Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
participating in BIOS correctly understood themselves to lose influence
among BIOS growers: jealous Farm Advisors found themselves having to
compete with a new interloper, even as CAFF worked closely with Farm
Advisor Lonnie Hendricks. This is indicated by the parallel solid line and
dashed line representing participating and non-participating Farm
Advisors. CAFF drew new funders in to agricultural extension: the
USEPA and private foundations.
CAFF deliberately reached out directly to the Almond Board of
California when BIOS was not even 2 years old. Just as CAFF promoted
the practical advantages of BIOS to growers, it appealed to the Almond
Board's political pragmatism. Their strategy to engage a commodity
organization was novel because it sought to influence a strong and
influential organization of conventional growers. CAFF first built a rela-
tionship with the ABC's Production Research Committee by persuading
it to co-sponsor a BIOS manual and make this approach available to a
larger audience of growers.
7
The Almond Board of California was not important to BIOS, but
CAFF played a critical role in helping its staff recognize the value of par-
ticipating in partnerships. In 1998, as BIOS was coming to a close, the
DPR announced its new PMA grants program. CAFF's Marcia Gibbs in
particular saw the opportunity to continue the good work begun by
BIOS through further leadership by the ABC, and she encouraged the
ABC to apply. Chris Heintz, the ABC's director of production research
and environmental affairs, initially expressed reluctance because this
grant would require the ABC to undertake new roles. Heintz hesitated
because this would represent a qualitative shift in the ABC's relationship
with growers, and she was unsure whether her board would approve
this. Ultimately, and with help from ABC consultant Mark Looker,
Gibbs helped Heintz recognize how the ABC could serve their growers
helping them voluntarily adopt practices to avoid regulatory conflict.
With the advice of UC IPM director Frank Zalom, they applied for a
PMA grant.
Farm Advisors initially had highly ambivalent feelings about the PMA
because they felt that CAFF had taken credit for (and channeled off grant
money from) work that the University of California Cooperative
Extension had done. Heintz had heard regulatory agencies repeatedly
praise CAFF for its work with BIOS, and realized that their application
