Winter 1995 (v7n1)
Thirty-four research and education projects have been granted a total of $149,681 by UC SAREP in its 1994/95 funding cycle, according to Bill Liebhardt, SAREP director. New projects were chosen in four different areas: economics and public policy, production, meetings, and graduate student awards. A brief description of the projects, principal investigators and amounts awarded for the first year follows.
Economics and Public Policy Projects
(5 projects; $51,298)
- Robert Gottlieb, Urban
Planning, UCLA, "Expanding Direct Marketing Opportunities for Community
Food Security and to Reduce Pesticide Use": $10,615. This project
will develop and evaluate new marketing arrangements that link farmers
selling at farmers' markets with poor and low-income urban consumers.
A pilot project will focus on the Gardena farmers' market, located in
a mixed low- and middle-income neighborhood in southwest Los Angeles.
- Sharon K. Junge, Roger
Ingram, and Garth Veerkamp, Placer County Cooperative Extension
Office, "Reason for the Season: Increasing Sustainable Practices
Among Consumers": $12,000. This project will create a regional
food guide to educate consumers on the benefits of purchasing locally
produced, processed and distributed food that is geared to seasonal
availability. Baseline data will be collected on food production, distribution
and consumption in Placer County in order to evaluate the food system's
impact on nutrition, environment, energy consumption, and local economic
development.
- Jered Lawson, in
cooperation with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, "Sharing
the Costs of Land Tenure and Stewardship: A Profile of a Family and
Community's Efforts to Preserve their Agricultural Land and their Sustainable
Farming Practices": $5,000. The project will create a manual describing
"shared equity," an innovative model for maintaining ag land
in sustainable production. In the model developed by Steve and
Gloria Decater at Live Power Community Farm in Covelo, the farmer
owns the productive agricultural value of the land, and a non-profit
organization owns the land's additional speculative or market value.
- Peter Lehman, Humboldt
State University, "Arcata Farm and Education Project": $8,683.
This continuing project is a student-operated, community supported farm
designed to serve as a sustainable agriculture education facility for
students of all ages, local farmers, and community members. The farm
serves as a teaching facility for Humboldt State classes, as a community
supported agriculture site, and its staff engages in extensive outreach
to the local area.
- Don Villarejo, California Institute for Rural Studies, "Viability of Small and Medium Scale Farms in California: Case Study of Fresno and Monterey Counties": $ 15,000. This project will determine current farm turnover-both farmers going out of business and farmers entering business-in Monterey and Fresno counties, two key agricultural areas. The impacts of farm size, commodities, and ethnicity on farm survival will be assessed.
Production Projects (9 projects; $7S,986)
- Karen Klonsky, Agricultural
Economics, UC Davis, "BIOS Economic Impact Study: Quantifying the
Transition to Sustainable Production": $9,194. The impacts on income
and expenses will be determined for farms enrolled in the Merced County
almond Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems (BIOS) program. This
project will also evaluate the economic viability of the BIOS production
method over a three-year transition period.
- Bruce Jaffee, Nematology,
UC Davis, "Suppression of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Conventional
and Organic Farming Systems": $5,155. Soils from conventional and
organic farming systems will be examined for their ability to suppress
plant-parasitic nematodes. The project will be conducted at the Sustainable
Agriculture Farming Systems Project at UC Davis.
- Steven Koike, Monterey
County farm advisor, "Determination of the Effect of Cover Crops
on Lettuce Drop Disease: Year Two": $3,640. This is the third year
of a study that will identify cover or rotation crops that reduce lettuce
drop disease. Additionally, the study will determine the effect of manure
and yard waste compost on populations of the lettuce drop pathogen.
- Steve Temple, Agronomy
and Range Science, UC Davis, "A Comparison of Conventional, Low
Input and Organic Farming Systems: The Transition Phase and Long Term
Viability": $12,253. The
Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems Project at UC Davis is in
its seventh year. It is comparing four farming systems with different
levels of dependence on external resources over a 12-year period.
- Richard Smith, San
Benito County farm advisor, "Nitrogen Fertility Monitoring in Organic
and Conventional Vegetable Systems": $2,744. In organic farming
systems, "quick tests" for nitrate in plant and soil analyses
may not be a good indicator of crop nitrogen status. This study will
evaluate quick tests on two organic and two conventional onion farms.
- Krishna Subbarao, assistant
plant pathologist, Cooperative Extension Specialist, UC Davis, "Subsurface
Drip Irrigation for Soilbome Disease Management in Lettuce": $11,000.
The use of subsurface drip irrigation in vegetable production can improve
the efficiency of water use and reduce nitrate leaching. This project
will evaluate the effects of subsurface drip and furrow irrigations
on lettuce diseases.
- Ford Denison, Agronomy
and Range Science, UC Davis, "Rotation Length and Organic Transitions":
$10,000. An additional four-year organic rotation will be added to the
SAREP funded 100-year long-term farmland research experiment at UC Davis.
The project will evaluate two-year and four-year rotation length and
will assess the contributions of soil quality and human factors in the
transition to organic farming.
- Kent Daane, Kearney
Agricultural Center, Parlier, "Effects of Cover Crops, Time of
Cover Crop Plowdown and Trellis System on Spiders and Other Predators
of the Variegated Leafhopper (Erythroneura variabilis)": $12,500.
This project, in its third and final year, is evaluating the effects
of various cover cropping practices on spiders and variegated leafhoppers
in raisin and table grape vineyards.
- Phil Phillips, South Coast area IPM advisor, Ventura County, "The Impact of Dust Deposits on Insectary Reared and Released Parasites in Transitional and Organic Citrus Orchards Using Perennial vs. Annual, Tilled Cover Crops': $9,500. Ventura County citrus growers spend large amounts of money releasing parasites for control of California red scale and black scale, but foliar dust may interfere with biological control. This study will examine the effects of both ambient dust and dust generated by orchard operations on two key parasites.
Graduate Student Awards (5 projects; $7,973)
- Heinrich Schweizer,
Entomology, UC Davis, "Identification of non-pesticidal mortality
factors of Scirtothtips citri Moulton which might be enhanced
by cultural manipulations in order to reduce economic damage":
$2,000.
- Robert Venette, Nematology,
UC Davis, "Soil Bacteria: Carbon and Nitrogen Ratios, Attractiveness
to Bacterial-Feeding Nematodes, and Potential Role in Terrestrial Nitrogen
Cycles": $1,000.
- Brian Correiar, Plant
Protection and Pest Management, UC Davis, "Determination of Sampling
Methods and Effectiveness of Variable rates of Trifluralin for Layby
Weed Control in Tomatoes": $1,250.
- Jennifer Katcher, Pomology,
UC Davis, "Reducing Nitrogen Fertilization and Irrigation May Improve
Almond Trees' Defense Against Hull Rot Infection": $2,000.
- Colehour Arden, Applied Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, "Effects and Prospects of Direct Marketing on Sustainability - Survey of Farmer Perspectives": $1,723.
Meeting Grants (15 meetings; $14,424)
- David Pratt, farm
advisor, Napa, Solano & Yolo Counties, "The California Grazing
Academy": $1,000.
- Sheila Gaertner, farm
advisor, Tehama and Glenn Counties, "Oak Woodland Management in
the Northern Sacramento Valley': $ 1,000.
- Miles Merwin, International
Tree Crops Institute USA Inc., "Agroforestry Technology Course':
$1,000.
- Stephanie Larson, farm
advisor, Sonoma and Marin counties, "Demonstrating Improved Rangeland
Management for Improving Water Quality": $1,000.
- Mariposa Guido, Committee
for Sustainable Agriculture, "New Challenges in Production Techniques:
Sustainable Agriculture Meeting and Farm Tour Series": $1,000 for
each of five meetings: Citrus and Strawberries in Ventura; Livestock
and Vegetables on the North Coast; and Landscaping in Sacramento.
- Michael Smith, farm
advisor, San Luis Obispo County, "Thistle Management in California":
$1,000.
- Jeff Mitchell, Vegetable
Crops, UC Davis, "Development of Comparative Cropping Systems Research
Projects in the Central San Joaquin Valley: Farmer/Scientist Focus Sessions
to Identify Research Priorities and Appropriate Cropping Systems Research
Options': $424.
- Jill Klein, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, "The Lighthouse Farm Network Educational Events": $1,000 for each of four meetings.
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