Farmers emphasize a values based agricultural community.

During my spring break, I set aside time to visit my grandparents farm. We did what we normally did: we walked out to the “sump,” an ugly, moldy body of water just a short walk through the almond orchards. It serves the purpose of irrigation on the family farm.

We set out, walking under the tall brittle branches of decades old almond trees. The same trees that my mother and aunt spent summers raking rows of almonds and pulling weeds. When my mom went to sleep at night, she’d see undulating rows of cotton and waving arms of almond trees, and it was the same in the mornings and throughout the day.

While we walked, the two farm dogs — BD, for “Black Dog”, and Sam — followed along, sniffing and eating grass and leftover fallen almonds. They knew just how to crack them open to get to the nut inside.

In normal salt of the earth parlance, my grandpa Lloyd Bowman would say, “Yeaaah”  — pause — “been no rain lately,” and in the distance my grandmother would sing hymns with a sweet gentle alto range. My grandpa could tell you about crop yields, weather, farming techniques and who owned what land, going back to 1945. He’s 95 years old, and yet nothing seems to escape him.

Finally when we arrived at the sump, the dogs eagerly splashed around in the water, and we talked about old times of when my brother, my cousin and I would stay weekends here, throwing dirt clods at farm equipment and taking walks through the long endless rows of blooming, fragrant almond trees.

Eventually it was time to head back. Walking through the orchard didn’t have the same feeling it used to, because it wasn’t ours anymore. A large scale grape grower had bought all of it up from us. It wasn’t a great loss. It was just time.

My grandpa had started farming when he married my Grandma after WWII. Farming had been something he had always wanted to do.

“I grew up on a farm,” my grandpa said in a phone interview. “I started driving tractors when I was about seven or eight years old. I didn’t go to college  — I didn’t want to go to college. I wanted to farm, it was in my blood.”

They had 150 acres of land and primarily were farming alfalfa and cotton  —- the land was rented from his father, who had been farming in the Central Valley for a long time.

“I was working with my dad and he bought the property. So, it wasn’t too difficult. We started out with small acreage, and we didn’t have a lot of money, but the price of property, land — farms were pretty cheap then.”

For the first year of farming, they had to pick the cotton crop by hand. It was labor intensive and taxing, but soon a mechanized cotton picker became more widely used, and by the second year the farm had already become more mechanized.

And mechanization, he reflected to me, was one of the most profound developments in the life of a farmer. The ability to produce more with less back breaking labor was key to making farming a more efficient occupation.

As for farmers today, he thought that it might be more difficult if one were to try to begin to get started in the business. “The cost of operation is so much greater than it was 75 years ago. The cost of development, drilling wells, getting water. To get started nowadays would be really hard. They developed a lot of new equipment and it’s costly.”

I talked to a local Davis farmer, Sarah Davis, to get some insight in what it is like to be operating a farm right now.

“We have a really unique situation. My husband grows all this stuff, and he loves to do the actual work. Most farms, once they get to a certain size, they make money by growing and by paying somebody else to do all the work. He loves to do it.”

As for the viability of farming for an average family, Davis had doubts.

“It’s a really hard living for a family. I had a job at the university, so I have benefits and a pension. That made it possible for us to buy a house. You could do it [farming], but it’d be a meager living for a family.”

UC Davis researcher and lecturer Shermain Hardesty gave insights on the challenges small farmers face, and the strategies they may employ to overcome those challenges. Much of her research and work focuses on helping small to mid level producers differentiate themselves and establish stronger supply chains and marketing techniques.

“It’s a very competitive environment now. It’s not just domestic producers, you are also competing with imported producers as well.”

Further, small farmers are simply unable to compete with the competitive pricing of imported goods.

“People are looking for the cheapest priced food because that’s all they can afford. Grocery stores have been consolidated to the max. They squeeze every penny out of a farmer when they’re making contracts,” Hardesty said. “The type of producer that can do it obviously is the bigger one. They often sell directly to the grocery chain.”

The agriculture economy in California, in particular, has become structured in such a way as to be less local.

“California agriculture really developed as a supplier for the rest of the country and even much of the world. It’s always been about exporting to other places, not being local,” Hardesty said.

But it is exactly the fact that large producers are less focused on local sales that helps small farmers find their niche.

“The main difference I see happening is that these small farmers, the only way they can really be viable is if they are going to be selling locally […] They need to specialize, to be able to have an identity,” Hardesty said.

Small local farmers have to actively differentiate themselves. This can be done through practicing environmentally friendly farming practices or being non-GMO and non-pesticide. Further, fostering connections with the community is an important way for small farmers to be able to differentiate themselves from large scale producers.

“It starts with farmer’s markets. But then they usually have to find other ways of expanding their marketing efforts.” This is because farmer’s markets only have so much space for growers. This space is filled because of the great advantages of farmers markets being an opportunity for community engagement and connection.

While interviewing Sarah Davis at a rainy Wednesday Davis Farmers Market, there were multiple times when we had to pause the interview for Sarah to have conversations with her customers.

“We get to know people and their kids growing up. You have a 10 second conversation with hundreds of people, but some people come back every week and you get to know them.”

This sort of community engagement is an important part of what Shermain Hardesty is attempting to do in her own work.

“Working with a bunch of people, what we are trying to do is create value based supply chains. From the farmer, to the seller, to the consumer, you have those values passed on so that people really understand and appreciate and are willing to pay for those values.”

“Over the longer term, we have to realize that in order to take care of our environment and our cultural values, we are going to have to pay a lot more for food than we currently do.”

Paying more for the food at farmers markets can mean more than just paying for environmental and cultural values. It can also mean giving back to the community in an economic way. Shermain Hardesty claims that small farming can have important local economic benefits.

“Smaller farms are more labor intensive, but the other side of that is that they contribute a larger economic benefit to the community. They generate more economic activity because their labor is local,” Hardesty said.

Davis pointed out that connecting the consumer to the food they buy will make them more knowledgeable about farming. Exclusively shopping at big stores, with out of season food imported from other countries, can sometimes warp a consumer’s expectations about farming.

“We’re used to cheap food. We’re used to having everything all the time. People say, ‘Why aren’t there tomatoes here’, and well, it’s May. But people don’t know, they’re used to seeing what they see in stores,” Davis said.

But ideally, engagement with local farmers will help consumers feel more connected to the food they eat.

“People come to Farmer’s Markets because I think they’re really eager to have a connection,” Davis said. “If you come here every week, you learn what’s in season and what to expect. That’s key to the future of small farmers, having customers like that. Who are knowledgeable and who care. Who think it’s worth something to maybe pay the same or a little more for things that are really fresh and local, and taste really good.”

Hardesty hopes that this kind of education about farming will occur in the future.

“My dream is that we still have our regular grocery stores, but we would have broader availability of locally grown produce that was advertised for what it is, and why it costs more,” Hardesty said.

Hardesty and Davis both agree: Through community, knowledge and values around farming can be fostered and increased.

My grandparents farming days are long gone. The farm has been sold, as have their friends plots of land around them. When one friend across the street sold, and their almond trees were cut down, my grandma cried. After decades, those familiar trees were gone. It seems like everytime when we walk to my car as I’m about to leave, she shrugs and says “Isn’t that so sad?”

But even as small farmers move on and sell their land, people like Sarah Davis and Shermaine Hardesty work hard to ensure that the values of local farming remain.

Written by: Aaron Levins  — features@theaggie.org

Updates to the outstanding student awards that honor students and registered student organizations

Every year, the Outstanding Student Awards honors members of the Davis community  that have made impressive contributions to UC Davis and its student body. Only students and organizations can be nominated for these awards, and recipients are handpicked during a competitive application process. Awards honor students of different seniority and for various reasons, including for outstanding leadership display, service and goodwill.

Jaime Allen, the Leadership Development and Outreach specialist at the Center for Student Involvement, oversees some of the awards  students and organizations can apply to.

“[This year], the Outstanding Student Awards will take place on May 13 at the Mondavi Center,” Allen said. “It’s sort of the end of the year culmination of all of the things students on campus have been able to accomplish this year. We recognize students for their individual accomplishments and student organizations for what they’ve contributed to campus. Outstanding seniors for most of the majors are represented, in addition to CSI leadership awards, Principles of Community Award, Civic Engagement Community Service awards and Student Affairs awards like the Winslow award or Social Justice award. The big award is the university medal, which goes to the outstanding graduating senior.”

Specifically, Allen manages the awards that fall under the Center for Student Involvement, including awards such as the Adams Award, Balanced Leaders Award and Global Engagement Award among several others. In addition to the prestige bestowed upon receiving an award, individuals and organizations can receive cash awards to advance their impactful registered student organizations.

“The CSI awards are coordinated through the Center for Student Involvement,” Allen said. “We recognize student organizations for their specific contributions such as global engagement. Another award recognizes balanced leadership, so organizations that promote academics and wellness among members, not just focusing on the organization itself being successful. Other awards, like the Adams Leadership award, recognizes an outstanding student organization officer for their contributions to the organization.”

Receiving an award is an extremely prestigious honor, as it only recognizes several impressive students out of the tens of thousands in the entire student body. Additionally, organizations recognized for their accomplishments are handpicked out of the hundreds of registered student organizations on campus for their important contributions.

“It’s important to know about the awards so that students and organizations can get the recognition they deserve for all of the great work they’re doing,” Allen said. “It’s really impressive reading over the applications and seeing how much students and student organizations have been able to accomplish, and their impact on their members and the community as a whole. So it’s just really fun giving them to have a moment in the spotlight that they deserve.”

While the award ceremony takes place once every year, new additions to the awards ceremony this year made receiving an award even more enticing than in years past.

“A new addition this year is a pre-reception before the actual ceremony that will happen in Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center,” Allen said. “The pre-reception is for the recipients to be able to meet senior administrators like the deans of colleges or the interim vice president of student affairs, so this is a great way for students to interact more closely with senior administrators across campus and be recognized across campus for their accomplishments. Unfortunately, this is just open to the award recipients but this is another great reason why students should apply to be able to have this great opportunity.”

Any student making contributions to the UC Davis campus or student body should consider applying for an outstanding student award in years to come, or consider nominating individuals that they feel do so as well.

“I think there’s definitely a way for all students to have a chance to be recognized at the awards, whether its for their academic success or success outside the classroom, there’s different ways to be represented,” Allen said. “Organizations and individuals both have chances. The application and nomination process is different depending on the award, but most of that happens in late January and early February, so everyone look out for the Outstanding Student Awards in 2020.”

Visit the Outstanding Student Awards Page to find out more about the various available awards and to learn more about the application process.

Written by: Alyssa Hada – features@theaggie.org

Professors and Ph.D., graduate and undergraduate students all work together to invent robots to automate crop production

It’s the year 2030 in the agricultural fields surrounding Davis. The fields look about the same, still dotted with orchards and fruit trees. But, alongside the people picking the fruits are machines, carrying trays of strawberries to and from trucks, as well as lifting people into the air to pick the highest, hardest-to-reach peaches. These newly developed aids are known as harvest assist robots. They greatly reduce the amount of manual labor and number of laborers needed to harvest fruit.

Stavros Vougioukas, a professor in the department of biological and agricultural engineering, runs a lab where research is conducted with robots, automation technologies and mechatronic technologies in relation to agriculture. With the goal of developing automated crop production to produce labor savings in the field or post-harvest, workers in the lab focus on creating these technologies for specialty crops.

Involved with Vougioukas’ research is Dennis Sadowksi, a research and development engineer in biological and agricultural engineering, as well as several Ph.D. students, graduate students and some undergraduate students completing internships. The lab also collaborates with other universities as well as specific growers. The researchers are able to test their equipment in the growers’ fields and receive feedback and advice.

“The main mission of our lab is try to make robotics to not replace but to be part of the labor,” said Zhenghao Fei, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in agricultural robotics who works in Vougioukas’ lab. “The agricultural work is also usually very intense and hard work so people would rather work somewhere else. Robots can replace that harder part and make our lives easier.”

According to Vougioukas, demographics show a labor shortage for farm work since there are not enough workers to meet the high demand. Developing technologies to aid in farmwork will help fix this problem.

“We are not really designing technologies to steal jobs away, we are covering a void because the supply is not there and will not be there even more,” Vougioukas said.

For pickers who will be replaced by the technologies, Vougioukas said they can always find work for different crops since not all foods can be harvested mechanically.

“Overall these technologies are not stealing jobs, they are making sure that we will always have fresh fruit and produce grown locally in safe and environmentally friendly ways, and this is what the technology does,” Vougioukas said. “It is not only picking, it is using less chemicals, less energy, doing it more safely. I think this is the bigger picture.”

According to Sadowski, the university is in the business of developing and using the latest research to develop the latest generation of machinery and robots. For agricultural robots, the process involves building a prototype, showing that it works properly and then a company pays for the licensing rights to manufacture it if they are interested in it.

“The university is not in the business of manufacturing things,” Sadowski said. “Our mission is to help the greater good, help the general public, not specific companies [that want to] get an edge over their competitors by tapping into our research.”

Funding for the research conducted in Vougioukas’ lab comes from government funds, private industries and occasionally specific companies looking for a new technology, according to Sadowski.

One of the main mobile robots the lab has been working on is a strawberry tray transporter. This robot will work alongside people by transporting full fruit trays to other locations and bringing back the empty trays to pickers. Currently, pickers must carry these trays, which wastes time and energy. Instead, this tray can do all the deliveries, according to Vougioukas.

“[Pickers] don’t like to stop picking, they make money when they pick, they don’t make money when they’re carrying trays of strawberries,” Sadowski said.

Another robot being developed is an automated orchard platform on which people can stand. According to Sadowski, the machine drives itself automatically, and it looks for fruit on the trees. It adjusts the heights of the pickers on the machine to match where the fruit is, so the workers do not have to reach high or bend low to pick it. The machine drives itself through the orchard at slow speeds, allowing workers to pick apples or peaches and dump them into large bins. Like the strawberry tray transporters, this machine also carries the full fruit bins, drops them off and then returns the empty bins so people do not have to do the hard manual labor.  

The strawberry decapping machine is another robot that the lab has developed. This machine automatically removes stems off of strawberries, which previously had to be done by hand. This machine is already being commercialized by a company in California. According to Vougioukas, either this year or next year it will be a commercial product.

“This is applied research, but hopefully in the next few years some of it will be out there,”  Vougioukas said. “Of course it’s also not just my lab, there are other places working on the research. This has been going on for decades and now you see some machines coming out. It’s not always very fast because going from a concept to a prototype takes some time.”

According to Sadowski, researchers in the lab face many challenges and technologies often fail, since what they are designing are new and unique concepts. Because of this, the lab must test and make alterations to the robots all the time.

“It is a very challenging job,” Sadowski said. “Here it’s like, you have to get inspired and have some brilliant brainstorm in order to solve a problem because farmers have been trying to solve some of these problems for hundreds of years.”

The biggest difficulties arise from these machines being used in a variety of outdoor environments, according to Fei.

“I think the most difficult part is that the agricultural environment is an ecological environment, so there are very high variation among different plants and different seasons,” Fei said. “There’s not like a controlled environment inside a factory, so when we do our algorithms, we can not too much rely on some artificial structure. We have to let our system be more intelligent and more general for the different environments.”

However, according to seventh-year Ph.D. student in agricultural robots Rajkishan Arikapudi, all these challenges become worth it when the robotic system is successful.

“We could foresee that the system could be used in the orchards as a real prototype that could be turned into a harvester soon,” Arikapudi said. “That’s the good part of seeing the efficiencies and the throughputs that the system could achieve.”

According to Sadowski, pretty much everyone will benefit from the research conducted in Vougioukas’ lab.

“Those who will benefit include the growers of fruits and vegetables, the processors, the people who have to work in the fields and pick and ultimately the consumer who will be able to continue to get their fresh fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices,” Sadowski said. “If you can’t harvest the fruit because you can’t find pickers, [fruits and vegetables] just are not going to be available or they will have to be imported from another place. They’re going to be much more expensive or not as fresh. Just about everybody is going to benefit from what we do.”

Written By: Margo Rosenbaum — features@theaggie.org

Students share their experiences with taking online classes

At UC Davis, there are many classes offered that students can take to satisfy GE requirements, major requirements or just fill up their schedule. These classes include in-person, lecture and/or discussion based classes, hybrid classes (consisting of both online material and in-person meetings) or classes administered solely online. While many students are used to the traditional in-person classes, some also choose to take online classes. There are many reasons for offering these virtual classes as are the reasons for students choosing to take these classes. Every student has a unique experience in these types of classes. For students considering taking online classes, here is what two students have to say.

“It was okay,” said Erin Klausen, a first-year biological sciences major, in response to her experience taking an online class at UC Davis. “I think it was a lot more work than I expected it to be because I kind of just assumed that it would be the same amount of work as a regular class, but in truth, it’s not. It’s way more because you’re spending more hours doing work at home than you would be (like those hours you would be [spending] in class).”

Many students believe that online classes are beneficial because it is easier for them to manage their time and learn at their own pace.

“It’s definitely more of a flexible schedule,” Klausen said. “You don’t have a set time to be anywhere, you just have a deadline to finish your assignments.”

Brandon Jetter, a third-year political science major, agreed with Klausen’s statements regarding the benefits of taking an online class.

“There’s more time flexibility in the sense that you can spread it out throughout the week instead of having a certain time slot allocated to that class,” Jetter said.

There are still some students, however, who do not take these classes for the right reasons. Some students assume that online classes are easier, an assumption that can lead to procrastination. Some students also find loopholes which allow them to cheat on online exams.

“The drawback is that you can definitely ‘cheat the system’ in a way,” Klausen said. “And if you don’t try really hard, you can kinda learn less because you’re not present in a classroom; you don’t have a teacher that you can really ask questions to.”

With no strict schedule, it has never been easier for students to not only procrastinate on assignments, but also on learning the content of the class.

“It’s easy to procrastinate,” Jetter said. “It’s easy to fall behind and not hold yourself accountable. Communication is a little hard because you can’t just ask the professor during office hours.”

Online classes can also be taken for credit across the UC system through cross-campus enrollment during the school year or over the summer to satisfy degree requirements or to explore areas of study outside one’s major. For example, a student at UC Davis may take an online course offered at UC Irvine for credit.

According to the University of California’s Cross-Campus Enrollment website, “you have access to a growing list of quality online courses taught by expert faculty across the UC system. These convenient and flexible online courses offer the same great education you find in your campus classrooms.”

In conclusion, if you are considering taking an online class, consider your learning style and if taking an online class would complement it or not. Experimenting with different classes is an effective way to determine what classroom setting is best suited for you. Keep in mind that not every class is available as an online course.

Written by: LINH NGUYEN — features@theaggie.org