ANR CE Position-Farm Advisor
San Joaquin Valley Agronomic Cropping Systems/Nutrient Management Farm Advisor
Position Description: This individual would address critical issues for millions of acres of
field crops in California’s Central Valley which includes corn, small grains and cereal
forages, alfalfa, sorghum, biofuels, grain legumes, with a special emphasis on nutrient
management linked to animal agriculture and fertilizer use. Disciplinary expertise should
include agronomy, crop science, soil science, water management, plant nutrition and soil
fertility expertise. Expertise to address the nutrient management issues in this region,
especially linked to the dairy-forage system is particularly important. Educational
requirements include MS or PhD with previous work in closely related field. Supporting
units include counties of Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Tulare. The headquarters
location for this position will be left for further discussion, but this would be a multi-county
position. This position would be linked to campus-based specialist positions in LAWR, Plant
Sciences, Resource Economics, and Animal Science that relate to water management,
nitrogen management, and agronomic crops.
Justification: The management of nutrients originating from California’s dairy-forage
system is definitely one of the largest and most important challenges facing California
agriculture. California has over 4 million bovines, and this region contains the highest
concentration of dairy cows in the world, creating not only the leading agricultural enterprise
in the state ($5.9 billion/year), but also a series of environmental challenges. However,
dairying does not exist in isolation. It is dependent upon an agro-ecosystem involving
forages, grains, and even byproducts from orchards and cotton. In 2010, for example,
395,500 acres of corn silage, 257,000 acres of wheat, and >500,000 acres of alfalfa was
grown in the 8 county Central California region, with nearly all of it used for silage, hay, or
other dairy feed. It is a closely-linked system, with impacts on economics, rural health and
employment, farm profitability, groundwater and surface water quality, air quality, and
wildlife habitat.
These crops have been shown to be both partly the cause, and the most promising solution to
the nutrient management issues that have been shown to have major impacts on groundwater
in the Central Valley of California (see Harter Nitrate Report, March, 2012). Agronomic
crops (corn, small grains, alfalfa, forages) are important components of the feed chain for this
system, but are also the most likely recipients for recycling nutrients so that these nutrients
don’t contaminate groundwater. These crops are also linked to other nutrient management
opportunities, such as municipal and food processing wastes which are becoming more
important in the ever-urbanizing Central Valley. Crops such as orchards, vineyards and
vegetables generally cannot be used for recycling of nutrient wastes, due to food safety and
market considerations. Additionally, over application of chemical fertilizers on agronomic
crops utilizing ‘recipe’ approaches has been identified as a contributor to groundwater
contamination and is conducive to improvement using science and extension. There are
mammoth challenges ahead in nutrient, manure, N and salinity management, and one key
nexus of this issue are the agronomic crops linked to dairying in the Central Valley.
This position not only fills a gap in our ability to address a large-acreage group of crops in
California’s Central Valley (particularly corn silage, but including small grain forage, alfalfa,
grain crops, sorghum, biofuels, and other agronomic crops), but would enable us to develop a
skilled member of a statewide team to tackle nutrient management problems in the most
important area for the dairy-forage system in California. This would be linked to campusbased expertise on nutrient management, soils, irrigation, forages, animal science and manure
management.
Extension: The key clientele group for this position would be corn and agronomic crop
growers, dairy operators, cash hay farmers, food processing facilities, dairy organizations,
Farm Bureau, non-profit environmental groups, seed companies, federal and state agencies,
and the >2,500 Pest Control Advisors and the >550 California Crop Advisors and Technical
Service Providers who are currently charged with developing nutrient management plans for
dairies. Nutrient management plans are required now, principally for manure and N
management in grains and forages, and training of clientele is badly needed. Extension of
research-based information relevant to both crop management and nutrient management will
be through a variety of means including on-line resources, electronic communications (blogs,
websites, social media), the development of easy-to-use nutrient management tools, field
days, newsletters, consultations and participation in state-wide programs. Agencies (State
and Regional Water Quality Boards), and farmer-led Water Quality Coalitions who are
charged with protecting surface and groundwater by utilizing crops to recycle nutrients
would be key clientele and outreach partners for this position.
Research: There are a range of critical researchable questions pertaining to nutrient
(particularly N) management in corn, small grains, crop rotations, alfalfa, and management of
nutrients that are not currently being addressed. These include development of in-season
tools for decisions on both manure and fertilizer to more closely match the nutrient
applications with crop need, and utilization of improved N-management techniques.
Researchable question include use of nitrification inhibitors, GIS systems for controlling sitespecific fertilizer applications, conservation tillage, precision agriculture, development of
models for nutrient uptake and utilization, crop rotation, silages, response of field crops to
different rates and forms of fertilizers manure application methods, the use of organic
techniques for fertilization, soil and plant testing, and irrigation management for reducing
environmental impacts. Irrigation management is a critical component of both economic and
environmental impacts of these crops, and will be an important part of an integrated approach
to nutrient management for this position. Developing integrated crop management systems
which prevent nutrient impacts on the environment will be a broad goal of this position, and
the applied research program will address specific issues within this umbrella.
ANR Continuum: This position will be going forward as a component of a ‘team’ to
address the dairy-nutrient issue in the Central Valley. This represents expertise in 1) Nutrient
Management Specialist in LAWR (proposed), 2) Current (Larry Schwankl) and new
Irrigation Specialist (LAWR, being recruited), 3) Grain cropping systems Specialist at UC
Davis, Dept. of Plant Sciences (proposed), 4) Irrigation Engineer Position in Biol. & Ag.
Engineering (proposed) 4) Livestock Waste Management Specialist in Animal Science,
Animal Science UC Davis (Meyer- existing position), 5) Forage Specialist at UC Davis
(Putnam-existing position). 6) Soil Hydrology Position (Harter-existing position), and 7)
Soil/Nutrient Position (Pettygrove, existing, but probably retiring soon). Several existing
Farm Advisor positions related to agronomy and dairy (Carol Frate, Marsha Mathews, Steve
Wright, Shannon Mueller, Carol Collar) would work as a team with this individual, but their
responsibilities are not focused on this area. Faculty members working on agro-ecosystems
(Van Kessel, Six, Horwath, Scow) would be interested in this position. This team approach
could also include the Irrigation Engineering Position (Ag. & Res. Engineering, UCD,
proposed).
This position would work closely with the CDQAP program, Dairy Organizations, the Wheat
Commission, CAFA, Dry Bean Advisory Board, and state and federal agencies (Water
Quality Control Board, CDFA). This position would be closely linked to Groundwater
Quality Group (Thomas Harter). This position would work with NRCS, Cal State University
Fresno, Cal Poly, and Farm Bureau.
With several likely pending retirements in this locale and this subject area, and the recent loss
of dairy advisors in Tulare and Fresno Counties, the development of this position would be a
powerful signal that solutions to the waste/nutrient management issues in this region is high
priority for ANR.
Support: Logistical support (vehicle, office, internet, phone, etc.) for this position would
come from the specific county that is identified. As outlined below, this position could be
placed in any one of several San Joaquin Valley counties, but the position would be a multicounty position that addressed the critical (particularly nutrient management) issues for these
crops.
Other support: This position will have a tremendous breadth of opportunity for funding
support, particularly if the individual cooperates with other colleagues in Cooperative
Extension, as well as faculty members at UC Davis, Riverside or Berkeley on some of the
fundamental issues associated with nutrient management and crop production.
Some
commodity support is likely to be available (from corn companies, the Wheat Commission,
the CA Dry Bean Advisory Board, etc.), but more important sources of funding would be
primarily from state agencies (CDFA, Water Resources Control Board, DWR, EPA, USDANIFA) to address the nutrient management issues in this region. These are important issues
to California, and nationwide, and there is reason to expect research in this are to be
fundable.
Location: This position could be located in any of the county offices in this region (Merced
through Tulare), with access to county vehicles, office space, internet. The decision on the
headquarters location for this position will depend upon a number of factors. It would be
desirable to locate this position in one of the more intensive dairy regions, such as Tulare, but
other regions of the Central Valley are also feasible.