa and forage grasses from around the world to select species and varieties farmers can use now and in the future, when climate change will likely require them to produce crops under warmer, drier conditions.
With only 75 native giant sequoia groves still gracing the Sierra Nevada, UCCE specialist Rob York developed a management plan to protect a grove owned by the Save the Redwoods League from high-severity fire in the future.
While there are many additional research and extension achievements recounted in the annual report, the work is not done.
“Despite such success stories, problems remain and the issues grow more complicated,” said UC ANR vice president Glenda Humiston. “The future will hold situations we have never seen before.”
PPE invites UC ANR staff and academics to share the PDF version of the annual report widely to clientele, contacts, political leaders and other stakeholders. A limited number of printed copies are available. Email katherine.webb-martinez@ucop.edu to request paper copies.
UC ANR's 2019 annual report is now available online.
New annual report shows how UC ANR is improving California life with science-based solutions
Of the hundreds of ways UC ANR impacts California lives and livelihoods, 40 are highlighted in the new publication, Working for the Benefit of All Californians: 2018 UC ANR Annual Report. A limited number of printed copies are available. Email jennifer.caron-sale@ucop.edu to request paper copies.
UC ANR has identified public value statements that reflect the breadth of its efforts. Academics and staff are working to promote economic prosperity, safeguard sufficient safe and healthy food for all, protect the state's natural resources, promote healthy people and communities, develop a qualified workforce, build climate change resilience in communities and ecosystems, and develop an inclusive and equitable society. These values touch every person in the state.
During the period covered in the new report, robust research and education programs supported agricultural communities. For example, UC ANR scientists improved the ability to predict beet curly top virus, avoiding losses approaching $100 million in processing tomatoes. A workshop offered by UC ANR educators on low-stress livestock handling convinced all the participants to incorporate the practices on their ranches. Online and in-person workshops provided to urban farmers resulted in new food safety plans for nearly all of the growers involved.
Families, farmers and natural resource managers are facing the prospect of climate change and looking for ways to continue prospering under uncertain conditions. Increasingly ferocious wildfires are causing serious losses to ranchers. UC ANR provided information on management practices to safeguard resources, prevent soil erosion and estimate the cost of forage losses so ranch owners can prepare loss claims. UC ANR has been instrumental in development of a website, Cal-Adapt.org, a clearing house to collect and disseminate climate change data.
Families and youth are a focus of UC ANR nutrition research, nutrition education and programs such as 4-H and CalFresh Healthy Living, UC. One UC ANR researcher collaborated with the Karuk, Yurok and Klamath tribes to identify culturally sound solutions to reduce food insecurity. In two Northern California counties, students were introduced by UC ANR educators to 36 local produce items. Their selection, consumption and interest in the produce served at lunchtime increased. UC ANR piloted a program that gets Latinx youth outside for environmental education.
Making food safer, enriching children's lives, extending reliable nutrition education and improving the productivity on California farms and ranches add up to significant value to the recipients of the services and to all Californians by making the state a better place to live and work.
AVP Powers announces 51 proposals invited for competitive and high-reward grants
AVP Wendy Powers announced the letters of intent (LOIs) for which principal investigators have been invited to submit full proposals to ANR's Competitive Grants Program and High-Risk/High-Reward Grants Program. The list of 51 approved projects can be found at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/261626.pdf.
This year ANR received a total of 108 letters of intent — 97 for the Competitive Grants Program and 11 for the High-Risk/High-Reward Grants Program. Strategic Initiative leaders and their respective panels reviewed all letters of intent thoroughly to address the appropriateness of the proposals in addressing the goals and criteria outlined by each funding opportunity.
ANR Competitive Grants Program
The purpose of the ANR competitive grants program is to address high-priority issue areas identified by at least one of the strategic initiatives: Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases (EIPD), Healthy Families and Communities (HFC), Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), Sustainable Natural Ecosystems (SNE), and Water Quality, Quantity and Security (Water).
ANR Competitive Grants Program 2017 Cycle:
- Full proposals due June 19
- Technical peer review: mid-June – early September 2017
- Strategic Initiative review and recommendations: end of September 2017
- Program Council review and recommendations: October/November 2017
- Announcement of funded grants: November/December 2017
High-Risk/High-Reward Grants Program
Given the complexity of societal problems, high-risk research is necessary to achieve gains for real progress in addressing present and emerging challenges. This program will provide funds to initiate and complete research and proof-of-concept efforts that serve as the basis for larger funding opportunities. These projects must be of a high-risk/high-reward nature that are best conducted in a controlled, research setting and, if successful, lend themselves to subsequent larger funding opportunities and/or intellectual property development.
Proposed projects must be within the scope of the ANR Strategic Vision. All ANR academics with PI status are eligible to apply. Proposals will be accepted using the same timeline as outlined for the traditional competitive grants program, but reviewed separately due to the nature of the proposal.
For questions about ANR's competitive grants program or high-risk/high-reward grants program, please contact Melanie Caruso at mmcaruso@ucanr.edu.
