Posts Tagged: Ag Day

Ag Day enthusiasm not dampened by rain

Despite a steady downpour, legislators and other state government employees expressed their support for agriculture at Ag Day at the Capitol on March 21. UC ANR showcased its people, programs and research.

Vice President Glenda Humiston; Deanne Meyer, interim associate vice president; Sarah Light, UC Cooperative Extension agronomy advisor; and several UC ANR colleagues thanked legislators and officials for their support and told them about current research and outreach activities.

Anne Megaro, government and community relations director, organized activities at the event and greeted legislators.

UC Master Gardener coordinator Judy McClure and volunteers answered gardening questions. Representatives from The Vine demonstrated a robot that performs some farm tasks. 4-H members showed visitors their goats and rabbits. Strategic Communications staff described some of the UC ANR research associated with the display of citrus varieties grown at Lindcove Research and Extension Center and avocado varieties from South Coast REC.

See video and photos below. For more coverage, search social media for #AgDay23, #CAagday23 and #AgDay2023.

Ag Day at the Capitol returns

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the California Department of Food and Agriculture hosted Ag Day at the Capitol in Sacramento on March 23.

“It was incredibly energizing to reconnect with so many legislators, partners, supporters and friends to share in the joy and promise of our work,” said Vice President Glenda Humiston. “Things almost felt ‘normal' again!” 

Anne Megaro, government and community relations director, organized ANR's displays and representation, which included Humiston, UCCE farm advisors Sarah Light and Rachael Long, Sheldon 4-H youth and UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County. 

One booth displayed myriad citrus varieties grown at Lindcove Research and Extension Center and avocado varieties grown at South Coast Research and Extension Center. 

Among the many legislators who visited the ANR booths was Senator John Laird, who championed the historic increase to ANR's budget.

“No other event that occurs here, of the hundreds every year, draws crowds like Ag Day, and a lot of the legislators who have no concept or association with agriculture come by, plus their staff,” said Senator Jim Nielsen. “It's really a special day because it affirms the importance of agriculture to California and the world.”

The day before Ag Day at the Capitol, ANR's Global Food Initiative Fellow Conor McCabe, Pam Kan-Rice of Strategic Communications, and Megaro visited legislators' offices to hand out Tango mandarins grown at Lindcove REC and personally invite legislators and their staff to Ag Day. Tango mandarins are a small, seedless, easy-to-peel fruit bred by UC Riverside genetics professor Mikeal Roose and often sold under the brand names Cutie or Halo. 

The following are some photos of the Ag Day event. To see more photos, check out #AgDay2022 on Twitter.

Assemblymember Megan Dahle, center, with Anne Megaro and Conor McCabe on the day before Ag Day.

The three are standing in front of a U.S. flag in Dahle's office.

Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua and Anne Megaro.

Anne, left, and the assemblyman are holding small bags of mandarins. The bags are decorated with orange and blue buttons and postcards.

Doralicia Garay and Anne Megaro set up the UC ANR booth.

Dora, left, wearing a facemask, arranges avocados in a bowl on a table. Anne writes the name of the variety on an avocado. Behind them, banners read "Learning about Agriculture" and Eating Healthy."

From left, Glenda Humiston, Senator Brian Dahle, Anne Megaro and Senator Steven Bradford.

Standing in front of the UC ANR booth, Dahle holds an avocado the size of a small football, Bradford holds a cloth ANR bag that reads "Grow California Together."

Glenda Humiston with Assemblymember James Gallagher.

Humiston and Gallagher face each other in conversation, surrounded by Ag Day visitors.

Assemblymember Rudy Salas and a 4-H Sheldon club member.

The 4-Her holds a small goat as a goat in a pen in the foreground looks at them.

Glenda Humiston and Assemblymember Akilah Weber.

The Master Gardener display of flower photos is visible over Humiston's shoulder. Weber stands beside citrus varieties.

Anne Megaro and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer.

They are standing in front of the ANR citrus display. Anne is holding a large avocado and the assemblyman is holding a dark oblong avocado and two oranges.

Pam Kan-Rice and Assemblymember Janet Nguyen.

Nguyen holds a cloth ANR bag that reads Grow Agriculture Together.

Mike Hsu, left, and Conor McCabe greet an Ag Day visitor.

Mike gestures toward avocado varieties that a woman is looking at.

Senator Susan Rubio tweeted her thanks to California 4-H.

Rubio holds a black bird. Tweet reads, "Loved visiting. Thank you for all you do our young people. California 4-H.

ANR Statewide Conference reaches maximum capacity

If you haven't registered for the ANR Statewide Conference yet, there's no guarantee space will be available. There are 653 people registered, including speakers and UC President's Advisory Commission members (PAC), for the conference being held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Ontario April 9-12.

“At this point, we are accepting applications to attend because we're exceeding capacity of the facility,” said Sherry Cooper, director of Program Support Unit. “New registrations will not be confirmed until you receive an email or phone call confirming your registration, so please wait for confirmation before making travel plans.”

Among those registered are 145 UC Cooperative Extension advisors, 71 UCCE specialists, 26 academic coordinators and administrators, 20 Agricultural Experiment Station faculty members and nearly 350 administrative and programmatic staff.

The President's Advisory Commission will meet on Monday afternoon and PAC members have been invited to stay to hear California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross speak Monday evening, ANR leaders discuss “Charting a Sustainable Future for ANR,” and President Janet Napolitano speak on Tuesday.

The agriculture and natural resources industry leaders who serve on PAC will also join ANR members Tuesday morning to listen to keynote speaker Antwi Akom, UCSF and SFSU professor and founding director of Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab (SOUL) and co-founder and CEO of Streetwyze. His talk is titled “Race, Space, Place and Waste: How Innovation, Education, and Inspiration Can Fearlessly Catalyze California Towards Becoming the World's Leader in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management.”

If you plan to tweet about the ANR Statewide Conference, the hashtag is #UCANRconf2018.

IGIS plans next steps based on program review

In 2017, an ad hoc committee was appointed to carry out ANR's routine five-year statewide program review of our Informatics and Geographic Information Systems (IGIS) Program. Associate Vice President Powers and I extend a thank you to the committee for their time commitment and thoroughness in examining the program and providing recommendations to UC ANR's Program Council (PC). The time and effort of IGIS Director Maggi Kelly and staff to provide information and PC's review of the report and recommendations are also greatly appreciated.

Given limited personnel and a short time since startup, IGIS has made significant contributions throughout ANR. There is a great need for the program within and beyond ANR, and IGIS personnel have shown impressive results in reaching out to the wider ANR community and external partners.

Here is a summary of the direction and next steps I provided to the IGIS Program Director:

• IGIS should focus on expanding capacity and reach with drones and prioritize investing in new technology.
• IGIS will work with the REC Directors to develop a call process to identify science leads who are interested in taking over full ownership of one or more of the flux towers.
• IGIS should discontinue its involvement with cataloguing dark data, but work with ANR Communication Services and Information Technology office (CSIT) to inform ANR academics that digitized documents are available in the ANR repository.
• Associate Vice President Powers and I will meet with Program Director Kelly to further discuss the proposal to re-characterize IGIS from a statewide program to a statewide academic service.
• IGIS will develop a business plan to continue to scale up services that are in demand by UC ANR academics and offer services in a way that decreases reliance on central funds.
• IGIS should update its website to clearly articulate to whom resources and services are available. When IGIS is not able to provide a service, to the degree possible, it should act as a clearing house and refer clients to other providers.
• IGIS should incorporate evaluation methods that focus on the effectiveness of workshops and services and the extent of IGIS' reach.

I look forward to working with IGIS as it pursues these and other opportunities that may arise.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Names in the News

Wang joins UCCE as vegetable and irrigation advisor

Zheng Wang joined UCCE on March 5, 2018, as an area vegetable production and irrigation advisor in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties.

Prior to joining UCCE, Wang was a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University-Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, where he had conducted cutting-edge and applied research and extension work on vegetable crop production since 2015. His federally funded and state-funded projects integrated minimal tillage, vegetable grafting and use of microbial biostimulants to optimize local and regional vegetable operations. From 2011 to 2014, Wang was a graduate research assistant at University of Kentucky. His research focused on the effects of production systems and tillage applications on vegetable drought tolerance and endophytic bacterial dynamics.

Wang earned a Ph.D. in crop science from University of Kentucky and an M.S. in agriculture from Western Kentucky University. Wang, who is fluent in Chinese, earned a B.S. in agronomy from Shenyang Agricultural University in China.

Wang is based in Modesto and can be reached at (209) 525-6822 and zzwwang@ucanr.edu.

Sosnoskie returns as UCCE agronomy and weed advisor

Lynn Sosnoskie joined UCCE on Feb. 26, 2018, as an area agronomy and weed management advisor in Merced and Madera counties. 

Before returning to UC, Sosnoskie spent a year at Washington State University as an assistant research faculty member tasked with extending the reach of the WSU weed science team in the Columbia Basin. From 2012 to 2016, Sosnoskie was an associate project scientist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, working with UCCE specialist Brad Hanson to partner solutions-based research needs of growers with an increased understanding of the biological and environmental factors that impact weeds and weed control in California's specialty crops. From 2006 to 2011, she held a postdoctoral research professional position at University of Georgia, where she contributed to weed control research and outreach efforts in upland cotton and fresh market vegetables.

As a weed scientist, Sosnoskie is interested in the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds, the preservation of effective chemical control strategies through the judicious use of herbicides and the adoption of non-chemical control practices, automated weeders, the effects of drought on the composition of weed communities, perennial weed management, and improving our understanding of weed biology and ecology to maximize vegetation control. With respect to agronomy, Sosnoskie evaluates crop responses to temperature, as well as water availability and water quality, and the epidemiology and management of diseases like Fusarium Race 4 in cotton. She collaborates on a variety of crop issues such as soil salinity and fertility management. 

Sosnoskie earned a Ph.D. in horticulture and crop science from The Ohio State University, a M.S. in crop and soil science from University of Delaware, and a B.S. in biology from Lebanon Valley College.

Based in Merced, Sosnoskie can be reached at (229) 326-2676 and lmsosnoskie@ucanr.edu. You can follow her on Twitter @LynnSosnoskie and @agronomyweedsci.

Zalom and Goodell receive international lifetime IPM awards

Peter Goodell, UCCE integrated pest management advisor emeritus, and Frank Zalom, professor and UCCE specialist in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis, received lifetime achievement awards at the Ninth International IPM Symposium March 19 in Baltimore.

Zalom is a past president of the 7,000-member Entomological Society of America, co-founder of the International IPM symposia, and served as director of UC ANR's Statewide IPM Program for 16 years.

“Dr. Zalom continues to advance the science and implementation of IPM,” said Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “His integrity, service and respect for all are legendary.”

Read more about Zalom's contributions at //ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=24248.

Goodell retired in 2017 after serving 36 years as an advisor with the UC Statewide IPM Program, which was established in 1980. His accomplishments have been recognized with two Distinguished Service Awards from UC ANR, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists, and even being named by US News and World Report as one of the “Ten Most Indispensable Americans.”

Read more about Goodell's career at //ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=24248.

Surls receives 2018 Bradford Rominger Ag Sustainability Leadership Award

Rachel Surls, UCCE sustainable food systems advisor for Los Angeles County, is this year's recipient of the Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award. Surls received the award from the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at the Celebrating Women in Agriculture event in Davis on April 3.

Surls has been committed to community gardens, school gardens, and urban agriculture since long before our cities took notice. For 30 years, she has worked at the UC Cooperative Extension Office in Los Angeles County, helping to bring city-grown food into the mainstream.

The Bradford Rominger award, given yearly, honors individuals who exhibit the leadership, work ethic and integrity epitomized by the late Eric Bradford, a livestock geneticist who gave 50 years of service to UC Davis, and the late Charlie Rominger, a fifth-generation Yolo County farmer and land preservationist.

“In her three-decade career with UCCE, Rachel has developed a strong program addressing some of our most critical issues in sustainable agriculture,” says Keith Nathaniel, the Los Angeles County Cooperative Extension director. “She does so with innovative strategies, working with all aspects of the LA community. After 30 years doing this work, she continues to be active in the community she serves.”

In Surls' career, gardening has been a tool to build science literacy for schoolchildren, to increase self-sufficiency for communities impacted by economic downturn, and to create small businesses for urban entrepreneurs. As the interest in and support for urban agriculture has grown, she has been in the heart of Los Angeles, ready to respond to the needs of the city's farmers and gardeners. – Aubrey Thompson

Linquist honored with Rice Research and Education Award

The Rice Technical Working Group presented Bruce Linquist, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, and a team of rice researchers with the Distinguished Rice Research and Education Award Feb. 21 during their annual conference in Long Beach.

Linquist has been collaborating with rice researchers at the University of Arkansas, the USDA in Jonesborough, Ark., and Louisiana State University on advancing irrigation management practices to achieve sustainable intensification outcomes.

While rice has historically been grown in flooded fields, the researchers have been introducing aerobic periods during the growing season (also known as alternate wetting and drying). The practice has been shown to reduce CH4 emissions and water use. Read more about the rice project at http://news.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/2018/03/27/bruce-linquist-distinguished-rice-research-and-education-award.  – Ann Filmer

Parker re-elected to national water resources board

Doug Parker, director of the California Institute for Water Resources, has been re-elected by the delegates of the Universities Council on Water Resources to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. Parker, who is the past president of UCOWR, an association of universities and organizations leading in education, research and public service in water resources, will begin his next three-year term with the UCOWR Board meeting on June 28 at the joint 2018 UCOWR National Institutes for Water Resources Conference in Pittsburgh, Penn.

UCOWR strives to facilitate water-related education at all levels, promote meaningful research and technology transfer on contemporary and emerging water resources issues, compile and disseminate information on water problems and solutions, and promote informed decisions about water issues at all levels of society. 

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