California Ag Network

Tag: UC ANR

  • Video Series on Vegetable Production of the Future

    A 26-episode weekly video series has debuted on YouTube to help train the next generation of vegetable crop workers and increase their use of effective stewardship practices in vegetable production.

    Projections for near-future retirements of people working in California’s agricultural production, marketing and post-harvest handling sectors indicate severe re-staffing needs in the coming years. Technological advances have reduced manual labor in agriculture, but increased the need for skilled labor to maintain the sustainability of the vegetable industry.

    The video series is offered on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) YouTube page on a playlist titled “Expanding the Capacity and Training of a New Generation of California Vegetable Producers.” UC ANR is the outreach arm of the University of California which, among other services, provides agricultural research, teaching and advising in all California counties.

    The project received financial support from the CDFA’s Specialty Crops Block Grant Program. 

  • Three Agriculture Scholarships Offered by UC ANR

    Davis, Calif., (April 26, 2018) – Three scholarships are being offered to college students majoring in agriculture by the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The scholarships will be awarded for the fall 2018 semester or quarter. The deadline to apply or nominate for the scholarships is May 18, 2018.

    Knowles A. Ryerson Award In Agriculture – Amount:  $2500 – two awarded each year, one each at UC Berkeley and UC Davis

    The Knowles A. Ryerson Award in Agriculture is awarded annually to a foreign undergraduate student in a college of agriculture at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, in any curriculum, preferably after completion of the junior year. Students must be nominated by UC faculty or academic advisors. The $2,500 award is made on the basis of high scholarship, outstanding character and promise of leadership. One recipient will be selected from the Berkeley campus and one from the Davis campus.

    Howard Walton Clark Prize In Plant Breeding And Soil Building – Amount:  $5,000 – one awarded each year

    The Howard Walton Clark Prize in Plant Breeding and Soil Building is given to a senior student in a college of agriculture at UC Berkeley, UC Davis or UC Riverside who seems to show the greatest promise. Students must be a senior at some point during the 2018-19 academic year and nominated by UC faculty or academic advisors. Selection for the $5,000 scholarship is based on high scholastic achievement, talent for independent research and other characteristics, with particular reference to either plant breeding (leading to new/improved crops and new/improved varieties using appropriate tools) or soil building (leading to improving soil quality related to soil productivity and sustainability as a resource).

    Bill And Jane Fischer Vegetation Management Scholarship – Amount: $1,000 – one awarded each year

    The $1,000 Bill and Jane Fischer Vegetation Management Scholarship will be given to promising students with demonstrated interest in vegetation management (weed control) careers. Students from any accredited California university are eligible, with preference given to graduate students. The recipient will have an academic major and emphasis in one of the following areas (listed in order of preference):

    • Vegetation management in agricultural crop production;
    • Plant science with emphasis on vegetation management in horticultural crops, agronomic or vegetable crops;
    • Soils and plant nutrition with emphasis on field, vegetable crop relationships;
    • Agricultural engineering with emphasis on developing tools for vegetation management;
    • Agricultural botany with emphasis on weed biology and weed ecology;
    • Plant pathology with emphasis on integrated vegetation management;
    • Plant protection and pest management with emphasis on field, vegetable, or horticultural crop relationships; or
    • Agricultural economics with emphasis on vegetation management in field, vegetable or horticultural crops.

    For more information about the scholarships and nomination and application processes, visit http://ucanr.edu/Development_services/Awards_and_scholarships.

  • California’s Desert Agriculture Is Hot Stuff

    Parlier, Calif., (March 9, 2018) – Stretching from the Death Valley to Calexico, California’s vast dry desert is home to a unique and important agriculture industry.

    It’s a place where summertime temperatures often top the 115-degree mark. Where water supplies for irrigation depend on the Colorado River, but upriver states are claiming more of it. Where evapotrasporation – a reference rate of water use in unstressed turf grass – is 72 inches per year, but rainfall is rarely more than 4.

    Still, stalwart farmers grow dates, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, kale and more, plus plants for landscaping everything from family homes to beautiful and luxurious resorts. The agriculture output of the state’s three desert counties – Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial – exceeds $4 billion annually.

    The California desert also impacts the quality of life across the nation. If Americans are enjoying a salad in the winter, the lettuce most likely was grown in the California desert. There are bountiful winter recreation opportunities available on the beautifully manicured golf courses, parks and landscapes.

    A group of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) academics formed a desert workgroup to better serve the state’s desert region. The group organized a symposium in February to bring together representatives from desert farm and natural resources communities, related industry and academics working in the desert.

    Director of UC Cooperative Extension in Imperial County, Oli Bachie, is chair of the UC ANR Desert Workgroup.

    “The close exchange of information among desert researchers, non-profit organizations, industry and clientele groups will facilitate collaboration among UC ANR, Arizona and Mexico and foster how our programs should be shaped on a regional level,” said Oli Bachie, the director of UC Cooperative Extension in Imperial County and the current workgroup chair.

    With saline soil, scorching summer temperatures and limited water supplies, the desert could be considered a hotbed of the “wicked problem.” A wicked problem isn’t evil, said UC Associate Vice President Wendy Powers, the symposium’s plenary session keynote speaker.

    “The term ‘wicked problem’ was coined at UC Berkeley,” Powers said. “It’s a problem with circumstances that resist resolution.”

    She named climate change and the growth of the global population California must help feed as wicked problems faced by the state. Powers described UC ANR’s statewide programs that are working to find solutions to formidable issues faced in California agriculture.

    “We’re on the verge of some serious breakthroughs as we look at solving wicked problems,” Powers said. “They are accelerated by conversations like those we’re having today.”

    UC ANR Associate Vice President Wendy Powers was the symposium’s plenary session keynote speaker.

    UC Vice Provost Mark Bell said that the potential of UC ANR to reach every single Californian is what drew him to his position in 2017. Bell invoked Star Wars robot R2D2 for an acronym to reflect the characteristics that accurately define UC ANR.

    “R2 stands for reach and relevance,” he said. “D2 is diverse and dispersed.”

    UC Cooperative Extension offices serve 57 California counties and its nine research and extension centers are located in key agriculture ecosystems, including one in the low desert of the Imperial Valley.

    The afternoon program of the symposium included breakout sessions to highlight programs and research efforts in three broad areas: irrigation and crop production, landscape management, and livestock and feed quality.

    “This was the first attempt to organize such a regional desert-based symposium for the UCANR Desert Workgroup with the collaboration of desert-serving UCCE counties,” Bachie said. “I believe that we have registered a remarkable get-together.”

    The symposium had speakers and participants from UC, USDA, California Department of Food and Agriculture, the desert agricultural industry, pest control advisors, non-profit institutions and organizations, agricultural commissioners, farm bureaus, Arizona and Mexico universities and the general public.

    “I believe that the symposium is a stepping stone for future desert research and extension meetings, conferences and symposiums among people engaged or interested in desert agriculture and natural resources,” Bachie said.

  • UC ANR Receives Innovations In Networking Award For Broadband Applications

    Parlier, Calif., (March 6, 2018) – The nonprofit organization CENIC has awarded the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources its 2018 Innovations in Networking Award for Broadband Applications. The award recognizes work to extend high-speed broadband to University of California researchers in rural communities across California by connecting UC ANR sites to the California Research and Education Network (CalREN).

    “The internet at Kearney was like a drinking straw delivering and retrieving information, when what we needed was a fire hose,” said Gabe Youtsey, chief innovation officer for UC ANR. “High-speed, broadband Internet at our Kearney Research and Extension Center, just south of Fresno, will allow UC ANR to lead innovative, on-farm agriculture technology research and extension for UC in the Central Valley. It will allow UC researchers to share big data and big computing with colleagues at campuses and globally.“

    Project leaders being recognized include Tolgay Kizilelma, chief information security officer; Tu Tran, associate vice president for business operations; and Youtsey.

    Until now, UC ANR facilities have been hamstrung by poor Internet connectivity, hindering their ability to support campus-based researchers and UC Cooperative Extension scientists who are engaged with community and industry partners to ensure that California has healthy food systems, environments and communities.

    Extending from the Oregon border in the north, through the Sierra foothills and Central Valley, along the Pacific Coast and south to the Mexican border, UC ANR’s research and extension facilities are situated among California’s rich and unique agricultural and natural resources. This allows for the application of scientific research to regional challenges and issues. Today, nearly all research and data analysis involves remote collaboration. To work effectively and efficiently on multi-institutional projects, researchers depend heavily on high-speed networks and access to large data sets and computing resources. The high-speed broadband connection also provides a new way for Cooperative Extension advisors to collaborate with farmers, naturalists and others in these rural regions.

    In 2016, CENIC began working with UC ANR to connect its nine research and extension centers to CalREN, equipping them with internet speeds comparable to those found on UC campuses. For example, the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center in Mendocino County and the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Imperial County are both connected at 500 Mbps, five times their previous level of connectivity.

    Due to the remote location of most of these facilities, the work involved in identifying suitable pathways for connections between each site and the CalREN network has been extensive. Engineers from CENIC and UC ANR collaborated on network design, deployment, and troubleshooting to equip these facilities with the high-speed internet they need. High-speed connectivity with significant bandwidth now allows researchers to use equipment like infrared cameras to collect data on how crops respond to heat, among many other electronic tools. Farmers who are unable to visit the Research and Extension Centers can now connect virtually and tune in to real-time video streams, gaining access to the latest knowledge.

    In addition to the Research and Extension Centers, the Citrus Clonal Protection Program in Riverside is now connected to CalREN. Elkus Ranch, the environmental education center for Bay Area youths, the UC ANR administrative offices in Davis and 30 UC Cooperative Extension sites are in the process of being connected.

    “You can’t do big data with dial-up Internet speed,” said Jeffery Dahlberg, director of Kearney Research and Extension Center. “Before this upgrade, our internet was slower than my home internet speeds. Now we have speeds more like you will find on UC campuses.”

    Dahlberg noted that high-speed internet will become a powerful research tool allowing researchers to collect and share data in real-time. “For instance, a researcher can use an infrared camera in a field collecting readings to determine how a crop responds to heat as it changes throughout the day, but even this modest instrument needs significant bandwidth,” he said. “We now have the bandwidth to do that.”

    “The impact of these newly established broadband connections is significant,” said Louis Fox, president and CEO of CENIC. “UC ANR researchers and educators can now enhance and share the creation, development, and application of knowledge in agricultural, natural and human resources, bringing practical, science-based answers to Californians and California industry.”

    Innovations in Networking Awards are presented each year by CENIC to highlight the exemplary innovations that leverage ultra-high bandwidth networking, particularly where those innovations have the potential to transform the ways in which instruction and research are conducted or where they further the deployment of broadband in underserved areas.

  • UC ANR Supporters Give Over $85,000

    Davis, Calif., (December 4, 2017) – Thanks to everyone who participated, UC ANR’s #GivingTuesday campaign was a tremendous success.

    “We surpassed our goal of $60,000, raising $85,168,” said Mary Maffly Ciricillo, director of Annual Giving and Individual Gifts. “This is close to a 24 percent increase over last year’s Giving Tuesday total of $68,322.”

    As an added incentive to potential donors, ANR received over $37,000 in donations toward match challenge funds supporting all of UC ANR programs.

    The California 4-H Foundation alone brought in over $32,000. Compared to 2016, there was a 250 percent increase in giving to UC ANR programs – including Master Gardeners, Master Food Preservers, IPM, the REC System, and county offices – totaling over $15,000.

    The number of gifts received also rose, from 224 gifts in 2016 to 318 gifts this year. “We even received a gift designated to urban horticulture!” Ciricillo said.

    In addition to raising money, the #GivingTuesday social media campaign helped raise the visibility of ANR programs. The Master Gardener Program team made a video of the unselfies posted on social media by their supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_tVcNhBcQ.

    “We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in t
    his fundraising effort and hope we can continue to build on our success for the next #GivingTuesday,” Ciricillo said. “These private funds will help us expand UC ANR’s reach.”

    Below is a list of funds donors selected to receive Giving Tuesday their gifts:

    • 4-H Foundation UC Donor Funds
    • 4-H Undesignated
    • Alameda County Master Gardener Fund (Endow)
    • Alameda County UCCE – Master Gardeners
    • ANR – California Naturalist Scholarship Fund
    • ANR – Giving Tuesday Match Fund
    • ANR – Master Food Preservers Fund
    • ANR – Master Gardener Annual Giving Fund
    • ANR Informatics and GIS Fund
    • California Institute for Water Resources
    • Central Sierra – UCCE
    • Colusa County UCCE – Master Gardener Program
    • Contra Costa County UCCE Fund
    • DREC – Desert REC FARM SMART Fund
    • El Dorado County UCCE – Master
    • El Dorado County UCCE – Rangeland Fund
    • Elkus Ranch Fund
    • Fresno County UCCE
    • HREC – Hopland REC – Fund
    • IPM – Program Fund
    • Kern – 4-H Program – Various Donors
    • KREC – Kearney REC – Fund
    • Los Angeles County UCCE – Master Gardeners
    • Los Angeles County UCCE Fund
    • LREC – Lindcove Field Station
    • Marin M
      aster Gardeners Opportunity Fund
    • Merced County Agriculture Extension and Research Endowment
    • Merced County UCCE – Master Gardener Fund
    • Nutrition Policy Institute General Fund
    • Orange County UCCE – Master Food Preserver Fund
    • Orange County UCCE Fund
    • Plumas County UCCE – Project Learning Tree
    • REC System
    • Riverside County UCCE – Master Gardeners
    • Sacramento County UCCE – Master Gardener Fund
    • San Joaquin County UCCE – Master Gardener Fund
    • San Mateo – 4-H Program – Various Donors
    • San Mateo County UCCE – MG Greenhouse
    • San Mateo County UCCE Fund
    • San Mateo/San Francisco UCCE – Master Gardener Fund
    • San Mateo/SF UCCE – Master Food Preserver
    • Santa Barbara County 4-H – Various Donors
    • SFREC – Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center Fund
    • Sonoma County UCCE – Citizen Science Projects
    • Statewide Master Gardener Endowment Fund
    • Statewide Program – Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences Program
    • Sutter-Yuba Counties UCCE – Master Gardeners
    • UC California Naturalist Program
    • UCCE Master Gardeners of Orange County
    • Urban Horticulture
    • Ventura County Master Gardeners
    • Ventura County UCCE – Master Gardener Fund
    • Ventura County UCCE Fund

     

  • University of California ANR Wildfire Experts

    Sacramento, Calif., (October 23, 2017) – UC ANR wildfire experts are stationed around the state and can answer questions on a diversity of issues related to the prevention, impacts, aftermath, and generally, the science of wildfire in California.

    University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) is a division of the University with scientists based on three UC campuses and in UC Cooperative Extension offices serving all California counties. UC ANR conducts research and shares research-based information with the public about wildfire, agricultural production, environmental stewardship, water policy, youth development and nutrition.

    Travis Bean
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension weed specialist at UC Riverside
    Management of invasive plants that introduce or alter fire regimes
    (951) 827-5130
    travis.bean@ucr.edu

    Van Butsic
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley
    Land change science including fire and land use planning
    (510) 666-5400
    vanbutsic@berkeley.edu

    Mike De Lasaux
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor for Plumas and Sierra counties
    Wildfire fuel reduction on small forest parcels, forestry and watershed management
    (530) 283-6125
    mjdelasaux@ucanr.edu

    Sabrina Drill
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor for Los Angeles and Ventura counties
    Plant arrangement, building design and maintenance to reduce fire risk, invasive weeds and pests contributing to fire risk
    (626) 586-1975
    sldrill@ucanr.edu

    Maggi Kelly
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resource monitoring specialist
    Geographic information science, mapping forests
    (510) 642-7272
    maggi@berkeley.edu

    Susan Kocher
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor in the Central Sierra
    Fire adapted communities, fire hazard mitigation in forests, post fire restoration
    “Living with Fire in the Tahoe Basin” website, http://www.livingwithfire.info/tahoe/
    (530) 542-2571
    sdkocher@ucanr.edu

    Chris McDonald
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor
    Desert species, invasive plants and fire
    (909) 387-2242
    cjmcdonald@ucanr.edu

    Richard Minnich
    Professor of earth sciences, UC ANR Agricultural Experiment Station, UC Riverside
    Fire ecology of Southern California, Baja California, and temperate Mexico; exotic plant invasions, climate change.
    (951) 827-5515
    minnich@ucr.edu

    Max Moritz
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension wildfire specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. He is located in Santa Barbara County.
    Wildland fire, fire modeling, fire effects, shrubland ecosystems and spatial patterns of fire disturbance, climate change adaptation
    mmoritz@berkeley.edu

    Malcolm North
    Associate professor of Forest Ecology, UC ANR ecologist
    Forest recovery
    (530) 754-7398
    mpnorth@ucdavis.edu

    Lenya Quinn-Davidson
    UC Cooperative Extension Area fire advisor – Northern California
    Fire ecology and management
    (707) 445-7351
    lquinndavidson@ucanr.edu

    Dave Rizzo
    Plant pathology professor, UC ANR pathologist
    Fire and infectious disease
    (530) 752-0300
    dmrizzo@ucdavis.edu

    Kimberly Rodrigues
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor
    Public participation in resource management
    (530) 750-1283
    karodrigues@ucanr.edu

    Ricky Satomi
    UC Cooperative Extension area forestry and natural resources advisor in Shasta, Trinity and Siskiyou counties
    Forest management and wood use
    (530) 224-4900
    rpsatomi@ucanr.edu

    Mark Schwartz
    Environmental science professor at UC Davis and UC ANR ecologist
    Forest plot mapping
    (530) 752-0671
    mwschwartz@ucdavis.edu

    Tom Scott
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension area natural resources wildlife specialist for Southern California
    Conservation of wildlife, wildlife management at the urban-wildland interface, and response of plants and animal species to fire
    (951) 827-5115
    thomas.scott@ucr.edu

    Scott Stephens
    Professor of fire science and co-director Center for Fire Research and Outreach at UC Berkeley, UC ANR fire scientist
    Fire ecology, fire behavior, wildfire, fuels treatments, forest mortality, fire policy
    (510) 642-7304
    sstephens@berkeley.edu

    Bill Stewart
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension forestry specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley and co-director Center for Fire Research and Outreach
    Economics of fire prevention and fire suppression programs
    (510) 643-3130
    billstewart@berkeley.edu

    Yana Valachovic
    UC ANR Cooperative Extension forest advisor in Humboldt and Del Norte counties and member of the Northern California Fire Science Consortium hub
    Home and landscape design considerations for wildfire, prescribed fire, forest health and prescribed fire, wildfire and fuels in redwood, Douglas-fir and tanoak forests, fire education
    (707) 445-7351
    yvala@ucanr.edu

    Kate Wilkin
    UC Cooperative Extension forestry/fire science and natural resources advisor
    Sutter, Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties
    Fire ecology and management, fuels treatments and fire policy
    (530) 822-7515
    kwilkin@ucanr.edu

    For more information, contact: Jeannette Warnert, (559) 240-9850, jewarnert@ucanr.edu and Pam Kan-Rice, (510) 206-3476, pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu

  • UC ANR is a Natural Partner to Help Bridge California’s Digital Divide

    Sacramento, Calif., (September 19, 2017) – Even as the digital revolution has changed the world, there are thousands of California residents in rural areas that do not have an internet connection adequate for engaging in modern technology.

    With offices in all California counties and several research centers located in remote locations, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Vice President Glenda Humiston and UC ANR Chief Innovation Officer Gabe Youtsey believe UC ANR is in a position to forge partnerships with government, industry, and other academic organizations to connect rural Californians with high-speed internet.

    UC ANR Chief Innovation Officer Gabe Youtsey, far right, testifies before Rep. Anna Caballero (blue jacket), staffer Peter Ansel, and Rep. Monique Limón. (Photo: Anne Megaro)

    Youtsey testified at a rural broadband informational hearing in Sacramento on Aug. 28 held by the Assembly Select Committee on Economic Development and Investment in Rural California, chaired by Rep. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), and the Communications and Conveyance Committee, chaired by Rep. Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles.)

    In his testimony, Youtsey characterized the presence of UC ANR in California for the lawmakers.

    “We are a network, not a place,” he said. “We have more than 1,500 very applied academics; I call them academics with muddy boots because our job is really to turn science into on-the-ground solutions.”

    While it is potentially expensive to bring broadband internet connectivity to every resident of California – from the far reaches of Modoc County in the north to remote desert communities near the Mexican border in the south – those communities’ lack of high-speed internet is also exacting a high medical, social, and educational cost.

    “High-speed connectivity is needed in rural communities not just for entertainment,” Youtsey said. “It’s about online education, medical care, banking and businesses. Digital inclusion is an issue of economic justice.”

    Youtsey likens the spread of broadband internet to a successful initiative in the 1930s to promote rural electrification in the U.S. The program was managed by the U.S. Rural Electrification Administration, one of the agencies created under the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt’s sweeping legislation that helped lift the United States out of the Great Depression.

    The government’s role in “internetification” could be an investment in infrastructure, Youtsey said.

    “It is very expensive to bring wired internet connectivity to places where it has never been before,” Youtsey said at the hearing.

    At one UC ANR location, the UC Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center, laying a wired connection was cost prohibitive.

    “The internet provider had to beam a signal from Marysville, up to the top of the Sutter Buttes, and then beam 26 miles across the valley to our location. That was about a $150,000 one-time set-up cost. That’s just not realistic in many cases,” he said.

    Youtsey said UC ANR would like to leverage its remote locations as launch points for public-private partnerships for rural broadband, a plan that dovetails an initiative now being considered by state legislators.

    Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) has introduced AB 1665, known as the Internet for All Now bill, which aims to ensure social and economic equity for all Californians in the digital age. This bill would approve funding by Dec, 31, 2022, for infrastructure projects that would provide broadband access to no less than 98 percent of California households.

    “We support passage of the bill, but we’re not going to stand still,” Youtsey said.

    Already, UC ANR is creating partnerships with rural communities to provide shared internet connectivity. One project underway is located at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Centernear Parlier, a 15,000-resident community in rural southeast Fresno County that has one of the state’s highest percentages of Latinos. After connecting the center with fast one-gigabit speeds, UC ANR is planning to outfit all 330 acres with outdoor wireless coverage to support research and innovation. The next step will be to pilot a public-private partnership with the local community to work with the center and a vendor to share costs and make affordable broadband upgrades for both the residents in the community and UC researchers.

    Another project is located at the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center at the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley near Exeter, an agricultural city of 10,000 near the Sierra Nevada foothills.

    “We don’t have this site lit up yet. We’re working hard on beaming a signal from Visalia, 25 miles away,” Youtsey said. “Once we have it here, we’re in the heart of the state’s citrus region. We’re surrounded by commercial citrus farmers who all struggle immensely with getting broadband. We hope to be part of the solution.”

  • Food IT: How Will Technology Shape the Future Food

    Mountain View, Calif., (June 29, 2017) – More than 300 people gathered in Mountain View for the fourth annual FOOD IT: Fork to Farm on June 27 to discuss the role of information technology in the food system – from managing crops in the field to dealing with consumer food waste.

    UC at FOOD IT

    The event, hosted by The Mixing Bowl, attracted professionals who intersect with every part of the food system, from farmers to scientists, from entrepreneurs to venture capital investors.

    Panelists discussed the shift in power caused by the rise of the tech-enabled food consumer, its effects on food production and supply as well as implications for society.

    VP Glenda Humiston announced that UC ANR is launching The VINE or Verde Innovation Network for Entrepreneurship to cultivate regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in rural communities. Led by Gabriel Youtsey, UC ANR chief innovation officer, The VINE aims to bring together resources such as small business development centers, community colleges, county cooperative extension offices, makers labs, incubators and accelerators.

    “We’re trying to go in region by region to catalyze a coalition,” Humiston said. “We want to make sure innovators and inventors can go from idea to commercialization with all the support they need.”

    The VINE would connect innovators with legal advice, someone to discuss finances, access to people who can help with business plans and opportunities to partner with the university on joint research projects.

    “We want to make it possible for anyone in California to access support,” Humiston said.  “If you’re in an urban area or near a campus, you probably have access to those resources. If you’re in agriculture, natural resources or more remote rural communities, you typically have little access.”

    On a panel of agriculture college deans from Iowa State, Cal Poly and UC Davis moderated by Humiston, the deans lamented the lagging interest in farming by young people.

    Ag college deans talk about the need to train new farmers.

    “Everybody wants to be a vegetarian, but nobody wants to be a plant scientist,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

    Humiston said that farming isn’t just for young people. we see people making mid-career changes.

    Throughout the day, several people speculated that Amazon’s buying of Whole Foods would mix things up. Dean Andy Thulin of Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences said tech makes food sexy.

    Wendy Wintersteen, dean of Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said that consumers are more informed. Millennials want to know what is in their food and are concerned about food safety, allergens and are willing to spend more on food.

    On a panel discussing “Changing Food Preferences of the Tech-Enabled Consumer,” Walmart executive Katie Finnegan noted that Apeel, a product that coats produce and keeps it fresh longer, could reduce food waste and change the food supply chain. “A small change can have a big impact,” she said.

    For years, life expectancy for Americans has gradually increased. Last year, for the first time, life expectancy decreased due to obesity and poverty, said Justin Siegal of UC Davis Genome Center.

    Kevin Sanchez said Yolo County Food Bank has been developing relationships with farms to get fresh food.

    Kevin Sanchez of the Yolo County Food Bank said he has been developing relationships with farms to get fresh food to people, but added, “We have a storage challenge.”

    Discussing “Upstream Production Impacts of New Consumer Food Choices,”Driscoll’s Nolan Paul said, “People want to know where the berries are from.” They ask about the tools used for breeding. Paul said Driscoll’s will never use genetic engineering unless consumers on board with it.

    On the Internet of Tomatoes panel, representatives for Analog Devices, Bowles Farming and Campbells talked about using data on weather, water, soil and other things to grow higher quality tomatoes and using optical grading at processing plants for quality control. Bowles Farming has also have begun using Instagram to engage consumers in conversations about farming issues that commodity marketing groups try to avoid, such as unintended consequences of some policies.

    UC ANR was a cosponsor of the event, which delighted conference participants with exhibits featuring array of futuristic devices like printing your own pancake or tortilla.