UC Merced teams up with dairy farmers
Modesto Bee 4/27/07
The collaboration between the university and Agriculturalists for Scientific Research was announced by UC Merced Chancellor Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang during a press conference Wednesday at Double Creek Ranch dairy in Merced.
AFSER consists of several dairies and farms in Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Madera counties.
The university's initial project to launch the partnership involves using a system of soil and water sensors at dairy farms that will monitor temperature and moisture, as well as nitrate and ammonium levels.
Tom Harmon, the UC Merced School of Engineering professor who is leading the project, said the university plans to stream the data on the Internet to assist farmers with their cultivation techniques.
"They are looking at the different dairy feeding habits for the dietary issues with the cows," Harmon said.
"We're going to select a section of the dairies where they are feeding (the cows) differently and then we'll instrument the ground and see how the difference translates from the food to the ground."
Harmon said the goal of the project, from a research and environmental perspective, is to preserve the farmland by keeping an eye on the content of the soil and water.
"We want to keep the valley the productive breadbasket that it is for as long as possible. So we have to keep an eye on the environment," Harmon said.
For the farmer, "the number one big benefit will be he can count on this enterprise lasting for a long time, turning it over to his children and grandchildren, instead of something that is nose-diving into the ground and pretty soon won't work anymore."
Harmon said the project will start in mid-June. He also expects the project to branch out to other fields of agriculture.
A $200,000 AFSER grant funded by the Merced County Community Foundation, payable over the next 18 months, makes the project possible.
"We want to develop the most efficient methods in how we handle our manure on our dairies, from both the standpoint of utilization for the benefit of our crops and for the benefit of the environment," said Henry te Velde, owner of three dairies in Merced County, including Double Creek Ranch.
Sam Traina, UC Merced's vice chancellor for research and director of graduate studies, said the university worked for two years to put the partnership together.
"The traditional funding for agricultural research that one would expect to be able to do this kind of work is not something that our faculty would normally go after because we're not an agricultural campus," Traina said.
"But we have lots of people doing basic science and engineering that are interested in applying their research to help agriculture and to help the region."