From the Director

SAREP’s Strategic Plan 2000

On September 24, 2000 Governor Gray Davis signed into law AB 2663, the sustainable agriculture bill authored by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis). Co-sponsored by Assemblywomen Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Central Coast) and Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), the bill requests the Regents of the University of California to adequately fund its sustainable agriculture programs. A wide range of agriculture research and education stakeholders, including the California Association of Winegrape Growers, Natural Selection Foods, the California Walnut, Apple, Strawberry and Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape commissions, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, the Organic Farming Research Foundation and other members of the California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group supported AB 2663.

The Governor said: “I am signing AB 2663, which states legislative intent that sustainable agriculture programs at the University of California be adequately funded and incorporated into appropriate State of California programs to ensure that farmers and ranchers will have access to that information.”

We at SAREP welcome the language and intent of AB 2663, and wish to thank Governor Davis, Assemblywoman Thomson and co-sponsors, and the numerous farm and sustainable agriculture organizations which supported the bill. New budgetary resources would allow the immediate reinvigoration of SAREP research and education grants, Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) partnership grants, methyl bromide alternatives grants, and would also allow the funding of new initiatives to add value to existing county extension programs and split academic research appointments with campus departments.
Assemblywoman Thomson said: “UC SAREP has evolved into one of the nations leading centers for on-farm research and assistance to growers who are seeking ways to make their agricultural operations more sustainable and improve their business long-term profitability.”

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SAREP is currently in the midst of a facilitated, multi-stage strategic planning process aimed at making the best use of our existing resources, and also setting the stage for seeking new funds to expand our efforts. Since July 2000, SAREP staff and I have been developing a draft strategic plan for the next five years that anticipates renewing our existing grants programs and further integrating SAREP support activity into the larger statewide extension effort via new cost- and position-sharing with counties and other campus-based programs. Our statewide stakeholders, represented by our Program Advisory Committee, Technical Advisory Committee and BIFS Advisory Committee, meeting together in October with ANR Assistant Vice President for Programs Lanny Lund and Agricultural Productivity Program Leader Michael Reid, have also recently completed a facilitated review of the draft. I feel confident that our strategic plan reflects the concerns and needs of our stakeholders as represented under the specific provisions of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Act of 1986. In concert with the intent of AB 2663, SAREP will continue to seek funds to expand its mission to support scientific research and education in agricultural and food systems that are economically viable, conserve natural resources and biodiversity, and enhance the equity and quality of life in the state’s communities. Stay tuned!

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Director’s note: In our last newsletter, I shared the results of the Western Region SARE Conference: Farming and Ranching for Profit, Stewardship, and Community held in March in Portland. In listing the co-chairs who worked on program and event planning and proceedings for this important conference, I failed to include co-chair Mary Staben of Oregon State University who dedicated many months to budgeting, planning, managing, and evaluating the event. Mary’s work clearly shaped the success of the event and led to the important post-meeting impacts I described. Thank you, Mary.— Sean L. Swezey, director, University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.