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StumbleUponPosts Tagged: Alison Van Eenennaam
UC ANR's new home in Davis touted in local paper, Sacramento Bee
The facility is a former indoor sports center. Following retrofit construction to ensure the interior is LEED-certified, ANR is slated to move in before the end of this year, the article said.
“ANR is a statewide program, with programmatic staff in 57 of California’s counties. But the bulk of our (administrative) operations have been in Davis,” said Jan Corlett, chief of staff to ANR’s vice president Barbara Allen-Diaz. “However, our operations in Davis have been spread over six locations around the campus, some of which can’t be reached by public transportation. We have been wanting for some time to bring these groups together.”
Other details in the story:
- The building looks something like a barn. The entryway will be redone with reclaimed barn wood
- UC Master Gardeners will re-landscape the outdoor areas with demonstration plantings
- A horseshoe-shaped second floor will be added over the former skating area
- Total square footage will be 42,000
- The building has skylights to provide natural light
- The new facility will include a conference space for up to 200 people
Roller rink, 'barn,' office
Cathie Anderson, Sacramento Bee
ANR representatives characterized a former sports facility in Davis as "kind of barnlike" in a positive way when they were considering the building for ANR's new home, reported the Sacramento Bee.
As part of an $8.1 million renovation of the facility, the designers will maintain skylights, large windows and openness with glass-faced offices under a new mezzanine level.
Scientist testified against GE fish ban, label bill
Mitch Lies, Capital Press
Technology to genetically engineer fish can help satisfy the world's fish consumption needs and reduce pressure on wild caught fish, said Alison Van Eenannaan, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis.
Van Eenannaan made the statement at a hearing before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in Oregon, where lawmakers are considering bills that would ban the sale and production of GM fish in the state.
"As a scientist and someone that is interested in food production, I am concerned here that we have a bill that is going to basically ban genetically engineered fish," Van Eenennaan said. "Aquaculture is going to be required in order to be able to fill the need we have for fish products in the future."
Lean-N-Green Day in Shasta Lake encourages healthy diets
Sean Longoria, Redding Record Searchlight
The UC Cooperative Extension CalFresh Nutrition Education Program took part in the annual Lean-N-Green Day this week. Sara Letton, UCCE nutrition educator, showed a crowd of high-schoolers how much sugar is in popular drinks. She mixed a homemade version of Sunny Delight, with the same 10 teaspoons of sugar found in a single serving, as an example.
She also pointed to labels with baskets full of fruit on sugary drinks that contain little juice, noting that some companies try to deceive consumers into making unhealthy choices.
GMO labeling proposition fails in California
In the eight-minute interview, Van Eenennaam said Proposition 37 was a flawed bill that would only have been applied to processed foods available in supermarkets, leaving out dairy products, fresh meat and restaurant foods.
"I think it was a vote against a really poorly written initiative, that had a lot of loopholes and hidden exemptions and that had this lawsuit provision in there that allowed anybody that saw something mislabeled to sue the grocery store without having to prove damages," Van Eenennaam said.
A 'multi-million dollar food fight' heats up, plus other recent news coverage
The reporters called the proposition a "multi-million dollar food fight."
"All of the data that's come out from the American Medical Association and National Academy of Sciences have all agreed that the food products on the market today that are genetically engineered are safe," Van Eenennaam told the reporter
Polls show the 'Yes on Proposition 37' campaign is "way ahead" of those who oppose the initiative, "but there's a long way to go until November," the reporter said.
Vision still pays dividends after 150 years
Sacramento Bee editorial
The Sacramento Bee editorial staff called the 1862 Congress of the United States one of the most productive in American history. One of the reason was it's passage of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act July 2, 1862. The act created the world's best system of public colleges and universities for people of modest means, the editorial said. Previously most Americans had no access to higher education. California took up the land-grant offer in 1864 and the University of California was born – at Berkeley – in 1868. Later, the University Farm would become UC Davis. The Citrus Experiment Station would become UC Riverside.
Building a better, tastier tomato
Lauren Sommer, QUEST Northern California, KQED
Lauren Sommer interviewed Ann Powell, associate researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, about her finding that the gene that creates "green shoulders" in tomatoes influences the amount of sugar in the ripe fruit. Powell says now that they know about this gene, plant breeders could put it back in commercial varieties.
Bees need a hand, especially in drought
Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee
In honor of National Honeybee Day, the Sacramento Bee paid homage to the indispensable pollinator with information about the challenges it faces. Colony collapse disorder, drought and urbanization take their toll. There was some good news: "Bees got through the winter a little better," said Eric Mussen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, apiculture. "This spring, we saw bigger, earlier and more swarms." However, nationwide, the hot dry summer has made it a tough year for honey production.
Curing pneumonia in cattle
Bovine respiratory disease - pneumonia in cattle - is the most significant health problem for the beef industry. The disease annually results in the death of more than 1 million animals. In addition to these losses, beef producers spend a significant sum on disease-related medication and labor costs each year.
According to AgInfo.net, raising cattle for specific resistance to BRD was a hot topic at the Beef Improvement Federation Conference earlier this month in Bozeman, Mont. Attendees learned about research under way at UC Davis to find the genetic component to BRD resistance and, eventually, breed out this deadly disease.
This spring, UC Davis announced that USDA awarded the university $2.6 million to carry out research aimed at reducing the incidence of bovine respiratory disease. The goal of the newly funded research project is to integrate research, education and extension activities to improve diagnostics and develop cost-effective genomic and management approaches that reduce the incidence of the BRD in beef and dairy cattle.
The extension component of the project is headed by Alison Van Eenennaam, Cooperative Extension specialist in animal genomics and biotechnology in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. Van Eenennaam made a presentation at the Bozeman conference about the weight cattle producers should be give to BRD resistance when making selection decisions.
Twenty-nine percent of beef cattle deaths are associated with bovine respiratory disease.
