It's only been a week since our CARET group met in DC. THANK YOU to our CARET representatives Ismael Herrera and Mike Mellano for making time to travel to DC, walk up and down the halls of the House of Representatives as well as the Senate to meet with staff of our representatives and senators. Also joining our group were select UC employees. We visited 24 offices including the Senate and House Ag Committees. We shared our priorities for this year's appropriations as well as Farm Bill items. The conversations were filled with how valuable ANR is to communities. We discussed impacts from trained citizen scientists to identify spotted lanternfly and the importance of prescribed burn associations. It was easy to share examples of Advisors, Specialists and Community Educators helping to assess damage from fire, floods or other disasters. Impacts from statewide programs to improve lives of Californians (Master Gardener, 4-H, Community Nutrition and Health, Integrated Pest Management, etc.) were shared. After visiting two offices I sent links to the great Small Farms website with a map of California and staffing delivery footprint as well as languages served. We do incredible work that truly impacts the lives of Californians!
CARET is the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching. Some 300 people from US Universities participated. Sunday afternoon was a heart-warming tribute to Jean-Mari Peltier (may we all remember her with fondness) who received the lifetime CARET achievement award. Jean-Mari set the gold standard as an advocate for research, collaboration, joint funding of projects, use of science to answer questions, engagement, UC ANR and so much more. The Jean-Mari Peltier Endowment in support of UC ANR Strategic Priorities was established to carry-on Jean-Mari's commitment to UC ANR, science and solving problems.
Other members not included in this office visit included Divisional Dean Isgouhi Kaloshian, UCR; Government Relations, UCR Kathy Eiler; Government Relations, UCSC Loressa Uson; and Ryan Tompkins Forester and Natural Resources Advisor for Plumas, Sierra, and Lassen counties.
Thursday, Missy Gable shared with the UC Regents the impact of capacity funds (Federal dollars) in delivery of the Master Gardener Program. She zoomed into the meeting from UC DC. It was thrilling to watch Missy present right after we had visited with our representatives about the importance of capacity funds (Hatch, Smith-Lever, and McIntire Stennis).
Meanwhile, back home Anne Megaro prepared for our Ag Day at the Capitol (coming up this Tuesday).
Switching gears, let's give a warm welcome to our some of our February hires-- David Gonzalves, Area Director (Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito), Advisors Patricia Laxicki (Capitol Corridor) and Manpreet Singh (Kearney REC), Junior Specialist Alexander Mendenhall, and SRAs Margaret Gallagher, Elle Overs, and Cristian Burgos (all Orange County), Rito Medina Fresno Madera MCP, and Andrea Northup-Warner Sierra Foothill REC. We look forward to seeing your great impacts for Californians.