Posts Tagged: innovation

Names in the News

Goncalves named UCCE diversified agriculture advisor for Lake and Mendocino counties 

Clebson Goncalves joined UC Cooperative Extension on July 1 as a diversified agriculture advisor serving Lake and Mendocino counties.

Prior to moving to Cailfornia, Goncalves was a postdoctoral researcher working on the management of turfgrass and ornamental crops for a USDA-SCRI project at the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech. 

He has a bachelor's degree in agronomy (focused on plant pathology) and a master's degree and Ph.D. in agronomy sciences (plant production/ weed science) from Brazil as well as an additional master's degree in crop and soil science (turfgrass/weed science) from Auburn University. He led field, greenhouse and lab research with a broad focus on plant production, crop protection and weed sciences.

Goncalves' current research centers around diversified agricultural farms, including vegetables, fruit and nut crops. He is also interested in integrated weed management practices exploring chemical and organic options, improving pesticide application technology, drone use for data collection, pesticide application and pollinator-serving plant communities.

Goncalves is based in Lakeport and can be reached at (707) 263-6838 and goncalves@ucanr.edu. Follow him on Twitter @clebson_g and on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/clebson-gon%C3%A7alves-4894a76b.   

Satink Wolfson hired as newest fire advisor 

Barb Satink Wolfson began in her role as UC Cooperative Extension fire advisor for Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties on June 30. 

Her primary responsibilities include wildland fire-related research and outreach for the Central Coast region, while building trust, strong partnerships and collaborative relationships within both professional and non-professional communities. 

Satink Wolfson earned her B.S. and M.S. in forestry from Northern Arizona University, and brings to UC ANR more than 20 years of fire-research and outreach experience in Arizona. Her favorite job, though, was working as a backcountry ranger in Yosemite National Park during her undergraduate years.

In her new role, Satink Wolfson hopes to address some of the questions behind the use of prescribed fire in a variety of ecosystems (such as coastal prairies and oak woodlands), and help all Central Coast communities build resilience to wildland fire so residents can live safely within fire-adapted landscapes. 

Satink Wolfson, who will be based at the UCCE office in Hollister in San Benito County starting Aug. 1, can be reached at bsatinkwolfson@ucanr.edu.

Beneficial ‘Bug Ninja' Middleton joins IPM 

Eric Middleton, known as the “Bug Ninja” to fans of the television show “American Ninja Warrior,” began his new role as an integrated pest management advisor at UC Cooperative Extension in San Diego County on June 6.

As an advisor, Middleton is focused on increasing knowledge and diversifying tools to discourage pesticide use for conventional agricultural practices. As an entomologist, however, Middleton is eager to challenge the way humans perceive and interact with insects by identifying pest management practices that are beneficial for the ecosystem overall.

Now that he is living in San Diego, an area with diverse agriculture and floriculture, Middleton said that he is excited for the opportunity to work with different plant types and farms on a regular basis.

Before joining UC ANR, Middleton worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center, developing management options for the Lebbeck mealybug in Florida citrus.

Middleton earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Utah and a doctorate in entomology from the University of Minnesota-.

Middleton is based at the UC Cooperative Extension office in San Diego and can be reached at egmiddleton@ucanr.edu.

Zuber named UCCE orchard crops advisor 

Cameron Zuber has been named UC Cooperative Extension orchard crops advisor for Merced and Madera counties as of June 6. For Merced County, he will cover orchard crops such as stone fruit, walnuts and almonds, not including pistachios and figs. For Madera County, he will work with walnuts.

Zuber joined UC Cooperative Extension in 2016 as a staff researcher in Merced County. In his education and professional career, he has worked in understanding environmental and agricultural systems and their interactions with people, society and governance. Specifically with orchard crops, he has worked on fumigants and other soil pest controls, rootstocks and scion varietals, cultural practices relating to tree spacing and whole orchard recycling. He also has studied flood irrigation for groundwater recharge, irrigation and water management and soil, water and air interactions. 

He earned his bachelor's degree in environmental biology and management from UC Davis and a master's degree in environmental systems from UC Merced.

Zuber is based at the UC Cooperative Extension office located in Merced and can be reached at cazuber@ucanr.edu and (209) 385-7403.

Shogren named UCCE environmental horticulture advisor 

Chris Shogren joined UC ANR on June 5 as the environmental horticulture advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County.

Shogren described his new role as “giving back to the community.” While he has more experience “growing plants than playing with insects,” Shogren's expertise includes all aspects of horticulture such as entomology, pathology, water use and more.

He earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture and agricultural business from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a doctorate in entomology from UC Riverside. 

Much of what he knows not only comes from his formal academic training, but what he learned from his parents. Shogren grew up in Hemet, 25 miles outside of Palm Springs, and spent his childhood working at his parents' wholesale nursery. Building rapport with nurseries comes naturally to Shogren and he has been advising them since his days as a Ph.D. student.

Early in his career, Shogren worked on horticulture for Disneyland before joining the Citrus Research Board, where he focused on biocontrol rearing. Prior to joining UC ANR, Shogren mass reared fruit flies for U.S. Department of Agriculture research.

As an advisor, Shogren's top priority is to develop his program by first understanding the local issues and the key players that are addressing them such as advisors, researchers and industry groups. He believes that doing so will paint a clear picture of where and how he can be the most effective.

Shogren is based out of the UC Cooperative Extension office in Los Angeles County and can be reached at cjshogren@ucanr.edu.

Singh joins UCCE Central Sierra as local food systems advisor 

Hardeep Singh joined UCCE Central Sierra as a local food systems advisor on June 1.

He transferred from the UCCE Fresno office where he worked as an assistant specialist in small farms and specialty crops. Singh, who is from Punjab, India, worked closely with Southeast Asian small farmers, African American farmers, Latino farmers and Punjabi farmers on healthy soil practices, the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program, Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, and UCSF COVID-19 Equity Project since 2020. He also worked as a vineyard operations intern with UCCE Fresno in the summer of 2019.

Singh holds a master's degree in plant science from California State University, Fresno with a distinction as Dean's Graduate Medalist. He also holds a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

His research background includes crops such as moringa, cover crops, wine grapes, almonds, pistachios and citrus. He also has research experience in irrigation scheduling and nutrition management in moringa, wine grapes, almonds and citrus. 

Singh is interested in developing crop coefficients, studying nitrogen dynamics in specialty crops, and reducing production costs for small farms, which aligns with his goal of reducing poverty by engaging with socially disadvantaged communities and moving agriculture toward greater self-sustainability.

Singh is based in San Andreas and can be reached at hdsing@ucanr.edu and (559) 579-6065.

Mukherjee named urban and small farms advisor 

Amrita Mukherjee joined UC ANR on April 1 as an urban agriculture and small farms advisor serving Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

Mukherjee's priority is to understand small farms' practices and needs, and to identify opportunities for improvement and/or collaboration. One challenge that Mukherjee is eager to overcome is getting information to farmers in a timely and organized manner.

“There's so much information out there and it's hard to know who is doing what,” she said. By implementing a communication system, Mukherjee believes that supporting small farms will become more efficient. 

Originally from Bangladesh, Mukherjee grew up in a family of farmers and understands the struggles farmers encounter as laborers and as a business. Her upbringing inspired her to not only pursue a career in agriculture, but to alleviate the hardships that often burden farmers.

Previously, Mukherjee worked for the International Rice Research Institute where she examined flash flood risk-management in her homeland. She also worked for the Horticulture Innovation Lab management team at UC Davis as an assistant specialist in Bangladesh, focused on nutrition impacts of horticultural innovations.  

Mukherjee earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Khulna University, a master's degree in biotechnology from Bangladesh Agricultural University, and a master's degree in horticulture, plant biology and post-harvest physiology from Kansas State University.

While she has dedicated the first few months of her role to networking, Mukherjee feels that building rapport with small-scale farmers is an ongoing process that is crucial to her role as an advisor.

When asked what she is most excited about, Mukherjee said that she wants to help farmers grow. Not just their crops, but their business strategy and network. “I don't want to be a supervisor, I want to be a connector,” explained Mukherjee. 

Mukherjee is based out of the UC Cooperative Extension office in San Bernardino County and can be reached at amukherjee@ucanr.edu.

Warne named 4-H Foundation director 

Carolyn Warne has joined UC ANR as California 4-H Foundation director, succeeding Mary Ciricillo, who was promoted in October to UC ANR director of development, managing UC ANR's major gifts team including the foundation director.

Warne brings more than 20 years of fundraising and communications experience in education, sports and arts. She recently moved back to California from England, where she was most recently grants manager for Petersfield Cricket Club. She was responsible for sourcing funding for club projects, which ranged from building renovation to purchasing equipment to providing coaching costs to introduce sports activities in schools. 

Earlier in her career, Warne was responsible for internal and external communications, marketing and fundraising at four different schools, developing multi-channel approaches to student and staff recruitment, brand awareness and fundraising. She also worked for a government-funded organization, assisting local community groups with funding and organizational needs and providing training and grant-writing support. 

Before moving to the U.K., she worked in the development offices of several higher education institutions, including Cornell, Iowa State and San Diego State, recruiting and working with volunteers and raising funds.  

Warne is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at cwarne@ucanr.edu.

Sope joins Strategic Communications 

Saoimanu “Saoi” Sope joined UC ANR Strategic Communications as a communications specialist on June 7.

Prior to joining UC ANR, Sope worked in tobacco control policy for the state of California and focused on how to generate effective messaging when targeting elected officials and priority populations. As a project coordinator, Sope launched a podcast as a new communication platform and produced episodes featuring John Mirisch, the former mayor of Beverly Hills, and other representatives of cities that successfully phased out the sale of commercial tobacco products.

Early in her career, Sope worked as a communications specialist for Driscoll's in Watsonville. While her background involves four years of professional experience in communications, it was at Driscoll's that Sope developed a passion for environmental health and desire to merge her creative talent and professional interests. 

Sope earned a bachelor's degree in film and digital media and community studies from UC Santa Cruz and a Master of Public Health degree in environmental health science and certificate in toxicology from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Using her background in film production and public health, Sope is eager to take UC ANR's storytelling to the next level. Her goal as a member of the Strategic Communications team is to not only make UC ANR a household name, but to engage underserved communities.

Based at UC South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, Sope can be reached at (424) 366-0897 and ssope@ucanr.edu. Follow her on Twitter @saoimanu. 

Farrar joins UC SAREP 

Kristen Farrar has joined the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (SAREP) as communications and proposal coordinator.

Farrar will be responsible for coordinating SAREP's communications for stakeholder education, outreach and engagement. She will also prepare grant proposals and coordinate SAREP's small grants program.

Before joining UC ANR, she was assistant director at Foundation Plant Services at UC Davis, where she worked to promote the use of virus-tested planting stock in specialty crops such as grapes and fruit trees. At FPS, she also served as National Clean Plant Network coordinator for NCPN-Grapes and co-chair of the NCPN Education & Outreach committee. She has held positions at several universities conducting research in plant pathology and teaching. 

Farrar earned a bachelor's degree in environmental policy analysis and planning from UC Davis and a master's degree in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Farrar is based at the ANR building in Davis and can be reached at kfarrar@ucanr.edu. 

Renteria joins BOC 

Rosemary Renteria has joined the Business Operations Center as a financial services supervisor, supervising and supporting BOC Partner Teams 3 and 4.   

In this position, Renteria will provide support and leadership for the daily business operations of the BOC and UCCE locations. She will provide guidance and oversight of all financial services, account management, work processes and business efficiencies. Also, she is currently serving as interim fiscal officer for BOC Partner Team 3 until this vacancy is filled.

Renteria, who earned a bachelor's degree in Radio/TV Broadcasting at CSU Fresno, is a native of Yolo County and grew up on the outskirts of Woodland, surrounded by tomato and corn fields.   

Before joining ANR, she was the administrative manager for the California History-Social Science Project at UC Davis. On Aug. 1, she will celebrate 33 years of UC service.  

Renteria is based at the ANR Building in Davis and can be reached at rmrenteria@ucanr.edu and (530) 447-0801 ext. 1466. 

Crestmore named BOC assistant 

Cynthia Crestmore joined UC ANR July 25 as an administrative assistant for the Business Operations Center July 25. Crestmore will be working on many cross-BOC activities such as customer service, website updates, administrative procedures, meeting arrangements and a host of other critical needs.  

Crestmore brings a wealth of experience from UC Davis and UC Merced - working in a shared services environment as well as different administrative and academic units – and is familiar with quite a few UC systems. 

On a personal note, she is very interested in safety and earned a safety certificate at UC Davis. The Marin County native is a self-published writer and enthusiastic about environmental conservation and aims to be “waste-free by 2023.”

Crestmore is based at the ANR Building in Davis and can be reached at cacrestmore@ucanr.edu. 

CASI Workgroup wins Conservation Innovation Award 

Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation Workgroup is receiving the 2022 Conservation Innovation Award from the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

CASI was formed in 1998 under the leadership of Jeffrey P. Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension specialist based at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. This group – comprising farmers, scientists, and representatives of public agencies, private industry and environmental groups – develops knowledge and exchanges information about the benefits of reducing tillage in agricultural lands.

In the last 25 years, the no-till and low-till systems being explored by CASI have been widely adopted in much of the United States and in South America. But, in California's Central Valley, less than 1% of production acreage is farmed using conservation tillage. That's “largely because producers lack information, and successful examples of CT systems are only now being developed here,” CASI reported.

With more than 1,500 active members and affiliates, CASI conducts annual conferences to share research and the results of demonstration projects. 

“Our soon-to-be-published long-term research in the San Joaquin Valley provides very strong evidence that the combined use of fundamental soil health principles improves soil health compared to conventional practices for an annual crop rotation common to the region,” Mitchell said. “Our data suggest that farmers stand to gain multiple benefits for the coupled use of these practices by increasing soil structural stability, water infiltration and storage, and agroecosystem biodiversity, while improving the efficiencies of the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles in their production systems.”

The award will be presented at the 2022 Awards Luncheon on Aug. 2 during the society's 77^th International Annual Conference in Denver.

Read more about CASI at https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/news/casi-center-honored-soil-and-water-conservation-society. 

Kisekka honored for advancements in microirrigation 

Isaya Kisekka, associate professor in the departments of Land, Air and Water Resources and Biological and Agricultural Engineering at UC Davis, received the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' 2022 Netafim Award for Advancements in Microirrigation. The award recognizes excellence in research, development, extension, education or industry. 

Kisekka's research focuses on developing management strategies and technologies to help farmers optimize productivity and net profitability under limited water while exerting minimum negative impacts on the environment.

Kisekka, who is an Agricultural Experiment Station scientist, accepted the award during the society's 2022 international meeting in Houston on July 20. 

UC IPM wins two gold ACE awards 

UC Integrated Pest Management Program won two 2022 Gold Awards from the Association for Communication Excellence. 

One award was in the Information Technology 5: Instructional Design category for the animated online course “Diagnosing Herbicide Injury,” created by Tunyalee Martin, UC IPM associate director for communications; Petr Kosina, content development supervisor; Cheryl Reynolds, interactive learning developer; Kimberly Steinman, former UC IPM editor; and UC Cooperative Extension weed specialists Brad Hanson and Kassim Al-Khatib, both in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

The other award was in in the category of Information Technology 3: Website for WeedCUT, a new online tool to manage invasive weeds without pesticides in wildlands. The website was designed by Martin; Jutta Burger and Doug Johnson of Cal IPC; Chinh Lam, UC IPM IT supervisor and lead programmer; and Cheryl Wilen, UC IPM advisor emeritus.   

Read more about Diagnosing Herbicide Injury at https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/news/video-based-al-khatib-hanson-course-wins-gold-award.

UC innovators sought for Entrepreneur Pitch Competition, apply by Dec. 12

Apply to the 3rd Annual UC Entrepreneur Pitch Competition and win a chance to pitch in front of more than 700 venture capitalists at the Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation Summit and $15,000 in prize money.

The event is a systemwide effort to connect veteran and new UC entrepreneurs with coaching, resources and exposure to a network of investors to advance and scale their startups.

The university's Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is inviting startups with at least one UC student, staff, academic or alumnus founder to pitch their projects to investors and strategic partners by submitting a pitch video and an associated pitch deck to the competition website. Video submissions will be featured on the university's entrepreneur website, showcasing the impressive entrepreneurial activity and rich innovative spirit of the UC community.

There are two tracks in the competition: an early-stage track for startups in funding round pre-Series A, and a later-stage track for startups in Series A and beyond. A panel of distinguished corporate mentors will review and select a dozen finalists: six startups in the early-stage track and six startups in the later-stage track.

All finalists will receive individualized coaching from their mentors before their final presentations at the 4th Annual Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit in Monterey on Jan. 30-31, 2019.

Finalists will then pitch their startups to more than 700 business leaders and venture capitalists. The winner in each of the two categories will take home a $15,000 prize for his or her company.

If you are interested in competing, submit your materials to the competition website by 11:59 p.m. PST, on Dec. 12, 2018. The 12 finalists will be announced in early January.

UC generates an average of five inventions per day and holds more patents than any other university in the country. In 2013, President Napolitano launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative to leverage the scale and diversity of the UC system to build an even more vibrant entrepreneurial culture.

Learn more at https://entrepreneurs.universityofcalifornia.edu.

Tenth Americas Competitiveness Exchange tours N. California technology centers

Vice President Glenda Humiston hosted 50 high-level representatives from 24 countries as part of the Tenth Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE 10) on Innovation and Entrepreneurship tour of Northern California Oct. 21-27. 

Over the course of a week, ACE 10 participants visited innovation clusters in San Francisco, Salinas, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Fresno, Davis and Sacramento.

UC Cooperative Extension advisors David Haviland and Jhalendra Rijal and Sebastian Silva of ag tech company Semios talked to the international delegates about almond research and how UCCE works with growers and companies.

Later, an entrepreneur told AVP Wendy Powers that he was beginning to think about how to develop a university-based Extension system in Grenada, how to convince his government to redirect funds from federal agencies to the university.

Tour co-sponsor Valley Vision's Tammy Cronin described activities during the ACE 10 visit to Sacramento in a blog post.

The ACE program is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration and Economic Development Administration in coordination with the U.S. Department of State and the Organization of American States. It brings together decision-makers from around the world to explore global and regional partnerships, and economic development opportunities to establish new global commercial relationships.

“ACE has been instrumental in showcasing the incredible innovation capacity of U.S. regions and has proven critical in establishing global commercial relationships that can support U.S. business objectives,” said Dennis Alvord, EDA deputy assistant secretary for regional affairs. “Northern California is a world-renowned center of innovation and entrepreneurship activity and we look forward to showcasing the incredible work that the Department of Commerce and regional leaders are doing to advance the innovation economy.”

EDA and OAS posted daily updates about the tour on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #ACXchange.

NAS identifies scientific advances for agricultural system's sustainability

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030, a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was released July 18. The report identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that are possible to achieve in the next decade to increase the U.S. food and agriculture system's sustainability, competitiveness and resilience. 

“In the coming decade, the stresses on the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise won't be solved by business as usual – either in the field or in our current research efforts,” said Susan Wessler, the Neil and Rochelle Campbell Presidential Chair for Innovations in Science Education and distinguished professor of genetics at UC Riverside, who was a co-chair of this important new study.

Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Davis, served on the Committee on Science Breakthroughs 2030: A Strategy for Food and Agricultural Research, and other UC academics were involved in reviewing content for the 200-page book.

The urgent progress needed today, given challenges such as water scarcity, increased weather variability, floods and droughts, requires a convergent research approach that harnesses advances in data science, materials science, information technology, behavioral sciences, economics and many other fields.

The committee identified five breakthrough opportunities that take advantage of a convergent approach to research challenges and could potentially increase the capabilities of food and agricultural science dramatically:

1. A systems approach to understand the nature of interactions among the different elements of the food and agricultural system can be leveraged to increase overall system efficiency, resilience, and sustainability. 
2. The development and validation of highly sensitive, field-deployable sensors and biosensors will enable rapid detection and monitoring capabilities across various food and agricultural disciplines.
3. The application and integration of data sciences, software tools, and systems models will enable advanced analytics for managing the food and agricultural system.  
4. The ability to carry out routine gene editing of agriculturally important organisms will allow for precise and rapid improvement of traits important for productivity and quality. 
5. Understanding the relevance of the microbiome to agriculture and harnessing this knowledge will improve crop production, transform feed efficiency, and increase resilience to stress and disease. 

They include recommendations for a range of federal agencies, as well as federal and private funders and researchers.

“It is very gratifying to see a strong recommendation for enhanced support to the Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension systems as vitally important infrastructure!” VP Glenda Humiston said.

Humiston and other UC ANR leaders are considering how UC ANR might best use the ideas presented in the report.

The report is available for free download at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25059/science-breakthroughs-to-advance-food-and-agricultural-research-by-2030.

 

 

Chinese scientists tour California agriculture with UC ANR

To promote the exchange and sharing of agricultural extension information, several U.S. Land Grant institutions have formed an alliance with 10 Chinese agricultural universities. From June 17 to 22, UC ANR took a group of scientists from Chinese agricultural universities on a tour of agriculture in Northern California.

“The Chinese face many of the same issues that we do here in the U.S.,” said VP Glenda Humiston. “The Chinese universities want to improve rural economic development to lift up the quality of life for people in rural communities. They are also responding to global climate change, drought and pests while trying to improve food security and water use efficiency. They see UC Cooperative Extension as an effective research model; we hope that scientific collaborations will accelerate solutions and help maintain relations for California agriculture with China.”

The Chinese Extension Alliance Delegation included Song Hui, vice dean of the New Rural Development Research Institute of Northeast Agricultural University; Sun Wenpeng, professional extension personnel of Northeast Agricultural University; Luo Jian, associate professor of business at Hunan Agricultural University; He Minghui, associate professor of business at Hunan Agricultural University; and Li Peng, director of the Office of Invigorating Agriculture with Science and Education in the Department of Science and Technology.

The group toured Oregon agriculture with Oregon State University representatives, then drove from Klamath Falls with Humiston and Greg Gibbs and Rob Broadhurst of Development Services to begin the California tour at UC ANR's Intermountain Research and Extension Center in Tulelake. Rob Wilson, Intermountain REC director, showed them research being conducted on potatoes and mint breeding. From there, the group headed out to tour Shasta Dam.

In Redding, Larry Forero, UCCE director in Shasta County, and Rick Satomi, UCCE forest advisor, told the Chinese delegates about local research and outreach, then introduced them to 4-H youth and families at the Shasta District Fair, where 4-H members were bringing livestock for show.

UCCE advisors Josh Davy and Allan Fulton discussed orchards and water in Tehama County.

In Yuba City, UCCE director Janine Hasey and her staff gave the guests an overview of UCCE programs in Yuba and Sutter counties and plans for celebrating the office's 100^th anniversary on Aug. 24. They met with UCCE pomology advisors, who gave them a tour of Sierra Gold Nurseries orchards and walnut rootstock research sites and discussed collaborations with growers.

Stephanie Larson, UCCE director in Sonoma County, drove the group around areas in Santa Rosa that burned in October and discussed UCCE's fire research and outreach to the community. The group also met with UCCE staff in Sonoma County to discuss food access, 4-H youth development, natural resources and wine grapes.

For a view of UC Cooperative Extension from the campus perspective, Mark Bell, vice provost of Strategic Initiatives and Statewide Programs, introduced the group to colleagues in the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. They met with Mimi Rose, program coordinator for international programs; Martin Smith, UCCE specialist in the Department of Human Ecology; Ron Tjeerdema, associate dean for Environmental Sciences; Bruce Linquist, UCCE rice specialist; Jim Hill, emeritus UCCE specialist; and Louise Ferguson, UCCE specialist and founder of the Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center.

Anne Megaro, director of governmental and community relations, introduced the group to Gail Feenstra, deputy director and food systems coordinator of UC ANR's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, and Sonja Brodt, academic coordinator. Then they toured the Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility with soil science post-doc Daoyuan Wang and the UC Davis Student Farm with its director Katharina Ullmann.

“They have extension in China, but it is not like ours,” said Megaro. “They are looking to strengthen their advisor positions and develop a mechanism for career advancement, similar to what we have in the U.S.”

The Chinese Extension Alliance Delegation wrapped up their tour at UC ANR's offices in Davis to learn about UC ANR's statewide programs. Jim Farrar discussed the Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, Missy Gable described the Master Gardener Program, Shannon Horrillo talked about the 4-H youth development program, Greg Ira explained California Naturalist; and Katie Panarella covered the Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences, Expanded Food Nutrition Education (EFNEP) and Master Food Preserver programs.

Humiston, who met with the China-US University-based Agricultural Extension Alliance in China in March of 2017, said, “We look forward to collaborating with our agricultural extension colleagues in China.”

See more photos of the tour at https://www.flickr.com/gp/151501801@N07/YVBqk6.

 

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