Education Archives - Page 6 of 22 - California Agriculture News Today

Bayer Helps Youth “Agvocate” For Farmers

Farming Operations Represent 21 Million Jobs

By Mikenzi Meyers, Associate Editor

Less than two percent of the United States population is working in agriculture. This may not sound like much, but let’s break it down. Two percent of the population means roughly 21 million jobs, 10 percent of the total workforce, and more than 160,000 farms. The greatest credibility for this huge industry goes to the farmers who work 365 days a year to feed the world. But who is advocating for them while they’re out in the field? That’s where Rob Schrick and Bayer Crop Science comes in.

Schrick, the Strategic Business Director for Bayer, knows the importance of promoting the industry and making consumers more aware of where their food comes from.

“What we’re trying to get across is that everyone in agriculture needs to lean into the conversation about ag, and be a proud ‘Agvocate’ for our industry,” he said.

Explaining the importance of farming, using both science and an emotional connection is key to getting this incredibly important concept across.

One way Bayer is striving to accomplish this goal is by working with youth involved in 4-H.

“We’re trying to get the kids even more excited about STEM,” Schrick explained.

STEM is a program that combines Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to give the kids hands-on education and inquiry-based science learning, which they can relate to agriculture and share with their community.

It is said that today’s youth are tomorrows leaders, and Bayer is helping the future leaders found in 4-H represent the farmers that work so hard to provide the world with a safe, affordable food supply.

California Ag Today2018-07-27T16:35:51-07:00July 27th, 2018|

Bayer Brings Legislators to Farms for Right Reasons

Inaugural Farms Will Replace Pen with the Plow

By Mikenzi Meyers, Associate Editor

Rob Schrick, Bayer Crop Science

Bayer Crop Science is giving legislators the opportunity to trade in dress pants for denim, by providing farms just minutes away from their office. Rob Schrick, Bayer CropScience strategic business lead for North America, is working with growers to have an inaugural farm outside of Washington, D.C., and eventually Sacramento to show lawmakers real farming practices.

“A lot of these folks that are writing laws for us in ag have never been on a farm,” Schrick said. “These are the very people that work every day towards California laws and regulations on farms that they have never seen.”

This will give lawmakers a taste of the work farmers in our state do every day. Although the San Joaquin Valley is the heart of agriculture, the key is a convenience for the government, which is why they are looking to the Sacramento area for their next farm, explained Schrick.

“Let’s get them out there and showcase the growers using technology in an everyday environment,” Schrick said.

California Ag Today2018-07-25T16:00:50-07:00July 25th, 2018|

Agriculture Grads in High Demand

Many Grads are Interested in Day-to-Day Farming

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

There is a big demand for college graduates with agricultural degrees, especially in plant and crop sciences. California Ag Today spoke with Shannon Douglass, first vice president of the California Farm Bureau Federation and a recruiter for CalAJobs, about the need for agriculture grads.

Shannon Douglass, First VP of California Farm Bureau Federation and recruiter for CalAgJobs

“I often encourage people to minor in crop science,” Douglas said.

If you are a business major, having some background in crop science is beneficial. As a farm manager, understanding the crops are going to be vital.

“I encouraged animal science majors to think about getting a minor in crop science to understand what we are feeding those animals that they are studying, because that is a huge piece of California agriculture,” Douglass said.

Everything from agronomy and soil science to irrigation and pest control management are vital. Many college graduates are interested in being involved in the day-to-day farming operation.

“I talked to a class at Chico State a couple of weeks ago, and there are a lot of young people that they really want to be in the farming,” Douglass said.

Many students do not want to be in sales, but a large majority would like to be the farmers themselves.

“I really encourage them that you can absolutely be a day-to-day farmer and not necessarily a farm owner,” she said.

Douglass is also a recruiter for CalAgJobs.

“It is a private company, and we work with internships as a grant-funded project. In fact, it is completely free for both the employer and the student to use,” she explained.

These internships are a tool in helping to get those that are in college to look at these ag careers, particularly in specialty crops and crop science overall. Internships can be a wonderful gateway into long-term careers.

“The second part of our website is a classified type job-posting service,” she said.

CalAgJobs uses social media and targeting along with a weekly email.

“Another part of our business is the recruitment services that we offer. We work with employers who need more help on some of these really tough to fill jobs,” Douglass said.

CalAgJobs does their best to help fill those employment opportunities to help others run their farms.

For more information on internships or job postings, visit CalAgJobs.com.

California Ag Today2018-06-27T16:27:37-07:00June 27th, 2018|

UC Davis Student Maureen Page Speaks for the Bees

Maureen Page to Spread Flowers for Bees

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Maureen Page

California Ag Today recently spoke with doctoral student Maureen Page of the Neal William’s lab at UC Davis, Department of Entomology and Nematology. She is the recipient of a prestigious three-year fellowship for promoting food security by optimizing wildflower planting. She supports the wild and bee management. We asked her about the flowers that she plans on planting to help those bees.

“I do believe that in general, flowers are really important for bees. Planting flowers are generally good for them,” she said.

Although planting is good for the bees, there are some precautions that need to be made.

“Some flowers can be somewhat toxic to bees. Some do not actually provide bees with pollen and nectar resources,” Page said.

There are many ornamental plants that are bred to not have much pollen so that people do not sneeze as much.

“On top of that, if you are planting non-native species that are really weedy, it may be great for the bees, but might not be great for other plant species,” Page said.

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:05:11-07:00June 21st, 2018|

Tracking Social Media To Understand Consumer Food Likes

Social Media is Helpful in Agriculture

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Reaching consumers is key to helping with food confusion. Tamika Sims, the director of Food Technology communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation, is using social media to aid consumers.

“We will follow what is happening in … social media—including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest—to get a feel for how consumers are talking about food,” Sims said.

Sims noticed that differences and similarities between organic and conventional crops are being discussed with consumers, emphasizing how safe both are.

“That’s the one that we can’t seem to get enough of,” she said.

They talk about the differences and similarities as far as organic and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.

“We talk to consumers about how they’re equally safe and equally nutritious and that one is not superior to the other when it comes to food safety or nutrition,” Sims said. “If you have access to either, feel free to enjoy both in an equal way.”

Interested in learning more? You can go to the IFIC’s website to check out their resources.

California Ag Today2018-06-20T16:50:20-07:00June 20th, 2018|

Tea Initiative Becoming Reality At UC Davis

Katharine Burnett Pursuing All Things Tea at UC Davis

By Laurie Greene, Founding Editor

Katharine Burnett wears many academic hats at UC Davis: associate professor and co-chair of the Department of Art and Art History; director, East Asian Studies Program; and founding faculty director, Global Tea Initiative for the Study of Tea Culture and Science. In this last endeavor, Burnett is spearheading UC Davis’s global, intellectual and cultural exploration of tea, including hosting its annual tea symposium and researching the possibility of growing tea here in California.

“We started in 2012 as an idea and a research cluster called ‘All Things Tea,’ ” Burnett said. “After a couple years of working and pushing forward with support from the community, we broached the topic of an initiative to the Ralph Hexter, UC Davis provost and executive vice chancellor. The Provost gave us his blessing and said, ‘Make it blossom.’”

“And, so our initiative was born,” Burnett explained. “The recent 2018 Global Tea Initiative Symposium, the program’s third symposium, commemorates our third year of being an initiative. We are gradually transitioning from an initiative into an actual institute.”

Burnett foresees the institute’s role as, “to tell the story of tea and all its dimensions. It will encourage tea research in any discipline, any field, any approach, including both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and teaching. We want to develop a curriculum for our undergraduates and graduate students and also develop international partnerships so that we can conduct faculty and student exchanges.”

To hear Katharine Burnett tell the story of the Tea Initiative at UC Davis click here: goo.gl/bf7svf

California Ag Today2018-04-18T17:03:35-07:00April 18th, 2018|

Forward Farms is a Knowledge Platform

Forward Farms Reaches America

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Becky Langer, the project manager for the North American Bayer Bee Care Program, recently spoke with California Ag Today about Bayer Forward Farms — a knowledge platform that demonstrates sustainable agriculture and practice through agronomic solutions and proactive stewardship measures — and their recent introduction to the U.S. Forward Farming started in Europe. It is coming to the United States this year.

“We will launch our first forward farm in the Chesapeake Bay area in April of 2018,” Langer said.

Forward Farms are independent farms that represent the region in which they are located. These farms showcase sustainable agricultural practices and highlight the benefits of sustainable farming. They hope to expand to California within the next year or two and eventually into the Midwest or the south.

“Ideally, we are going to cover the different cropping systems that we see in the United States because the Forward Farm ideally focuses on farms that are representative of their region within the crop and size of it,” Langer said.

The Chesapeake Bay has soy, wheat and corn. In California, they hope to focus on some horticulture, nuts, fruits and vegetables. In the Midwest will be another large corn operation.

The goal of these Forward Farms is demonstration.

“We want to demonstrate that those farmers have a passion for sustainability. They are using it in practice on their farms and that this goes hand in hand with environmental and social responsibility,” Langer said.

The goal is to have modern agriculture along with sustainability. Things will focus on soil, cover crops, habitat enhancement, biodiversity on land, water conservation, and worker safety.

“Those are all critical when we talk about sustainability in modern agriculture, and so those will be real drivers in the conversation,” Langer explained.

California Ag Today2018-04-02T16:46:27-07:00April 2nd, 2018|

A Master Class On Drone Mapping

Learning About Drone Mapping

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Greg Crutsinger, a Drone Ecologist with Scholar Farms, recently spoke at the Bayer Crop Science AgVocate Forum in Anaheim. Crutsinger directs consulting and training services with a special emphasis on drone vegetation and aerial drone mapping.

He’s a professional ecologist and a former professor who left academia to join the Silicon Valley drone industry, where he has worked with some of the leading drone hardware and software companies. Scholar Farms’ core values are to consistently seek to provide best in class training experiences for their clients.

Their list is growing, with clients across a range of commercial industry interested in mapping plants with drones. They include agricultural, forestry, environmental consulting, local and state agencies, GIS Surveys, scientific applications, service providers, and much more. Crutsinger spoke of the upcoming master classes Scholar Farms will be hosting

“We are launching our master class. We’re still dialing in the pricing, but it will be couple hundred bucks,” Crutsinger said. “If you take the course, we’ll walk you through from zero to hero. It’s all online, so it’s a self-paced video series that will give you an example data sets; you don’t even have to have a drone and it will give you the complete background on drone imagery, all the sensors, all the hardware, and you can just take it at your own pace.”

People with a wide range of job in skill levels are welcome to take the class.

“We’ve made it broad so it’s really just a master class for mapping plants. So you could be a grower, you can be an agronomist, you could be a service provider, such as flying drones for farms, but you could also be an ecologist or forester or a public agency,” explained Crutsinger.

“The tools are pretty similar but it’s the interpretation that folks will have to do for themselves, for their farm, or for their crop,” said Crutsinger. “We can’t do it all, but it will get you started and get you out there collecting data. Folks can follow @ScholarFarms on twitter, and we’re excited to talk to folks. We are a new company and we’re happy to be in the state.”

California Ag Today2018-03-09T16:08:04-08:00March 9th, 2018|

Reaching Consumers with Film and Social Media

Brad Greenway: Reaching Consumers in a Different Way

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Farm News Director

Brad Greenway is Chairman of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. California Ag Today recently spoke with him and Allison Garriga, Vice President of Strategy & Operations, about the importance of communication between farmers/ranchers and consumers, and how his organization is bridging that gap.

“We’re a true alliance, so we’re made up of 105 different agricultural organizations and a few corporations who are largely funded by farmers and ranchers. Some of the funding comes through checkoff dollars,” Greenway said.

“Our focus is to talk to consumers in a way that perhaps agriculture hasn’t done before,” he explained. “We try to go through pop culture. We try to go through the entertainment industry. We want to take advantage of the trust that consumers have in farmers and ranchers, but of course the lack of understanding on how we grow and raise food, so we’re trying to bridge that gap, and we are using the farmer’s voice to do just that.”

The Alliance is working through film initiatives, documentaries and their food dialogue efforts to bring all voices and all opinions about agricultural production to the same table. The film Farmland was done through the efforts and funding of the Alliance.

“That’s the focus as we generally believe. We’re not listening to the folks that are against modern agriculture; they’re not going to hear us. That’s because our goal is to have an open communication,” Greenway said.

It’s important that everyone does their part in making sure that farmers get their voices heard.

“Whether you’re on social media, wherever you are, it’s getting consumers to hear our voice,” Garriga said.

“So there’s always people that say, ‘Well, all my friends on Facebook are agriculturalists.’ Actually, they’re probably not, and so we’ve all got to do what we can do. And what we do as an organization ourselves is try to focus on the coasts,” Garriga said.

“You kind of think of the smile geography of the country. If you drew a big smiley face across the forty-eight states. That’s where we focus our efforts,” she explained.

For more information on the Alliance: http://www.fooddialogues.com

View the Farmland film trailer here: https://youtu.be/Uu3BOK5yN5o

California Ag Today2018-01-18T15:13:20-08:00January 18th, 2018|

Spray Safe Meeting Nov. 17 in Modesto

Event Organized by Stanislaus County Farm Bureau

By Laurie Greene, Founding Editor

Wayne Zipser, executive director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, announced the Farm Bureau will hold a Safe Spray and Safety Event on November 17, at the Modesto Junior College’s West Campus Ag Pavilion, located at 2201 Blue Gum Ave. in Modesto. The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau is a non-profit, volunteer membership organization that provides many programs like Spray Safe to assist its members and to educate the general public.

“The Spray Safe meeting will be a big event,” Zipser said, “not only because will it cover how to safely apply pesticides, but also provide tractor safety training, [pesticide application] mask fit testing and physicals [if needed for mask fit testing] for farm employees.”

“Registration opens at 7 AM,” Zipser explained. “A grower panel will start the day at 8 AM with a discussion of the safety and procedure challenges encountered by some of our folks who do pesticide applications. Given the new rules for pesticide applications around schools and preschools, we want to hear how they cope with and mitigate these new challenges.”

The Safe Spray Meeting will also feature a trade show. Attendance is free, courtesy of event sponsors, and lunch is provided.

Additional topics will include: drift prevention, school notification requirements, calibration, sexual harassment prevention, equipment safety and heat illness prevention. The meeting also offers 4 hours of Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Continuing Education (CE) credit.

The all-Ag committee coordinating the event includes the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, the Ag Commissioner’s Office, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE).

For more information, contact the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau at 209-522-7278.

California Ag Today2017-10-13T15:29:16-07:00October 13th, 2017|

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