This week, from noon on May 19 to noon on May 20, the UC Master Gardener Program is launching...
Posted on
Monday, May 16, 2022 at
3:39 PM
Focus Area Tags: Yard & Garden
On June 4, UCCE Stanislaus County Master Gardeners hosted BigDigDay, a day of giving to ask the...
Posted on
Thursday, June 17, 2021 at
2:23 PM
Focus Area Tags: Yard & Garden
Reposted from the UC Berkeley News
The 10-campus UC system is approaching a tipping point where it it may not be able to excel without increased state support. (UC Berkeley photos by Elena Zhukova)
After years of sagging funding and rising enrollment, the University of California system is nearing a “tipping point” where it cannot continue to grow with California's population and labor needs without seeking new revenues and state reinvestment, according to a new report from UC Berkeley's Center for Studies of Higher Education.
The report, published this week, provides the first detailed historical analysis of the 150-year-old, 10-campus UC system's funding model, which was once based on enrollment workload. A stable source of state funding provided the foundation for UC's growth in students, research, and public service programs.
“Look, California is the fifth-largest economy in the world and our pioneering public higher education system is a big reason for this,” said John Aubrey Douglass, one of the paper's authors and a senior research fellow at the center, which is affiliated with the Goldman School of Public Policy. “UC has been a terrific engine for socio-economic mobility.”
The 47-page paper provides a picture of a university that has navigated state funding cuts while enrolling increasing numbers of students, maintaining its research productivity and serving California's economy and social life.
Among the findings are the successes of UC system assets:
- UC awards 33 percent of the state's bachelor degrees, and 85 percent of students graduate within six years, compared to the national average of 59 percent
- The UC system produces 75 percent of California's life science Ph.D.s, 65 percent of the state's engineering and computer science Ph.D.s and roughly half of the state's medical students and residents
- Forty-two percent of undergraduates are from households where neither parent has a college degree.
- Just four of the 10 UC campuses enroll more low-income students than all the Ivy League universities combined. These students graduate at the same rates as their wealthier peers and earn more than their families soon after graduation.
- UC researchers generate an average of five new inventions a day, and roughly 500 patents a year
And the changing financial picture:
- While state support for the UC system shrank dramatically beginning in 1990, the UC system continued to expand enrollment in line with California's population growth, from 166,500 in 1990 to nearly 273,000 today
- Tuition hikes have not fully replaced cuts in state funding, and 33 percent of all tuition increases are returned to students in the form of financial aid
- California residents have not borne the brunt of tuition hikes. At UC Berkeley, nonresident undergraduates make up roughly 19 percent of the student body and pay almost 40 percent of the tuition the school collects
- Roughly 57 percent of UC undergraduates from California pay no tuition
- Compared to the size of California's economy, the government's per-student contribution to the UC system has fallen by 66 percent since 2000
And while the report also found that there is little statistical evidence to suggest the quality of a UC education has declined as state funding has shrunk, Douglass and his co-author Zachary Bleemer, who directs the UC ClioMetric History Project at the higher education study center, argued that that trend is unlikely to last.
“We may be at the end of California's once coherent effort, from 1910 to approximately 1990, to provide resources for UC to grow with California's population and help meet the state's labor and research needs and desire to mitigate inequalities in our society,” they wrote.
The report found that there is little statistical evidence to suggest the quality of a UC education has declined as state funding has shrunk, but that trend may not last.
Such a trend could leave UC leaders faced with difficult choices: limit enrollment and undermine the UC system's mission to serve Californians, or continue to expand enrollment as California's population grows and sacrifice educational quality, according to the paper.
Douglass and Bleemer go on to examine possible – and sometimes controversial – ways the UC system could adapt to an unpredictable future with limited state funding, including charging higher tuition for prestigious campuses like UC Berkeley or UCLA, cutting the amount of financial aid offered to students, charging higher tuition for lucrative degrees like computer science or offering online degree programs.
And while those changes may be necessary even with increased state support, Douglass and Bleemer conclude that the only sustainable solution is increased government support.
“The resources are there, and the total investment needed to allow UC, and CSU, to grow and maintain access to future Californians are relatively small compared to the state's GDP,” Douglass said. “California's knowledge-based business are already clamoring for more people from UC, and more people with Bachelor's and Ph.D.'s.”
Contact Will Kane at willkane@berkeley.edu
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Posted on
Sunday, August 26, 2018 at
12:49 PM
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue held a town hall at World Ag Expo in Tulare on Feb. 13 to listen to suggestions for the upcoming Farm Bill. VP Glenda Humiston was among those present for the discussion.
Todd Fitchette of Western Farm Press wrote: “While trade, labor and regulatory issues may top the list of agricultural policy issues Perdue faces in Washington D.C., Glenda Humiston, Vice President of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Division of the state's Land Grant university, stressed the importance of adequate research funding and federal definitions of rural versus urban, which she said is having detrimental impacts across California on important program funding.
“Humiston said that while UCANR has a ‘proud tradition of research in California,' the university is plagued by reduced budgets at the same time the state is plagued by a new invasive pest every several weeks. She said for the university to stay ahead of these issues and to help growers in these and many other areas, additional funding is vital.
“The United States is losing the battle over agricultural research with China, which spends more in that sector, Humiston says. She continues to trumpet the idea of greater broadband access to rural areas of the state as new agriculture will demand internet upgrades for technology like sensors and driverless spray rigs.”
In private communication, Fitchette mentioned that widespread applause broke out across the audience in response to Humiston's comments.
“If a county has one town that has 50,000 population in it, the entire county is labeled metropolitan for purposes of allocating funding,” Humiston said, wrote Chelsea Shannon of the Hanford Sentinel.
Matthew Sarr of the Porterville Recorder also covered the event.
Sonny Perdue hears from California growers at World Ag Expo (Western Farm Press)
Sec. Sonny Perdue visits World Ag Expo (Hanford Sentinel)
World Ag Expo: Secretary Perdue takes pulse of agriculture community (Porterville Recorder)
Posted on
Friday, February 16, 2018 at
10:51 AM
Focus Area Tags: Agriculture
There is money out there to help with irrigation improvements. Along with USDA funding through The Natural Resources Conservation Service and many local Resource Conservation Districts, there are often funds from the state. In Ventura County there is a source of funding that is being made locally administered by the VC Farm Bureau. Check this out and follow some of the threads to find other local funding for improved water management.
VENTURA COUNTY AGRICULTURAL WATER AND ENERGY USE EFFICIENCY PROGRAM (AWUE)
Technical Assistance and Equipment Rebates
FACT SHEET
Funded by a State of California Proposition 84 Drought Grant*
The drought and groundwater sustainability goals are challenging farmers to use every drop wisely. To help, the State of California has awarded Ventura County a cost share grant with $1.2 million available for technical assistance and equipment rebates to improve agricultural irrigation and energy efficiency.
What does the funding cover?
The program will rebate farmers up to 60% of equipment upgrades that demonstrate quantifiable water and energy savings. This may include irrigation timers, meters, sprinklers, soil moisture sensors, drip tape and emitters, irrigation software, high efficiency pumps, pipes and valves. (Installation costs are not reimbursable due to grant restrictions.)
Who is eligible?
All commercial farms in Ventura County may complete the AWUE Interest Survey for the program. The farming operations with the greatest potential for savings will be invited to begin the program by signing the AWUE Cooperative Agreement (sample available for review at bit.ly/AWUE-grant).
How does it work?
Participating farms will have a free, on-site technical evaluation of operations and irrigation system(s) to develop a set of recommendations to improve water and energy efficiency. The evaluation may include a distribution uniformity (DU) test of the irrigation system(s) to determine if the system is applying irrigation water optimally, a review of irrigation scheduling vs. crop need, and other related practices and operational/testing equipment.
In conjunction with irrigation efficiency, opportunities for energy savings will also be evaluated. As a cooperative evaluation, innovative ideas that improve water efficiency will be explored for possible recommendation.
Equipment upgrades that are mutually agreed upon and implemented within one year at the farmer's upfront cost will be up to 60% reimbursed following a free post-project evaluation.
Are there other funding opportunities?
Farmers in Ventura County who meet certain requirements may also be eligible for funding from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to further offset equipment costs of the same water and energy efficiency improvements. This includes special assistance funding for farms located in these Calleguas Creek subwatersheds: Revolon Slough, Beardsley Wash, Las Posas Arroyo and Lower Conejo Arroyo. Contact Dawn Afman, NRCS at dawn.afman@ca.usda.gov or (805) 984-2358 x101 for more information.
What is the timing
The AWUE Interest Survey completed by any Ventura County commercial farmer are currently being accepted until funding is exhausted. Surveys will be ranked and those with the greatest potential water savings will be invited to begin the process. NRCS potentially coordinated equipment improvements will receive extra credit in the selection process.
How do I begin?
Visit bit.ly/AWUE-grant webpage for current grant information. It is recommended that you review the sample AWUE Cooperative Agreement on the webpage to fully understand the program conditions before deciding to complete the AWUE Interest Survey.
Questions?
For AWUE program information questions, please contact Nancy Broschart, Farm Bureau of Ventura County, at nancy@farmbureauvc.com or (805) 289-0155.
For field evaluation questions, please contact Jamie Whiteford, Ventura County Resource Conservation District, at jamie.k.whiteford@gmail.com or (805) 764-5132.
*This is a cooperative program supported under the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, administered by the State of California, Department of Water Resources; and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District as the Grantee.
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irrigATING CITRUS
Posted on
Monday, June 26, 2017 at
6:14 AM