Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
USDA to give California $16 million for specialty crops
USDA announced yesterday that it is awarding $49 million for 745 projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops; $16 million will go to California. The agency's news release said the USDA defines specialty crops as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.
United States Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced), chair of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, also issued a release about the award yesterday, saying grants will provide funding for a host of partnerships with UC Davis and UC Merced.
The Cardoza release said California's $16.3 million will fund projects to address such issues as food safety, production research, programs to advance exports, water recharge and pest control.
"This is a great day for California agriculture," the release quoted the congressman. "I could not be more pleased to see the many long hours we spent working on this legislation in Washington producing direct tangible results for California farmers."
US Congressman Dennis Cardoza
4-H celebrated in its California birthplace
The county where the first California 4-H club was established in 1913 must take special pride in its unique distinction as the origin of a successful statewide youth development program offered by UC Cooperative Extension, judging from an article that ran yesterday in the Times-Standard. The story was also picked up in the Contra Costa Times.
Writer Jessie Faulkner put Humboldt County's 4-H claim to fame near the top of a feature marking National 4-H Week, Oct. 4-10. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors also issued a proclamation in honor of National 4-H Week, the story said.
The article helped spread the word about the evolution of 4-H from its roots teaching ag and home economics to boys and girls in rural communities to programs for all youth that develop leadership, life skills and citizenship. The article mentioned a variety of 4-H programs, including animal husbandry, archery, quilting, small engines and videography.
Faulker spoke to Humboldt County 4-H youth development program representative Sandy Sathrum about a recently developed 4-H North Coast Youth Summit, a leadership skill-building conference. Two years ago, 4-H All-Stars came up with the idea for the summit after participating in a Sacramento leadership conference. Since its beginning, eight other local organizations have joined in the planning, Sathrum told the reporter.
Humboldt 4-H also organized a Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Expo - providing hands-on learning opportunities to local youth. More than 500 people attended the Redwood Acres event, Sathrum said, and plans are underway for the 2010 SET Expo.
Sandy Sathrum works with youth.
Some people may already have immunity to H1N1
New research by a UC Davis scientist and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist has found that some senior citizens already have a level of immunity to H1N1 flu, formerly known as Swine flu. The finding may explain why the 2009 H1N1-related symptoms have been generally mild, according to a UC Davis news release distributed to the media yesterday."The more you're exposed to viruses that can stimulate all types of immune response, the better protected you're likely to be," the Sacramento Bee quoted UCCE specialist and study co-author Carol Cardona in a story about the findings. "There does seem to be some level of antibody protection that people over 65 seem to have. There are some good things about getting older."
The scientists identified structural sites on the H1N1 virus that are also present in seasonal flu viruses that have been circulating for years. Many people over 60, who were likely exposed to similar viruses earlier in life from flu exposure or vaccinations, carry antibodies or another type of immunity against the new virus.
The study's authors, Cardona and project scientist Zheng Xing, are both associated with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The news release says their study has implications for avian influenza.
About 80 percent of the epitopes - the structural sites on the virus - found in seasonal influenza and flu vaccine viruses are also present in the avian influenza virus. The scientists suggest that these epitopes may have protected some individuals infected with the avian flu virus through cytotoxic T-cell immunity.
Xing and Cardona's findings will appear in the November edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Drs. Xing and Cardona
Is the poor economy creating kitchen misers?
In a feature for the San Diego Tribune, writer R. J. Ignelzi wondered whether tough economic times have consumers thinking twice before throwing away food stored in the refrigerator.
"More kitchen misers are cutting away mold from a chunk of cheddar, hanging onto vinaigrette long past its prime and wondering if we can get just one more meal out of 2-day-old lasagna leftovers," the reporter proclaimed.
According to Ignelzi, "During the boom years we thought nothing of trashing a carton of yogurt still days away from its 'use by' date or dumping a 3-month-old unopened box of corn flakes, simply because we wanted a fresh one." Is that based on research?
Regardless, Ignelzi used the declarations about people's food habits as an entertaining lead-in to practical food safety information from reliable sources, including UC Cooperative Extension.
The first suggestion offered - from UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Patti Wooten Swanson - recommended that consumers rotate food kept in the cupboard with the oldest foods moved to the front and used first.
The second tidbit of advice was attributed to Joan Rupp, registered dietitian and instructor of nutrition at San Diego State University. She said how food is handled in the home impacts its longevity.
“If you put the salad dressing right back in the refrigerator after you use it, it will last longer than if you let it sit out on the table during each meal,” the article quoted Rupp.
For the rest, common sense food safety information was published without specific attribution and readers were referred to USDA and the National Center for Home Food Preservation for more information.
refrigerator
Egyptian delegation gets rice advice from UCCE
A delegation of Egyptian agriculture and government officials toured rice fields east of Marysville Sunday to learn whether American advances in rice production and mechanization could be translated for farmers in the Nile River Valley, according to an article published in the Appeal-Democrat.What can farmers, whose ancestors have worked the land and handed down agricultural information for thousands of years, learn from experts in a locale settled by farmers just a 150 years ago? And how could Egyptians, who only have a small ribbon of land suitable for farming and suffer more serious water shortages than Californians, even consider a crop that grows underwater?
A Cairo ag minister on the tour suggested effective marketing may raise the value of rice in Egypt, making it a viable crop.
UC Cooperative Extension rice farm advisor Christopher Greer said the tour had a purpose beyond just sharing production information.
"The one main reason they're here is to learn how universities and governments can work with the different producers to become more efficient," Greer was quoted in the article. "I think it's the extension of knowledge."