{"title":"Carbon farming can enhance pollinator resources","authors":"Hillary Sardiñas, R. Ryals, N. Williams","doi":"10.3733/ca.2022a0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2022a0014","url":null,"abstract":"Native California bees and other wild pollinators, which are essential to many fruit and vegetable crops, are being threatened by climate change, pesticides and habitat degradation. Carbon farming, a set of practices that sequester carbon in the soil or woody biomass, can create habitat that supports these pollinators. This paper focuses on habitat management and farming practices that both increase carbon sequestration and benefit pollinator communities. By incentivizing and supporting conservation practices that incorporate carbon farming, we can protect wild pollinators and increase the resilience of California agriculture in the face of ongoing climate change.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48891691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Danielle L. Lee, A. Alkon, R. Strochlic, Deepa Srivastava, Marisa Neelon, Victoria F. Keeton, L. Ritchie
{"title":"Online training for child care providers teaches child nutrition in English and Spanish","authors":"Danielle L. Lee, A. Alkon, R. Strochlic, Deepa Srivastava, Marisa Neelon, Victoria F. Keeton, L. Ritchie","doi":"10.3733/ca.2022a0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2022a0015","url":null,"abstract":"Poor nutrition among young children is a national health crisis which contributes to obesity and chronic disease later in life. Since children spend so much time in child care, child care providers can help improve the quality of young children's nutrition and foster lifelong healthy eating habits. However, California's family child care home (FCCH) providers receive little training on what and how to feed young children. To address this problem, we developed a self-paced online training on child nutrition in English and Spanish for FCCH providers. Our feasibility study evaluated providers’ satisfaction with the training and ease of use, using an online survey and a 45-minute interview upon completing the training. Providers rated their training experience as excellent, easy to enroll in, and complete. Most providers reported they were somewhat likely to make changes to what and how they feed infants and toddlers. Many recommended adding printed resources and culturally relevant material for future trainings.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47960617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucy Diekmann, Summer Cortez, Pauline Marsh, Jonathan Kingsley, Monika Egerer, Brenda Lin, Alessandro Ossola
{"title":"During COVID-19, Californians sought food security, connection and solace in their gardens","authors":"Lucy Diekmann, Summer Cortez, Pauline Marsh, Jonathan Kingsley, Monika Egerer, Brenda Lin, Alessandro Ossola","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0011","url":null,"abstract":"Gardening offers a range of benefits, from food production to social connection to improved mental and physical health. When COVID-19 struck, interest in gardening soared, but it was unclear whether and how gardens would deliver these benefits in the midst of a global pandemic. We analyzed survey responses from 603 home and community gardeners across California, collected between June and August 2020, to assess trends in pandemic gardening. Gardeners highlighted the importance of gardens as therapeutic spaces where they could escape the stress of the pandemic, and as safe outdoor places for socializing. The study also revealed people's concerns about food supply, along with an accompanying interest in growing their own food to increase food security and self-sufficiency. The pandemic posed challenges for home gardeners, though, with 62% struggling to access gardening supplies. These findings suggest the importance of providing garden space, resources, and support, especially to those populations with the least access to green space, so that gardens can serve as resources to improve community health, food security, and resiliency during future disasters.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"115 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135838226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Erin Clover Kelly, Lenya N. Quinn-Davidson, Anna Zelina Urias
{"title":"Restoring oak woodlands through trust: Social capital and its role in successful private land conservation","authors":"Erin Clover Kelly, Lenya N. Quinn-Davidson, Anna Zelina Urias","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0014","url":null,"abstract":"Formal private land conservation programs can be essential for achieving conservation goals, especially in ecosystems with substantial private ownership. Most deciduous oak woodlands in Humboldt County, California, and throughout the Pacific Northwest are located on private lands. The loss of these woodlands to conifer encroachment is a critical conservation concern, with implications for wildlife habitat, range management, cultural resources, biodiversity, and fire management. Private land programs depend on both incentives and voluntary cooperation. Through interviews and participant observation, we explored how and why landowners participate in oak woodland restoration. We are particularly interested in the role of social capital, which consists of trust and expectations of reciprocity. We found that oak woodland restoration depends on building social capital in order to leverage different skill sets and gain access to resources and technical expertise. Rather than a side effect of successful private land conservation, we assert that social capital is a necessary part of it, and that building and maintaining social capital can itself constitute a conservation goal.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135445430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dorina M. Espinoza, Anne M. laccopucci, Marcel Horowitz, Roshan Nayak
{"title":"UC 4-H youth spread the facts — not the disease — during COVID-19","authors":"Dorina M. Espinoza, Anne M. laccopucci, Marcel Horowitz, Roshan Nayak","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0013","url":null,"abstract":"The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for education in disease transmission and prevention. In response, the University of California 4-H Youth Development Program implemented a virtual epidemiology project, based on resources developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and collaborating agencies. The teenage participants were actively engaged in group lessons focused on epidemiology, immunology, vaccination, zoology, prevention strategies, related careers, and health communication. Surveys administered before and after the program showed an increase in knowledge about vaccinations and disease transmission and improved attitudes toward, and intentions to adopt, practices that reduce the spread of disease. They also showed increased self-efficacy and positive health behaviors (hand washing and mask use, and the intention to share what they learned in their communities). These findings contribute to the development of public health and epidemiological education programs for adolescents and programming that elevates youth as messengers of health information.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135446888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah P. Gerenday, D. Perrone, J. Clark, N. Ulibarri
{"title":"Recycled water could recharge aquifers in the Central Valley","authors":"Sarah P. Gerenday, D. Perrone, J. Clark, N. Ulibarri","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0005","url":null,"abstract":"Recycling more wastewater can help recharge aquifers in suitable areas of the Central Valley.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69778686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Steven M. Worker, Roshan Nayak, Yu Meng, Nicole Marshall-Wheeler
{"title":"UC 4-H programs bolster youths' public speaking confidence","authors":"Steven M. Worker, Roshan Nayak, Yu Meng, Nicole Marshall-Wheeler","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0003","url":null,"abstract":"Public speaking is an essential skill for the workforce, yet many professionals lack confidence when speaking in front of an audience. While the 4-H Youth Development Program helps young people learn and practice public speaking, little is known about which specific 4-H activities foster these skills. We conducted a study to explore 4-H members' public speaking confidence and to identify specific 4-H activities that bolster young people's public speaking confidence. Quantitative and qualitative survey analyses revealed that, regardless of age, the longer 4-H members spend in the program, the more their self-confidence in public speaking improves. The 4-H program offers unique opportunities for public speaking at club meetings and formal presentations. There is room to expand these opportunities by offering youth more instructional “how to present” materials and increasing low-stakes speaking venues.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69778667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kaela Plank, Amanda Linares, Sridharshi C. Hewawitharana, Gail Woodward-Lopez
{"title":"Schools provided healthy meals even during COVID","authors":"Kaela Plank, Amanda Linares, Sridharshi C. Hewawitharana, Gail Woodward-Lopez","doi":"10.3733/ca.2023a0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2023a0012","url":null,"abstract":"COVID-related school closures had a big impact on millions of children nationwide, many of whom rely on schools for healthy meals. An online survey of 3,297 fourth- and fifth-grade students in 67 California schools studied the dietary habits of schoolchildren during the pandemic. The results showed that students who ate one or two school meals a day had significantly higher intakes of vegetables, whole fruits, and 100% fruit juice, compared to students who did not eat school meals. Specifically, students who ate one school meal a day ate more beans and orange vegetables, while those who ate two school meals a day consumed a wider variety of vegetables, including beans and orange vegetables. However, children who ate one school meal a day drank more fruit drinks and flavored milks than those who did not eat school meals. Further, students who ate two school meals consumed more fruit drinks, flavored milks, and sports and energy drinks than those who did not eat school meals. Our findings suggest that, while school meals were an important source of fruits and vegetables during the pandemic, more needs to be done to reduce consumption of sugary drinks.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135446897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"With sustainable use of local inputs, urban agriculture delivers community benefits beyond food","authors":"M. T. Gómez-Villarino, T. Briz","doi":"10.3733/ca.2022a0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2022a0013","url":null,"abstract":"Urban agriculture is becoming increasingly important in developed countries, especially in terms of its economic and social benefits. If urban gardens are managed according to agroecological principles - involving the efficient and sustainable use of local resources and inputs - there are many environmental benefits to local communities. We studied urban gardens in Berkeley, California, and Madrid, Spain, to see how agroecology is practiced. Communities such as these that utilize good ecological practices in urban gardens obtain a wide range of valuable ecosystem services - the kinds of services provided by healthy ecosystems, including cultural services such as a place to socialize. These communities can serve as model urban agricultural centers which can contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including good health, food security and sustainable cities.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45098895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Ratcliff, Devii R. Rao, S. Barry, S. Dewees, L. Macaulay, R. Larsen, M. Shapero, Rowan Peterson, M. Moritz, L. Forero
{"title":"Cattle grazing reduces fuel and leads to more manageable fire behavior","authors":"F. Ratcliff, Devii R. Rao, S. Barry, S. Dewees, L. Macaulay, R. Larsen, M. Shapero, Rowan Peterson, M. Moritz, L. Forero","doi":"10.3733/ca.2022a0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2022a0011","url":null,"abstract":"Cattle play an important role in wildfire management by grazing fuel on California rangelands. The benefits of cattle grazing have not been thoroughly explored, though. Using statewide cattle inventory, brand inspection and land use data, we have estimated that cattle removed 11.6 billion pounds (5.3 billion kilograms [kg]) of non-woody plant material from California's rangelands in 2017. Regionally, these reductions varied between 174 and 1,020 pounds per grazed acre (195 to 1,143 kg per hectare). Fire behavior is characterized in this paper by flame length. Fire behavior models suggest that these regional fuel reductions lower flame lengths, and lead to more manageable wildfires. In addition, fire-based models show that cattle grazing reduces fuel loads enough to lessen fire hazards in many grazed areas. Moving forward, there may be significant opportunities to expand strategic grazing on rangelands to add extra layers of protection against wildfires.","PeriodicalId":9409,"journal":{"name":"California Agriculture","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42117523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}