Blog

Hannah Chaney: Monitoring Stream Conditions in Morocco through DReAM Program

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to aid with dryland ephemeral stream monitoring in Morocco as a part of the DReAM program. This three-year research and educational program is designed to collect hydrologic data concerning water levels in several large Moroccan aquifers. The two professors managing the trip have extensive professional networks throughout Morocco and plan to bring three cohorts of qualified undergraduate and graduate students to assist with field work, project management, and data analysis with the project in Morocco. I was part of the first cohort with this program.

Lindsey Kelley: Improving Soil Fertility Through Soil Organic Carbon Management and its Effect on Yield Potential and Nitrogen Losses

My Jastro grant was used to support me in my research to look at how soil organic carbon management effects wheat yield and nitrogen losses—specifically nitrous oxide. Carbon and nitrogen cycling are tightly linked in agricultural soils and there is increasing evidence that greater soil organic carbon (SOC) inputs may negatively impact soil nitrous oxide emissions. In this study, we are examining these potential tradeoffs through the planting of wheat in a controlled greenhouse trial.

Sara Rosenberg: Evaluating adoption potential of Conservation Agriculture in Ghana, a progress report and lessons learned through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a management system that focuses on supporting soil health by minimizing tillage, maintaining soil cover, and increasing cropping system diversity. System- driven management practices such as CA have shown a variety of benefits to farmers via increased yields, reduced labor requirements, improving soil fertility, increasing water holding capacity and reducing erosion.

Lisa Antoshak: Reaching Coffee Producers Remotely: How One Research Partnership Continued During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020 Guatemalan coffee producers faced unprecedented challenges: restricted movement in their communities, which limited their ability to obtain household resources and inputs for coffee production and transportation of coffee for export, heavy rains and two hurricanes and – like all of us – the health risks of COVID-19. With this context, what research was possible? What research would be useful? And how could international research continue?

Peter Geoghan: Measuring and Modeling Nitrogen Fertilizer Losses and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Drill Seeded Rice

The importance of rice is hard to overstate, as a staple crop for more than 3.5 billion people which represents roughly 20% of the world’s per capita dietary energy. As food demands grow with an increasing global population over the next few decades, and a stagnation in the increase in total acreage in rice production globally, farmers are faced with the challenge of increasing production efficiency for higher yields. Through funding from the California Rice Research Board and the Henry A.

Archie Jarman: An Evaluation of Refugee farmers in the Sacramento Valley to Inform a USDA-funded Food Safety Training Program

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Sacramento, in partnership with University of California, Davis (UC Davis); Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF); and University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a project titled, Expanded Refugee and Immigrant Food Safety Outreach Project in Sacramento.

Kyle Freedman Researches How Low Cost Solar Drying Technologies in Honduras can Improve Coffee Quality through the Dry Chain

Coffee remains one of the top 5 agricultural commodities globally and is the second most consumed beverage after water. With the recent advent of specialty coffee based on unique sensory attributes such aroma and flavor, there is an increased focus on improving coffee quality. One of the key contributing factors to quality degradation is poor drying and maintenance of dried coffee throughout the supply chain. Coffee production takes place in the humid tropics in many countries where the control of postharvest processing is variable due to lack of infrastructure

Jessica Wallach Researches Women’s Inclusion in Senegal’s Rapidly Transforming Rice Sector

I used my JASTRO award to research women’s participation in Senegal’s rice sector under its National Plan for Self Sufficiency in Rice (PNAR), launched in 2008. Originally, this project was designed to include in person interviews in Senegal, however, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a restructuring of my project. It is now a meta-analysis of secondary sources with key informant interviews (conducted remotely).

Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages: Improving Food and Nutrition Security in the Potato­ Based Highlands of Peru

The Henry A Jastro Research Award gave me the means to work with the International Potato Center researching food and nutritional security among women in the Andean Highlands of Peru. The harsh environment of the Andes makes agricultural production very difficult, leaving many of the communities heavily dependent on potatoes as their main staple food. The lack of Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn) in these communities’ diets result in above average child stunting rates and anemia.

Ana Zepeda travels to Puerto Rico

I had the opportunity to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico for 4 weeks this summer with support from the Hemispheric Institute of the Americas at UC Davis,  Henry A. Jastro Research Fellowship, and my advisor Amanda Crump. The purpose of my trip was to understand the impact that Hurricane Maria had on urban agriculture. I did this by interviewing women who are involved in the urban agriculture sector in San Juan, Puerto Rico.