Program Notes
SAREP associate director serves as interim director of Small Farm Center
In addition to her duties as SAREP Associate Director, Janet C. “Jenny” Broome is serving as interim director for the UC Small Farm Center in Davis through June 30, 2002 during the sabbatical of Desmond Jolly, Small Farm Center director. Broome joined SAREP in 1997 as the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) coordinator and continues to provide leadership to this program and SAREP’s methyl bromide alternatives grants program. She has worked extensively as a technical advisor to regional projects in California to develop biologically integrated viticulture systems including the Central Coast Vineyard Team, and helped develop the Lodi Winegrowers Workbook, a self-assessment tool of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission’s Integrated Farming Program.
As a plant pathologist, Broome does research and extension in ecologically based pest management, including the area of weather-driven plant disease decision models. She cooperates with the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project’s PestCast program, a statewide weather monitoring network for use in plant disease model validation and implementation. Broome also serves on a National Academy of Sciences National Research Council committee that is reviewing the quality, impact and productivity of the United States Department of Agriculture’s research in the area of environment and natural resource protection and agriculture.
Staff presentations
SAREP Director Sean Swezey and entomologist Robert Bugg made presentations in January at the 22nd annual Ecological Farming Conference in Asilomar, Calif. sponsored by the Ecological Farming Association. In a workshop on Land Grant Organic Research, Swezey talked about SAREP’s coordination of the new UC Organic Farming Research Workgroup, which will identify California research for organic production, and reviewed organically relevant projects SAREP has funded in its 15-year history.
Bugg gave a presentation on Biodiversity and Agriculture: Why We Need Wild Farms, in which he addressed the interdependency of natural communities. In February he discussed cover crops and beneficial insects at the New Mexico Organic Farming Conference.
Also in February, SAREP and the California Agriculture Working Group (CAWG) co-sponsored the California Association of Winegrape Growers’ Vineyard and Wildlife Workshop at UC Davis. SAREP Associate Director Jenny Broome and Bugg served on the planning committee for the workshop, at which Bugg made a presentation on wildlife-friendly viticulture for the valley floor.
Gail Feenstra, SAREP food systems analyst, talked about how local food systems can help protect communities from the threat of terrorism at the New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy & Livable Communities conference in San Diego in January. The conference was sponsored by the Local Government Commission and Penn State University. Feenstra, an expert on community food systems, discussed how communities identify strategies that help them “shorten the supply lines” between farm and table, how local food sources reduce the need to rely on transportation, and how local, seasonal food systems contribute to food security.
Feenstra has completed her term as president of the national Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society. At the organization’s annual meeting in Minnesota, Feenstra’s keynote address focused on what researchers are learning about the development of successful community food systems projects. The organization is made up of professionals in food and nutrition studies, agricultural disciplines, social sciences, and humanities interested in the sustainability of the modern food system, risk/benefit analysis of agricultural technologies, food access for the poor, and alternative visions of the food and agricultural system.
Directors attend DANR leadership conference
Sean Swezey, SAREP director, and Jenny Broome, SAREP associate director, attended the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources 2002 Leadership Conference in San Diego in February. Broome was also attending in her capacity as interim director of the UC Small Farm Center in Davis. Swezey and Broome participated in leadership skills-building and Statewide Special Programs workshops, and heard about DANR’s budget. They also were informed that UC will need to hire 7,000 new faculty in the next 10 years, and that Strategic Planning Focus groups will begin in late spring.