00:00:10.370 - 00:01:01.520

That was the 1st 1. Mic. Check. Let's check mike. Hello, can you hear? Okay? I know Yolanda, she's a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce? I'm Sue blodgett and I'm going to be talking about pest management today. Sonoma

00:01:01.520 - 00:01:22.530

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 same Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the earth. Sonoma County is the place to

00:01:22.530 - 00:01:40.280

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

00:01:40.280 - 00:02:00.410

nineties with your host Rich McGlinchey. Hello again everyone. Welcome to Sonoma County in the nineties we'll be talking to two women who are involved with the University of California cooperative extension. We're talking to linda Garcia and sued Blodget linda is a home economist and Sue has

00:02:00.410 - 00:02:17.150

a title that I will read. It says North Coast Integrated pest Management Advisor. You've never been with us so nice to have you here. You have visited. Nice to have you back. All right. Uh, how have you been? Well, how about you? Excellent. If I were

00:02:17.150 - 00:02:38.960

any better, I'd be dangerous linda. Uh well, first of all, let's get to the title. What is the University of California extension service. Well, where the University of California Cooperative extension. And it shows the link between the university of California. The campus is that we have

00:02:38.960 - 00:02:58.670

here in California Berkeley Davis riverside, the research link with them and the cooperation between the state of California and the county of Sonoma County in this case, in this county that cooperate to bring us to uh the general public. So we are state employees housed in

00:02:58.670 - 00:03:19.290

a county complex and we are housed in the county that were assigned to to conduct public service research and education. And when it started in 1914, our focus was agriculture to help the farmers farm better produce more. The four H advisers were there to help the

00:03:19.290 - 00:03:38.510

youth come up and be better farmers. The home economists of which I am one were there to help the homemakers who stayed at home learn to preserve food safely and economically and in the new s technology that was available. So that in when the home economists

00:03:38.510 - 00:03:52.930

in 1930s would come around in a car and teach people how to can safely and stop canning in their ovens and blowing their ovens out. And in the 1940s the home economists would come around and show people at new preservation technique called freezing or how to

00:03:52.930 - 00:04:08.560

use a freezer. We were our issue focused whatever is happening in the community, we try to be on top of that or have the newest information in the area of for instance, we were are still in a drought in agriculture, we have livestock and dairy advisors

00:04:08.570 - 00:04:26.540

who work with producers of that commodity on how to survive during short water rationing times though, Those kinds of things in my program area, we've looked at hunger. We've looked at parenting issues. We've looked at radio as a teaching method. We've gotten away from the preservation,

00:04:26.700 - 00:04:44.080

uh, new preservation techniques. I'll answer questions about that, but I'm not going to right around and do individual uh, teaching on that on that subject. The issues in home economics are things like parenting, food preservation, saving on food, uh lower fat in the diet, things like

00:04:44.080 - 00:05:05.260

that. So the farm and Home advisor of yesteryear is University of California Cooperative. I left the most important word of all our extension. Uh, you said this was funded by the state and it's but it's located in housed in county premises. Is that the total budget?

00:05:05.790 - 00:05:23.995

The county provides in kind services by providing an office space for clerical, clerical cars and telephone. Our salaries are paid for by the state of California. Usually we do get other funds. I supervise a program that receives federal funds to do nutrition education for low income

00:05:23.995 - 00:05:42.480

people who have Children in the home. And there are other projects that do also get other funds from other agencies either Federal, international things like that. You're a home economist. Wonderful thing to be. Yeah, I think so. I'm not being facetious. We kid about a bit

00:05:42.480 - 00:05:57.440

here. So I mean she thinks I'm being facetious. What kind of programming are you doing right now as home economists right now. I supervise a program in nutrition education for low income people with Children in the home and supervise the staff that goes out to areas

00:05:57.440 - 00:06:13.130

and teaches groups about basic nutrition, basic food shopping. And we go to english as a second language classes, game programs, homeless shelters, things like that where we will find groups of low income people and show them what is nutritious and how to get the most for

00:06:13.130 - 00:06:28.610

their food dollar. Uh recently I've started a parenting program and I've taken that parenting program to the Vietnam veterans homeless shelter here in Sonoma County as parents and I am a parent. And so is soo we get these Children and they don't come with directions, they

00:06:28.610 - 00:06:42.250

don't come with any guarantees, any warranties, any of those things. And we say we're going to be perfect parents and we're not gonna make the same mistakes that our parents did, we're gonna make different ones. How do we parent these lovely little gifts that we are

00:06:42.250 - 00:06:57.500

given who later grow up to be teenagers with raw nerve endings? How do we deal with them in these times of, of drugs and of schools that are ill equipped and not funded, those kinds of things. So I do a parenting program that deals with positive

00:06:57.500 - 00:07:15.050

discipline. Uh many times people think either they have to be totally in control of their child uh sometimes punitively by shaming them or hitting them or just letting them run free and do whatever they like. So that parenting is something all parents, I feel need not

00:07:15.050 - 00:07:28.790

because they are bad parents only because there isn't a lot of information and again, they don't come with the directions tied to their risk and that we needed at different times in our lives as our Children go through these stages and many of us can pay

00:07:28.800 - 00:07:45.440

for that service by taking classes or going to a therapist or doing a lot of other things and homeless shelters. These people are all homeless. We would assume they're all low income in some cases, not all there's problems with uh drugs and alcohol. And so we

00:07:45.440 - 00:07:59.420

go in there to talk about how do we parent our Children because we as parents are the role model, the first teachers and again with the schools we can ask for their help but we can't count on them doing things. So I find it very exciting

00:07:59.420 - 00:08:10.690

and very challenging to go in and talk about what do we do when our kid is just being too and having a tantrum in the middle of the safeway store, what do we do when our Children are not perfect and we take them and they somewhere

00:08:10.690 - 00:08:29.650

and they fight in public, uh those kinds of things. How do we get the tools to um to be effective parents. That's, that's exciting. No, I mean that sincerely I think that's a marvelous calling. I think what you're doing is extremely important to the to the

00:08:29.660 - 00:08:50.610

people of Sonoma County. And I commend you for that as I mean that very sincerely. Um Soo glad you're here. Soo blodgett is the North Coast and pest management advisor and that's an impressive title. But what is integrated pest management? Well in its broadest sense we

00:08:50.610 - 00:09:11.235

defined past as including insects and diseases and weeds, whether you're a farmer or grower vineyard manager or a homeowner, Those three types of pests. Um And there's others anything that you're trying to control. When we integrate our approach to those pests. We use a lot of

00:09:11.235 - 00:09:30.970

different techniques to try to manage them or control them. We're getting more into a phase now where we talk more about management than control. Um Just the times and the philosophy is changing but we use um such things as just simply changing a planting date um

00:09:30.970 - 00:09:52.160

using a different um tillage or mulching methods um using varieties that may have some resistances um that have been built into them and using chemicals and integrating all those things into trying to manage a certain pests. In some cases we have multiple pests that we have

00:09:52.160 - 00:10:12.320

to approach And so that requires integrating your approaches to each one of those together and trying to do the best you can with the tools available. What kind of a program does the University of California have for integrated pest management. Well um the U. C. Integrated

00:10:12.320 - 00:10:30.350

pest management program is a statewide program which is housed at Davis and we just had our 10th year anniversary and so we're now in the 11th year. And um that program as I said is housed at Davis but it's a separate department, almost a small department.

00:10:30.360 - 00:10:51.910

Um And it's a little different than some of the other university departments. Um We have a head but the the most of our people are located around the state like I am um It sounds very very interesting um Are pests such as you're talking about a

00:10:51.910 - 00:11:09.410

real threat to us as people or production and that sort of thing. Well there there are real big passed. Um Two producers, both vineyards in Sonoma County. We have a lot of tree fruits um apples and some pears. And in those commodities it's very difficult to

00:11:09.410 - 00:11:29.425

produce um The kind of quality fruit that you find in your grocery store um without without having to manage the different pests in some way. So um the fruit that you buy in your grocery store wherever your roadside market has to be produced with the grower

00:11:29.425 - 00:11:46.290

working and trying to manage all these different things together. It's really quite a complex situation that these growers are faced with. It's it's really um it's not as simple as just one past or one disease but it's it's many different things that have to be weighed

00:11:46.300 - 00:12:09.483

um In addition to areas that I'm not directly involved when with such as like plant nutrition, irrigation scheduling and those other two, what programs does integrated pest management program itself have? Well, it really has, there's four main areas in the statewide I. P. M. Program. Um

00:12:09.483 - 00:12:27.946

the first one and maybe one of the most diversified is the manuals in education group and I brought this um, this one of our manuals along today um to show you it's available at, at each um, cooperative extension office where we are here. Maybe we can

00:12:27.946 - 00:12:50.690

get a shot of that, but that's that's probably the newest one that relates best to homeowners and small farmers. Um And it's available, it's available in each cooperative extension office in each county in the state. But our manuals and our manuals group has produced this particular

00:12:50.700 - 00:13:14.740

manual and a number of other pest management manuals. This program is directed by mary louise flint and recently they've also gotten into providing some written materials that farm workers can use that include farm worker safety issues. Um So, and that's a very important aspect as regulations

00:13:14.740 - 00:13:38.370

become more restrictive in using some of these different chemicals. The educational process must help um match up with those, um those needs specifically what is your role in the program um in the, I'm the, I'm one of seven I. P. M. Specialists or advisors located around

00:13:38.370 - 00:13:57.120

the state. Um, I serve the north coast, which is a four county area here although my offices in santa rosa. Um I also have Mendocino, Lake and napa counties which I also do work in. And my main um the main work that I do is to

00:13:57.120 - 00:14:16.325

do applied research that benefits um some of the agricultural commodities in those four counties areas and serve as sort of a specialist in my area for the advisors in those four counties. So I work um I work with farm advisors in our office in Mendocino County

00:14:16.335 - 00:14:33.310

County in napa and Lake counties and help do a research project with them. Help right and obtain grant money and do educational programs in each of those areas. You really have a tremendous support person in a sense of the word for a lot of them are

00:14:33.400 - 00:14:46.810

well I'm more special. I have my training is a little bit more specialized. I'll get into that whole job for just a minute. We're gonna pause and let the station bring the audience a public service announcement when we come back. I want to go more into

00:14:46.810 - 00:15:11.610

what's your particular role is and and more about integrated pest management linda Sue and I will return first. These messages imagine yourself in an emergency survival depends on fast treatment today, millions depend on medic alert. One call provides emergency teams with life saving information to learn

00:15:11.610 - 00:15:33.910

more. Ask your pharmacist or call 1 800 I. D. Alert. I was going to take a job with an engineering firm in new york. I got a better offer. I'm building schools overseas with the Peace Corps. The pace is a little slower than New York. But

00:15:33.910 - 00:15:58.370

here I'm getting grassroots experience. I couldn't get anywhere else. The way I look at it, the world can wait two years for another 40 story smoked glass high rise Peace Corps. The toughest job you'll ever love. Welcome back to this edition of Sonoma County in the

00:15:58.370 - 00:16:16.500

nineties. We're talking to two persons who are involved with the University of California Cooperative Extension. We talked with linda Garcia a little earlier we were talking to Sue Blodgett. It was the North Coast Integrated pest management Advisor. And I think that's a very impressive title. Earlier

00:16:16.500 - 00:16:28.880

when we were talking to we asked you what kind of program the university California have for I. P. M. And you talk to them. But I think you skipped a couple or something. You reminded me to come back to that. Right. Well the the I. P.

00:16:28.880 - 00:16:48.290

M. Program also has a computer project which they support called the Impact Computer System and that's accessible by both public and University of California employees located around the state. It has a lot of weather data on it. Um It has programs about insects and diseases that

00:16:48.300 - 00:17:06.340

people could use that are sort of expert systems that help people to manage some of their insect or pest problems. Um and also has other information on the computer system. Um I mentioned that I'm one of seven advisers located around the state. Um There's two of

00:17:06.340 - 00:17:23.680

us located on the coast of California myself and then the southern coast. And then the rest of the advisors are located in the Central Valley and even Imperial County area. But we all cover multiple county areas and we conduct our research and our education programs um

00:17:23.690 - 00:17:44.690

within agricultural commodities that are important um in that area. Um I. P. M. Project also supports a research grant, a competitive research grants program and the associate director of that program is joe Morris who is located at riverside and in this case they have a deadline

00:17:44.690 - 00:18:04.500

and it's a competitive grants program for University of California employees. And that's a great source of funding for some of these applied um research projects that relate to pest management and integration of new or techniques that um have have not been used widely and trying to

00:18:04.500 - 00:18:20.680

demonstrate them and research them in different counties and different areas around the state. So it's it's got there's several aspects to the I. P. M. Project and I represent only one of those which is the advisor group. What kind of special training did you have to

00:18:20.680 - 00:18:40.220

have for this particular job? Well I have both a master's and a PhD in Entomology but I've had a lot of work experience. I've worked in um in cotton and alfalfa for five years um in New Mexico. And I um I did my education in Kansas

00:18:40.220 - 00:18:56.550

and some more education in new york state at Cornell University. So I've lived in different parts the country and um worked with in agricultural systems in those different areas. And so I suspect some of that diversified experience was was is helpful in adapting to the new

00:18:56.560 - 00:19:16.980

California experience and and uh approaches here. That's very impressive. It really is your very impressive. What type of programs are you working on or what you have going on this year? Well, we have some real interesting ones. There's a new product that's available that's a um

00:19:17.050 - 00:19:38.640

a scent that coddling moth. Males used to locate a female moth. Now we're getting quite technical now, but well we we use this product for monitoring a lot in in orchards. Um. Coddling moths are pests of both apples and pears. And in the north coast those

00:19:38.640 - 00:19:58.370

two tree fruits are very important agricultural commodities. Um The scent um has been used a number of years for monitoring from being able to detect when the maws are active in an orchard. Um to help improve timing of control measures. But now we're starting to use

00:19:58.370 - 00:20:18.380

this product um and saturating the orchard um hanging this um or spray this chemical throughout the orchard and so that the males cannot successfully find a female. It's um and so that the their reproductive cycle is disrupted. You don't actually kill anything, but you just use

00:20:18.380 - 00:20:38.380

their own biology sort of against them to disrupt their ability to locate and to make sure. But it's a very interesting product and it's a it's not a chemical toxin, it's a scent that only these, it's very specific. This material only works in coddling maws. Even

00:20:38.380 - 00:20:58.590

other maws cannot detect the scent. It's not biologically important to them. Has been successful. Well, we had a very successful year with it last year in an apple orchard in sebastian whole area. This year we're expanding some of our our experiments into um Northern Sebastian pull

00:20:58.590 - 00:21:15.380

up to the forest ville and then um I'm working with with an advisor in Mendocino County and we're doing something. We're using the same product in some pear orchards. So we're sort of extending this material that we've experienced um in Sonoma County with apples in to

00:21:15.380 - 00:21:33.960

Mendocino into another commodity of this with using targeting the same insect past. So it's a it's a really it's it's a very different approach for a producer who's accustomed to spraying a traditional chemical for for managing this particular moth. But this product is quite a different

00:21:33.960 - 00:21:53.460

product. And so it's it's very interesting. It's very nontoxic. Um It's a it's a non it's not a noxious chemical and it's it's the only biological activity is that certain moss can perceive this chemical at very low concentrations in the air. Well, certainly as you as

00:21:53.460 - 00:22:08.370

you have explained your job and your tasks and what's being done, it certainly emphasizes the fact that these pests are a threat to us in a sense of the word and destroy our food supply and this anytime we've got something that really mounts an attack on

00:22:08.370 - 00:22:23.450

some of our fruit or vegetables, I mean we're in trouble because we have a tremendous amount of people to feed with that stuff, you know? Well, one of the goals of the I. P. M. Program has been to try to reduce pesticide use so that we

00:22:23.450 - 00:22:43.010

can have a safer environment and safer source of food. And so that's been one of the goals of the IMF program since its inception, 11 years ago now. And so this type of a product allows us to achieve those goals by using a biology of the

00:22:43.010 - 00:23:02.650

insect in your opinion and give us a professional evaluation here. Why is this program important? You've kind of touched on that? Well, it helps us to integrate some of the new maybe more high tech or elimination of some of the bad chemicals. Yes. Uh huh. Well,

00:23:02.660 - 00:23:26.800

eliminating them. But replacing them with environmentally sound approach to pest management, we're trying to incorporate use some of our beneficial insects promote some of our beneficial insects more in the agricultural environment. So that we're targeting are insects or weeds or disease is much more specifically so

00:23:26.800 - 00:23:44.090

that we're not impacting a wide range of activities of other insects that are out there may be doing us some benefit. So we're trying to be softer on the environment by targeting our insects a little bit more effectively. You can always tell the good insects because

00:23:44.090 - 00:24:04.870

they have the long white coats and little white hats. I wish they did black. So what do you see in the future for pest management? I think that we'll see um uh further reductions and some of our pesticide use. I think we'll continue continue to see

00:24:04.880 - 00:24:24.920

chemicals being used in pest management by tree crop growers and vineyard um people but we'll see them used in a much more specific um form will see a lot of a lot of increase in monitoring activity to try to target our our applications much more closely.

00:24:24.930 - 00:24:45.940

Um And I think that we'll continue to see more impacts being made in biological controls um which is the incorporation of either beneficial insects or um parasitic insects to help get a better management of an insect and a more regional basis. So I think that we'll

00:24:45.940 - 00:25:12.760

see some of these new maybe products that are sort of a side product of the biotechnology industry being used in agricultural systems. More in the future biotechnology biotechnology in view of that will biotech technology actually solve problems? Well I think it will help us a lot

00:25:12.760 - 00:25:28.060

with our pest problems. I don't think it'll solve them. But I think it will will help we will be able to incorporate some of those things in terms of improved varieties with better insect and pest resistance. People are familiar with those. I think we'll see more

00:25:28.060 - 00:25:45.910

of those coming along. I think we'll see new products like the coddling moth pheromone product that I mentioned that can only be developed when you have some very um very specific industries that are sort of geared up towards producing those kind of things and putting them

00:25:45.910 - 00:26:02.770

out in a in a um environment. Um That's pretty hard and being able to use them effectively in orchards and vineyards. So I think that we'll get a lot of benefit from those industries and some new products that will see and we are seeing already um

00:26:02.780 - 00:26:19.840

are offshoots of the biotechnology industry. Yeah they're generally speaking there is not a magic button you can press or magic substance or something that you can use or even technology for that matter that will automatically solve all these things. So that's what you're saying your integration

00:26:19.840 - 00:26:39.400

of all of these is working successfully. Yes and I think education to um you know a strong educational system a lot allows people to help to plan their pesticide applications better better improve monitoring and some of the research that the I. P. M. Program is helping

00:26:39.400 - 00:26:54.240

to support will help us be able to do a better job in managing those things. Well we'll put that that's a nice thing to close on time has run out and it's nice to have you here. So it's nice to meet you and have you visit

00:26:54.240 - 00:27:09.540

with him? Maybe you come back and tell us how well these programs are going. I hope so. Because you mentioned some of the things you've been mentioned plants as being a pest and that, uh, this is interesting. I'm sure everybody would want to follow up on

00:27:09.540 - 00:27:24.120

you later this year. Maybe. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been talking to linda Garcia and sued Blodget linda is a home economist for the University of California Cooperative Extension and Sue is the North Coast Integrated Pest Management Advisor. My name is Richard McClinton. The program is

00:27:24.120 - 00:27:33.940

Sonoma County in the nineties. Back with you next week with a member of the county government, family and related agencies such as these. Till then. Goodnight. Good luck and good health to each and every one of you.