September 1997

From the
Joint Policy
Council
Co-chairs

OLLABORATION BETWEEN CALIFORNIA'S colleges and universities is not a new phenomenon, as shown in this report from the Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education (JPC).

We found in a recent survey that faculty and staff from agricultural programs of the California State University, University of California and the California Community Colleges have been teaming for at least 30 years on a variety of teaching, educational outreach and research projects. Respondents to the survey reported more than 100 examples of collaboration involving participants from two or more of the systems. These are in addition to the numerous multicampus, multidepartmental efforts that take place every day within individual systems.

Most of the collaborative projects described in this report are ongoing. They cover a broad spectrum of subject areas and innovative approaches. Taken together, they reveal a willingness on the part of campus- and county-based academics to work across institutional boundaries to pool expertise and resources to get the job done.

In addition to meeting the classroom needs of under-graduate and graduate students, the collaborative projects extend educational information and assistance to growers and ranchers, the natural resources and environmental communities, government, nutrition and health care professionals, youth and other external audiences.

We expect that collaboration will become more commonplace and accepted over the next 5 to 10 years as demands on higher education’s agricultural teaching, research and outreach programs grow. This trend will be driven, in part, by necessity as the systems deal with the long-term impacts of the budget cuts taken earlier in this decade and the subsequent downsizing of programs. In many cases, service levels of the past are no longer possible because of budget reductions and decisions to focus remaining resources on the "highest priority" needs of students and outside audiences.

The Joint Policy Council was established with the goal of facilitating greater collaboration within higher education’s agricultural programs and identifying new sources of private and public funding for their support. We on the JPC take this challenge seriously and are committed to bringing to bear the collective strengths of our three systems in pursuit of common educational goals. This report is an important first step in furthering our understanding of how and why collaboration occurs.

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Executive Summary

HE COMMISSION on California Agriculture and Higher Education issued a report in 1995 warning that declining public funding for agricultural programs in the state’s universities and colleges could have serious ramifications for agriculture in California.

Their findings included a call for greater collaboration and efficiency within the teaching, research and public service programs of the three systems as one means of dealing with budget cuts. The report also pointed out the need to develop new sources of private and public funding to ensure a quality education for tomorrow’s agricultural professionals and the continued flow of new scientific and practical knowledge from the laboratory to the field in the 21st century.

To focus on these important issues and challenges, the commission recommended that the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU) and the California Community Colleges (CCC) form a policy body of top-level executives responsible for agricultural programs.

In May 1995 the chief executives of the three systems established the Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education (JPC). Its members include four CSU presidents, a UC vice president and three chancellors, the Community Colleges chancellor and a CCC president. The JPC Advisory Board, with more than 25 industry, government and public members, was named later that year.

In March 1996 more than 40 academic, industry and public members gathered in Sacramento at the invitation of the JPC. Their purpose was to advise on the future course of agricultural programs in California’s universities and colleges. Among the outcomes of this meeting was a recommendation that the JPC inventory existing collaborative projects across the three higher-education sectors and report on its findings.

A survey conducted during the second half of 1996 documented more than 100 examples of collaboration.

These cooperative projects reach across institutional boundaries to mobilize intellectual resources in the state’s colleges and universities to meet the changing needs of students, agricultural producers and consumers. Collaborative efforts are evident from one end of the state to the other and involve classroom instruction, field and laboratory research, economic studies, workshops and symposiums, commodity days for growers and field trips for students. Most are ongoing.

This report summarizes the principal findings of the survey and highlights noteworthy examples of collaboration. Key themes include the following:

• Collaborative efforts involving academics from two or more of the public higher-education systems have become increasingly commonplace since the 1980s.
  
• UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, responsible for educational outreach and based in county and regional offices, are participants in more than two-thirds of the responses.
  
• Cooperation among academics from different systems is more likely if they share a common department affiliation or area of expertise.
  
• A small but growing number of collaborative efforts are using advanced communications technology, such as video conferencing and satellite downlinks.
  
• Financial support from industry or the higher-education systems is a key ingredient in the success of a significant number of collaborations.
  
• The factors credited most frequently as contributing to a successful collaboration are mutual commitment, common goals and objectives, competent leadership, and shared respect and professionalism.

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California’s university and college campuses provide more than classrooms and instruction—they also support a world-class agricultural research enterprise. Research from the University of California, and more recently the California State University, has helped to keep the state’s agricultural industry the leading producer in the United States and a highly competitive player in world markets.

California’s growers are early adopters of new technologies and innovative farm management practices and look to university scientists to keep them a step ahead of the competition. Reliance on integrated pest-management practices and the use of biological controls to reduce insect damage and pesticide use, development of higher-yield crops that require less water and fertilizers, use of laser levelers to shape and modify the contours of fields, and the promise of biotechnology to improve plant and animal production are but a few examples of research breakthroughs from the university that benefit the state’s ranchers and farmers.

Educational outreach goes hand in hand with classroom teaching and research to extend scientific knowledge and new information from California’s universities and colleges to the public. For those in agriculture, the most familiar source of information is UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE). Established in 1914 as the Agricultural Extension Service, UCCE has more than 300 farm advisors strategically located in county offices across the state. With educational backgrounds in agricultural, natural and human resources, these county-based academics take the university directly to the people. They conduct workshops and training sessions for farmers, growers and pest-control advisors; make farm visits to deal with pest, disease and production-related problems; assist agricultural commissioners and governmental agencies in disseminating information; host field demonstrations; maintain research plots; and fulfill a thousand other responsibilities. Faculty and staff from CSU and the CCC also reach out to communities around the state, extending new information, conducting workshops and seminars and providing hands-on training.

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Responding to Changing Realities
CALIFORNIA'S PUBLIC COLLEGES and universities have met the educational, research and outreach needs of the state’s agriculturalists and consumers extremely well for more than 100 years.

But the convergence of rapidly changing economic, political, budgetary and public policy forces over the last decade have caused the state’s three public higher education sectors to look more closely at opportunities to cooperate in the delivery of classroom instruction and educational outreach.

In 1991 the Agricultural Education Foundation circulated a white paper calling for a study of ways to increase cooperation and efficiency among the agricultural programs in UC, CSU and the CCC. In response, the Commission on California Agriculture and Higher Education was established in 1993 with support of the higher education leadership. The 21-member commission, with representatives from agriculture and farm-related businesses, higher education and the general public, spent 18 months meeting with farmers, ranchers, educators and other interested parties across the state.

Commission members gathered information on historic and current agricultural teaching, research and extension programs delivered by UC and CSU. They assessed future industry trends and educational needs of California agriculture. They also developed recommendations to assist public higher education in maintaining the quality and breadth of its agricultural programs while dealing with the serious consequences of four years of successive budget cuts. In addition, they reviewed the Master Plan for Higher Education. During the course of their deliberations, commission members expanded their charge to include the California Community Colleges.

The activities of the Commission on California Agriculture and Higher Education culminated in the release of a final report in early 1995. The report sounded the warning that declining public funding for agricultural programs at UC, CSU and the CCC threatened the ability of the public higher-education sectors to be responsive to California agriculture’s needs in the 21st century. The commission noted that industry and higher education must work together to identify new sources of funding to ensure a solid support base for agricultural programs. In addition, it recommended increased collaboration among agricultural programs on a number of fronts:

• Applied and field research.
  
• Greater use of new communications technologies to speed dissemination of science-based information to the agricultural and natural resources communities.
  
• Updating the content of teaching and classroom programs to reflect the rapid changes impacting agricultural production, marketing and resources management.
  
• Making academic courses more accessible to students across the three systems through the use of distance learning and other new technologies.

Finally, the commission urged the higher education sectors to create a policy group of chancellors, presidents and other high-level administrators from UC, CSU and the CCC to encourage greater cooperation and collaboration in their agricultural programs.

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The Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education
THE JOINT POLICY COUNCIL on Agriculture and Higher Education (JPC) was established in May 1995 by UC President Jack Peltason, CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz and CCC Chancellor David Mertes.

In a public statement announcing its formation, Mertes, Munitz and Peltason said, "The Joint Policy Council provides a unique opportunity for public higher education to work more closely in the development and delivery of agricultural instruction, research and public service programs and to focus the collective strengths and expertise of our three systems." They went on to commend the Commission on California Agriculture and Higher Education for its January 1995 report and recommendations.

In making their announcement, the higher-education leaders stressed the importance of involving key decision makers from UC, CSU and the CCC as active members on the council. They went on to appoint 10 administrators with responsibility for agricultural teaching, research and educational outreach programs in the three systems.

The Joint Policy Council’s academic members are the UC vice president–Agriculture and Natural Resources; the UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside chancellors;the CSU Chico, CSU Fresno, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo presidents; the California Community Colleges chancellor; and a community college president (currently from Santa Rosa Junior College). The JPC Advisory Board chair also serves on the council.

The First Two Years
A MAJOR GOAL OF THE JPC during the first two years has been to increase collaboration in agricultural teaching, outreach and research programs. Its member institutions realize they must find new, more efficient ways to reach students, growers, decision makers and other clientele to keep pace with rapid advances in technology, changes in California agriculture and a global marketplace, and shrinking public investment in higher education.

An important step is the elimination of barriers—real or perceived—that can slow or prevent collaboration across systems. Another is to provide incentives to stimulate faculty and staff to take collaborative projects from the idea stage to reality.

Along with promoting and supporting collaborative projects and sharing facilities and resources, a second goal of the JPC is to secure adequate long-term public and private funding for the classroom instruction, research and educational outreach programs needed to keep California’s agricultural enterprise one step ahead of the competition.

Since its formation two years ago, the JPC has made progress on several fronts. Early on, a JPC Advisory Board was appointed to provide input and advice from the agricultural industry, state and local government and the public. More than two dozen individuals serve on the advisory board. They represent major agricultural commodities, the natural resources and environmental communities, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Resources Agency, several county boards of supervisors and all regions of the state.

Committees on research, teaching and instruction, outreach and natural resources were formed in spring 1996 to link academic programs at the campus and county levels with the JPC. These committees are co-chaired by deans and regional directors from the three systems and include members of the advisory board.

Three priority issues or focus areas were identified by the JPC to direct its activities over the first 18 to 24 months:

• Increased use of distance learning to extend classroom teaching and instructional opportunities across campuses, systems and other "artificial" boundaries.
• Identification of cross-cutting research issues that provide an opportunity to bring together academic resources of UC and CSU to address agricultural, natural resources and environmental problems facing the state.
• New and more effective ways to communicate educational information developed by UC, CSU and the CCC to external audiences.

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Survey
AT A MEETING OF THE JOINT POLICY COUNCIL and JPC Advisory Board in March 1996, more than 40 representatives from academia, industry and the public sector gathered in Sacramento to chart a future course for agricultural programs in California’s universities and colleges.

Their recommendations included a call for an inventory of existing cooperative and collaborative efforts involving the higher education systems. To obtain this information, a survey of agricultural deans and department chairs in the three systems and UC Cooperative Extension regional and county directors was conducted during the summer and fall of 1996.

The survey asked respondents to identify collaborative research, teaching or outreach efforts—current or past—involving their institution and at least one participant from another higher-education system. Besides a description of the collaboration (e.g., classroom teaching, field course, research, extension of information, use of distance learning or other communications technologies) and the participants, the survey asked for information on goals and objectives, measurable outcomes and the beneficiaries of the collaboration.

The survey also sought to document how the collaboration originated, if it was ongoing, whether funding was involved and primary factors contributing to its success. The council distributed more than 250 questionnaires and received 120 responses. These yielded a wealth of new information on collaboration in the state’s agricultural programs.

The next step was to collate and summarize the responses. The preliminary survey results were tabulated and documented in February 1997.

About 30 survey responses were selected for further analysis and follow-up. These represented a cross section of institutional and external participants, on-campus and off-campus venues, commodity and subject matter areas and educational approaches. Respondents were contacted and asked for additional details on the collaboration, its origin, key factors leading to success and lessons for the future. Many of the responses are described in the following pages.

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Survey Results
Sections  
The Participants
Examples of Collaboration
Animal Sciences
Crop Productivity and Farming
Health and Safety
Horticulture and Gardening
Nutritional Sciences
Sustainability and Management of Natural Resources
Youth Outreach

HIS SECTION EXAMINES THE NATURE OF collaborative efforts under way in California’s public higher-education systems and highlights examples. The survey sought to answer three fundamental questions:

• Who was involved in the collaboration?
• Who was served by the collaboration?
• What were the critical factors contributing to success?

More than 120 responses documenting examples of collaboration in teaching, research and educational outreach were received. The geographical distribution of the collaborative efforts is statewide—from Humboldt County on the North Coast to Imperial County on the Arizona-Mexico border. Participants hail from the campuses of UC, CSU and the CCC; county-based UC Cooperative Extension offices; private colleges and universities; K–12 public schools, federal, state and local government agencies; industry and trade associations; and environmental and conservation groups.

About half of the respondents cite agricultural and crop production—variety trials, pest management, irrigation technology, biotechnology—as the focal point for their collaboration. Another quarter involve animal sciences—dairy, beef, horses, sheep, hogs—and other aspects of livestock production.

Natural resources issues—range, forest management, fisheries and wildlife—and environmental projects characterize about one-fifth of the responses, with the remainder covering topics as diverse as landscape, turf and commercial horticulture, nutrition, agricultural safety, home gardening and youth development. Some projects involve more than one subject area. For example, one collaborative effort identified as "natural resources" linked oak woodland restoration with increased beef production.

The survey revealed innovative and collaborative research, teaching and educational outreach activities across California’s three public higher-education systems. Many of the efforts documented through this survey are the result of informal networking among campus– and community-based academics. Others are more structured, involving formal memoranda of understanding, sign-off by campus academic senates and other contractual arrangements.

The collaborations take many shapes and forms—from classroom instruction, field and laboratory research, workshops and symposia to field days for growers and field trips for students. A small but growing number of projects use advanced communications technologies such as video conferencing and satellite downlinks.

Financial support through grants from industry or the higher-education systems is identified as a key ingredient for success in a significant number of the collaborative efforts. However, respondents say the most consistent factors contributing to success are "mutual commitment," "recognition that cooperation makes for a better project," "common goals and objectives" and "demonstrated leadership among the principals."

Although this survey has limitations, it shows significant cooperation already occurring among the agricultural and natural resources programs at UC, CSU and the CCC. It also provides clues as to where and how cooperation can be facilitated and enhanced.

The Participants
THE SURVEY RESPONSES REVEAL interesting facts and trends:

• Collaborative efforts involving campuses or faculty from two or more of the public higher-education systems have become increasingly common since the 1980s.
• UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, based in county and regional offices and responsible for educational outreach, are participants in more than two-thirds of the responses.
• Cooperation among academics from different systems is more likely if they share a common department affiliation or area of expertise.
• A majority of these cooperative efforts are ongoing as opposed to short term or one time only.
• Educational outreach and classroom instruction are the leading examples of collaboration.

A more detailed analysis of these findings provides clues on where collaborations are most likely to occur and suggests areas ripe for future joint projects:

• UC collaborators were involved in 97 percent of the reported efforts, followed by CSU academics and students (64 percent) and CCC system participants (39 percent).
• UC and CSU joined forces in 60 percent of the cases, while 14 percent involved all three institutions.
• UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, based in county and regional offices throughout the state, were involved in more collaborative projects than any other single group of academics (69 percent).
• For the CSU system, the Fresno campus was involved in the greatest number of collaborations (31 percent), followed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (20 percent), CSU Chico (9 percent) and Cal Poly Pomona (8 percent). Participation from other CSU campuses was reported in 16 percent of the cases.
• Academics and students from 73 community colleges were involved in about 40 percent of the examples.
• Private colleges or other educational institutions were represented in about 5 percent of the examples.
• State and federal agencies participated in 24 percent of the reported efforts. Cities and/or counties were involved in another 10 percent.
• Trade associations and other industry groups were involved in 18 percent.
• Most collaborations—about 75 percent—are ongoing.
• Just over half of the respondents reported receiving some kind of funding to support the collaboration.
• While only a handful of projects reported using advanced communications technologies such as the Internet, video conferencing or satellite downlinks, this is becoming more common. (Use of e-mail to link collaborators is widespread).

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Back to the Survey Results Contents

Examples of Collaboration
THE REMAINDER OF THIS SECTION examines the survey responses in more detail. It also focuses on several of the collaborative projects (see sidebars) and why they have been successful. While many of the arrangements are informal, this report focuses on those responses that reflect a high degree of collaboration, involve a novel approach, utilize distance-learning technology or are otherwise noteworthy.

Animal Sciences
MANY OF THE SURVEY RESPONSES identified collaborative efforts in the animal and veterinary sciences. These ranged from special events, like the annual Cal Poly San Luis Obispo field day for the state’s beef producers, to a multicampus center established collaboratively by UC and CSU.

A major goal of the multicampus Animal Agriculture Research Center is to encourage greater cooperation and interaction among faculty in research, teaching and outreach. It has funded a number of projects benefiting students and producers. One resulted in the Rancher’s Guide to Plant Species of Concern, a publication that helps livestock operators recognize and identify endangered plants. Another examined the use of melatonin implants to induce estrus in sheep during the nonbreeding season. Two CSU student interns spent the summer in a research laboratory at UC Davis under the auspices of the center, while another intern studied ethnic niche markets for the California hog industry. A current research project is examining the economic impacts of California’s leisure horse industry.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF SUCCESSFUL collaboration is a joint four-year program involving Mt. San Antonio College and Cal Poly Pomona. Several years ago the Cal Poly campus became interested in establishing an undergraduate degree in animal health. Following discussions with campus academics and local educators, a new undergraduate degree program in animal health at Cal Poly was linked with a two-year veterinary technologist degree program at the local community college.

An agreement was reached between faculty and administrators at both colleges. Students graduating from the Mt. San Antonio College veterinary technology program can now transfer to the baccalaureate degree program at Pomona. Courses offered by the two schools are not duplicated; in fact, Cal Poly Pomona students pursuing the animal health science degree must enroll in certain classes at the community college. While it took several years to work out the details of the program, administrators anticipate significant growth in student enrollments in what is becoming a highly desirable major since it was first offered in the 1995–96 school year.

THE UC VETERINARY MEDICINE Teaching and Research Center (VMTRC) at Tulare is a natural site for bringing academics and students together from the three higher-education systems. Students enrolled in animal science classes at the College of the Sequoias, CSU Fresno and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo routinely visit this San Joaquin Valley center to learn about veterinary medicine and dairy science and explore career opportunities. Much of this interaction has resulted from professional networking, although some external support through a grant from the California Milk Advisory Board supports student internships.

DAIRY SCIENCE STUDENTS at CSU Fresno and CSU Chico were the beneficiaries of another project that used video conferencing to extend classroom instruction simultaneously to several sites. UC Cooperative Extension advisors provided students with real-world examples of problems impacting the dairy industry, including local land-use conflicts and the dairy permitting process. The advisors moderated discussion sessions and coordinated the involvement of industry speakers. The project took about a month to organize and develop. Strong industry support and involvement was cited as one of the principal reasons for its success.

THE QUESTION "HOW DO CATTLE producers survive in tough times?" inspired another program involving a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate student, UC Vet Med Extension academics and Cooperative Extension livestock advisors from half a dozen counties around the state. Key ingredients for success included student willingness to devote two academic quarters to the project, sponsorship by the UC School of Veterinary Medicine and a common interest by faculty to address an industry need.

A JOINT RESEARCH PROJECT BETWEEN the animal science department at CSU Chico and the UC Cooperative Extension office in Butte County is laying the groundwork for an alternative marketing outlet for local beef producers. Increased consumer interest in natural, lower-fat products suggests the time may be ripe to test the market for a forage-fed, natural beef product. This research and demonstration project will evaluate consumer acceptance and demand for the product, characterize the demographics of the potential market, determine the economic feasibility of this marketing alternative and develop a marketing plan for producers. The project is supported by a grant from the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

A COOPERATIVE EFFORT ON THE Central Coast in 1989 and 1990 showed that better stewardship of natural resources can lead to greater profitability for the state’s cattle ranchers. UC Cooperative Extension livestock advisors in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties teamed up with faculty in the agribusiness department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to produce a series of seminars on ranch resource management. About 70 ranchers attended two six-month courses to learn about rotational grazing, maintaining vegetative cover and other techniques to more efficiently manage their land.

In a subsequent survey, more than half of the participants reported increased ranch profit as a result of having taken the courses. Almost half said that the courses helped them to reduce ranch-related costs. The participants were charged a nominal fee of $35 for each course. A "mutual understanding of the benefits of collaboration between the two educational institutions" contributed to the success of this project.

Crop Productivity and Farming
AT KINGS RIVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE in Reedley, students gain additional exposure to production agriculture through working with academics from other institutions. Through cooperative agreements and guest lecturer opportunities, faculty from CSU Fresno, CSU Chico, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Davis structure classroom, workshop and field study activities for students from this San Joaquin Valley campus. The students also visit agricultural test plots and laboratory facilities at UC’s Kearney Agricultural Center in Parlier and the UC research and extension center at Lindcove.

Ag Futures Day and CSU Fresno Transfer Night are examples of collaborative efforts designed to introduce students to "new information, new roles and new ag technologies." Kings River faculty cite the active involvement of UC and CSU colleagues, and a willingness by these institutions to share information with students and interested parties, as critical factors for success. The "CSU and UC sites have provided in-service training to update and upgrade KRCC faculty," the response states. "Our faculty also have served in an advisory capacity to CSU and UC schools at various times." Also important to the success of these student-oriented days is funding from the college’s staff-development committee and the KRCC Ag Backers Council.

OTHER COMMUNITY COLLEGES HAVE similar arrangements. Classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, for instance, are taught by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors who serve as adjunct faculty. Many of the courses are geared toward the specialized needs of the region’s agricultural community. They emphasize the latest production techniques, specialty crop production for small growers, electric fencing for livestock producers, and milk management for local dairy owners and supervisory personnel. UC Cooperative Extension and Santa Rosa Junior College academics have jointly scheduled field days for sheep and pork producers and established field trials on local vineyards and apple orchards.

Santa Rosa has also developed articulation agreements with a number of UC and CSU campuses. These have resulted in an increase in the number of Santa Rosa Junior College students transferring to the state’s public universities. Through articulation agreements, a list of recommended lower-division course requirements for transfer into most agriculture and natural resources majors at UC and CSU campuses is available to Santa Rosa students. They can plan their schedules with confidence that they will be able to transfer credit for courses taken at the junior college when they move on to CSU or UC.

"Everyone benefits from this information," says Steve Olson, Santa Rosa Junior College dean of instruction for educational programs and services. "Counselors are able to provide more accurate and complete information to students; students are able to transfer in an easier and more efficient manner; and universities get better prepared students." The process has been especially successful at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where more than 40 Santa Rosa student transfers are currently enrolled.

A COMMUNITY COLLEGE with a strong commitment to regional producers is Mendocino College in Ukiah. The college is developing an agricultural marketing series targeting entrepreneurs interested in finding new ways to package and market their agricultural and natural resources products. The college also developed a three-unit, transferable course on bio-intensive farming. Another program is training ecosystem management technicians. The college credits the "incredibly dynamic collaboration" with the local UC Cooperative Extension office and the Mendocino County Farm Bureau for development of these innovative course offerings. Primary success factors? "Capable staff with vision, commitment and follow-through; effectiveness at sensing clientele and community needs; appropriate and comfortable facilities; cost sharing; and a clear division of tasks and responsibilities."

IT'S NO SECRET THAT MANY Californians have little knowledge or appreciation of agriculture’s importance to the state’s economy and the world food supply. Educators agree that a key factor in raising agricultural literacy is to "teach the teachers." This was the idea behind a series of workshops taught by faculty from agricultural education departments at Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Chico, CSU Fresno and UC Davis. The workshops, held at multiple locations throughout the state, targeted teaching candidates in agriculture from the five campuses, high school ag teachers with less than three years’ teaching experience and more experienced high school teachers who work with new teachers.

The idea for the project originated during discussions with educators from the five institutions and the agricultural education staff in the state Department of Education. The department provided financial support. About 50 people attended. "The effort was a success," participants say, "because of careful planning, clear objectives, statewide promotion, the facilitators and presenters having clear-cut responsibilities and adequate funding."

A UC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION farm advisor in Fresno County regularly brings his expertise in field crop production to classrooms at CSU Fresno, College of the Sequoias and Kings River Community College. The advisor has taught weed science, cereal production and agronomy classes, served as a graduate research advisor and volunteered as a judge for FFA cotton field days. He offers the following observation regarding the mentoring value of the advisor-student relationship: "Students get up-to-date information on research findings and their practical applications. I often work with these students after they graduate. Other farm advisors have worked with them as cooperators in research trials."

AN ONGOING COLLABORATION BETWEEN a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Santa Barbara County and faculty at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo benefits students at this campus. Recently, three Cal Poly students took soil samples from a plot their advisor was studying and analyzed them in the department’s laboratory as part of their senior projects. The advisor, as well as growers throughout the state, had access to the laboratory findings. The UC farm advisor also teaches in Cal Poly’s soil science department and works with students on other projects.

This project is supported by grants from the UC Small Farm Center and Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Analytical Laboratory. Key factors contributing to the success of this collaboration have included "common interest, individual attention and flexibility."

STUDENT FARMS, SUCH AS THE ONE at San Joaquin Delta College, are another prime location for collaboration. In 1976 San Joaquin County Cooperative Extension farm advisor Don Rough met with San Joaquin Delta College representatives to discuss establishing an almond varietal trial on the college’s land. That initial meeting led to the development of the San Joaquin Delta College Farm Laboratory.

The first almond trees were planted in spring 1978. A second almond varietal block was planted in 1993. Trees, irrigation materials, plants, technical advisors and financial donations have been provided by industry, and other agencies have developed cooperative relationships with the farm lab. The farm site now covers 160 acres of grapes, almonds, alfalfa and pasture and is used to both identify new practices and permit community college students to participate in and observe university research trials.

Farm manager Dave Dias thinks the success of the project lies in the multiple benefits provided to students, researchers and industry. He says, "It allows students access to practical field information, provides plots for university researchers to collect data and enables almond growers to observe trials involving several varieties." The farm lab is one of only three sites in the state where this many almond varieties are planted together. In addition, San Joaquin Delta College benefits from selling the nuts to finance the farm. "We are a junior college, so we do not receive research support funds from the state," Dias explains. "The university does the research, our students participate in the field trials and good information reaches growers."

UC BERKELEY'S CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL Control and the Gill Tract in Albany have been a focal point for students from CSU San Jose, CSU Fresno, UC Santa Cruz and Chabot College in recent years. The students, who are taking courses in agriculture or ecology at their home institutions, observe actual research projects and learn first-hand about biological control on the Gill Tract site. Travel costs are paid by the visiting students’ campuses.

ANOTHER HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROJECT, involving faculty from UC Riverside and Riverside Community College, taught local students about biotechnology. The UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences provided laboratory equipment, materials and training for the community college students through observing classroom experiments in recombinant DNA. Hundreds of local high school students were also educated about biotechnology through outreach activities sponsored by UCR and Riverside Community College. The key factors in the success of this three-year collaboration were active faculty involvement and funding from the UC Biotechnology Program and AMGENE.

Health and Safety
HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE INCREASINGLY important issues facing agricultural operators across California as they seek to comply with new rules and regulations affecting the workplace. Academics from UC and CSU have collaborated to deliver new information on ag safety to growers and workers alike. Those involved describe their relationship as complementary, not competitive, and the agricultural industry benefits.

AgSafe is one example of collaboration involving higher education and the private sector. Partially funded by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health grant through UC Davis, the AgSafe coalition includes academics from UC Davis, CSU Fresno and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and participation from more than 25 private organizations. AgSafe’s purpose is to extend awareness of ag safety and health issues to the farm, field and processing plant.

In addition to funding, other success factors for AgSafe have included "a spirit of collegiality among its participants—the faculty have a passion for the subject and believe that through education they can help reduce injuries and illness in ag workers."

ANOTHER SURVEY RESPONSE DESCRIBES plans for an agricultural safety class to be funded by a USDA Challenge grant. The CSU and UC participants will use an interactive audio-video conferencing network and the World Wide Web to communicate information to students at multiple locations. Also planned is an Ag Safety and Health Institute, which will formally recognize and encourage collaborative efforts among the three systems.

WHEN THE AVERAGE CONSUMER THINKS of toxic substances, the arsenal of household cleaners under the kitchen sink might not come to mind. But these substances pose hazards to humans and the environment. To better understand residential use of household chemicals and their impacts, the UC Berkeley Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics is working with the Public Research Institute at CSU San Francisco and the San Francisco State Foundation on a collaborative survey of Bay Area residences. Information gathered from the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency–funded project will be made available to local agencies for use in consumer education and information programs.

Horticulture and Gardening
UC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION MASTER gardener programs have been established in many counties to train volunteers to work with the public in extending research-based information on horticulture, backyard gardening, pest management and other topics. Master gardener volunteers work out of UC county offices answering questions from home gardeners over the telephone, hold workshops at local nurseries, attend home and garden shows and write gardening columns in local newspapers.

More recently, local master gardeners have entered into collaborative arrangements with CSU and community college campuses in several areas of the state to reach even more people with educational information from the University of California. In Yolo County, master gardeners have provided classroom training and taught courses at Yuba Community College’s Woodland campus since fall 1996.

In Riverside County, the College of the Desert, com-munity gardens in the Coachella Valley and UC Cooperative Extension have hosted master gardener training courses. In Orange County, the master gardeners themselves have received training at several community colleges, including Fullerton College, Orange Coast College and Mt. San Antonio College.

Nutritional Sciences
EDUCATORS IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY are using distance learning to get research-based nutrition information to health care professionals. Santa Barbara County Cooperative Extension and Allan Hancock Community College sponsor a series of seminars using satellite downlinks to reach local dietitians, nurses, teachers, home economists, physicians and clinic directors. Topics have varied—from presenting new findings on immune systems and explaining changes in the USDA food guide pyramid to dispelling misinformation and myths about nutrition.

Seminar organizers say the need to reach large numbers of professionals with current information, coupled with tight travel and budget constraints, makes this distance-learning approach a cost-effective and convenient means for disseminating educational information.

A 1992 COLLABORATIVE EFFORT involving CSU San Diego, UC Cooperative Extension in Imperial County and Imperial Valley College brought information on the world food supply, agriculture and nutrition to local educators. The group designed its program to coincide with the International World Food Day Symposium, which was downlinked via satellite to the Imperial Valley College campus. More than 60 students attended.

In the following two years, the project was expanded to include in-service training for K–12 teachers in Imperial County. The teachers increased their knowledge and awareness of food and nutrition issues while earning two units of continuing education credit through UC San Diego. Ag in the Classroom, an educational program of the California Farm Bureau Federation, was also a partner in this project. "Mutual interests and a desire by the collaborators to increase awareness of international food issues and the role of agriculture in meeting state, national and world food needs contributed to the success of the program," wrote one respondent.

IN ANOTHER PROJECT, NUTRITIONISTS from CSU Fresno, UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension offices in Tulare, Fresno and Kern counties teamed to produce a symposium, Fat Free or Fat Chance: The Relationship Between Fat and Health in the Diets of Children and Adults. This was attended by 80 nutrition, health and education professionals. Although UC Cooperative Extension previously hosted a nutrition-related symposium for more than a decade, this was the first time that UC and CSU collaborated on the project. What made it so successful? Common goals, the desire to work together and a lack of "turf" issues. Registration fees and industry grants also helped.

TO THE SOUTH, the California Food Industry Conference attracts about 200 food industry professionals and educators each year. Now in its 10th year, this successful conference is the result of a solid planning committee with members from Orange Coast College, Chapman University and the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. "We have mutual respect and common goals," say the collaborators in this project.

"I think we’re seeing the wave of the future with this project," says Cal Poly professor Norm Pillsbury, one of the project’s principal organizers. "The initial cost and maintenance of the equipment is expensive compared to a computer or VCR system. But when you consider the cost of bringing in a new instructor it can be quite cost-effective."

The technology does have its drawbacks. For students on the shy side, having their image broadcast onto a large screen can be somewhat intimidating. "It takes a while for them to get used to it," Pillsbury says. "But students today are looking for high technology. It’s actually kind of fun for them to be on the cutting edge."

Course offerings include Introduction to Forestry, Introduction to Environmental Management, and Environmental Law. These are classes that community college students need in order to transfer to a four-year college or university and continue their studies in natural resources. The project also is developing a lab class in ecology.

A logistical problem that had to be worked out concerned scheduling. Cal Poly is on a quarter system, while the community colleges are on the semester system. The solution was to have the students from the community colleges arrive a week early for winter quarter.

The bottom line is whether students are learning. To answer that question, the Cal Poly Center for Teacher Education is assessing the effectiveness of this technology as a teaching tool.

RECENTLY, THE SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC Utilities Commission and the Contra Costa Water District considered moratoriums on livestock grazing in their watersheds because they feared cattle might contaminate their drinking water supplies with Crytosporidium parvum. With assistance from colleagues at CSU Fresno, Cal Poly Pomona, East Bay Regional Parks District and UC Cooperative Extension, UCDavis veterinarian Rob Atwill is studying the waterborne pathogen. He has found that wildlife species also carry Cryptosporidium and shed it in their feces. Among cattle, the majority of infections are limited to calves up to 4 months old.

Based on Atwill’s findings, the Contra Costa Water District decided to control grazing by selectively banning it in some areas, fencing off Los Vaqueros Reservoir and excluding young calves from most of the acreage surrounding the reservoir. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission agreed to consider an alternative plan that would include risk assessment and monitoring programs to guard against Cryptosporidium and other waterborne pathogens.

ACADEMICS FROM UC and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have joined forces in another project on the Central Coast to help local planners better understand the consequences of oak woodland conversion. In the past two decades, loss of these natural habitats due to residential development and other uses has increased. City and county planners in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties—all areas with development pressures and extensive oak woodland habitats—agreed to participate in this education and technology transfer effort.

A planning committee, with representatives from the UC Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP), Cal Poly’s Department of Landscape Architecture and local planning departments from the three counties first met in March 1995. The group organized several workshops in the summer of 1995 that attracted about 50 city and county planners.

The workshops covered the principles of landscape ecology and provided more detailed information on oak woodlands forests and their influence on the environment. They also showed planners how to integrate these principles in the analysis of potential development impacts using geographic information system (GIS) technology.

With a GIS system, planners are able to overlay maps from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to show where existing and proposed development interacts with oaks and other hardwoods. They also can view the proximity of other attributes such as rivers and streams, farmlands, wetlands and topography. An IHRMP publication, Land-Use Planning in Oak Woodland, was also produced.

This highly successful collaboration had several things going for it. One was financial support. Through a grant from the UC Hardwood Program, a Cal Poly student was funded to assist with the workshops. A grant from the federal Renewable Resources Extension Act helped sponsor the workshop in Monterey County. A second factor was the resident GIS expertise in the landscape architecture department at Cal Poly. Third was the project’s novelty—new and unusual subject matter presented in away that piqued planners’ interest. Finally, there was "an interest by UC and CSU academics in cooperating and seeing the benefits."

Youth Outreach
ON THE NORTH COAST, the value of strong community support is evident in a University of California-sponsored 4-H project called the Leadership Education Adventure Program (LEAP). It began as a collaboration with Humboldt State University student volunteers and community members a decade ago to give at-risk youth the opportunity to experience the outdoors in new ways. LEAP activities include rafting, rock climbing, cross-country skiing and backpacking, along with other organized youth activities designed to build leadership, self-confidence and personal growth. Each year about 100 student volunteers work with 300 at-risk youth. Another 400 adults from the community volunteer their time. Factors contributing to the success of LEAP include "competent staff leadership" and "energized university students with positive commitments to environmental education."

IN ANOTHER PROJECT, LIVESTOCK management faculty are pooling their talents and expertise in an ambitious project to provide training sessions and materials for tomorrow’s ranchers. This is being accomplished through livestock management training sessions offered on college campuses, at county fairgrounds and on private ranches across the state. Academics with UC Cooperative Extension’s 4-H program, the CSU system, community colleges and the UC Davis Department of Animal Science are the main collaborators in this youth-oriented project. Also involved are FFA and the California State Grange.

Participants say identification of common goals and objectives by the higher-education participants are principal factors for success. Membership in national and state teachers organizations and frequent interactions in the field are also cited. The group relies on e-mail to stay in touch and stressed the importance of alumni involvement and the use of fund-raisers to support their work.

Conclusion

ALIFORNIA IS THE NATION'S most productive agricultural state. Will it remain so in the next century? The answer to that question may lie in part in the willingness and ability of the state’s public higher-education systems to collaborate in the delivery of their agricultural teaching, educational outreach and research programs.

As one CSU Fresno professor puts it, "We never really had an incentive to work together before, but we realized that while our individual resources were dwindling, together we could do something better than what we could do alone."

In May 1995 the leaders of the University of California, the California State University and the California Community Colleges created the Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education. One goal of the council is to facilitate increased coordination and collaboration in the agricultural teaching, research and outreach programs in California’s colleges and universities. Another is to identify new sources of private and public funding for these programs.

One of the Joint Policy Council’s initial projects was to develop and distribute a survey to agricultural deans, department chairs and county-based academics in the California State University, California Community Colleges and University of California. The survey asked these academics to identify and describe collaborative projects involving their campuses or units. More than 120 responses to the survey were received.

The survey identified more than 100 collaborative efforts throughout the state. Noteworthy examples of collaboration were found among all three systems. The bulk of the responses involve animal sciences, agricultural production and natural resources but also include nutrition programs, youth development and other areas. Most are ongoing.

The fruits of these efforts range from special publications and newsletters, such as The Ranchers Guide to Plant Species of Concern and California Dairy Beat, to field testing of new walnut and almond varietals on campus farms in Chico and Manteca.

Another project provides pesticide education and training for more than 850,000 pesticide handlers, farm workers and growers under the leadership of the University of California. Faculty from CSU and the CCC campuses assist in conducting training workshops across the state.

Students in the classroom have been the beneficiaries of numerous cooperative agreements that bring academics from other systems to their campuses as adjunct faculty and guest lecturers. In one such project, Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. San Antonio College actually pool faculty and shares courses. Students in the animal health sciences major at Cal Poly take courses on both campuses, and students from Mt. San Antonio can transfer directly into the four-year degree program at Pomona.

Most community colleges have articulation agreements with CSU and UC campuses. These ensure students who successfully complete course work at the two-year colleges entry into agricultural undergraduate programs as upper-division students at UC or CSU. They also know beforehand which lower division courses will be accepted for credit at UC and CSU schools.

A small but growing number of projects are using advanced communications technologies, such as video conferencing and satellite downlinks. A highly successful example is the Equine Sciences Teaching Consortium, which involves students and faculty from UC Davis, CSU Fresno, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a virtual classroom linking the four campuses. Another innovative distance-education project brings natural resources classes from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo live to community college students in Bakersfield and Los Angeles.

Growers, ranchers, planners, nutrition and health care professionals, home gardeners and youth also benefit from collaboration in higher education.

In Mendocino County, faculty from Mendocino College in Ukiah have worked with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors to develop an agricultural marketing series targeting local entrepreneurs interested in finding new ways to package and market their agricultural products and increase consumer demand.

Health professionals in Santa Barbara County receive the latest research-based nutritional information from the University of California through seminars using satellite downlinks to Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria.

Faculty from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Cooperative Extension have joined to teach natural resources management seminars for Central Coast ranchers and workshops and training sessions for city and county planners in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties on the ecological and wildlife habitat implications of oak woodlands conversion.

Youth showing animals at state and county fairs have received training and information on animal welfare and the proper use of antibiotics and vaccines in a joint effort involving faculty from CSU, the CCC and UC Cooperative Extension.

Home gardeners are receiving classroom instruction from UC Cooperative Extension master gardener volunteers at several community colleges.

In sum, the subject matter and scope of the projects described in the survey are as diverse as the California landscape itself. What makes them succeed? In some cases, financial support is key. In most of these collaborations, however, the critical element is a shared vision among the academics involved. Mutual commitment, competent leadership and common goals and objectives are the most consistently cited factors of success.

This report represents an important first step in achieving the long-term goals of the Joint Policy Council. By identifying and reporting on successful examples of collaboration, the JPC hopes to encourage new joint ventures among academics and staff in the three higher-education systems. These examples also provide important clues as to how, where and when collaboration is most likely to occur and, in many cases, models that can be successfully replicated elsewhere.

Finally, the Joint Policy Council is eager to document other examples of collaboration that were missed in the initial survey or have been implemented since. Academics, staff and administrators with information on collaborative efforts involving teaching, research and educational outreach programs at UC, CSU and the CCC are encouraged to contact us at the address listed below.

Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education
300 Lakeside Drive, 6th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612-3560
TEL: (510) 987-9869
FAX: (510) 465-2659
WEB ADDRESS: http://danr.ucop.edu/jpc/

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Members of the Joint Policy Council on
Agriculture and Higher Education

This report was prepared for the Joint Policy Council on Agriculture and Higher Education under the direction of Steven Nation, UCOffice of the Vice President–Agriculture and Natural Resources. Writer/editors were John Stumbos (UC), Pamela Kan-Rice (UC) and Jill Goetz (UC). A statistical analysis of the survey results was conducted by Karen Berke, UCCE communications specialist. Art direction and creative layout services were provided by Pam Fabry (UC) and Seventeenth Street Studios. We also gratefully acknowledge the constructive input and photographic contributions from institutions and individuals featured herein. Special thanks to Mark Burrell (JPC Advisory Board chair), Tom Dickinson (director of agricultural programs, CSU Chico), Stephen Olson (dean of instruction, Santa Rosa Junior College) and Claudia Reid (UC) for reviewing the text; to Peggy Michel (UC) for revising numerous versions of the report without losing her sanity or sense of humor; to Jason Joseph (UC) for his technical assistance and advice in selecting a printer; and to Naomi Schiff (Seventeenth Street Studios) for her incredible patience, sage advice and ability to keep the project rolling to a successful conclusion.

Oakland
September 30, 1997

In accordance with applicable state and federal laws, the Joint Policy Council does not discriminate in any of its policies, procedures or practices on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or status as a Vietnam-era veteran or special disabled veteran. Inquiries regarding the council’s equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to JPC coordinator John Gutierrez at (510) 987-9869.

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Last updated: November 03, 1999

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