Heat is rising in undulating waves on this summer afternoon at the Agriculture and Natural Resources' West Side Research and Extension Center. Director Bob Hutmacher looks out over a freshly harvested field, his hand a visor against the sun.
"This is canola," Hutmacher says. "It was a new crop for us and when we planted it, and we really didn't have the right equipment. I ended up planting it with a fertilizer spreader. It worked out pretty well, actually."
Work is always an adventure at this ANR Research and Extension Center outside Coalinga and at the handful of other centers strategically located throughout the state. The staffing is lean, the experiments are diverse and the environment is challenging. But for the scores of University of California researchers stationed at these off-campus centers, they are right where they want to be.
"This is my lab," says Cooperative Extension pomologist Kirk Larson, who has bred strawberries for 16 years at the ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center near Irvine. "My lab is a seven-acre plot in an environment that's dusty, hot, cold and hard to control. And I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Research and Extension Centers serve the University of California's Cooperative Extension program, which began in 1913 as a way to connect university research to the public. The concept was this: What good is groundbreaking agricultural science if you can't communicate it to the farmers and consumers and taxpayers who utilize and help fund the research?
Over the years, the university stationed scientists at several centers throughout the state -- in rich valleys, on dry desserts, on foggy coasts. The various ecosystems are excellent for field testing a wide range of projects and the far-flung locations help scientists stay in touch with the needs and people the university serves.
Throughout their history, Research and Extension Centers have produced amazing advances. For example, California's strawberry industry was saved in the 1940s when UC scientists developed a virus-resistant plant. Nearly 80 percent of the strawberries planted in California are varieties that UC scientists developed. And, some half-dozen tomato varieties developed at Research and Extension Centers from 1956 to 1982 now account for about 75 percent of the nation's production.
Staffing and research at the stations blossomed in the 1960s, but staffing at most has been pruned over the last several years after grueling rounds of state budget cuts. So what's going on at Research and Extension Centers these days? Grab your boots and sunscreen and let's go take a look.
Read more:
- First stop, South Coast
- Salinas -- Methyl bromide alternatives
- Kearney -- A cornucopia of science
- West Side: Just add water
Diane Nelson is a writer with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.