Posts Tagged: Small Farms

Fresno Bee writer laments the Small Farm Program's fate

Fresno Bee food writer Joan Obra devoted her column this week to the impending closure of the UC Small Farm Program, a move being taken by UC ANR to meet budget constraints. Though Obra often writes about restaurants and recipes, she delved into agricultural topics long before it became fashionable in the genre. Because of her interest in agriculture and local food systems, the San Joaquin Valley's UC Small Farm Program advisors have made frequent appearances on the Fresno Bee food page.

In her column, Obra said the program's closure has UC's small farm advisors "scrambling for dollars to continue their research."

Obra spoke to UCCE small farm advisors Manual Jimenez of Tulare County and Richard Molinar of Fresno County and Small Farm Program director Shermain Hardesty, based at UC Davis.

All the academics will keep their jobs and continue to work with small-scale farmers, but Jimenez said he had to lay off a technician, and can't pay for plastic to protect his guavas this winter.

"If I don't get the plastic, they freeze and die," he was quoted.

Molinar said the program typically provides $10,000-$15,000 of his costs each year and he will scale back his work without the funding. He said it may be more difficult winning grants without the prestige of the Small Farm Program attached.

Hardesty told Obra UC ANR will achieve one-time savings of $268,000 and $140,000 in annual costs by closing the program.

The Small Farm Program isn't the only statewide program slated for closure. On Oct. 2, ANR vice president Dan Dooley announced that the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program, the Center for Water Resources and California Communities Program will also be closing.

In a letter distributed today, Dooley said:

"Closing statewide program structures has reduced administrative costs, and is driving a restructuring of support functions to take full advantage of improved business processes, streamlined workflow, and UC-wide efforts to improve efficiency, leverage technology and to share common solutions. We can neither afford nor justify individual staff for each program area when those functions can be more efficiently handled. This is not a criticism of the hard work and capabilities of our staff, but essential and strategic restructuring for our future."

UC event documented in photos, but not in spirit

The beautiful strawberry stand photos that graced a New York Times story yesterday about the locavore movement were shot at a UC event last Friday designed to remind Sacramento residents about the beginning of their local strawberry season and promote two UC initiatives to help local growers.

It was great that Time's photographer Max Whitaker showed up, but it would've been nice to have credited UC for the purpose of the gathering. UC researchers received a half-million-dollar grant from USDA to work closely with Southeast Asian farmers in Sacramento and Fresno counties on improving production practices, ensuring food safety and expanding their markets.

Not that the Times story wasn't interesting. It focused on a new advertising campaign for Lays Potato Chips that extols their connection to farmers and local communities. The story, written by Kim Severson, said food producers and large-scale farming concerns are embracing a broad interpretation of what eating locally means.

"This mission creep has the original locavores choking on their yerba mate," Severson wrote.

In fairness, the article did touch on the second program promoted at last week's strawberry stand event, but without mentioning UC. The "Grow Local and Buy Local" initiative - a collaborative effort with UC and the Sacramento Farm Bureau that is funded with a $50,000 grant from the Sacramento Board of Supervisors - is designed to take advantage of the close proximity of Sacramento's farms and consumers.

Part of the money is being used to encourage 3,000 area farmers to grow acres of what the Severson calls "grocery store crops," like strawberries and artichokes instead of "commodity crops," like safflower and alfalfa, or to sell more fruit fresh, rather than sending it to canners.

The fresh produce can then be marketed as "local" and sold to nearby hospitals, schools, jails and other institutions that want to buy food grown nearby, and sold direct to consumers at local farmers markets, flea markets and road side stands.

The New York Times wasn't the only media outlet to come to the strawberry stand. Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Jenny Broome said representatives from the ag publication Capital Press, KCRA Channel 3 News, and the Elk Grove Citizen covered the event.

Sacramento strawberry stand.

Fresno's Hmong farmer outreach on California Gold

The tireless efforts of UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Richard Molinar and agricultural assistant Michael Yang to aid Fresno County's immigrant farmers are featured on the PBS program "California Gold" this month.

The program was previewed in the Fresno market in April, and will be aired statewide as follows:

KPBS - San Diego 8 p.m. May 7 5:30 p.m. May 9	KVIE - Sacramento 9 p.m. May 7 7 p.m. May 19	KVPT - Fresno 9 p.m. May 7 7 p.m. May 18
KEET - Eureka 12:30 p.m. May 10	KVCR - San Bernardino 9 p.m. May 7

According to the California Gold Web site, the program's host, Huell Howser, visits "two farms that are growing some of the most interesting and unusual produce in California. From a small family farm to the largest Hmong farm in the county, it’s a wonderful day."

The show is currently only available for purchase on the Web site (about $30 for video or DVD), but it appears Howser is beginning to post some of his programs for free viewing online. I'll post a link when one becomes available.

 

Richard Molinar, left, and Michael Yang, center, with farmer Ka Neng Vang.

Organic and sustainable ag coordinator informs media

The only sustainable and organic agriculture coordinator in the UC Cooperative Extension system, Steven Quirt of the Marin County office, is an informative source for media covering local agriculture. That proved true again this week when Quirt was quoted extensively in a Marin Independent Journal story that opened seasonably with a vignette about organic turkey.

By the second paragraph, the story became more of a trend piece on the growth of organic agriculture in the swanky, yet earthy Northern California locale. According to the article, the amount of Marin County land in organic production has increased 6,000 percent since 1999 to 24,176 acres. (Doing the math, that means organic acreage in 1999 was about 400.)

Regardless of the exponential growth, organic farming in Marin remains less a big business than a way for the county's small farmers to compete with the state's industrialized agriculture industry, according to the story.

"In the Central Valley, the big guys with 2,000 to 10,000 cows can produce milk a lot cheaper," the article quoted Quirt. "On a small farm - the average herd size in Marin and Sonoma is 350 (cows) - it makes sense to look at organic options."

Interest in organic farming rose dramatically among Marin's dairies in 2005, Quirt told reporter Rob Rogers, when the price of conventional milk plummeted while organic milk prices remained stable.

"Dairies were being paid $11 to $12 per hundredweight for milk that would cost them $16 to produce," Quirt was quoted. "The price for organic milk was around $26 a hundredweight, and it stayed up there. A lot of dairies made the switch first on economic grounds, and came on board philosophically after that."

However, the story concluded with a somber note about the high value of organic products. The organic premium helps sustain farmers, but is often too pricey for lower income consumers.

"Local, responsible organic food production is expensive, and what it's causing nationally is a dual food system," Quirt was quoted. "Those of us who can afford to be careful about what we buy and eat will pay more. I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but it's creating an elitist food system."

Steven Quirt

UC advisor gets in on food revelry

The food writer for the Vail (Colorado) Daily, Ari LeVaux, displays an almost spiritual reverence for food in a column that included a tidbit from UC Cooperative Extension small farm advisor Richard Molinar. The story recounts LeVaux' 36-hour food tour of Italy at the conclusion of the biennial Slow Food movement gathering in Turin.

LeVaux writes rapturously about the Italian food he sampled on the trip:

• Crescent-shaped ravioli stuffed with scallops served over split lobsters
• Baby octopus with peas
• Lobster in cauliflower sauce
• Clams in a garbanzo bean sauce
• Sicilian-style sauce, containing fresh dill and crushed hot peppers
• Ligurian-style sauce, with tomatoes, capers, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, shallots and fresh parsley

It was the capers that gave Molinar entrée in the story. LeVaux spoke to the Fresno farm advisor about the availability of the cured flower buds grown in California.

"Domestic, organic capers are already available at Whole Foods, and more caper operations are coming soon, according to Richard Molinar, a University of California Cooperative Extension small farm specialist," LeVaux wrote in the column. "Molinar believes capers could become a valuable specialty crop for California’s small farmers."

The last four paragraphs of LeVaux' column is a recipe for Ligurian sauce written lovingly in narrative style. Even if you don't cook, it is a delicious read.

California capers.

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