November 2000
UC’s Sustainable Ag program creates database for quick online answers
A new searchable database developed by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) is now available to help farmers, ranchers and community food groups find solutions to many of the questions they’re wrestling with today.
Questions such as: What alternative pest control methods are available for a particular commodity and how can they be applied to my farm or ranch? How can I manage my soil to reduce nitrate contamination of the groundwater? What strategies can my community use to strengthen connections with local agriculture? Find out by logging into the database at http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/grants/database/ .
"This information contained in the database has been generated from more than 250 research projects we’ve funded since 1987," says SAREP Director Sean L. Swezey. "It’s great to do research to find more sustainable farming practices, but if growers, farm advisors, pest control advisors and consumers don’t know what has been done, it’s not much use. We’re thrilled to give people this instantly accessible tool to find solutions to the problems they’re dealing with."
"I am delighted that this information is now available to all of our advisors and others across the entire system," says W.R. "Reg" Gomes, UC vice president-agriculture and natural resources.
Since its inception in 1987, SAREP has funded 263 projects totaling $6.8 million, addressing topics and questions of importance to farmers, ranchers and communities across California. Projects in the database include both basic and applied research, education and demonstration programs of research-based technologies and systems, and projects that support the development of community food systems and policies that enable farmers to make the transition to more sustainable food and farming systems.
The database can be searched by topic, commodity, research location, relevance to organic farming, and principal investigator. It also has full text search capabilities. The project summaries contain information that will be useful to producers, community groups, researchers, educators and policy makers across the state.
Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
