The program found a home at UC Davis and the first program and technical advisory committees were selected; they sent out SAREP’s first Request for Proposals for grants. After a national search, Bill Liebhardt was selected SAREP director in March 1987; soon after his arrival the first grants were awarded to eight projects and the program was on its way. Liebhardt stepped down in 1998 to return to his work as a sustainable agriculture specialist in the UC Davis agronomy and range science department; Robert Reginato served as interim director until January 1999 when Sean L. Swezey was named SAREP director.

“SAREP has held closely to its mandate to support research and extension efforts relevant to the state’s farmers and ranchers,” said Swezey.

From 1987 to 1999, SAREP funded 100 projects related to crop or livestock production, for a total of $6 million. Additionally, during that time SAREP has funded 39 projects for more than $720,000 promoting community economic development, direct marketing strategies, community food security, public policy analyses and the development of community food system projects.

SAREP’s enabling legislation requires it to have both program and technical advisory committees to advise the university on program goals and make recommendations on the award of competitive grants. The Program Advisory Committee (PAC) includes individuals actively involved in agricultural production, as well as representatives from government, public organizations, and institutions of higher education. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is made up of faculty and staff from universities and colleges throughout California with knowledge and experience related to sustainable agriculture, and makes recommendations about the scientific merit of grant applications. Each PAC or TAC member serves for three years. New members appointed in 1999 are listed here. [A separate, 13-member Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) advisory committee makes recommendations about BIFS grants.]

Program Advisory Committee

TESS DUNHAM is a lobbyist in the California Farm Bureau’s Federal Governmental Affairs Division. As the director of environmental protection, Tess represents the Farm Bureau and its members before the state legislature on endangered species, pesticides, water quality and other environmental issues. She has also served as an attorney for Farm Bureau’s legal services division specializing in land use, natural resource and environmental law. Previously Tess worked at the California Resources Agency, the California Department of Conservation, and in the office of former Governor Pete Wilson. Tess grew up on a Northern California farm where her family raised rice and sheep and she was active in 4-H and Future Farmers of America.

MARK LIPSON is the policy program director for the Organic Farming Research Foundation in Santa Cruz. His work there since 1995 has been focused on federal agricultural research policy and promoting institutional support for organic farming research and education. He authored the 1997 publication Searching for the “O-Word,” which documented and analyzed the lack of federal support for organic research. He is also a partner in the Molino Creek Farming Collective, an organic vegetable (tomatoes, peas, squashes, peppers, salad greens) operation near Davenport in Santa Cruz County, and has been part of that farm business and community since 1983. Mark worked for California Certified Organic Farmers from 1985-92, and was the primary “midwife” of the California Organic Foods Act of 1990. He is particularly interested in organic agriculture, small farm viability, biotechnology and agricultural research policy. He and his wife Marcy and stepson David live in a photovoltaic-powered geodesic dome on Molino Creek Farm.

RANDII MacNEAR has been the manager of the Davis Farmers Market for 19 years. The nationally recognized market, one of the largest certified farmers’ markets in California, has been featured in Sunset Magazine, Country America Magazine, and in several cookbooks. The past president of the Davis Chamber of Commerce and a member of several Davis Downtown Business Association committees, Randii has been statewide coordinator of the Certified Farmers’ Market component of the California Department of Health Services Children’s 5-A-Day Campaign, the statewide coordinator and co-founder of the California Federation of Certified Farmers’ Markets, a member of the statewide UC Small Farm Center Advisory Group, a member of the USDA National Forum on Farmers’ Markets and the WIC Roundtable Task Force. She was also the project director and facilitator for the USDA-funded California State Certified Farmers’ Market Web site project.

SCOTT PAULSEN is the Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner/Director of Weights and Measures. He previously held that position in Amador County. A past board member of the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association, he is chair of the organization’s Biological Control/IPM Committee. He is past president of the Sacramento Valley Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association. He is especially interested in ag/urban interface issues and educating students of all ages about sustainable agriculture practices and the importance of an integrated pest management approach to control pests.

FRANK TAMBORELLO works with the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness. Previously, he was active in Houston fighting utility rate hikes with Texans United. After a stint in Angola with a team developing a school for street children who had lost their parents to that nation’s civil war, he returned to Houston to work with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now on low-income housing issues. In Los Angeles he has worked on food access issues, doing outreach for the school breakfast and summer food programs and organizing welfare participants to speak out on legislation affecting them. He is interested in fostering more collaboration between anti-hunger and sustainable agriculture groups and increasing access to fresh nutritious food for the thousands of homeless individuals in Los Angeles’ “Central City East” section.

DIEGO VASQUEZ is education program coordinator at the Rural Development Center in Salinas. He manages the Center’s overall education program, including the three-year training program for small farmers. Born in Columbia where his family raised mixed vegetables, fruit, and coffee on a small farm, Diego received a degree in development studies at UC Berkeley where he did experiments in winegrapes for Miguel Altieri in the Division of Biological Control. He is particularly interested in efforts to make small farming viable.

Technical Advisory Committee

TED BRADSHAW is professor of community development in the human and community development department at UC Davis. Before coming to Davis, he spent almost 20 years at UC Berkeley doing research on the development of advanced industrial society, rural development, demographic trends, economic development and the social impact of technological change in California’s Central Valley and forests. A sociologist by training, he teaches community development and local economic development. His current research focuses on programs to increase financing to small businesses and the potential for policy to stimulate production of very energy efficient housing in California. A co-founder of the Sustainable Communities Consortium, Ted is particularly interested in rural development and community organizations.

CARLOS G. MURILLO is dean of the Center for Science, Industry and Natural Resources at Shasta College in Redding, Shasta County, where he oversees educational programs and operations. Previously he was a dean and professor at Earth College in Costa Rica, an international college dedicated to sustainable tropical agriculture and entrepreneurship development education. At Earth College he taught agricultural marketing, natural resources, entrepreneurial projects, agricultural policy and was a member of the board of directors for commercial operations of the college, the research committee, and the continuing education program. A former board member of a cooperative development program, Carlos has worked with agricultural cooperatives for 18 years.

He worked as the Peace Corps associate director in Costa Rica, and for six years was a technical trainer and extensionist in many Latin American countries. Additionally, he founded consulting and ginger root export companies. Carlos is interested in sustainable food systems, and entrepreneurship and its role in sustainability and community development. He is interested in educating young people about change and creativity, with a strong sense of ethics and responsibility to society and the environment.

MICHAEL E. STANGHELLINI holds the Cy Mouradick Chair in Desert Agriculture in the plant pathology department at UC Riverside. Prior to coming to UCR in 1997 he was a professor of plant pathology at the University of Arizona (1969-1997). His areas of expertise include ecology, epidemiology and control of soilborne root-infecting plant pathogens. He is particularly interested in biological control of soilborne plant pathogens and irrigation management to control root pathogens.

CHERYL WILEN is one of eight Area Integrated Pest Management advisors in the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project. She is based in San Diego but works with growers, UC advisors, and pest control advisors in Los Angeles and Orange counties and has additional responsibilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Cheryl focuses on integrated pest management for ornamental plant production as well as pest management for lands cape and turf sites. Her background is in horticulture and weed management systems and her particular interests are weed management and pesticide use reduction.

Continuing PAC/TAC

Program Advisory Committee: Bob Bornt, Frank Dawley, Debra Denton, Jeff Dlott, Tim O’Neill, An Peischel, Jim Rider and Beth von Gunten.

Technical Advisory Committee: Edie Allen [on leave], Ernst Biberstein, Holly Brown-Williams, Rachel Mabie, Doreen Stabinsky, Carolyn Stull, and Jo Ann Wheatley.

Biographies of continuing PAC/TAC members appeared in the Summer 1998 issue of Sustainable Agriculture (Vol. 10, No. 2).

Retiring PAC/TAC

The following advisory committee members have rotated off the PAC or TAC. PAC: Cynthia Cory, Leonard Diggs, James Liebman, Michael Straus and Brock Taylor. TAC: Steve Blank, Caroline Bledsoe, Robert Gottlieb, Blaine Hanson, Tim Hartz, Donald Klingborg, Craig Kolodge, Janet Savage, Rob Thayer and Joan Wright. UC SAREP is very appreciative of the work that advisory committee members do for the program.

Bryte Stewart, Former PAC Member

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the death of Bryte Stewart, who served as a member of SAREP’s public advisory committee from 1995-97. Stewart, 37, died Jan. 18 after a brief battle with cancer. He was a partner in a family farm and native grass seed business, Conservaseed, in Rio Vista. The operation produces winegrapes, pears, cherries, and California native grass seed. Stewart said he liked to include organic philosophies with conventional practices, and was interested in showing the public the positive aspects of the U.S. agricultural system. We’ll remember him at our advisory committee meetings, leaning back in his chair, eventually letting us know in a kind but firm manner exactly what he thought. We truly appreciated the time he spent reviewing proposals and coming to meetings. He will be missed. He is survived by his wife Jacqueline, three children, Sutton, 10, Laney, 8, and Bryte II, 6, his parents Jim and Jan, and his brother Scott, who will continue to operate the family business.