Our thanks to Rob Grumbles for his on-going efforts in coordinating the
"Arizona/Utah Range Livestock Workshop 2002" April 2-4, 2002.
* The Maricopa County Master Gardeners, led by Volunteer Chair Val Carsey
and Instructional Specialist Kathleen Moore, had their first "Real Gardens
for Real People" educational garden tour on March 30, 2002. Over 700 people
viewed 5 gardens installed and maintained by Master Gardeners. They were
treated to educational seminars including: Irrigation, Wildlife Gardening,
Citrus, Planting and Staking, Herbs, Container Gardening, Composting,
Integrated Pest Management, and many more. Preliminary feedback from
surveys show that participants learned to choose desert adapted trees for
their yard and plan to make changes in their watering practices to irrigate
more efficiently.
* Arizona 4-H Youth Development is pleased to announce the debut of its
brand new web site. While still located at the Arizona 4-H Web, it has a
new theme, a series of new features, and a whole new look. Special thanks
to 4-H Webmaster Teresa Noon for design ideas, and to Curt Peters, Kelly
Block, and Pedro Romero for technical support and assistance. This endeavor
was a true collaborative effort that truly models the spirit of 4-H.
* On April 3, 2002, approximately 25 NASA and USDA personnel met at USDA at
the invitation of Joseph Jen, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education,
and Economics. The Under Secretary had asked The NASA Office of Earth
Science, led by Dr. Ghassem Asrar, to present current NASA/USDA
collaborations, and a road map for future interaction. The two ongoing
initiatives discussed were a Precision Agriculture Research project known
as Ag20/20 and the Geospatial Extension Program that brings Land Grant,
NASA Space Grant, and Sea Grant together. The three special areas proposed
for further collaboration were research in Carbon Management, Weather and
Climate, and Invasive Species. Our thanks and appreciation to Barron Orr
who represented the Geospatial Extension Program, giving a talk entitled
"Earth Grant: An Emerging Geospatial Partnership". There was a widespread
agreement that NASA and USDA must continue and enhance this collaboration.
* Congratulations to CALS faculty who received grant awards from the
Arizona Department of Agriculture: for Crops Research: Wayne Coates-
"Supplemental Pollination of Jojoba: Improving Commercial Yields in
Arizona"; Tom Thompson- "Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Sustainable
Production of Specialty Vegetable Crops in Arizona"; Paul Brown- "Improved
Consumptive Use Estimates and Crop Coefficients for Arizona Alfalfa"; Glenn
Wright- "Understanding Fruit Drop of Minneola Tangelos and Navel Oranges";
Jennifer Jones- "Rapid Delivery of Research and Technology to Arizona
Vegetable Producers"; Zhongguo Xiong- "Risk Analysis of citrus tristeza
virus in Arizona"; Bill McCloskey- "Demonstration, Research Evaluation and
Economic Analysis
of a weed sensing sprayer in Arizona tree crops"; Jim Walworth-
"Fall-Applied Foliar Zinc for Pecans"; Mary Olsen- "DNA-based Diagnostics
for Phymatotrichum root rot"; and Ursula Schuch-"Expanding Nursery
Production in Arizona with Retractable Roof Greenhouses".
For Crops Nutrition, Sharon Hoelscher Day received an award for "Five a Day
for Stronger Bones - Arizona Specialty Crop Display & Outreach". No grant
awards were received in the categories of Marketing or Education.