Posts Tagged: Leslie Roche

Ask a rancher: Surveys draw on hard-won wisdom for surviving drought

Roche team lands $1 million to help ranchers stay strong   

California ranchers benefit when they plan ahead for extreme weather variability, according to rancher surveys and interviews conducted by a team headed by Leslie Roche, a professor of Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

But while wise planning and climate-smart adaptations helped ranchers survive the state's record-breaking 2012-2016 drought, those strategies by themselves were not enough, ranchers reported. Nearly 50 ranchers shared their experiences, and their collective wisdom is summarized in a paper written by Grace Woodmansee. She completed her master's degree with Roche and is now a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources in Siskiyou County.

The scientists also looked for how to apply that wisdom: To weather the increasingly severe and lengthy droughts that producers in the American West can expect in the future, ranchers could use more help, the researchers recommended. That includes gaining new skills and resources to better organize, inform and manage their operations; learning how to be flexible when their drought plans need to turn on a dime; and drawing from the experience of colleagues to improve future decisions.

Building on that work, Roche and members of the statewide team have landed a $990,000 federal grant to help ranchers stay strong. The team includes colleagues from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and partner organizations. The project draws on members' diverse expertise and regional knowledge rooted in UC Cooperative Extension, while at the same time linking up with trusted networks at the local level.

Both Woodmansee's paper and the new grant are based on more than a decade of surveys and interviews with ranchers and other agriculturalists. That work all points to the economic and social barriers that hinder producers from adopting the climate-smart practices that could help them stay profitable amid the changes to come.

“It's really important to listen to agricultural producers – the people who live and work on the land – and draw on their experiences to develop practical solutions,” Roche said. “Extension can play a key role in sharing this valuable knowledge statewide, so others can learn from it and, hopefully, apply it to navigate their own challenges.”

Partners on the project include individual livestock producers, statewide livestock organizations, local conservation organizations and local agencies. Programs like this could become an example for ranch managers across the American West.

Cattle is California's No. 3 agricultural commodity, with cattle and other livestock worth about $3 billion in 2021, the state Department of Food and Agriculture reported. In addition to facing climate change, the sector is beset by rising costs, high interest rates, wildfire impacts and land use pressures. These additional challenges make it crucial for people managing the state's 14,000 livestock operations – counting beef, sheep and goats – to take steps now to survive future droughts.

Rangeland drought strategy: Mix up the livestock

In the past 12 years, ranchers have increasingly adopted sustainable agriculture practices to cope with drought and other threats, Woodmansee and colleagues found. 

A key finding from the surveys is the enormous benefit amid drought of grazing more than one kind of animal on rangelands, Woodmansee wrote. Although most ranchers interviewed grazed only one species during the drought, typically cattle, the few who mixed up their livestock reported doing better economically. Because they have different grazing habits, stock such as sheep and goats can take advantage of different kinds of forage and broaden a rancher's economic base.

In addition, ranchers who used genetic information to think ahead about culling their herds, when that step became necessary, were left with a stronger remainder, Woodmansee wrote.

Ranchers also found it was important to have plans both for preventing problems and reacting to them, Woodmansee added. But surveys done ahead of the 2012-2016 drought, and interviews done four years in, also revealed that only a little more than half of ranchers had planned ahead.

“There is a substantial opportunity to increase preparedness by aiding ranchers in developing drought management plans,” Woodmansee wrote. But she advised, “drought plans are not ‘one size fits all,' and policy must be designed to support drought adaptation and mitigation strategies at the ranch level.” 

Grant part of nationwide effort

Roche and team's $990,000 grant comes from the United States Department of Agriculture through the National Resources Conservation Service. It's part of a $22-million, nationwide effort to help American ranchers overcome these and other barriers they face to adapting. Based on all they've learned through the surveys and interviews, the team is now launching a comprehensive education, outreach and training program. Their own wide range of expertise and networks reach deep into ranching communities, and they'll leverage those, too.

UC Cooperative Extension will have an important role in that work, as a trusted source of information. Training also will embrace conservation planners and technical service providers who work with ranchers.

“Activities will include workshops, field tours and demonstrations on conservation practices to address local natural resource concerns,” the team wrote in their proposal. Their work also “will target opportunities to support underserved communities, including new and beginning ranchers.”

They'll also add resources specifically about the state's grazing lands to the California Climate Hub, a website developed by USDA to provide the latest information to help producers statewide adapt to new climate realities.

People trained in all these areas must be brought up in the ranks: The project calls for networking, mentoring and hands-on learning to spark career choices among young people, and grow skills among beginning ranchers and early career natural resource professionals.

Scientists co-leading the project are Tracy Schohr and Dan Macon of UC Cooperative Extension; Roselle Bush and Gabriele Maier, both UC Davis assistant professors of Cooperative Extension; and Steven Ostoja, California Climate Hub director. The project will provide opportunities for a broad range of UC ANR colleagues as well, Roche said.

Partnering organizations include the Sierra Valley Resource Conservation District, the California Cattlemen's Association, the California Wool Growers Association, the California Rangeland Trust and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Read the science

Woodmansee's paper, "Building Ranch Resilience to Drought: Management Capacity, Planning, and Adaptive Learning During California's 2012–2016 Drought," is online now. It's set for print publication in the January edition of Rangeland Ecology & Management.

An earlier paper that laid the foundation for the subsequent research: "On-ranch adaptation to California's historic 2012-2016 drought, Woodmansee et al., 2021."

 

UC SAREP awards grants for sustainable food-systems research and outreach

The University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program — a statewide program of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources — announced the recipients of its 2021 Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Small Grants Program today (April 13, 2021). 

The grants program, which was reinstated this year after a 10-year hiatus, supports pilot projects focusing on strengthening California's sustainable agriculture and food systems. Together, 11 recipients are receiving $77,000 in funding to support their work.

"Many groups have innovative ideas on how to build a more profitable, environmentally sustainable and just food system in California, but they often need seed funding to get those ideas off the ground,” said Glenda Humiston, University of California vice president for agriculture and natural resources. “That's what UC ANR and UC SAREP are bringing to the table with these small grants: an opportunity to bring a creative idea to fruition."

The recipients of this year's grants are: 

Agricultural and Land-Based Training Association, to pilot an agricultural plastics recycling program among primarily Spanish-speaking small-scale producers. (Project lead: Nathan Harkleroad)

California State University, Fresno, to evaluate the effect of cover crops on water demands and weeds in table grape vineyards in the Eastern San Joaquin Valley. (Project lead: Anil Shrestha)

Napa Farmers Market, to communicate the importance of locally and sustainably grown produce from farmers of diverse backgrounds through a bilingual educational campaign. (Project lead: Cara Wooledge)

Red Bluff Joint Union High School District, to teach high school students environmentally regenerative agriculture and leadership skills through its School Garden to Cafeteria project. (Project lead: Marissa Stevens)

San Diego Second Chance Program, to offer classes and workshops on sustainable agriculture for low- to middle-income youth with prior involvement in the juvenile justice system. (Project lead: Caelli Wright)

Santa Rosa Junior College, to add hibiscus products and mutual-aid garden kits to a bilingual mobile herb clinic that offers culturally relevant holistic health programs to Latinx and Indigenous populations. (Project lead: Heidi Hermann)

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, to study the effects of livestock guardian dogs on wildlife species and the potential for conflict with recreationists. (Project lead: Carolyn Whitesell)

UC Cooperative Extension in Fresno County, to develop an equipment share program for equipment needed to apply compost on small-scale, diversified vegetable farms operated by socially disadvantaged farmers in Fresno County. (Project lead: Ruth Dahlquist-Willard)

UC Cooperative Extension in San Bernardino County, to provide interactive nutrition education classes, gardening lessons, and food safety and preservation demonstrations for ethnically diverse and limited-resource residents in San Bernardino County. (Project lead: Christine Davidson)

UC Davis, to build a team of researchers and community groups to develop a research and extension program to support beginning and first-generation ranchers in building resilience to environmental, economic, and social shocks and stressors. (Project lead: Leslie Roche)

UC Santa Cruz, to translate instructional videos on organic growing skills and practices into Spanish and to pilot a short course with Spanish-speaking trainees. (Project lead: Stacy Philpott)

“We're excited to watch these projects unfold over the coming year,” said Gail Feenstra, director of UC SAREP. 

“This grant program isn't just important for supporting new ideas. It's also an opportunity for the University of California to build stronger connections with producers and other food system stakeholders across California. Those connections are essential for making the research and education that comes out of the university benefit everyone.”

UC SAREP was established in 1986 to strengthen California's agricultural production and supply chains to advance knowledge of the science of sustainability, support farmers and ranchers to develop more sustainable farming practices and assist communities to build healthy regional food systems.

Building climate change into the work of UCANR

UC Cooperative Extension researchers convey need for more climate change communication and curriculum tools

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from natural and working lands is one of California's key climate change strategies. In particular, the potential for farm and rangeland soils to serve as carbon sinks has been getting a lot of attention lately in the national media — and during California Healthy Soils week, which wrapped up Dec. 7.

These are areas where UC Cooperative Extension, with its local presence across the state, is well-positioned to drive change. But as a recent survey of UCCE advisors, specialists and faculty found, while there is a good deal of climate work happening, there are also some significant obstacles.

The survey results — reported in an article by UCCE academics Ted Grantham, Faith Kearns, Susie Kocher, Leslie Roche and Tapan Pathak in the latest issue of California Agriculture — showed that while nearly 90 percent of respondents believe it is important to incorporate climate science into extension programming, only 43 percent currently do so.

Respondents pointed to a number of issues. One was "limited familiarity with climate science fundamentals." It's one thing to cite the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real and is being driven largely by human activity; it is another to be able to respond quickly and convincingly to detailed questions from doubters. This list from Grist, for instance, details more than 100 common arguments raised by climate skeptics, many of which have non-trivially complex answers.

Another important issue cited by respondents was "fear of alienating clientele by talking about a contentious topic," a response that highlights the importance of personal relationships in UCCE's work, and the challenge of communicating an area of science that is highly politicized.

The authors conclude: "To further increase the capacity of UC ANR staff to support the needs of their clientele and the broader public, professional development around climate science fundamentals, communication, and adaptation strategies is critical." As an initial follow-up, the UCANR climate change program team (led by authors Grantham, Kocher and Pathak) is presenting a workshop and professional development meeting for extension professionals in February.

For more from California Agriculture, the research journal of UCANR, see the full issue with articles on mapping soil salinity in the San Joaquin Valley via satellite; choosing forage seed mixes for rangeland restoration; growing oilseeds in winter without irrigation; keeping dairy cows cool in the summer; breeding better carrots; and more.

 

 

Ranching and California's drought: A workshop & webcast

One image has had every Californian cringing this year: the U.S. Drought Monitor map. Like a slice of molding bread, the drought began in the middle, grew darker and moved outward in concentric rings that gradually devoured the state. The reaction was shock. Yet what does such a large map mean to individual ranching operations? Where does this information come from? And how does it affect research and policy? With forecasts shaping up for yet another drought this fall and winter, serious ramifications may be coming for ranchers.

These concerns and more are being discussed at an upcoming meeting called “Ranching and California's Drought” a public workshop and webinar to be held on the UC Davis campus Nov. 7 and broadcast at local satellite locations throughout the state.

Drought experts from a range of organizations will open the dialogue with ranchers, to discuss the science and the policies of how drought is declared and mapped in California. UC Davis researcher Leslie Roche will present new insights from an extensive study, having surveyed and interviewed ranchers throughout the state. Other topics include new feeding strategies, how ranchers can qualify for drought relief assistance and a seasonal forecast from the state climatologist. The workshop will be a learning opportunity for researchers as well.

“There are impacts of drought on a ranch that these models are blind to or just can't integrate,” says UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist Ken Tate, one of the meeting organizers. “But these things need to be integrated into policy.”

As an example, he explains how late April showers in northern California gave this year's totals a deceptively positive review: “It may not look like that big of a drought on the annual forage production basis, when in reality it was horrendous in December and January,” he says. “April rain and forage were too late to save the day.”

The forum will allow Drought Monitor experts to better integrate local knowledge into their analysis and decision making, Tate says, adding: “They're really open and really interested in having these conversations.”

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