Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
California Country to cover Lindcove celebration
One week from today, the University of California Lindcove Research and Extension Center will combine its annual citrus tasting with a laboratory dedication and a 50th anniversary celebration, an event that will be covered by California Country. California Country is a 30-minute weekly television broadcast produced by the California Farm Bureau Federation about the people, places and lifestyles that have made California the nation's largest food-producing state, according to its Web site. Producers will be in the area for several days collecting information for its program about the significant benefits of the Lindcove facility to the California citrus industry.
When the California Country program on Lindcove is posted online, you will find a link to it on this blog.
From humble beginnings in 1959, Lindcove has grown into a 175-acre research center where scientists conduct more than 25 projects annually. The facilities include 125 acres of research groves, three greenhouses, a packing line and fruit quality laboratory, two screen houses, a recently constructed laboratory for entomology and horticulture studies, and a conference center for teaching.
Many UC dignitaries are scheduled to attend the Dec. 11 event, including:
- Dan Dooley, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources vice president
- Barbara Allen-Diaz, ANR associate vice president-programs
- Kay Harrison Taber, ANR associate vice president-business operations
- Bill Frost, Director of ANR's statewide research and extension center network
Citrus growers and other ag professionals are invited to attend the ribbon cutting and citrus tasting from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 11. The following day, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday, Dec. 12, the general public is invited for citrus tasting. Master Gardeners and UC Cooperative Extension advisors will be available to answer questions from home gardeners and citrus connoisseurs.
Click here for more information and driving directions.
See scenes from last year's citrus tasting in the video below.
/span>Citrus tasting scenes.
Sacramento Bee opines on food safety
The day before Thanksgiving, the opinion writers at the Sacramento Bee praised the state of food safety in California, but said there is still room for improvement. In the editorial, they offered kind words for the role of UC in providing the state's residents with wholesome food.
"Overall, our food supply is very safe," the Bee's editors wrote. "The University of California, Davis, with the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, is a leader in research and outreach – helping to bring about new practices to improve food safety."
But even with the strength of the state's safety net, there are still some holes to be mended, the article said. In recent years, E. coli 0157:H7 and salmonella outbreaks originating in California have killed and sickened consumers.
The opinion piece quoted California state Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter), chair of the Senate Food and Agriculture Committee.
"With each new outbreak – almonds in 2004, spinach in 2006, peppers in 2008 (and now beef this past summer) – we find cracks in our food safety and regulatory systems," Florez said.
The opinion writers believe the agriculture industry prefers to rely on voluntary food safety programs, while waiting for the federal government to institute regulations.
"That's one reason bills aimed at tightening the safety net were watered down, vetoed by the governor or held in the Assembly," the story said.
Farm subsidies don't make Americans fat
There is no evidence to support the claim that farm subsidies -- by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant -- contribute to obesity in the United States, according to an analysis led by UC Davis researchers.
"U.S. farm subsidies have many critics. A variety of arguments and evidence can be presented to show that the programs are ineffective, wasteful or unfair," said Julian Alston, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. "Eliminating farm subsidies could solve some of these problems -- but would not even make a dent in America's obesity problem."
According to Alston and his colleagues, farm subsidies have had only very modest, mixed effects on the total availability and prices of farm commodities, and cannot have contributed significantly to the obesity epidemic. In fact, the researchers have shown that the subsidies actually increase consumer prices and discourage consumption of one of the biggest suspects: sugar.
Alston and a team of other UC Davis agricultural economists studied the question with researchers in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition and the Iowa State University Department of Economics.
Their conclusions appeared in the December 2007 issue of "Agricultural and Resource Economics Update," published by the University of California's Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
(Photo by John Stumbos)
Hospitals are putting more fresh, local food on patient trays
UC researchers studied farm-to-hospital initiatives in the Bay Area, and they found a growing movement to put locally produced food on patient trays and cafeteria menus. They say that buying from local farmers and ranchers is part of a trend toward better quality and flavor in hospital meals, both to satisfy consumer demand and to address concerns about dietary contributions to chronic disease.
"Just replacing food-service cans with locally grown vegetables won't curb high rates of obesity and heart disease, but it may encourage patients and cafe customers to increase their daily intake of vegetables," said study co-author Gail Feenstra. "And if there's one piece of firm advice from nutritionists, it's to eat more fruits and vegetables."
One example of a "farm-to-hospital" initiative is the John Muir Health System facilities in the East Bay, where executive chef Alison Negrin (formerly chef at some of the Bay Area's best known restaurants, including Chez Panisse) has replaced all frozen vegetables with fresh produce, most of which is grown within 150 miles of the hospital.
Now John Muir patient lunch trays feature a local, seasonal fruit of the day. John Muir cafes offer bowls of citrus fruits from Capay Valley orchards and steam trays of fresh broccoli and cauliflower grown in Monterey County, local mixed lettuces in the salad bars and grass-fed beef from area ranches in the hamburgers.
Hospitals have the buying power to make a big difference in local food networks, Feenstra said. "They buy more than $12 billion of food every year."
The report, "Emerging Local Food Purchasing Initiatives in Northern California Hospitals," is available online at http://sarep.ucdavis.edu/cdpp/fti/.
Hospital food
New county director shares plans with paper
The newly named county director for San Joaquin County UC Cooperative Extension, Brent Holtz, was profiled in the Stockton Record today by the paper's longtime ag reporter, Reed Fujii. Holtz begins his new job Jan. 4, but was already able to share a goal.
"One of the crucial things I'm going to be working with is to try to get a Delta specialist position," Holtz was quoted in the story.
The Delta advisor would focus on issues concerning the unique soil and growing conditions of the inland estuary as well as the need to protect the quality of the Delta's waterways, the story said.
Fujii's article noted that Holtz earned his doctorate in plant pathology from UC Berkeley in 1993, and was a post-doc at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center before beginning a 15-year stint as the plant pathology farm advisor in Madera County.
Ironically, the new job brings Holtz closer to home. He lives in Modesto with his wife and two sons, the story said.
"I'm actually going to be able to live in my house," Holtz told Fujii.
Holtz grew up in the San Joaquin County community of Escalon and his best friend's father, Robert J. Cabral, is the namesake of the new agricultural center where UC Cooperative Extension is housed.
Brent Holtz in the laboratory.