Program News

Appointments

Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst, Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education Program, was named state community food security co-liaison by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

Awards

A team of Cooperative Extension specialists and faculty, including Desmond Jolly, Marita Cantwell, Trevor Suslow and Linda Harris, were awarded a food safety education grant for CaliforniaÕs small farmers from the USDA Food Safety Initiative Program. The grant totaled $180,000 for a two-year project. The project design calls for the development of a variety of educational products and outreach methodologies.

Conferences Attended

Ellen Rilla, director, UC Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County, attended the Third Global Tourism Conference October 17-22 in Glasgow, Scotland, where she presented a talk entitled "Agritourism in Northern California-A Cooperative Approach to Adapting Farm Tourism to Local Conditions."

New Staff

Laura Tourte is the new county director/small farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension, Santa Cruz County. Tourte joined Cooperative Extension in 1992, and worked most recently as an assistant specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. She brings agricultural expertise in farm management and the economics of alternative production practices to the county.

Sujaya Udayagiri is the new strawberry farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension, Santa Cruz County. She also has a 35 percent appointment to work with the county's small and limited resource farmers who grow strawberries, caneberries, and vegetables. Her past research includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) studies. Sabbatical Leave

Ben Faber, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County, began a year-long sabbatical leave November 1, 1999, in Te Puke, New Zealand. His research will include studies on avocado root rot and water use by plants in landscapes of various topographies.

New Publications Authored

Desmond Jolly contributed the article "Urban Agriculture as Food Access Policy," and Postgraduate Researcher Angela Moskow contributed the article "The Contribution of Urban Agriculture to Gardeners, their Households, and Surrounding Communities: The Case of Havana, Cuba," to the publication entitled For Hunger-proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems. The book is published by the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

Ben Faber, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Ventura County, authored a new publication entitled The Avocado Handbook. The 200-page book covers all aspects of growing avocados, and will be available after January 2000.