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Edition TopicsAugust 9, 2022
- Message from Interim Director Ed Martin
- Welcome Reva Hallman
- AmeriCorps Fall Recruitment Now Open
- Grazing Management Principles Survey - Invitation to Participate
- The Fresh Produce Industry in Santa Cruz County, Arizona
- Upcoming data validation workshop
- WRRC Brown Bag Webinar
- New Extension Publication
- Tip of the Week
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Message from the Interim Director of Extension
I attended the Arizona Association of Conservation Districts Annual meeting last week. The Association is made up of representatives from the 42 Natural Resource Conservation Districts (NRCDs) located in Arizona. These districts are non-profit organizations that help coordinate conservation efforts across the state. UArizona Extension was proudly represented throughout the conference, with our own Vice-President, Shane Burgess, moderating a climate change and agriculture session. During the conference, one of the attendees asked UArizona Extension Specialist George Ruyle, a panel member discussing federal lands ranching, how the NRCDs could work closer with UArizona Extension, as they had in the past. I see this as an opportunity for our faculty and staff to connect, or perhaps reconnect with the districts in the state. I will be working at the state level with their Conservation Education Director, Sharma Torrens, to look for opportunities for collaboration. I encourage others to do the same in their county. Others representing UArizona included Debankur Sanyal, Soil Health Specialist, Ashley Hullinger, Research Analyst, Water RAPIDS program; and Maritza Broce with the Agricultural Apprenticeship Program.
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| Welcome Reva Hallman
We would like to welcome Reva Hallman as the new 4-H Assistant in Extension for Navajo County. She began her Extension career in June 2022. She is excited for the opportunity to work with 4-H and teens in Navajo County and across Arizona. Reva was a Navajo County 4-H member as a youth and participated in 4-H teen programming – including JOLT and teen ambassador. She has two boys that keep her consumed in 4-H programs. Please feel free to contact her at the Cooperative Extension office in Holbrook or by email at revah@arizona.edu.
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| AmeriCorps Fall Recruitment Now Open
Fall recruitment is open now for AmeriCorps UA Wildcat Corps Members. Across the state, 32 programs are recruiting 70 AmeriCorps Members to make a community impact in focus areas that range from environmental support services to positive youth development.
Terms of service are part-time and range from a 300-hour to 900-hour slot commitment. Benefits are based on the slot size and include a living allowance ($10,800 to $3,600) and an educational award upon successful completion of the term ($3,247 to $1,374). To see a list of positions in Arizona type “UACE” in the Program Name section at My AmeriCorps Search Portal.
For more information about UA Wildcat Corps email clipin@arizona.edu.
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Grazing Management Principles Survey - Invitation to Participate
From Aaron Lien, SNRE
I am part of a group of range scientists from across the western US working on a project to distill adaptable and easily-assessed livestock grazing management principles for use in semi-arid and arid rangelands. This is in response to a request from JBS USA for succinct livestock grazing management principles to incorporate into their sustainable grazing management partnerships and initiatives. We also hope the process can bring together the range science community, culminating in a session at the Society for Range Management 2023 Annual Meeting.
We are conducting a survey of a broad range of practitioners, researchers, educators, and more to collectively create a dataset that can be iteratively analyzed to distill a set of principles that will then be further debated and distilled.
The survey is here. We are leaving the survey open through the end of August but you may want to have a look through it, think about it, and return, so please have a look as soon as possible. The survey works like a brainstorming session, so please don’t hesitate to share your knowledge!
This is an exciting effort and I’d really appreciate you weighing in - we need good input and knowledge!
Please let me know if you have any questions. alien@arizona.edu
Direct link to survey: https://colostate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b26JF5ufVdkxFd4
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The Fresh Produce Industry in Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Dari Duval, Ashley Bickel, and George Frisvold
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics
Fresh fruit and vegetable commodities became the highest-value category of imports through the Nogales port of entry as of 2020, surpassing motor vehicles and vehicle parts as the top category. This study examines the importance of Santa Cruz County’s fresh produce industry to the county’s economy and to the Arizona state economy in 2019 and 2020. It provides an overview of the industry, estimates of its direct economic activity, and estimates of the total economic contribution, including multiplier effects. Finally, the study presents survey results regarding the operating environment in Santa Cruz County and recent produce industry investments.
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| Upcoming data validation workshop
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| WRRC Brown Bag Webinar
Wednesday, August 24, 2022 -- 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Arizona Time
Speakers:
Kathleen M. Chavez, PE, Water Policy Manager, Pima County Office of Sustainability and Conservation
Michael Seronde, Program Manager, Water Resources Research Center
The Arizona Water Factsheet series was undertaken by the UArizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) to help address the local nature of water challenges and solutions in the state. This initiative aims to accomplish a simple yet challenging task – create a succinct resource that answers common questions about water resources for every county in Arizona. The WRRC draws upon a wide range of water-related data for state, regional, and county-wide scales, which are narrowed based on local Technical Advisory Committees' (TAC) input. For the Pima County factsheet, the TAC included staff from Pima County, Cooperative Extension, Pima Association of Governments, and others. This process of pooling potential water topics and available data, and then evaluating and improving the product with local experts, results in relevant and trustworthy factsheets. This presentation will explore the stakeholder-driven process for producing the Arizona Water Factsheets, including for Pima County, and will cover a range of water topics tailored to the unique characteristics of the county.
Register for the Webinar
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New Extension Publication
Farmers markets serve an essential and vital role in our communities. It is important to ensure that precautions are taken so that farmers markets continue to safely provide fresh fruits and vegetables. This document is designed to support farmers market managers, coordinators and agricultural producers and other vendors to implement preventative measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Thank you for your dedication and responsive action!
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Tip of the Week
The Culturally Responsive Curriculum Development Institute is a week-long summer immersion focused on training and coaching faculty and instructors towards implementation of culturally responsive practices and pedagogy in all teaching modalities. Matt Swanson, Associate in Extension 4-H Curriculum Development, had this to say after completing the institute: "The CRCDI was a great way to meet and collaborate with faculty from all over the university. The course facilitators were great at modeling and assisting in the re-design of course curriculum to be more culturally responsive to our demographically diverse student population." If you are interested in attending next year, bookmark this page!
https://facultyaffairs.arizona.edu/culturally-responsive-curriculum-development-institute
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