Yolo Press family farm provides Davis with quality products for over 20 years

Just 20 minutes west of Davis is a thriving grove of olive trees symbolizing one family’s agricultural and professional success.

Davis native Mike Madison and his wife Dianne originally bought the land for their farming operation in 1984 and now sell homemade organic jams, soaps, skincare products and olive oil at the Davis Farmers Market and Davis Food Co-op.

The Madisons wanted to grow something that did not require bees for pollination, was drought-tolerant and was resistant to pests. They decided on olive trees, and now Mike hand-harvests all 1700 of these olive trees himself.

“We have olive varieties from Spain, Italy, Greece, France and California which all produce different flavors of oil,” Mike Madison said. “I’ll harvest less-ripe olives around this time to make a very pungent, strong robust oil, like Italians prefer, [but] the French like theirs to taste like butter so they wait [to harvest] until January — it’s just a question of style.”

Immediately after the harvest, Mike brings the olives into a processing room where they get washed and ground up. This olive “mash” then goes into a bigger machine and is stirred very slowly so that the microscopic drops of oil start to clump together and is heated so that the fats completely liquify. A centrifuge then separates the material into three parts: water, solid and oil. Mike then transports the oil to a separate settling tank and leaves it alone for about three days.

The process of turning the fruit into oil is detailed and time consuming, but it is meticulous for a reason.

“We package in dark green glass from Italy […] because olive oil has high sensitivity to light,” Mike said. “If you go to Safeway and see [cheap] olive oil in a clear, plastic bottle […] it’s probably just 10 year old rancid oil [that was] distilled with solvents to remove the rancid taste.”

Dianne explained that, because of the oil’s sensitivity, Mike mills everything within 24 hours of harvesting so that the oil does not go rancid. The Madisons are not only concerned with producing quality olive oil, but also with keeping their environmental impact as low as possible by implementing sustainable practices.

“The water and solids from the olive processing get pumped out of the building and I spread them back into the orchard to be reincorporated into the soil,” Mike said. “All of the nutrients are in the waste, so by putting them back we’re basically maintaining soil fertility in the orchard.”

In addition to what Dianne calls their “liquid fertilizer,” Yolo Press is constantly exploring ways to be as environmentally sound as possible, such as using recyclable packaging. The Madisons do not grow plants that require large amounts of tractor work, decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide the farm releases into the atmosphere. The farm also has solar panels that power the irrigation system in the orchard, and Mike and Dianne give customers rebates for bringing back their empty bottles after use.

“We use no pesticides and no commercial fertilizers, and as a crop, olives are much more benign than others because they require less water,” Mike said. “We proudly irrigate less than most people in the Sacramento Valley [and since] we have our own processing plant, we’re not having to haul olives 200 miles [away] to get them processed [off the farm].”

In addition to the heart-healthy perks of whole olives, Yolo Press also uses its unique oils in its soaps and skin products for the antioxidant qualities and benefits as a soothing skin conditioner.

Dianne and the couple’s two daughters also started D. Madison & Daughters, the label under which they sell about 20 different types of jam. When the farm had too much tree fruit that they could not sell, Dianne continued her family’s tradition of canning fig, apricot and blackberry jams.

“People really like the olive oil the best, but I think the fact that that we have a very diverse line of products on our table [at the farmers market in Davis] appeals to a wide customer base,” Dianne said.

Despite the fact that Yolo Press does not advertise or have its own shop, its popularity with the Davis community does not falter. The business is favored among a handful of university faculty members, especially Frances Dolan, a professor of English. Dolan stops by the Yolo Press table every Saturday morning at the market to pick up olive oil and skincare products for herself and friends.

“Buying food from a supermarket doesn’t require the same thinking about where your food comes from or how sustainably it’s grown,” Dolan said. “Because of relationships like the one I have with the Madisons, there’s a responsibility to go out to the market and keep those [vendors] coming.”

Dolan and her husband are more than just customers of Yolo Press. They have developed a close friendship with the Madisons and appreciate their dedication to fresh, local olive oil. By coming to the market every week and sharing stories with Dianne, Dolan feels that she knows much more about where she lives and what she eats.

“[Mike and Dianne] are always thinking about [sustainability] issues and […] I’m constantly learning from them,” Dolan said. ”It’s wonderful to buy their olive oil, but I’m getting a lot more from them than that; I’m getting an education and a relationship.”

For the Madison family, customers like Dolan make the labor and dedication to the science of making quality olive oil worth the effort.

“Our business plan is [to] make our local product here and sell it in the town we’ve been in forever,” Mike said. “We’re embedded in this particular community and that’s how it works for us.”

Written by: Gillian Allen — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis community focuses on food insecurity, food sustainability

From animal science to viticulture, UC Davis is home to a wide variety of research subjects. Among these fields of study is the groundwork involving food sustainability. Food insecurity, a condition in which people are unable to provide nutritional food for themselves, is prevalent in society and in the UC Davis campus community.

“We have lots of [food insecurity] issues in the United States and globally,” said Daniel Sumner, professor in the National and International Agricultural Economics and Policy Department and director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center. “Lots of my research […] is focused on world food as an issue of sustainability.”

Though many students may not realize it, food insecurity is a common problem for many people, including UC Davis students. According to Mikael Villalobos, director of the Campus Community Book Project, many UC students face issues regarding access to nutritional food.

“I think all of us can connect to [food issues] in that we are aware that there are folks that are directly impacted by food insecurity,” Villalobos said. “What are we doing as a campus community to address that as a community issue?”

What students and faculty are doing, in fact, is more than one may realize.

A variety of UC Davis professors, students and staff continue to collaborate on developing programs and research projects to aid food insecurity on local, national and global levels. Paul Gepts, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, studies different varieties of crops to find food that is both nutritious and affordable.

“It’s a basic need to have food security so that people have enough to eat and also to derive adequate income,” Gepts said. “To [some], it’s World Food Day every day.”

World Food Day, celebrated on Oct. 16, is a day to commemorate and bring awareness to the movement to end world hunger. In contribution to these efforts, Gepts’ research in California focuses on varieties of beans that are able to adapt to high temperatures while requiring less water, while Sumner’s work was able to bring together specialists in various scientific fields to discuss nutritional standards in 2015.

“Really what I find fascinating about UC Davis is working with the best scientists in the world,” Sumner said. “They’re thinking of ways to get more food from the things we have.”

As an economist, Sumner works with plant pathologists and breeders to solve problems regarding waste reduction and post harvests.

“For many of the poor people of the world, basic grains — wheat or rice — are the staple foods,” Sumner said. “When there is less grain in the world, prices tend to spike and the rest of us have a terrible time. People die.”

In his individual work, Sumner concentrates on the study of food economics, which involves the choices that people make in regards to food access. For example, according to Sumner, many families across the globe will choose to starve in order to feed the strongest man in the family.

As Gepts and Sumner conducted their research, the UC Davis Campus Community Book Project was initiated in 2001 as a way for the campus community to connect on different topics of diversity and inclusion. Each year, a selection committee chooses a book for the project from nominations by members of the community.

This year, the chosen book was Stuffed and Starved: the Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel, bringing the researchers’ work back to Davis.

“[Patel] speaks about […] how the world food crisis has connections to health issues — for example, obesity,” Villalobos said. “[He also covers] the role of corporations, and in this particular case, the monopoly that food corporations have with regard to […] addressing food insecurity.”

Once Stuffed and Starved was chosen, a program-planning committee put together a sequence of book-related events including talks, tours and first-year seminars as a way to spread awareness of the ideas that the book focuses on. This year, a distinguished speakers series at the Mondavi Center on Mar. 13 will feature Patel, who will discuss his book and its worldwide implications.

Other events put on by the Campus Community Book Project committee are even more relevant to UC Davis’ efforts in food security. The committee supports the Edible Campus Project, which uses campus space to build gardens that grow sustainable agriculture. There are also campus tours that showcase the student farms.

“The role of a research institution is addressing that worldwide issue of food insecurity,” Villalobos said. “[We are] looking at ways that we address poverty at a local and global level.”

Despite the challenges that UC Davis researchers, programs and committees face in looking for solutions to food insecurity, the members of the food sustainability community still believe in growth.

“[This issue] does take serious research and analysis,” Sumner said. “But we’ve been making progress for decades, and we can make a lot more.”

Written by: Allyson Tsuji – features@theaggie.org

Davis community participates in various reuse practices to help environment

In 2012, UC Davis was named the “No. 1 Coolest School” in the nation by Sierra Magazine due to practices in environmental sustainability. Various events, programs and organizations in Davis uphold these ideals and encourage people to reuse or donate items instead of disposing them as trash, benefitting both the community and the environment.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, the benefits of reducing and reusing include “prevent[ing] pollution,” “reduc[ing] greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change” and “sav[ing] energy [and] money.” The site also suggests donating unwanted items to “prevent usable goods from going into landfills” and “help your community and those in need.”

One of the most prominent examples of reusing at UC Davis is the Aggie Reuse Store, an on-campus thrift store located near the Silo by the EcoHub and ASUCD Bike Barn.

Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, the store sells a wide variety of items — including clothing, books and school supplies — and all at affordable prices. All items sold at the store are donations from the UC Davis community.

“With our store itself, our goal is to redistribute materials back to the community at a low cost and to facilitate that cycle of reuse and recycling,” said Nicole Garcia, third-year communication major and director of the Aggie Reuse Store. “But ultimately our goal is that we want to serve the community by showing them the value of reuse and open people’s minds. [We want to show] how good [reuse] can be for you and your community and for the Earth.”

The Aggie Reuse Store was first conceived by design professor Ann Savageau, and was proposed to ASUCD in 2011. The program was then established as an ASUCD unit, and the store officially opened for business in Jan. 2012.

Aside from selling donated items, the Aggie Reuse Store also organizes art workshops where visitors can create crafts from used materials, as well as educational workshops to teach the public about environmental issues.

“Ultimately, the workshops are […] more personal,” Garcia said. “They’re a chance for the public to come in and get a different [reuse experience] than [in] the actual store. [They’re] an opportunity for you to come and learn how to use a material you might see every single day [as] something else.”

The Aggie Reuse Store also accepts donations given to the service desks of the three campus dormitory areas — Segundo, Tercero and Cuarto. The store can receive items from the lost-and-found of the Student Community Center, the Memorial Union and the Activities and Recreation Center as well.

“If things are still useful, why not just pass them down?” said Yudith Roman, second-year psychology major and Aggie Reuse Store sales intern. “There’s already so much trash everywhere. [In my hometown] there are always clothes everywhere on the [ground]. It’s kind of nice to see the difference [between] back home, and what they do to their trash [and] here.”

UC Davis’ sustainability efforts can be seen all over campus. Waste bins specific to compost, recyclables and landfill can be found in dining areas and along campus sidewalks.

Reusing is even implemented in school events such as the annual Whole Earth Festival which provides art, food and entertainment to the community while promoting zero waste. The festival’s food vendors use reusable dishes to serve food, and volunteers sort through waste bins to separate recyclables and compost from landfill.

The UC Davis campus is not the only area that reuse efforts are taking place.

Located downtown on 3rd Street is Boheme, a thrift store that sells various used clothes and accessories, as well as crafts and clothing pieces made and decorated by the store owner, Yelena Ivashchenko. Boheme has been at its current location for three and a half years. Only a few blocks away from campus, the store is popular among students in search of inexpensive and vintage items.

“The vibrant energy in the store and colors and fun atmosphere [make it special],” Ivashchenko said. “[For] the ‘Fill the Bag for $1’ event […] there are items that we’re trying to give back to the community, [and] we stick all of the items outside. It’s crazy. [300] or 400 people show up and they fill a whole bag for $1.”

Boheme is not a typical thrift store. Instead of having been donated, the clothes sold at the store are actually bought secondhand from local students and residents.

Those who are interested in selling to Boheme bring in their used clothes on one of the store’s trade-in days or during a scheduled appointment. Ivashchenko then handpicks the items she wants to add to her store’s collection.

“[In the store] I try to accommodate […] everybody’s tastes — different crowds, different age[s] — so you would see huge variety,” Ivashchenko said. “[I] always just have to look at what [I] have, fix stuff and make it happen: patching holes, putting new zippers, putting new items [on clothes] and just giving [them] new life.”

The store accepts the most trade-ins during the month of August, when many graduated students are preparing to move out of town. The sellers are paid right on the spot with either cash or store credit.

Boheme, the Aggie Reuse Store and the Whole Earth Festival are only a few of the many ways the people of Davis encourage reusing to contribute to a happier, healthier environment.

“I absolutely love what I’m doing,” Ivashchenko said. “I think all my life I just believed in the purpose of recycling and making things out of nothing. Why produce and buy something new when it’s already here?”

Written by: Jennie Chang — features@theaggie.org