University of California Cooperative Extension

Sonoma County, a diverse county of over one million acres is famed for its agriculture industry and recreation boasting a booming economy and a unique lifestyle for its citizens described by the famed Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the earth. Sonoma County is the place

to live, work and play as we move into the 21st century. Led by the forward looking philosophy of its governing bodies. Sonoma County's 340,000 residents are a harmonious, successful blend of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in

the nineties with your host Rich McGlinchey, How you doing Everybody Welcome to this edition of Sonoma County in the nineties. As you know, each week, we talk to people from the local government or community agencies. We do this in order for you to know a little

bit more about local government and the agencies that are here to serve you. And on this particular program going to be talking to Rick. Bennett and Rick is the extension farm adviser and University of California cooperative extension for Sonoma marin County. Can you believe all that?

He actually is the farm Advisor in the sense that we're in and we don't usually tell everybody it's dr rick Bennett. But what is the correct title of the agency now? Our organization is known as the University of California Cooperative Extension. It's quite a name and

it doesn't mean much to most people, but it has quite a history. It sure does. And it does mean a lot to a lot of people. All right, let's get right into that. First of all, ladies and gentlemen, our guest is rick Bennett and rick. It's

nice to have you back. It's been a couple of units since we talked to you. And let's let's for the sake of the audience that did not visit visit with us last time. What is the University of California Cooperative Extension And where did it come from?

The University of California is the land grant university for California. Way back in the early part of this century, Congress created the land grant university system and each state has one and a number of congressional acts created the extension programs that were the outreach component of

the land grant university. The purpose was to develop the nation's agricultural resources and to extend that information at the farm level and at the community level it is agricultural production that brought this country from an undeveloped piece of land to a developed country. In in that

couple 100 years, the agricultural tradition has shifted from one of largely agrarian to one that is largely urban and yet agriculture remains a very vital component of this country of the state of this county. We all we're all in the habit of eating and it's important

to us bad habit to try to break rick. It really is dr rick Bennett and you do have a PhD, what was your field? What is the PhD for instance, my PhD is in dairy and veterinary microbiology. And hence I maintain an active program around milk

quality and I work with the dairy industry in the North Bay, which includes both Sonoma and marin counties. Will now use the cooperative extension services. Is what we call it today, What was it called before in many states? And there are some individuals who prefer to

call it the agricultural Extension service. I've even heard it referred to as the farmer advisors. Well, our title is farm Advisor, but we're finding today that doesn't quite fit. There are nine professional staff in my office uh and we deal with issues from marine resource management

out in our oceans. We deal with issues food, nutrition and food safety for the community. We deal with issues of farmworker housing. We deal with issues around providing adequate food for those who can't secure food through our emergency food provided program. We have a youth development

program which is classically the traditional four H program and yet we have youth development programs for what we call youth at risk. The Challenge. Sonoma Adventure ropes course is a program in Sonoma County that it serves well over 1000 youth a year from Sonoma County in

the Greater Bay area. Well, you've just listed a number of during programs that emanate from that office then. Right, so I can see why none of these particular titles are. Exactly, are they? That's right them all. What do we call ourselves? We don't know. But the

unique thing in our organization is that when the need arises at the community level we can respond. We can respond quickly. For example, I have been involved with the city of santa rosa now for three or four years in helping them deal with the problem of

waste disposal. Four years ago it looked like the best option was to put the water in the ocean and working with community groups, working with farm groups, working with the city and the county governments. We are now moving to a solution looks like we'll be able

to re use that water for agriculture production which would be perfect if we could. Water is too valuable in the state of California to the ocean. What is assignment rick? What is assignment rick? There's a title called assignment rick over there. I thought it was maybe

something that somebody said to ask you that I thought that that was maybe some particular project that you were involved in. It doesn't ring a bell. Go onto the next Howard Sonoma and marin County involved in the local U. C. C. Programs. Um marin and Sonoma

County despite some of the politics have a lot in common. We're an urbanizing county and counties that still value the undeveloped resource lands, the agricultural lands and so we have a number of advisors, Stephanie Larson, our range and livestock advisor myself Bruce Wyatt are marine science

advisor. Work in both counties. The historical arrangement between county government and the university of California. Is that the county's provide us with a physical place. They provide us with a clerical staff. They provide us with an operations budget which includes telephone cars and in return, the

University of California places professional staff into these counties. Um, the county contribution amounts to several $100,000. The university contribution for both counties is well over a million dollars so it looks like it's a pretty good deal. What are the major issues facing agriculture in this region

and how is the local U. C. C. E. Addressing them? Well, as I alluded to earlier, this county is rapidly urbanizing and historically it's been an agricultural county at the turn of the century and with the advent of the gold rush, san Francisco became a large

market in marin and Sonoma counties were in a position to provide agricultural products. Um Now san Francisco was a very large urban center. Its influence extends well into marin, Sonoma and mendocino counties and we're really now in urban county and trying to find a way to

have the agricultural resources prevail and persist in that urbanizing environment is a big challenge. The interface between agriculture and the cities and the rural residents can be a painful one. Um Agricultural nuisances, the odors, flies, the smells every fall. I get phone calls from various officials

wondering what is that horrible smell that pervades the air of entire petaluma valley and we try and explain that's the agriculturists disposing of their agricultural waste on the land so that those nutrients can be recycled into the soil and not end up in waterways, which creates

pollution concerns. That's amazing. I bet you do hear about this annually. Annually. Yeah, frequently. The dairy industry has been very, very important Sonoma County ever since I came up here 50 years ago. In your opinion, what's the future of the, of the dairy industry in this

region? Well, the dairy industry for the entire state of California is being challenged by the same forces that are challenging it. In Sonoma and marin, land values escalate with the real estate market. People love to live here. They're willing to pay high values for land values

that the agriculturalists really can't afford for the purpose of grazing cows for example. And yet it looks like if local government, including the cities are willing to provide for that kind of agricultural land use and we can strike a reasonable balance is um, and allowing the

dairy farms to continue, even though there may be people who are very concerned about the dairy farm impact upon waterways and tomatoes Bay in the ocean. The dairy industry has the potential to succeed. My studies indicate that the dairy industry in the North Bay is as

progressive, if not slightly more progressive than any dairy industry in the state of California, it's slightly smaller than the average for the state, but the quality of management and the sensitivity to the urban neighbors is here and with those attributes, I think especially the sensitivity to

the urbanizing environment will give them the opportunity to negotiate balance and, and settlements of the various kinds of economic and public policy disputes that we have, has the dairy industry shrunk in Sonoma County or in in in fact, yes, there are fewer cows, There are fewer

farms, but that's not unique to Sonoma County. With the advent of Increasing productivity technology, their science, veterinary science, we now can get about twice as much milk out of a cow as we did 40 years ago. It is important, I think, for decision makers to realize

that you accomplish getting more milk out of the way you feed them two fundamental components. The animal has to have the genetic ability. I've never had the genetic ability to run very fast my abilities elsewhere. We can genetically breed cows by bringing the best of the

best to get the best they have the genetic potential. We then manage them by giving them the appropriate diet. We probably know more about the nutrition of dairy cows and we do about the nutrition of humans because we can experiment on cows and we can't experiment

people and that's how we can make cows very productive. So it's really more important for us to look at the economic contribution of the dairy industry as opposed to counting cows and farms. Now, that's the future, as you see it at the dairy industry. What about

the future of the livestock industry in Sonoma County? That's, that's formerly been, as you said earlier, we were an agrarian county. Agriculture may, I don't know, still be our largest product as far as the actual dollar goes. What about livestock and what's their future here? Their

challenge to say the least, the basis of the livestock industry is to run sheep and cattle on the grassland. It is a relatively low input system and it is a system that has the potential of being indefinitely sustainable without a lot of extra resource inputs. However,

again land costs, competing land uses, when you put communities out in what we call the outback of Sonoma County in marin County. Um, the cutting offenses, domestic dogs running at night and killing livestock, which unfortunately is a reality. Domestic pets do do that. It puts pressure.

We have a lot of public land along the Sonoma coast. The state of California seems to be backing away from a provincial wisdom that says that grazing on those lands has some benefit in terms of management of grass and brush management of the resource for multiple

use if nothing else to reduce the fire risk. Um, the predators have been and continue to be a problem as much as some people like the coyote and the fox, their role in the world is to be a predator and the options for predator control have

been constrained. We're looking to develop new options like different kinds of fencing to keep predators out of livestock areas. The markets for sheep and cattle go through tremendous ups and downs and it challenges the livestock people to be very innovative. And we're seeing some signs of

that. I was talking to a livestock producer most recently who sold his cattle to a buyer in Oklahoma through a satellite teleconference television and got a better price than he could in California. Well, like we should maybe pause right here. We have a lot of other

questions I wanna ask you and I think it's really important that we get across to people what you as a professional see as the future of the dairy industry and the future of the livestock industry here in Sonoma County because um, a lot of people as

you say, have moved to this county and still love living here because it has been an agrarian county. And they kind of, they kind of, I don't know they resent, but they're reluctant to see it all changed. We'll be right back. Ladies and gentlemen rick Bennett

and I will come back and talk more about the University of California Extension Services and its programs in just a moment. First, these important messages, the developing baby is a miracle. But when the mother drinks alcohol and her blood can hit hard, causing everything from minor

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baby to be perfect ah The fresh air of the great outdoors. But I bet you didn't know your vehicle emits this. That's over £330 of pollutants a year. New provisions in California smog check law will help us reach our goal of reducing those pollutants by 25%.

Heavy duty vehicles like Rvs and tow trucks are now part of the program and new cost limits, ensure necessary repairs. Smog check for cleaner air and a clear conscience. Welcome back to Sonoma County in the 90s, we're talking to Rick Bennett actually Dr. Rick Bennett, we

never we never used that title for you, but it should be used. He is a PhD representing the University of California Cooperative Extension Service here in Sonoma County. We've been talking about the future of the livestock industry, the future of the dairy industry rick since the

U. C. C. E. Will abbreviated here has changed from the agricultural Extension services, what new areas does that mean you become involved in? Um a number of years ago I realized that simply extending the best science that we could get out of the Davis campus or

the riverside campus or other land grant universities to agriculture didn't address all the problems. Uh This county has seen some public policy decisions that could undermine our best efforts to deliver science and technology to make farmers more competitive and competitive. And so the university has decided

that it's important for us to get involved in public policy discussions and by public policy. I mean those public decisions that affect the way we use our land affect the way we use our water affect the way that we may impact and impact the air resource

here or the human resource that that that's essential labor component that agriculture must have. You just indicated that the university is becoming more involved in public policy or mediation and and the facilitation of some of these organizations. Um what's the purpose of all that? Well, we

believe that if decision makers are given good information and given in a context and a process that information can be dissected and torn apart and fit into the into the local needs that the decision making process will be made in in wise and thoughtful consideration of

the natural resources at hand. Alright now, earlier you flip through the things that the U. C. C. E. Does, but let's let's be specific or specify these more correctly. What services does the local offer to the local residents? Well for the local residents, whether they be

a person with two acres and two sheep or 400 acres and 400 sheep. We are their window to the University of California. We maintain a very very large library of information publications available at very very low cost. We've just begun to enter into the video era

and I think we're a little behind but we now have a small variety of video tapes available for purchase that people could take home. I'm very interested in developing training tapes for farm managers where they could take these tapes back to the ranch, bring their employees

into their home and use the training tape to share with them information. What would the training tape involved, What would be on that? Let me give you a good example. One major concern in California today is the manner in which agriculture uses pesticides and herbicides. There's

a lot of concern, a very specific concern is the safety of those farm workers who are applying those chemicals. It is now California law that the owner operator of a dairy farm or vineyard or orchard completely and thoroughly instruct the employee on the safe handling, use,

application and disposal of pesticides. There is a legal obligation to train and a moral obligation to keep the employees safe. All right. The university also has a very strong commitment to youth development. Um what is that role now and has it changed too? Sure. The four

H. Youth program was a very clever means of introducing new information and technology into the foreign family through through the youth and it got them involved. We had youth agents who are also specialists in egg production, pasture production work with the kids work with the families

and to some extent that still has a role. But as California and the west have changed and the majority of youth now are not raised on the farm. Oftentimes their exposure to a cow is at a petting zoo. Um there's there's two problems, one that's not

a value to them. The the youth in our cities doesn't see the sheep and the cow and the rabbit is something they really want to do. And so if we're going to develop youth we need to have some new approaches. The outdoor adventures program that jim

Brenner in office started in san Francisco and has developed in santa cruz County in Alameda county in the snow and marin counties gives youth an opportunity to explore themselves, explore the natural world in a structured outdoor education environment, learn about the environment, learn about the natural

world, natural resources and at the same time improve self esteem. Well now along those lines, what is your connection with U. C. C. E. That is with Sonoma State and Central Junior College. Okay, Sonoma State is a state college as part of the state college and

university system. It is separate and distinct from the university of California system and it's also separate from the junior college and community college system. The reality is we don't have an infinite amount of resources and we're being advised and I think the wisdom is well taken

that we need to start cooperating more with educational agencies that are not part of the, of the university system per se. And so we have informal working relationships with Sonoma State University. We work with a number of individuals down there. I have for years, a number

of our staff are part time teaching faculty at S. R. J. C. I teach classes in livestock reproduction and milk quality management paul Vossen are horticulturist who works with the apple and orchard industry, teaches classes in small orchard management, um how to develop small vegetable businesses,

which seems to be quite the quite the thing these days in Sonoma County. So you people not only are there supporting agency to agriculture here, you're also teachers in the community college. You enjoy that. Oh yes, what is it you teach? I teach classes in livestock

reproduction management and a class in milk quality management, which is has been quite popular with people involved in the dairy industry as well as the allied support industry. Alright, what is the relationship actually between U. C. C. E. And the County of Sonoma? We have perhaps

more than 20 years of informal relationships, but somewhere in the archives, there's a memorandum of understanding between University of California and Sonoma County that says that we will put professional academic members of our organization into your county, they will be residents of your county and in

some cases long term residents. I'm now one of the veterans, I've been here 12 years and I remember day one, it seems like yesterday having the people here is really critical. We live, we work, we talk, we associate socialize with the people and the policymakers and

there's real value to that. I'd rather be here than on campus Well in last year or so years ago we had Shirley Temple and some of your four H people here. Surely I think just retired carol Kane e now is in this position. What does that

person do? Primarily carol Kenney is our four H club coordinator coordinator and she works with the the multitude of four H clubs in Sonoma County providing them with the kind of technical administrative liaison, connecting those clubs with university resources that can provide educational materials for them.

What does four H stand for? I'm gonna get in trouble because I was never a four H er but it it has something to do with hands heart health and I forget, Let's say that. All right, we'll hear about this. Why would the typical Sonoma County

resident be interested in maintaining support for your organization through the local county government. You've given us some pretty good reasons I think, but I think you should restate that. Well, our office is one of those county services that are non essential. They're not mandated by state

government. The Agricultural Commissioner, we share some office space with public information, right? The Sheriff Planning commissioners mandated program. We are a non essential service. Um In order for the Sonoma County taxpayer to be willing to put up that portion of the county budget for UC cooperative

extension. We have to be viewed as an essential resource. Be able to address upcoming needs and then move on As those are put into perspective. We have to be we have to be vital, we have to be progressive. Let's restate before we were down to a

moment or two here. What are the different programs that U. C. C. E. Provides up here? Well let me let me go through the advisers because someone haven't mentioned Dr Sue Blodgett, a relatively new addition to our staff is a integrated pest management advisor for four

county region. The goal of the I. P. M. Program is to reduce pesticide use in the environment, allow for appropriate use. Bruce Wyatt is our Marine advisor working with the marine fisheries industries and the Sonoma and marin coast paul boston, the horticulture adviser working with the

apple and the prune orchards as well as the vegetable growers. Rhonda smith is our viticultural specialist working with some very technical aspects of producing the grapes of this county is known for linda Garcia is our home economist whose specialty is nutrition education. Her emphasis is on

working with groups and agencies that serve underprivileged portions of of our community who don't have good access to good nutrition information. Um James Brenner I mentioned. Are you one of our youth development specialists, dan Desmond County director also works as a youth development specialist rick. We're

down to almost time to close off and I want to take this time to thank you for being a guest with me again and and also congratulate on the job you've been doing over there for a long time. You're held in good esteem by the agricultural

community. I know of this of this county and I hear that frequently and so on behalf of them, congratulations, helping everybody as you and to your organization. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to bring our message to a wider audience. And gentlemen, we've been talking

to Rick Bennett, the University of California Cooperative Extension and my name is Rich McClinton the program in Sonoma County in the nineties. We'll be back with you next week with another member of the county government family or an agency such as U C C E L

N. Good night, good luck, good health to each and every one of you