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Investments in farm-to-school program stabilize farms, expand climate-friendly farming practices
Small and midsize farms, women and BIPOC farmers especially benefit A new report reveals that California farmers participating in the state's Farm to School Incubator Grant Program are increasing sales of fresh, local and organic produce, meat and dairy products to schools, according to researchers evaluating program impacts. The report found that 57% of the program's farmers made sales to schools between April and September 2023, representing an average of 33% of their total farm revenues. All food producers funded by the Farm to School Grant Program state that they use or plan to use climate-smart agricultural practices in their operations during the grant period. California has made the largest investment of any state in the country in farm-to-school programs, allocating approximately $100 million from 2020 through 2022. The report, authored by an independent group of researchers from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, Food Insight...
Visual ID guide from UC aids in managing new almond pest
Nut orchard hygiene key to control carpophilus beetle, say UCCE, UC Integrated Pest Management experts Since the first reports of a new almond pest – the carpophilus beetle (Carpophilus truncatus) – came in during fall 2023, it has become clear that the beetle is widely dispersed across the San Joaquin Valley. “My lab has identified infestations from every county in the San Joaquin Valley; we have found infestations in both almonds and pistachios, and we will likely find infestations in walnuts this fall,” said Houston Wilson, a University of California Cooperative Extension entomology specialist at UC Riverside. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has confirmed the beetle's presence in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera and Kings counties. Historically a major threat to almond production in Australia, the beetle – as larvae and adults – feeds directly on the nut kernel. In California, some almond growers have lost 10 to 15% of their...
UCCE popularizes at-home composting in Santa Clara County
Composting Education Program helps repurpose waste, reduce methane emissions
Composting recycles organic matter such as leaves and food scraps into a valuable soil amendment. Vermicompost produced by worms offers numerous benefits for plants, such as boosting their growth and making them more resistant to disease and insects than plants grown with other composts or fertilizers. University of California Cooperative Extension in Santa Clara County is helping to make composting a go-to strategy for diverting household organic waste from landfills and supporting soil health.
Based at...
Hands-on learning, training make irrigation best practices accessible
UCCE advisors provide free training to nursery and greenhouse staff Working as an irrigator seems straightforward at first: if you're not watering plants by hand, you're building and managing systems that can do the watering. What could be complex about a job like this? University of California Cooperative Extension advisors Bruno Pitton and Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli can tell you – or better yet, show you. Pitton and Spinelli, members of the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, offer a one-day technical training in irrigation best-management practices for irrigators working with containerized nursery plants. The comprehensive curriculum – developed with input from two focus groups of California nursery and greenhouse managers – aims to improve irrigation efficiency, reduce water consumption and improve plant health. Thanks to funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, nursery and greenhouse managers in California can request...
Public invited to see ‘good fire’ Oct. 5 at Central Coast fair
Learn the how, where and why fire is used to manage the natural landscape at the Central Coast Good Fire Fair on Saturday, Oct. 5. The fair is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton in Santa Cruz County. The event is sponsored by the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network and California State Parks. “You can witness a live prescribed fire in the redwood grove and learn about using fire in our coastal ecosystems,” said Barb Satink Wolfson, UC Cooperative Extension fire advisor for San Benito, Santa Clara, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Representatives of California State Parks, CALFIRE, indigenous groups and the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association are scheduled to talk about how they work with fire. The Good Fire Fair will offer educational activities for children and adults: Learn how to safely build, tend and extinguish a campfire Watch live burns of piles and redwood understory...
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Norma De La Vega
Title: Broadcast Communications Specialist III
Unit: Strategic Communications
Address:
University of California, Riverside
ANR News & Information Outreach in Spanish
4501 Glenwood Drive
Riverside, CA 92501-3000
Phone: (951) 827-9541
Fax: (951) 781-2171
Email:
ndelaveg@ucanr.edu
Pamela S Kan-Rice
Title: Assistant Director, News and Information Outreach
Specialty: Working with the news media in public information.
Unit: Strategic Communications
Address:
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Davis, CA 95618-7779
Phone: (530) 750-1221
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Basilisa M Rawleigh
Title: Administrative Assistant III
Unit: Strategic Communications
Notes: AsisTel de la UC: http://asistel.ucanr.org
Address:
University of California, Riverside
ANR News & Information Outreach in Spanish
4501 Glenwood Drive
Riverside, CA 92501-3000
Phone: (951) 827-9540
Fax: (951) 781-2171
Email:
lrawleigh@ucanr.edu
Liz Sizensky
Title: Social Media Strategist
Specialty: strategic communications, social media, editing, writing, Connected newsletter
Unit: Strategic Communications
Address:
2801 Second Street
Davis, CA 95618-7779
Phone: (415) 635-7380
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Ricardo A Vela
Title: Program Manager
Specialty: Video production, Video editing, Photography, Latino Community,Spanish Media, How to reach to Latinos,Bilingual (English - Spanish) Bicultural.
Unit: Strategic Communications
Address:
University of California, Riverside
ANR News and Information Outreach in Spanish
4501 Glenwood Drive
Riverside, CA 92501-3000
Phone: 951-827-9545
Fax: 951-781-2171
Email:
rvela@ucanr.edu
Jeannette E. Warnert
Title: Communications Specialist
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Agriculture and Natural Resources
UC Kearney Research and Extension Center
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Parlier, CA 93648
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