Thoughts on the New Year

I was asked by a newsletter to which I contribute for a few remarks on coming 2023; thought they might be worth sharing here too: 

Get ready for a more muscular and responsive UC Cooperative Extension.  This last year we added three new Advisors to our Central Coast team, being Fire Advisor Barb Satink-Wolfson, Plant Pathology Farm Advisor Yu-Chen Wang and Entomology Area IPM Advisor Kirsten Pearsons.  What's more, we are working to bring an Agricultural Technology Area Advisor into the fold, and should enter into this same process for a Forestry Advisor and 4-H Animal Science Youth Advisor this coming year.  It's just great to have these super smart and service committed scientists with us here and with even more coming on board in 2023, please reach out when you have a chance and welcome them.

Some concern creeping up about all the moisture.  For sure it is great to have all this water coming in as we have had as of late, and indeed as of writing in amounts exceeding the average accumulations for Santa Cruz, but in turn I think we should look for water related problems in the fields as a consequence.  Beyond soil erosion, I'm thinking common problems like asphyxiation, root diseases and impeded nutrient uptake for starters, and then if the rain continues into the late winter and spring, we'll be looking at foliar problems like Zythia in strawberries and rust in raspberries and trailing blackberries.  

The only constant is change.  If I've learned anything from the past few years, is that change, and at times really big change, for better or for worse, is a feature of our life here on the Central Coast.  Be prepared for the unexpected, and be the one to step up to it as it happens is my mantra.

Happy New Year all, and I look forward to seeing you around this coming year!

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