10 CapitalPress.com
October 13, 2017
California
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Tours highlight college farm’s sustainability Brown signs bill
allowing water
users to save money
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
REDDING, Calif. —
Third-year agriculture stu-
dent Alex Anderson made it
a point to highlight the Shasta
College farm’s push toward
environmental stewardship
while leading a tour for com-
munity members.
She noted that the farm
uses discarded cooking oil
from the cafeteria to make its
hay more palatable to cows,
and explained that local brew-
eries also provide spent grain
to be fed in the beef barn.
An organic plot at the farm
features tomatoes and other
produce grown by students as
part of their projects, as stu-
dents in the college’s sustain-
able agriculture classes decide
for themselves what to grow.
“We try to be as sustain-
able as possible,” said Ander-
son, a Humboldt County, Ca-
lif., native who is in the farm
dormitory at the Redding
community college.
Consumer demand for
food that’s free of pesticides
and other additives is grow-
ing, said Nate Anderson, a
horticulture student leading
one of the stops on the tour.
“The customer now wants
organic food,” he said. “So
that’s going to be a big push
now, to learn how to grow or-
ganic.”
The tour was a key part of
the college agriculture pro-
gram’s annual Harvest Fest on
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Community members tour the farm facilities at Shasta College in
Redding, Calif., on Oct. 7. The tours emphasized the agriculture
program’s focus on sustainability. BELOW: Third-year student Alex
Anderson talks about the program.
Oct. 7, which also featured a
dinner, live and silent auctions
and entertainment.
Proceeds from the event
fund laboratory projects, farm
dormitories, logging sports
and equipment and work with
livestock, organizers said.
This year, funds are being
used to remodel the bathroom,
showers and kitchen in the
farm dorm, which was built in
the 1950s, Anderson said.
After groups were taken by
horse-drawn trailers through
the farm grounds, the rough-
ly 300 guests were treated to
a dinner featuring foods from
the farm and local producers.
The dinner was held at
Ross Ranch, adjacent to the
90-acre college farm, provid-
ing a more agrarian setting
than last year’s program at a
local senior citizens’ hall. The
ranch is owned by the McCo-
nnell Foundation, a local phil-
anthropic organization.
Shasta College has of-
fered courses in sustainable
agriculture since 2010, high-
lighting methods to save wa-
ter and other resources. The
farm raises 80 percent of its
own feed, uses compost on
its fields and runs chickens
through its organic vineyard
to eat leafhoppers, a pest,
said Trena Kimler-Richards,
an agricultural instructor and
program coordinator.
“Now we teach an actual
sustainable ag class, where
we’re working on soil im-
provement through implied
research,” Kimler-Richards
said. “We’re working on
strip-cropping and intercrop-
ping on one of our ag fields to
improve our soil structure and
nutrient balance.”
Students can earn an as-
sociate of science degree and
can transfer to a four-year uni-
versity to study crop science
or range and wildlife ecology,
she said.
With community mem-
bers, students and instructors
emphasize that sustainable
methods are used in both con-
ventional and organic agricul-
ture, Kimler-Richards said.
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO
—
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a
California Cattlemen’s As-
sociation-sponsored bill to
ease requirements for ranch-
ers who must measure their
water diversions from near-
by streams.
The governor on Oct.
4 approved Assembly Bill
589 by Assemblyman Frank
Bigelow, R-O’Neals, that
changes a State Water Re-
sources Control Board rule
that those who divert more
than 10 acre-feet of water
per year hire a licensed engi-
neer to install a water-mea-
suring device.
Instead, diverters will
be able to install their own
devices or implement their
own measurement method
after taking a course from
the University of California
Cooperative Extension. The
UC will work with the water
board in the coming weeks
to develop the course.
“There will certainly be
an effort on our part to make
that happen as quickly as
possible,” said Justin Old-
field, the CCA’s vice presi-
dent of government affairs.
“We’re very appreciative
that he signed the bill,” Old-
field said. “We look forward
to implementing it into law
as soon as possible.”
The bill passed unani-
mously in both houses of
the Legislature. While the
UC typically doesn’t take
positions on legislation, it
supported this bill, said Lar-
ry Forero, a UCCE adviser
based in Redding.
The legislation follows
the water board’s decision
early last year to ramp up re-
porting requirements for the
state’s roughly 12,000 land-
owners and users who have
water rights — even those
with pre-1914 and riparian
rights.
The right holders must
now report their diversions
annually rather than every
three years, and those who
divert more than 10 acre-
feet of water per year must
also measure how much
they take.
The reporting rule was
phased in, with the largest
diverters having to comply
by Jan. 1 of this year. Those
with rights to 100 acre-feet
or more a year had until
July 1 to install devices, and
those with rights to divert 10
acre-feet must comply by
Jan. 1, 2018.
Together We Can Reach Our Destination
When it comes to breast cancer, no one should have to face it alone.
With 1 in 8 woman being diagnosed, we’re more driven than ever to
change the statistic. That’s why Capitol Auto Group is proud to be
partnering with the American Cancer Society to make strides against
breast cancer with breast cancer screening, patient care and research.
Capitol Auto Group is “Committed to being a respectful corporate
citizen through personal service or financial contributions.”, so we’re
proud to honor our own cancer survivor employees including the
following...
I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June of 1992. My first question
when I woke up was, “Did they get it all?” I was scared and depressed
at first. I thought when you got cancer you were going to die because I
had four close family members die of various types of cancer in an eight
year period.
CAPITOL TOYOTA
Once I saw an oncologist he gave me a 90% chance of being cured. At
that moment something rose up in me and I decided to fight and I was
determined to win! During my first chemo treatment, my nurse told me
that keeping a positive attitude was essential in fighting cancer. So that
became my strategy.
Every day no matter how I felt I told myself, “I will not give up! I have to
live! I have to prove that cancer will not take me down!” Ultimately... I
kicked cancer’s ASS! It makes me feel great to work for a company that
cares so deeply for the community and helps raise money for so many
worthwhile causes.
With an atmosphere of charitable giving, Capitol Auto Group
employees can pay $20 to wear their pink shirt and jeans on Fridays
during October and the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.
Also during the month, for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday test
drive at any of our locations, we will donate $5 to the American
Cancer Society.
CAPITOL SUBARU
We believe that together we can reach our destination and one day
put an end to breast cancer.
CAPITOL CHEVROLET
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