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How fertilizer moves around California

How does fertilizer move around California?

Dan Liptzin and Todd Rosenstock listen as Ken Johnson explains how fertilizer comes in on rail cars and is unloaded at the TSI facility in Dixon.

Much of it starts out as anhydrous ammonia shipped into Stockton, Sacramento and other ports from countries like Trinidad and Venezuela, and is then transported around the state for use as fertilizer by truck or rail car.

Growers discuss drip irrigation

Drip irrigation was the topic of conversation at this year’s Russell Ranch Field Day growers panel – and opinions were mixed.

Give the gift of sustainability this holiday season

Harold McClarty wants to feed the world while teaching his grandson about the importance of giving back.

by Courtney S. Miller

While many grandparents will be giving a bike or doll to their grandkids this holiday season, Harold McClarty is giving his grandson, Reed, a more unusual gift.

Friends of the Student Farm Potluck

Friends of the Student Farm Potluck Party
Wednesday, September 29th
6:00 pm
Picnic tables at the Student Farm Ecological Garden

Start off the fall with a big dinner gathering with friends of the Student Farm. Come talk about upcoming events in sustainable agriculture, share summer experiences and exciting plans for the year.

There will also be a Student Farm orientation and farm tour taking place!

Food Systems Literature and Research in One Easy to Navgate Location

Community food systems are gaining attention nationwide as an important way to create links between farmers, consumers and communities in particular regions.  A recently released bibliography created by researchers with the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis documents the growing interest in community food systems, focusing mostly on analyses of food-related activities and trends within the United States.

Food Justice: An Emerging Movement Takes Root

The Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at UC Davis invites you to join us for:

 

Food Justice: An Emerging Movement Takes Root
A talk by Robert Gottlieb
Co-author, Food Justice
Director, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute; Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College

When: 4:10-5 pm, Thursday, February 3, 2011
Where: PES 3001, on the UC Davis campus

 

Farm to Fork

ASI is participating in several farm-to-fork and Food Day events this fall, including the Davis Chamber of Commerce Ag Economy luncheon which will feature broccoli seedlings grown by UC Davis Student Farm students.

The broccoli seedlings the Student Farm is sharing with the Davis Chamber of Commerce are one example of the sort of hands-on education students receive at the Student Farm, which is a program of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at UC Davis

Learn more about the UC Davis Student Farm.

ASI Seeks to Fill Two Postdoc Positions

The Agricultural Sustainability Institute, with the support of Mars, Inc, is launching a new initiative to improve the sustainability of global agricultural raw materials sourcing, with particular emphasis on key commodities.  The institute is searching for two postdoctoral researchers to assist in this endeavor.

Find out more about the positions.

ASI Picnic Day Booth Learn How to Care For Your Basil Plant

The UC Davis campus is the place to be Saturday, April 21.

Join the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis for one of the largest student-run events in the nation – Picnic Day.

The institute will be giving out organic basil plants grown by students at the UC Davis Student Farm – a campus-based program within the institute that was founded in 1978.

Drop by the institute’s booth at Robbins Hall. Take home a basil plant, and learn more about food sustainability.

ASI Director Hits the Web

Tom Tomich writing featured on Huffington Post and SacBee.

ASI Director Tom Tomich wrote about the ways that California can move forward with "no regrets" strategies regarding climate change, even with the failures of the Copenhagen summit earlier at the end of the year. The piece has garnered a lot of response on The Huffington Post and on sacbee.com. Check out both versions below and feel free to retweet them or comment on them

Tom Tomich on sacbee.com

ASI Director and Affiliated Faculty Join ANR Advisory Panel

New members have been appointed by UC ANR VP Barbara Allen-Diaz to the advisory panel for the Sustainable Food Systems Strategic Initiative, announced Rose Hayden-Smith, initiative leader. 

Among these new members are Tom Tomich, director of ASI and UC SAREP and ASI affiliated faculty member Ermias Kebreab, professor in the department of Animal Science at UC Davis and Sesnon Endowed Chair in sustainable agriculture. 

Areas covered in the SFS initiative include:

ASI Connects with Agree

AGree, a new initiative to transform food and agricultural policy, unveiled the members of both its advisory and research committees this summer.  ASI External Advisory Board members A.G. Kawamura and Judith Redmont will both serve on AGree's advisory committee.

ASI and the California Nitrogen Assessment

Nitrogen is a key ingredient in life on earth, but despite its importance, most people don’t think about it much. Nitrogen is key to productive plant growth in crop production systems as well as other ecosystems, and nitrogen fertilizer is vital to the way many farmers grow the vast quantities of food we eat. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that some of the ways we use nitrogen in agriculture lead to problems in the environment and with human health.