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UC Organic Agriculture Institute

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Vision

More California farmers experience increased agroecological and economic benefits from organic production systems, expanding California's national leadership in organic acreage, productivity, and resiliency and improving the overall environmental quality of crop production in California. 

Mission

The UC Organic Agriculture Institute helps organic growers and stakeholders to optimize organic production systems to be economically viable, agronomically efficient, and ecologically resilient by creating and supporting effective, adaptive, and inclusive institutions to provide research, extension, education, and policy expertise to accelerate organic agriculture in California

California Leads in Organic Agriculture

Like many areas of agriculture, California has always been a leader in organic. Starting in the 1970s, California farmers led the first efforts to develop a standard for organic agriculture, which ultimately culminated in the creation of the USDA National Organic Program in the early 2000s. Today California leads the nation in total organic farms, production acres and crop value – in fact, we more than double the next leading state in each category. That said, the organic sector still only accounts for about 10% of California agriculture.

Growing Demand for Organic Agriculture and Farming Practices

Over the past 20 years, the rise of organic has been, in part, driven by ever-expanding consumer demand for certified organic products, which typically garner a premium over conventional prices. At the same time, all growers are facing increased regulatory and consumer demands to improve the environmental quality of crop production. As such, many organic practices are becoming increasingly relevant to non-organic growers, since numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that organic agriculture has multiple positive impacts on the environment and ecosystem services. In this way, investing in the further development and optimization of organic production practices has the potential to yield multiple economic and environmental benefits to a wide range of California growers, farmworkers and rural communities. This continued growth in demand for certified organic food, or simply the broader use of organic practices, has created a pressing need for increasingly specific research and extension support for organic production. While historically the University of California has developed various sustainable agriculture programs, none have explicitly focused on organic – until now.

UC Organic Agriculture Institute – Delivering Research, Extension and Education to Support Organic Agriculture

In early 2020 the UC Office of the President partnered with Clif Bar & Co. to establish a joint endowment (UC OAI). Tasked with the development of research and extension programs for organic agriculture, this new Institute will harness the unique power of the UC to accelerate the development, optimization and adoption of organic agriculture practices. In doing so, we aim to make the University of California a leading model for organic agriculture research, extension and education, while creating a resilient food system that produces abundant healthy food without harming people or the environment.

Working in Partnership with Organic Stakeholders – The California Organic Agriculture Knowledge Network

Meaningful engagement with organic growers and stakeholders is integral to the success of the UC OAI. Over the years, the organic community has independently developed a wealth of unique knowledge and experience in organic agriculture, and to leverage that we’re now facilitating the development of the California Organic Agriculture Knowledge Network (Cal OAK Network), which will bring together growers, certifiers, consultants, community groups and other relevant stakeholders, as well as UC research and extension personnel. This network of organic knowledge-holders builds upon existing relationships to create new opportunities for sharing information while connecting the expertise and capacity of the UC system to the organic community. While the UC OAI will help steward this effort, leadership will also come from the multiple stakeholder nodes that make up the network itself. As we develop targeted research, extension and education activities, the UC OAI will work within the Cal OAK Network to form new partnerships to address the most relevant and high priority needs for the organic sector.

UC OAI: Catalyzing and Facilitating Activities to Support Organic Agriculture

By coordinating and aligning with stakeholders through the Cal OAK Network, the UC OAI will enhance on-going projects as well as expand support for organic in new ways. More specifically, we will work with stakeholders to (i) synthesize current knowledge and status of organic agriculture, (ii) identify organic research, extension, training and policy needs, and (iii) bring together collaborative teams to develop research proposals to address key challenges, create extension support and relevant training opportunities and provide technical expertise to policy makers and advocates. In parallel, the UC OAI will work with educators to support curriculum develop and student opportunities to train the next generation of organic agriculture scientists, educators, advocates and practitioners.

Building Institutional Capacity for Organic Agriculture in California

Initially, the UC OAI will facilitate the development of organic research and extension programs simply by leveraging existing personnel and expertise within the UC system. While in the long term, additional infrastructure, research funding and personnel support will be necessary to make these efforts sustainable over time.

 

Advisory Committee

A robust advisory and review process will assure the delivery of high quality relevant work that follows the UC OAI mission and vision. A core component of this process is the UC OAI Advisory Committee, which consist of representatives from across California’s organic sector — including growers, processors, certifiers, community and policy organizations, as well as UC Cooperative Extension Specialists and Farm Advisors.

The UC OAI Director regularly meets with and seeks the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to identify relevant issues and establish program goals in alignment with industry and community needs, as well as discuss program progress and achievements to date.

The composition of the Advisory Committee will be revisited regularly to ensure that it includes the individuals best suited to the needs of the UC OAI, especially as UC ANR works to build new partnerships to grow the Institute and expand the full scope of its work.

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Anders Lundberg
Grower Services Manager, Lundberg Family Farms


Anders has had a passion for rice farming since he could hold a shovel. Growing up, he spent countless hours on the farm with his dad, Bryce Lundberg, receiving a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground education on everything related to rice farming, stewardship, and soil health. Anders attended California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, earning degrees in Crop Science and Agribusiness. In 2012, he became the first member of his family’s fourth generation to work at Lundberg Family Farms, where he specialized in caring for the company’s managed farmland and producing quality organic rice. Now, as Grower Services Manager, Anders works extensively with both Lundberg’s internal farming operation and their network of organic rice growing partners in the Sacramento Valley. As a father of three, Anders and his wife, Ashley Lundberg, are also teaching the next generation of Lundbergs how to leave the land better than they found it so they can keep growing together for generations to come.

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Mas Masumoto
Organic Farmer, Masumoto Family Farm


Mas Masumoto is an organic peach, nectarine, apricot, and raisin farmer in the Fresno area. Masumoto family farm has been organic since 1980's and remains a pioneer in forging innovation along side of tradition and social/community issues. Masumoto has authored 14 books including: Epitaph for a Peach, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, and Changing Season. His newest book, Secret Harvests about a "lost aunt" and family secrets, will be published in Feb, 2023. His family has worked the California fields for three generations of stories. His other writings include: Wisdom of the Last Farmer which was honored as “Best Environmental Writing in 2009” by National Resources Defense Council. The Perfect Peach was named by USA Today as one of best summer cookbooks in 2013. He currently serves on the boards of the Public Policy Institute of California and CalMatters.  In 2013, President Obama appointed Masumoto the National Council on the Arts, the board for the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Jessy Beckett Parr
Chief Program Officer, California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)


Jessy Beckett Parr is the Chief Program Officer for CCOF, the nation’s largest and oldest organic certification company. In this role she oversees CCOF’s 501c3 Foundation, statewide and national advocacy work, and sits on CCOF’s Executive Team. With over fifteen years of project design and management experience, Jessy Beckett Parr is dedicated to bringing teams together to create positive change. Parr holds a Master of Science degree in community development from the University of California, Davis, a certificate in ecological horticulture from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to joining CCOF, she worked for the Community Food Security Coalition, California Farmlink, the California Climate Action Network (CalCAN), and spent five years producing a global documentary on soil and food systems, Symphony of the Soil.

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Kali Feiereisel
Farmer Support Services Director, Community Alliance for Family Farmers (CAFF)


Kali (kay-lee) is a midwest, "flatlander," transplant to the Nisenan land in the foothills of Lake Tahoe. She's spent over a decade there organically farming, skiing, mountain biking, and sharing delicious meals with friends and family. Kali completed her masters in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley in 2016 and has been working with Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) since then. She currently is CAFF's Farmer Services Director. The CAFF Farmer Services team helps farmers with technical assistance on a variety of topics including food safety, technology, and wildfire issues.  Whenever possible she's spreading "flower joy" through her small farm, Seed & Gather.

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Joji Muramoto
UC Cooperative Extension Specialist in Organic Production


Joji is an assistant Cooperative Extension organic production specialist based at UC Santa Cruz. His research and extension focus on fertility and soilborne disease management in organic vegetables and strawberries. With his statewide responsibility for research and extension in organic production, he is networking organic systems researchers across the state to better serve organic communities throughout California.

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Margaret Lloyd
UC Cooperative Extension Small Farms Advisor


Margaret received her PhD from UC Davis in Plant Pathology, 2015.  Under the guidance of Tom Gordon, she researched non-chemical alternatives to soilborne disease management in strawberries.  She focused on three main topics: the role of legume rotation crops in Verticiliium dahliae management, the effect of 4 different composts on strawberry production, and a social study understanding the level of adoption of soilborne disease management tools among practitioners. She also received a masters in International Agricultural Development and Plant Pathology from UC Davis.  While at UC Davis, she established the Salad Bowl Garden, and edible garden at the entrance to the Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) building on the main campus. Her first agricultural job was as a farm hand on a vineyard in the Santa Cruz mountains.  It was such an inspiration that she changed her course of work towards agriculture.  After completing her undergraduate degree from Tufts University, she worked on a mixed vegetable farm in Hawaii for 9 months and then returned to start an apprenticeship with John Jeavons in Willits, CA.  For two years, lived and studied in on the research farm and the 5-acre mixed vegetable farm. Seeing opportunity for Biointensive practices in the urban and suburban landscapes, she started a small Bay Area business called Home Farming International which provided workshops and one-on-one training in closed-system, complete diet farming. Margaret's hobbies include her dairy goats, laying chickens and small garden.

 

 

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Personnel

Krista Marshall

Academic Coordinator
ACADEMIC COORD II-FY

Maria De Lourdes Orozco Ramirez

Education and Mentorship Coordinator
ACADEMIC COORD II-FY

Katharina S Ullmann

Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator
ACADEMIC COORD II-FY

Houston Wilson

Houston Wilson
Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist
ASSOC SPECIALIST COOP EXT

Lexie Wilson

Extension and Outreach Coordinator
ACADEMIC COORD II-FY

Mission Statement

The UC Organic Agriculture Institute serves as a hub for farmers, researchers, advocates, consumers and supporting industries to advance research, extension and education that assists the wide diversity of certified, transitioning, and aspiring organic farmers that exist across California to reach their goals.