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UC ANR funds 12 new projects to address high-priority issues in California
How does the increased number of dead trees affect the timing and magnitude of wildfire? What would it take to get more Latino children engaged in science? Would volunteers be interested in teaching others how to preserve honey bee health? These are some of the questions that University of California scientists will try to answer through projects funded by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Twelve new projects are being funded by UC ANR's 2017 Competitive Grants Program and High Risk, High Rewards Program to address high-priority issues in California.
With 45 competitive grant proposals requesting over $7 million and six high-risk high-reward proposals requesting over another $500,000, the number of requests received exceeded the funding available.
“These projects truly demonstrate the forward-thinking nature of UC researchers,” said Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources. “They're tackling problems and issues that strike at the heart of what matters to Californians. We're pleased to support and fund this critical work.”
The list of funded proposals is below and project summaries are posted on the 2017 funding opportunities web page at http://ucanr.edu/2017anrgrantsprojects.
|
Title |
Principal investigator |
Award amount |
|
Pathways to Your Future: Destination UC |
$200,000 |
|
|
Massive tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada: Consequences for forest health |
$200,000 |
|
|
Reducing nitrate leaching to the groundwater by accounting for the soils' capacity to supply N through mineralization |
$199,978 |
|
|
Advancing urban irrigation management to enhance water-use efficiency |
$199,975 |
|
|
The California Master Beekeeper Program: Development of a continuous train-the-trainer education effort for CA beekeepers |
$199,949 |
|
|
Silent straws: understanding water demands from woody encroachment in California's oak woodlands |
|
$199,937 |
|
Impact of a warmer and drier future on rangeland ecosystems and ecosystem services |
$199,831 |
|
|
Closing the adaptive management loop for sustainable working rangelands |
$199,502 |
|
|
Developing a culturally relevant civic science approach to improving scientific literacy for Latino youth |
$194,768 |
|
|
Creating cyst nematode suppressive soils by managing indigenous populations of the hyperparasitic fungus Dactylella oviparasitica |
$100,000 |
|
|
Smart Farming: Monitoring the health of chickens |
$81,293 |
|
|
Recruiting the next generation of extension professionals |
$11,030 |
UC water institute announces 2017 grant recipients
The UC California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR) has announced the recipients of six grants to address the most critical water issues in the state. For this program, the Institute leverages funds it receives from the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 through the Department of Interior.
CIWR, which is part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, facilitates collaborative research and outreach on water issues across California's academic institutions and with international, federal, state, regional, nonprofit, and campus communities.
Small grants to support initial work will be dispersed to the following projects (click the headline for more information):
Suitability of alfalfa for winter groundwater recharge
Helen Dahlke, professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis
One proposed solution for recharging overdrawn aquifers is flooding farmland during the rainy season. Optimizing agricultural groundwater banking for specific crops can be challenging. The goal of this project is to better understand how alfalfa, which is grown year-round, responds to winter flooding.
Fish habitat response to streamflow augmentation
Ted Grantham, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, UC Berkeley
Declining water levels can degrade or eliminate fish habitat during California's summer season. Storing water off-channel during the rainy season can improve flow during the summer. The study is designed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between stream flow and habitat.
Remote sensing of turfgrass response to irrigation
Amir Haghverdi, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, UC Riverside
Turfgrass is common in urban landscapes and provides valuable recreation areas and ecosystem services. This project will help determine the best irrigation strategies for common turfgrass species.
Habitat restoration impacts on water management
Eric Palkovacs, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz
The natural conditions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have been changed by habitat alteration and non-native predacious fish introduction. This project will examine the interplay between altered habitat and predatory fish, and how they impact native salmon populations.
Evaluating water conservation policy in California
Leah Stokes, professor in the Department of Political Science, UC Santa Barbara
During the recent drought, California required that on-average urban water districts conserve 25 percent of their water. While some districts were successful, others failed to meet their target. This project will examine how variation in policy – pricing, messaging and penalties – and drought severity affected water conservation.
Groundwater dynamics after California drought
Amelia Vankeuren, professor in the Department of Geology, Sacramento State University
As part of California's groundwater management act, some basins were designated as high management priorities. This project will characterize groundwater using age, location and temperature. This information will be valuable for stakeholders creating a groundwater sustainability plan.
Workshops aim to boost local and regional food businesses with federal grants
The workshops are designed to help potential applicants understand, develop and submit federal grant applications for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion programs. The 2014 Farm Bill reauthorized this program, which will provide $30 million in grants each year through 2018. The funds will be divided between the Farmers Market Promotion Program and the Local Food Promotion Program.
The workshop instructor is Jennifer Sowerwine, a UC ANR specialist based at UC Berkeley whose research and extension is focused on development of equitable, economically viable and culturally relevant food systems in metropolitan areas.
“The workshop is open to anyone interested in connecting agricultural producers and consumers through local food systems,” Sowerwine said. “This is a great opportunity to strengthen the local economy, support small-scale farmers, and make fresh, healthy food more accessible to the community.”
The workshops are a collaborative effort involving UC ANR, USDA and Regional Rural Development Centers. They will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. as follows:
April 8 - Berkeley. 155 Kroeber Hall at UC Berkeley
April 10 - Modesto. Stanislaus County Ag Center, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto
April 15 - Davis. UC ANR Building, 2801 Second St., Davis
April 22 - Redding. North Valley Catholic Social Services, 2400 Washington Ave., Redding
Each of the workshops will provide an overview of the grant programs and help in developing project ideas, preparing the proposal and completing the application. All applications much be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern May 14. Sowerwine suggests applicants start the application process as soon as possible to ensure they meet the deadline. To apply, go to http://www.grants.gov. Questions about the process will be addressed at the workshop.
Registration is $10 and includes lunch, training materials and resources. The agenda, details and online registration are on the web at http://ucanr.edu/sites/localfoodpromo. For more information about the program, contact Jennifer Sowerwine at (510) 664-7043, jsowerwi@berkeley.edu. For information about workshop logistics, contact Alex Zabelin, (530) 750-1259, or Saundra Wais, (530) 750-1260, or email anrprogramsupport@ucanr.edu.
The University of California Global Food Initiative aims to put the world on a path to sustainably and nutritiously feed itself. By building on existing efforts and creating new collaborations among UC's 10 campuses, affiliated national laboratories and the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the initiative will develop and export solutions for food security, health and sustainability throughout California, the United States and the world.
UC ANR scientists get $450,000 to study pesticide alternatives
UC ANR scientists get $450,000 to study pesticide alternatives
The root maggot, a pest of cole crops, can wipe out an entire field of broccoli or cauliflower by tunneling through the plants’ roots. With a new $302,542 grant from the Department of Pesticide Regulation, Shimat Joseph, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Monterey County, will study ways growers can protect their high-value crops from this persistent pest.
“In the Salinas Valley, cabbage maggot infestation in a field can exceed 90 percent,” said Joseph, who specializes in integrated pest management.
Joseph, who specializes in entomology, will evaluate the susceptibility of broccoli when it is planted next to other various crops such as turnip, lettuce, cauliflower or cabbage, to see if the neighboring crop influences the broccoli field’s attractiveness to cabbage maggots. He will also evaluate different broccoli and cauliflower varieties for their resistance or tolerance to the maggots and will look into the role planting date in determining a plant’s susceptibility to the pest.
Lynn Epstein, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis, received a $153,289 Department of Pesticide Regulation grant to study alternatives to methyl bromide for strawberry nursery fumigation.
California produces more than a billion strawberry runner plants every year, with a total annual value of approximately $60 million. For the past 50 years, fumigating the soil with methyl bromide before planting has been the most effective way to keep soil-borne pathogens, nematodes and weeds from overwhelming strawberry nursery plants. In recent years, though, methyl bromide has become increasingly restricted, with the intention of eventually phasing it out entirely.
Anaerobic soil disinfestation integrates heat from solarization and oxygen deprivation from flooding, according to Epstein.
“We’ll incorporate a relatively inexpensive carbon source into the topsoil, irrigate it to field capacity, and then cover the amended soil with a plastic tarp,” Epstein said. The anaerobic byproducts that build up are toxic to pathogens, but those byproducts will degrade rapidly after the tarp is removed.”
Rustici endowment funds UC projects for rangelands, cattle
The projects address water quality, reproduction, animal welfare, greenhouse gases, weed control, and extending knowledge. The endowment is administered through the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). Priorities are established by an advisory committee comprised of range cattle industry representatives and UC academics.
“The goal of this program is to promote collaboration and strengthen the continuum between range cattle producers, Cooperative Extension specialists and other research faculty, and county-based Cooperative Extension advisors,” said DeeDee Kitterman, CA&ES executive director of research and outreach. “Ultimately, this helps provide practical answers to critical issues and challenges facing the industry.”
Funding has been made available for this problem-solving research and outreach by endowment earnings from a gift to the university from the estate of Russell Rustici, a Lake County cattle rancher who passed away in 2008.
“Mr. Rustici worked closely with our scientists for many years,” said Neal Van Alfen, CA&ES dean. “His legacy is an enduring commitment to university research that will help us address issues of concern to the California cattle industry for a long time to come.”
This is the first year grant awards are being conferred to UC researchers through an annual competitive process. Grants for this year’s projects totaled more than $339,400. Three of the projects may receive second-year funding totaling nearly $105,000. Projects and lead researchers include:
- Statewide coordination of scientific research information regarding livestock grazing and microbial water quality (Edward R. Atwill, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine)
- Effects of road transport on physiological stress and pathogen shedding in adult beef cows (Xunde Li, Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, UC Davis)
- Development and testing of a recombinant heat shock protein vaccine for epizootic bovine abortion, commonly known as “foothill abortion” (Jeffrey Stott, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine)
- A new producer-friendly tool to diagnose bovine respiratory disease virus infections (Beate Crossley, California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, UC Davis)
- Coordinated electronic extension of research-based information to cattlemen (Glenn Nader, UC Cooperative Extension, Yuba/Sutter/Butte counties)
- Testing of new management tools for controlling medusahead (a rangeland weed) in California (Josh Davy, UC Cooperative Extension, Tehama/Glenn/Colusa counties)
- Evaluation and validation of a PCR assay to detect Tritrichomonas foetus (trichomoniasis pathogen) in modified media (Kristin Clothier, California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, UC Davis)
- Beef cattle welfare: assessment of pain relief and healing after hot-iron branding and castration (Cassandra Tucker, UC Davis Department of Animal Science)
For additional information about these research projects, please contact DeeDee Kitterman, (530) 752-9484, dmkitterman@ucdavis.edu.
Media Contacts
- DeeDee Kitterman, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 752-9484, dmkitterman@ucdavis.edu
- John Stumbos, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 754-4979, jdstumbos@ucdavis.edu
