Posts Tagged: Communications

Communicate more effectively about farming and food, workshop July 18-19

Do you want to have productive conversations about farming practices – sustainable, organic, conventional, regenerative, ecological – rather than arguing with people? Are you hungry for effective ways to convey the complexities of farming with people who have little experience with agriculture? Attend a workshop on July 18-19 in Pacific Grove to learn and practice using exciting new communication tools that can help you address the questions above and more.

This 1.5-day workshop is for agricultural professionals, farmers, communicators, advocates, and policymakers who regularly engage with the public on food and farm issues. It is part of a research and education grant funded by Western Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education.

Speakers will share practices grounded in social-science research (conducted by FrameWorks Institute and The Farming and Food Narrative Project) that explored the public's understanding of agriculture and effective ways to create understanding about unfamiliar farming topics.

You will be able to share your most pressing communication challenges, engage with communication strategies that ‘reframe' the conversation about good farming practices, and practice on your own materials. You will meet and connect with colleagues facing similar challenges and can choose to join a follow-up community of learning. The goal is that participants leave feeling confident to employ new communications tools in their work.

When: Tuesday, July 18, 1 p.m. – Wednesday, July 19, 4 p.m.

Where: Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove

Speakers:

• Jessica Moyer, FrameWorks Institute
• Michael Rozyne and Kelsey Gosch, Red Tomato
• Clare Sullivan, Oregon State University professor of crop and soil science
• Jim Farrar, UC Integrated Pest Management Program director

Registration costs $100 and includes one night's lodging and meals. Apply at https://forms.gle/JsJAXjrtZN27Hvyy5. Workshop space is limited so please apply by May 15.

For financial assistance, please contact kgosch@redtomato.org.

For more information about the agricultural communication workshop and the "Reframing in the West" project, see https://www.farmingandfoodnarrative.org/western-sare.

 

 

 

New tools in ANR communications toolkit

See what's new in the ANR communications toolkit at https://ucanr.edu/sites/communicationstoolkit. Upon request, new slide templates have been added to the kit.

Google Slides

A Google Slides version of our UC ANR Powerpoint template can be found in the UC Davis template gallery. Scroll down to Presentation Designs to find the template called "UC ANR Google Slides Template English." To view the full template list, you may need to click on the down arrow which first appears at the bottom of the list.

UC ANR overview slides

Three PowerPoint presentation slides with UC ANR overview information, including a map of ANR locations and a list of statewide programs and institutes, have been added. Download UC_ANR_overview_slides by going to Logos & Templates, then clicking on Downloads, then the UC ANR logo.

If there are other resources that you would like to see added to the ANR communications toolkit, please email your ideas to lforbes@ucanr.edu.

Communications Advisory Board seeks new members

The advisory board to ANR Communication Services and Information Technology (CSIT) is seeking to fill positions. Nominations for Communications Advisory Board membership can include, but are not limited to, specialists, advisors and faculty affiliated with UC ANR.

The board provides advice and support to CSIT leadership on Division program connection, resource allocation prioritization, major policy issues, budget and long-range planning. It also provides oversight of the peer-review process for ANR educational materials.

Board members are appointed by AVP Wendy Powers toserve three-year, rotating terms. The board meets on a quarterly basis in Davis. The new appointments begin in November 2019. Existing board members whose terms are ending may reapply.

Recruitment is now underway for new members. CAB accepts applications from county and campus-based academics in any subject matter. We have a current need for new members with a background in forestry or fire science.

Nominations are due July 25, 2019. Academics may nominate themselves or someone else. Send nominations, along with contact information, to Communications Advisory Board Subcommittee Chair Dustin Blakey at dwblakey@ucanr.edu. If nominating yourself, please fill out the online application survey at http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=27550 and send a curriculum vitae.

Current members of the advisory board are Dustin Blakey, UCCE county director and farm advisor, Inyo and Mono counties; Surendra Dara, UCCE strawberry, vegetable crops and IPM advisor, San Luis Obispo County; John Harper, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor, Mendocino County; John Karlik, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor, Kern County; David Lewis, UCCE county director and watershed management advisor, Marin and Napa counties; Don Merhaut, UCCE nursery and floriculture specialist, UC Riverside; Fe Moncloa, 4-H youth development advisor, Santa Clara County; Jennifer Sowerwine, UCCE equitable food systems specialist, UC Berkeley; Rachel Surls, UCCE sustainable food systems advisor, Los Angeles County; and Patti Wooten Swanson, UCCE nutrition, family and consumer science advisor, San Diego County.

Budget update: State funding unchanged for ANR in 2018-19

On June 22, Governor Jerry Brown signed the state budget for fiscal year 2018-19, which contains a new line item for UC ANR within the UCOP budget. UC ANR will have the same amount of funding from the state for the upcoming year as we had this year. While we appreciate that ANR did not suffer additional cuts, we still need to deal with unfunded obligations of $4 million to $5 million. This results from the UC system getting an increase of 3 percent in the coming fiscal year, which will cause increases in salaries and benefits.

We are managing this $4 million to $5 million in unfunded obligations in three ways:

• We are slowing down hiring of UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) advisors & specialists throughout the state.
• Statewide programs are developing additional cuts to already reduced budgets.
• UC ANR Research and Extension Centers (RECs) are reducing the subsidy that has been provided for research projects at the RECs.

Our priority during this process is to keep UCCE advisors in the field and minimize harm to program delivery. We are fortunate that recent work on administrative efficiencies has provided some savings that we can utilize for our programs and UCCE mission.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Names in the News

Fulford joins UCCE as soil quality advisor

Anthony Fulford joined UCCE on June 18 as an area nutrient management/soil quality advisor in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties.

Prior to joining UCCE, he studied on soil health testing and nutrient management practices for corn, soybeans, and wheat grown in Ohio as a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University. Fulford studied soil fertility of rice cropping systems at the University of Arkansas where he evaluated nitrogen soil testing, nitrogen use efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions in the mid-South. His research has been focused on identifying rapid and affordable soil health measurements to better predict organic nitrogen supply to plants. He has worked closely with growers and extension educators to conduct research on nutrient management and soil health and has led demonstrations and discussions at soil health workshops.

Fulford received a Ph.D. in soil fertility from University of Arkansas, a M.S. in soil science from Southern Illinois University, and a B.S. in forestry from Colorado State University.

Fulford is based in Modesto and can be reached at (209) 525-6800 and amfulford@ucanr.edu.

Megaro named interim director of Strategic Communications

Anne Megaro has been appointed to serve as interim director of Strategic Communications in addition to her current role as director of government and community relations. She will assume this role until the Strategic Communications position is filled.

During the transition, Liz Sizensky and Pam Kan-Rice will share project management responsibilities and Cynthia Kintigh will oversee content migration to the new website design. For assistance with publicizing the impact of your work, you are welcome, as always, to contact Jeannette Warnert, Ricardo Vela or Kan-Rice directly.

Megaro can be reached at (530) 750-1218 and ammegaro@ucanr.edu. Strategic Communications staff contact information is listed at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/Administration/Associate_Vice_President_for_Academic_Programs_and_Strategic_Initiatives/csit/staff.

Gerry and Haviland honored by ESA

Alec Gerry, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist and UC Riverside Professor of Veterinary Entomology, and David Haviland, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Kern County, recently received awards from the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America. 

Gerry, who created a website https://www.veterinaryentomology.org to help producers identify pests and search lists of pesticides registered for veterinary pests, received the 2018 Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology Award.

One person nominating Gerry wrote, “From the beginning of his career, Alec has demonstrated a consistent ability to balance scholarly investigations with providing solutions to practical pest management problems. These two spheres of endeavors have infused each other, resulting in a prodigious contribution to our knowledge of pests of livestock and poultry and the diseases they carry to humans and animals.”

Another wrote, “Alec has heavily influenced our Pacific region through his many collaborations with UC extension personnel (specialists and farm advisors in animal agriculture at the county level or up at UC Davis) and his research projects and meaningful interaction with vector control districts.”

Haviland, who delivers presentations in Spanish as well as English, received the 2018 Excellence in Extension award.

One nomination letter said, “Haviland uses his research outputs to drive his prodigious extension program. This includes 430 presentations, primarily to farmer and pest control advisor audiences, to total attendances of over 32,000 people.”

Another wrote, “In our opinion, Mr. Haviland has proven to be more intuitive, approachable, and accessible to the local agricultural industry than most. His presentations to growers and PCAs on the issues and outcome of his research have always been timely and on target and he continues to provide valuable information for our newsletters and other industry periodicals. We have experienced evidence of his hard work in getting all important findings, whether from his work or his peers, delivered to growers and PCA's quickly so that the information can be put to use. He has always been open to our pest management concerns, very creative in developing management strategies, available to answer questions, and provides leadership and outreach for new information and research findings.”

Other UC colleagues also received awards from ESA's Pacific Branch:

• Award for Excellence in Teaching- William Walton, UC Riverside 
• Distinction in Student Mentoring- Jay Rosenheim, UC Davis
• Student Leadership Award- Jessica Gillung, UC Davis 

The awards were presented June 12 at the Pacific Branch Entomological Society of America meeting in Reno. 

Zalom named new editor-in-chief of journal

Frank G. Zalom, distinguished professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis, will be the next editor-in-chief of the Journal of Economic Entomology, the largest of the Entomological Society of America's family of scientific journals.

“Dr. Frank Zalom's career can be viewed as a model of applied entomology derived from an understanding of basic biology, and he is an ideal choice to be the new editor-in-chief of the Journal of Economic Entomology," said ESA President Michael Parrella. "His unparalleled and broad expertise will serve to continue the journal's growth as the publication of choice for applied entomological research and to build upon the legacy of Dr. John Trumble [professor of entomology at UC Riverside]."

Zalom brings the experience of a 40-year career at the intersection of entomological research, teaching, and application. He served for 16 years as director of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program and is the only entomologist in the UC system to ever receive a simultaneous appointment in teaching, research, and extension. His primary research focus has been on integrated pest management of agricultural crops.

"My colleagues and I on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Economic Entomology are delighted to welcome Dr. Frank Zalom as the journal's next editor-in-chief. We could not have asked for a better candidate in terms of vision, dedication, reputation, experience, and integrity," says Xuguo Zhou, associate professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky and chair of the Journal of Economic Entomology Editorial Board

"And we also express our deep gratitude to Dr. John Trumble, whose tireless work ethic and unerring leadership have driven JEE to such great success for so long," said Zhou.

Zalom will take on a five-year term as editor-in-chief.

Read more