A plot of Southeast Asian medicinal and culinary herbs at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center made an appearance in a Fresno Bee food story published yesterday.
The article centered on "Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America," a cookbook for Americans who wish to try the exotic cuisine introduced by Hmong immigrants. A large population of Hmong settled in the San Joaquin Valley after the Vietnam War. The Hmong collaborated with the CIA during the conflict and were promised protection in the event of a loss. They were ultimately relocated to enclaves in California, Minnesota and other areas.
Writer Joan Obra says some of the recipes in the new cookbook evolved from Southeast Asian traditions and others as Hmong families assimilated to American life.
The plot at Kearney, she noted, is the collaborative effort of UC Small Farm Program advisor Richard Molinar, based in Fresno, and his Hmong-descended research assistant Michael Yang.
Obra says the Hmong garden, which she recently toured, may be the only such research collection in the United States.
In fact, "(The plants) are not really common on California farms," the article quotes Molinar.
Michael Yang, left, and Richard Molinar, center, talk to a Southeast Asian farmer.
Add to that the dismal economics of milk production, and you have a recipe for dispair.
Those are the feelings of Marc Duivenvoorden, who was recently profiled in the Redding Record-Searchlight. He owns a dairy on the border of Tehama and Shasta counties with 25 producing Jersey and Holstein cows.
Processors are required to pay farmers for milk using formulas set by state regulators and based off commodity prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. California processors are currently buying milk for $11 to $15 per hundredweight. With feed and overhead costs, Duivenvoorden spends at least $18 to produce a hundredweight, the story said.
Reporter Ryan Sabalow wrote in his article about the additional burden of managing dairy waste. He wrote that UC Cooperative Extension informed him that dairy farmers are required to have a waste-management plan to control dry manure and wastewater, and must complete an annual plan to safely contain nitrate- and ammonia-rich dairy waste byproducts.
Meanwhile, one of the UC programs that supports small scale farmers - the Small Farm Program - is slated for closure on Dec. 31. Over the weekend, the former director of the program, Desmond Jolly, wrote an essay for the Davis Enterprise suggesting that the decision is ill-advised.
The article, which is only available online to Enterprise subscribers, said the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources "took a giant step backwards" with the decision.
In a letter distributed Oct. 22, UC ANR vice president Dan Dooley noted that all advisors and specialists affiliated with the program have retained their positions and are "expected to continue their excellent work." Coordination of program functions will continue through workgroups, continuing conferences, and collaborations among individual advisors, specialists and faculty on research and outreach contracts and grants.
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."
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.
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.
