UC Davis Home Page

News and Information

UC Davis experts: Organic farming issues and regulations

The following UC faculty members are available to discuss issues related to sustainable/organic agriculture. If you need information on a topic not listed, please contact Lyra Halprin in the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu or Patricia Bailey, News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu.

Organic farming issues and regulations

  • Sean Swezey, director of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, has studied organic farming of strawberries, cotton, apples and artichokes for more than 20 years. He is the technical representative to the California Organic Products Act Advisory Committee. He will begin a study of organic feed-grain production in the Western states. Contact: Sean L. Swezey, SAREP, (530) 752-2379 or (408) 459-4367, findit@cats.ucsc.edu.
  • Deborah Giraud, UC Cooperative Extension director in Humboldt County, (707) 445-7351, ddgiraud@ucdavis.edu, is very involved with organic research and outreach.

Sustainable viticulture, pest and disease management

Janet C. "Jenny" Broome, associate director of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP), is a plant pathologist and focuses on sustainable viticulture, ecologically based pest management, and organic plant-disease management. She chairs the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences committee coordinating "The Science of Sustainable Agriculture: Measuring the Immeasurable," a major lecture series that continues through fall quarter, featuring 17 internationally recognized experts on sustainability in relation to agriculture, the environment and society. Sustainable agriculture systems are defined as those that serve society in the short and long terms, are economically viable and environmentally sound, and promote healthy communities. Contact: Janet C. "Jenny" Broome, SAREP, (530) 754-8547, jcbroome@ucdavis.edu.

Costs and benefits among cropping systems

Karen Klonsky has examined the transition to sustainable production and the costs and benefits of selected practices in organic and conventional cropping systems. Contact: Karen Klonsky, UC Cooperative Extension economist, UC Davis, (530) 752-3563, klonsky@primal.ucdavis.edu.

Organic crop production education

Mark Van Horn, UC Davis Student Experimental Farm director, is an organic crop production instructor and expert on cover crops, compost production and use. Contact: Mark Van Horn, UC Davis, (530) 752-7645, mxvanhorn@ucdavis.edu.

Research and extension efforts aimed at organic farmers (funded by UC SAREP)

The following UC Cooperative Extension advisors and coordinators are spearheading new services funded by UC SAREP with support from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation for county-level programs for California organic farming and soil health research and extension activities. Counties participating so far are Humboldt, Marin and Ventura counties:

  • Annie Eicher, organic and sustainable farming coordinator for UC Cooperative Extension--Humboldt County, (707) 445-7351, aleicher@ucdavis.edu.
  • Steve Quirt, UC Cooperative Extension--Marin County organic and sustainable agriculture coordinator, (415) 499-4204, wsquirt@ucdavis.edu.
  • Oleg Daugovish, UC Cooperative Extension--Ventura County organic and sustainable agriculture coordinator, (805) 645-1454, odaugovish@ucdavis.edu.

Community food systems

Gail Feenstra is a community food systems analyst with the UC Davis-based Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. She is the lead researcher on USDA and other grants studying community food security, including shopping at local farmers markets, the economic health of small regional farmers, and community food policy councils. Contact: Gail Feenstra, SAREP, (530) 752-8408, gwfeenstra@ucdavis.edu.

Killing pests with radio waves

Elizabeth Mitcham, an extension specialist at the Department of Pomology, has developed a method that uses radio waves to kill pests on nuts and dried fruits. The method would replace chemical fumigation methods. Contact: Elizabeth Mitcham, Pomology, (530) 752-7512, ejmitcham@ucdavis.edu.

Organic farming database

SAREP's Organic Farming Research and Information Web site includes links to the UC Organic Farming Research Workgroup, research projects (searchable by crop, topic and organic relevance), USDA programs, production information, regulations and statistics.

Media contact

Top of pageTop of page

Last updated Dec. 3, 2008