California 2018-20 PDP project

Project Overview

WSP18-004
Project Type: PDP State Program
Funds awarded in 2018: $28,636.00
Projected End Date: 06/30/2021
Host Institution Award ID: G159-19-W7506
Grant Recipient: University of California - Extension
Region: Western
State: California
State Coordinators:
Co-Coordinators:
Jeffrey Stackhouse
University of California Cooperative Extension

Commodities

  • Additional Plants: native plants
  • Animals: bees, bovine, goats, sheep
  • Animal Products: fiber, fur, leather, honey, meat

Practices

  • Animal Production: feed/forage, grazing management
  • Crop Production: beekeeping
  • Education and Training: demonstration, extension, focus group, mentoring, networking, workshop
  • Natural Resources/Environment: wildlife
  • Pest Management: flame
  • Sustainable Communities: community services

    Proposal abstract:

    In order to streamline the execution of the PDP program in California, we plan to continue using the PDP award to fund mini-grants. As new coordinators we are working to establish an active committee to prioritize funding criteria and review submitted proposals for this proposal’s funding cycle. We also have assistance available through the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources division to manage the mini-grant / travel scholarship application and funding process. We plan to fund approximately three mini-grants ($6,000/sub-award) that will be awarded through a formal call for proposals.
    The incredible diversity of California’s agriculture creates an equally diverse need for educational and professional development. Current high-priority topics include:
    • Climate change
    • Fire: Wild and Prescribed
    • Nutrient management practices to minimize environmental impairments
    • Water use efficiency
    • Integrated Pest Management
    • Alternative marketing approaches
    • Succession planning
    • Community-based food systems
    These identified topics will help prioritize projects during the review of PDP mini-grant proposals. An additional topic of interest expressed by many extension educators is on soil quality in cropland and rangeland systems.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    The overall outcome of this plan is to increase the capacity of Cooperative Extension advisors, NRCS field staff, and other agriculture professionals to apply the principles of sustainable agriculture while working with their clientele (farmers, ranchers, consumers, youth, businesses, government, or communities). This will be accomplished primarily through workshops that will:
    1) extend emerging sustainable agricultural practices to extension educators and agriculture professionals, and
    2) bring together extension educators and university faculty working on sustainable agriculture to develop collaborative priorities, goals and strategies for researching and extending sustainable agriculture issues.

    Other activities that will contribute to the overall goal include an evaluation process that will be embedded in all workshops and meetings and a planning meeting or conference call with the California PDP advisory committee to prioritize training needs for future PDP applications. See Attachment B for details on expected outcomes and the evaluation plan.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.