Summer 1994 (v6n3)
Seven graduate students have been awarded $6,960 by UC SAREP for projects related to sustainable agriculture, according to Jill Auburn, SAREP associate director. The projects are:
Gerald Cohn, Department
of Agricultural Economics, UC Davis, $1000 for "Community Supported
Agriculture-Survey and Analysis of Consumer Motivations." A written
and telephone survey of consumers at ten community supported agriculture
(CSA) operations in California will be used to collect demographic characteristics,
consumption patterns, and quality/price preferences of consumers. (Major
professor: Michael Caputo)
Polly Goldman, Agroecology
Program, UC Santa Cruz, $1000 for "Use of Agricultural Borders for
Sustainable Arthropod Pest Management in Organic Cotton." Pests and
their natural enemies will be monitored in cotton fields and their borders
planted to crop and noncrop species. Greenhouse studies will evaluate
the preference of arthropod pests on cotton plants related to the plants'
previous exposure to insect damage. (Major professor: Stephen Gliessman)
Cynthia Havstad, International
Agricultural Development, UC Davis, $1000 for "Compost Use and Research
Needs of Central Valley Vegetable Farmers." Telephone and in-person
interviews with farmers (both users and nonusers of compost), farm advisors
and compost producers, and focus group meetings, will be used to identify
benefits and drawbacks of compost use in the northern Central Valley of
California. (Major professor: Carol Shennan)
George Heimpel, Department
of Entomology, UC Davis, $1000 for "Improving Biological Control
of San Jose Scale Using Flowering Cover Crops." Experiments in an
almond orchard in Sutter County will document whether the use of flowering
cover crops can improve biological control of San Jose Scale by Aphytis
parasitoids and, if so, by what mechanism the improvement is achieved.
(Major professor: Jay Rosenheim)
Rachel O'Malley, Environmental
Studies and Biology, UC Santa Cruz, $960 for "Managing Rice for a
Sustainable Future: Winter Flooding, Organic Production and Pest Food
Webs." Food web analysis and on-farm research will be used to quantify
the agronomic and ecological effects of winter flooding of rice fields
in the Sacramento Valley. (Major professor: Daniel Doak)
Laura Tourte, Department
of Vegetable Crops, UC Davis, $1000 for "The Effect of Kelp (Seaweed)
Extract and Fish Powder Sprays on Organically Grown Processing Tomatoes:
Plant Growth, Yield and Economics." Replicated experiments will test
the effects of kelp extract and fish powder on shoot and root growth,
yield and fruit quality (acidity and soluble solids) of organically grown
processing tomatoes. Economic benefit will be evaluated using cost and
returns analysis. (Major professor: Carol Shennan)
Kathleen Walker, Department
of Environmental Science Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, $1000 for
"An Analysis of Apple Growers' Access to IPM Information in Kern
and Santa Cruz Counties." Telephone surveys will be used to determine
apple growers' primary sources of pest management advice and their awareness
of alternatives to conventional practices. (Major professor: Stephen
Welter)
[ Back | Search | Feedback ]