The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) strategic plan acknowledges the important role for ANR workgroups to help carry out the Land Grant mission of establishing a vigorous research/extension effort to facilitate technical and information exchange in a new learning environment.

Workgroups, composed of departmental faculty, specialists, advisors, agricultural professionals, public agency representatives, producers and other clients, will enhance the ability of the Division to respond in a unified manner to critical issues. I am pleased to report that the ANR Program Council has funded our Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) Workgroup proposal. I will serve as chair of the new workgroup. As a statewide program charged with addressing critical problems of agricultural sustainability in California, SAREP’s leadership of the BIFS Workgroup will ensure that ANR resources are focused on this cross-commodity effort. By the time this newsletter is distributed, the BIFS Workgroup will have had its inaugural meeting in Modesto. The workgroup meeting will include project updates and formal presentations on: evaluating the adoption of alternative practices and other social science research considerations, use of the state’s Pesticide Use Report system to evaluate pesticide use trends, BIFS project data management systems, side-by-side plot comparison methods, plans for a research symposium, future projects and funding initiatives, and reciprocal site visits. If you are interested in staying informed about BIFS Workgroup activities, please contact me or our new BIFS program coordinator (see below). For more information about BIFS, see past issues of our newsletter or visit our program Web site (www.sarep.ucdavis.edu) for reports of completed projects and other news.

The increased interest in biologically integrated farming systems has brought a proliferation of related extension and research projects in California supported by other grants programs managed by state or federal agencies and non-profit organizations and foundations. In this exciting partnership model environment, I would like to invite all statewide researchers, extension professionals and public and private stakeholders to the workgroup meetings and activities. The workgroup will provide an excellent opportunity for sharing impact assessment data and tools necessary to a successful project.

I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Max Stevenson, SAREP’s new BIFS coordinator. He comes to the program with a 1998 doctorate in plant biology from UC Davis. He previously worked for the Community Alliance with Family Farmer’s Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems (BIOS) program evaluating the multi-year performance of biologically integrated almond and walnut orchard systems. His new duties at SAREP include making site visits and attending management team meetings of SAREP-funded BIFS projects, expansion of the BIFS section of the SAREP Web site and coordination and planning of the BIFS Workgroup agendas and activities. I am pleased to add someone of his experience and academic background to our program staff.  —Sean L. Swezey, director, University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.