Progress 02/14/16 to 02/13/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Our efforts in this reporting period have reached these communities: 1) Farmers from our study region as well as those from other parts of CA and the US west coast, with an emphasis on inclusion of Latino farmers. 2) Commodity group members and leaders in berry industries and other business leaders 3) NGOs and government agencies, including specialists at Regional Conservation Districts Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties 4) General public including potential donors and hobbyists/enthusiasts (gardeners, beekeepers) 5) Student groups including those from high school, undergraduate and graduate levels 6) University scientists (faculty and staff) from many different universities across the US (by means of national conference participation) Detailed list below: FARMER CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS January 2017 Assessing benefits, costs and trade-offs of biologically-diversified farming. Ecofarm Conference: Workshop title "Conserving biodiversity using organic practices." Asilomar, California. November 2016. 2nd Annual Latino Farmers Conference, Booth with spanish translations of preliminary results and research program methods and goals: -"Resumen de investigacion: Comprender los beneficios, costos, y compensaciones de los sistemas agricolas biologicamente diversificadas en la costa central de California" - "¿Cómo afecta la vegetación no cultivada cerca de los cultivos de fresas a la presencia de Lygus y a sus enemigos naturales? " -"Efectos de hábitat natural y diversidad de cultivos sobre control de lygus" -"Efectos de hábitat natural y diversidad de cultivos sobre polinización" PUBLIC LECTURES October 2016 "Assessing benefits, costs, and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems in California's Central Coast." Center for Diversified Farming Systems Lecture Series, Berkeley, CA. May 2016 Rediversifying intensive agricultural landscapes to promote native pollinatorsat the "Keeping Bees Healthy" Symposium, Robert Mondavi Center, UC Davis July 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture. San Mateo Beekeeper's Association. Sept 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture.Mt. Diablo Beekeeper's Association Oct 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture.Marin County Beekeeper's Association Nov 2016. Chicago Field Museum, Women in Science Program, 35thAnniversary of the Macarthur Foundation. February 2017. Restoring pollinator and crop pollination services in agricultural landscapes, Plan Bee Symposium, Association for Advancement in Science, Bost, MA. SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES October 2016 "Effects of Agroecosystem Irrigation on Denitrification and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Organic Strawberry Farms." SACNAS National Conference, Long Beach, CA. UNIVERSITY SEMINARS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL December 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." University of Kentucky, Department of Entomology., Lexington, KY November 2016. "Assessing benefits, costs, and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems in California's Central Coast." Ecolunch lecture series, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. September 2016. "Effects of Agroecosystem Irrigation on Denitrification and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Organic Strawberry Farms." Pomona Summer Poster Conference. Pomona College, CA. April 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." Cornell University, Department of Horticulture, Ithaca, New York. Feb 2017, Rediversifying agricultural landscapes for native pollinators and pollination services, Dept Seminar, Tufts University March 2017. Through the bee's eyes: seeking food system sustainability Departmental seminar, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainabilityseminar, University of British Columbia Undergraduate lectures (Spring 2017: ESPM 15 Introduction to Environmental SciencesESPM 192 Senior Capstone Seminar, Molecular Environmental BiologyMalcolm Potts: Survival 101. PUBLIC POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOPS May 2016. "Crop diversity effects on pollinator abundance, diversity and pollination services." Organic Confluences Summit, Hall of the States, Washington DC. August 2016. "Conservation Biological Control Ecosystem Services in Strawberry Crops of California's Central Coast," Xerces Society Conservation Biological Control Training Workshop, Salinas, CA. POPULAR PIECE PUBLICATIONS January 2017 Interview: "The Millennial Face of Organic," published in Organic Trade Association (OTA) Organic report magazine. July 2016 "U-pick Musings, "High Ground Organics Farm CSA newsletter Changes/Problems:Major problems or delays that may have a significant impact on the rate of expenditure; It has been challenging to move forward without involvement from our economics PI. We will overcome this problem and delay and have taken steps to foster a new collaboration with Cornell University that will assist us in gathering important economic data. We found the accounting procedures between Pomona College and UC Berkeley to inhibit some timely hires. Since UCB has a well-established Office of Sponsored Projects, we have been working the with Pomona administration to develop more effective grant management capacity. Significant change has already been made, but some of the subaward was not spent because of these delays. Significant deviations from research schedule or goals; We needed to adapt carefully to farmer work schedules that are incredibly busy during the strawberry season. For the work conducted by Pomona College on greenhouse gas emissions, the major challenge was getting access to the farms at appropriate times -- before irrigation had begun but on days when irrigation would be occurring. In spite of the challenges, we were able to obtain greenhouse gas emissions data from the great majority of farms before, during and after irrigation. In some cases, the number of samples before irrigation was limited and will limit the power of our analysis. Nevertheless, the coordination and effort to work with farmers was one of the most successful of all the projects that co-PI Los Huertos had participated in previously. The soils team extracted DNA from collected soils to further analyze how management influences below-ground processes. Since this component was not included in our original proposal/budget, the team intends to seek additional funding to analyze these data. Protocol and research goal changes: Biodiversity, pollination and pest control services: After reviewing the ratios of output to input for data collection in the field we decided to make some changes in our sampling efforts and directions. For instance, we did not gain enough information regarding biodiversity of arthropods by implementing pitfall and pan traps to make the sampling effort worth the labor; therefore we dropped these techniques in the 2nd year of the sample while maintaining the bug vacuum collection and berry survey. For pollination services, we did not conduct another pollinator exclusion experiment (and related studies on berry quality as it relates to pollination) because after initial data exploration we found the same pattern of results as a past two-year study conducted on some of the same farms in the region by Postdoc Sciligo in 2011-2012. However, our first field season suggested that strawberries may be relatively unattractive as a floral resource compared to other types of flowering crops or non-crop vegetation. We therefore decided it was important to add pollinator surveys on the whole farm to try to get a better representation of the pollinator community on the whole farm, not just on strawberry. By sampling these other flowering plants, when present, we can get a more accurate picture of how diversification on farms affects pollinator abundance and richness, and how co-flowering crop and non-crop vegetation may affect pollinator visitation to strawberry. We removed the disease survey of strawberry plants because conversations with UCCE specialists, with confirmation by soil testing, indicated that this visual survey was not an accurate determination of specific soil and foliar diseases. After conversations with farmers throughout the first field season and preliminary results dissemination, we added two small pilot studies to explore food safety risks through bird fecal contamination and food waste as affected by different market access and the related berry quality standards imposed on farmers. To explore food safety we added a simple transect survey to each farm to count the number of bird droppings and identify their locations (on the berry, near the berry on the plastic, on the ground in the furrows). To assess food waste, we sampled 6 farms: 3 with direct market access (farmers markets) versus contract growers selling wholesale. Farmers on the selected farms agreed to have one of their pickers keep separate the berries they would normally cull from each box of marketable berries. They did this for 2 boxes per farm. From this we were able to measure percent culled and record the berry quality characteristics of the fruit that was sold versus culled for each of the market access groups. Soils/GHG: We collected soils and extracted DNA to further analyze how management influences below-ground processes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided many professional development opportunities for faculty, postdocs and graduate students including: - Training and mentoring of 27 student interns, 20 at UC Berkeley and % at Pomona College (undergraduate research interns have learned many skills related to field collections, how to organize and collect field data on farms, greenhouse experiments and specimen processing as a result of this study). Twenty of the 27 undergraduate students were fromunderrepresented populations in science. All five Pomona students were not only from underrepresented groups, but alsofrom urban populations, thus learning about and conducting fieldwork in a rural environment promoted a cross-cultural experience. - Three undergraduate students from Pomona Collegein 2016-2017 have produced senior theses as a result of their work on this project. - 18 presentations at conferences, workshops, and public lecture series - Working collaboratively to develop new interdisciplinary components of our project, such as, development of interview questions for farmers, and multifunctionality analyses from ecological, economic and social science perspectives. - Some team members had the opportunity to work with farmers and NGO and state agency employees, and all team members have become more versed in building interdisciplinary relationships across multiple stakeholder levels How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?1) Farmer conference workshop and booth. One conference was entirely directed to a Latino farmer audience. 2) Consultations to farmers and industry members/leaders for berry industry 3) Outreach/ results dissemination to farmers, beekeepers, NGOs 4) Outreach/ oral presentations to general public audiences 5) Scientific conferences and internal/external university department seminars 6) Public policy and environmental workshops 7) Public piece publications: blog entry and Organic Trade Association magazine interview Detailed list below: FARMER CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS January 2017 Assessing benefits, costs and trade-offs of biologically-diversified farming. Ecofarm Conference: Workshop title "Conserving biodiversity using organic practices." Asilomar, California. November 2016. 2nd Annual Latino Farmers Conference, Booth with spanish translations of preliminary results and research program methods and goals: -"Resumen de investigacion: Comprender los beneficios, costos, y compensaciones de los sistemas agricolas biologicamente diversificadas en la costa central de California" - "¿Cómo afecta la vegetación no cultivada cerca de los cultivos de fresas a la presencia de Lygus y a sus enemigos naturales? " -"Efectos de hábitat natural y diversidad de cultivos sobre control de lygus" -"Efectos de hábitat natural y diversidad de cultivos sobre polinización" PUBLIC LECTURES October 2016 "Assessing benefits, costs, and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems in California's Central Coast." Center for Diversified Farming Systems Lecture Series, Berkeley, CA. May 2016 Rediversifying intensive agricultural landscapes to promote native pollinatorsat the "Keeping Bees Healthy" Symposium, Robert Mondavi Center, UC Davis July 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture. San Mateo Beekeeper's Association. Sept 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture.Mt. Diablo Beekeeper's Association Oct 2016 Native pollinators and sustainable agriculture.Marin County Beekeeper's Association Nov 2016. Chicago Field Museum, Women in Science Program, 35th Anniversary of the Macarthur Foundation. February 2017. Restoring pollinator and crop pollination services in agricultural landscapes, Plan Bee Symposium, Association for Advancement in Science, Bost, MA. SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES October 2016 "Effects of Agroecosystem Irrigation on Denitrification and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Organic Strawberry Farms." SACNAS National Conference, Long Beach, CA. UNIVERSITY SEMINARS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL December 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." University of Kentucky, Department of Entomology., Lexington, KY November 2016. "Assessing benefits, costs, and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems in California's Central Coast." Ecolunch lecture series, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. September 2016. "Effects of Agroecosystem Irrigation on Denitrification and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Organic Strawberry Farms." Pomona Summer Poster Conference. Pomona College, CA. April 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." Cornell University, Department of Horticulture, Ithaca, New York. Feb 2017, Rediversifying agricultural landscapes for native pollinators and pollination services, Dept Seminar, Tufts University March 2017. Through the bee's eyes: seeking food system sustainability Departmental seminar, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainabilityseminar, University of British Columbia Undergraduate lectures (Spring 2017: ESPM 15 Introduction to Environmental SciencesESPM 192 Senior Capstone Seminar, Molecular Environmental BiologyMalcolm Potts: Survival 101. PUBLIC POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOPS May 2016. "Crop diversity effects on pollinator abundance, diversity and pollination services." Organic Confluences Summit, Hall of the States, Washington DC. August 2016. "Conservation Biological Control Ecosystem Services in Strawberry Crops of California's Central Coast," Xerces Society Conservation Biological Control Training Workshop, Salinas, CA. POPULAR PIECE PUBLICATIONS January 2017 Interview: "The Millennial Face of Organic," published in Organic Trade Association (OTA) Organic report magazine. July 2016 "U-pick Musings, "High Ground Organics Farm CSA newsletter What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1) Continue to process pollinator samples (finalize sorting, identifications labelling and entering into database) 2) Continue to work on data entry and analysis, and manuscript development. 3) Finalize social science interviews and develop and conduct socioeconomic survey. 4) Continue monthly meetings with whole grant team until results analysis is completed. 5) Continue working closely with all researchers from the grant to write up and publish the results in the summer and fall of 2017

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For Aim 1: Given the large amounts of data collected and the need to identify insect specimens in the lab, the finalization of our databases is still in progress, and analyses have yet to begin on most of the biodiversity and ecosystem service data. We report below on results from three experiments for which preliminary or final analyses are completed, and in the Products section on the many additional databases that we are building that will be analyzed in the coming year and beyond. 1. Pest control, insects: Sentinel experiments showed a statistically significant higher predation rates in non-crop vegetation in field edges compared to within strawberry crops. Preliminary analysis indicates that higher local (farm-scale) diversity can decrease that difference in predation rates, which means that farmers may be able to increase levels of natural pest control by implementing on-farm diversification methods. Preliminary analyses also show that a pest and disease index(including information on Lygus bug, bird damage, powdery mildew, angular leaf spot, spider mites and thrips) is significantly lower on farms in the "high diversification cluster" and significantly lower with the number of crops planted. 2. Pest control, birds: Last year we reported on results from an exclosure experiment showing that the amount of damage from pest birds is roughly equivalent to the amount of pest control that insectivorous bird species provide. We have since refined these analyses and also show how local management and landscape diversification affect pest bird, insectivorous birds, all birds and bird damage (see abstract). We have prepared a manuscript that we will submit by June 2017 to Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences. ABSTRACT Bird management in agriculture is highly controversial. While birds are important pests of fruit crops, birds can also improve production through the suppression of insect pests. However, few have simultaneously compared the services and disservices provided by birds. Using a bird exclusion experiment in strawberry farms in California's Central Coast, we show that birds suppress berry damage by insect pests (about 3.8% of berries) in a similar magnitude to the damage birds inflict on strawberries (about 2.4% of berries). We show that greater amounts of semi-natural habitat in the landscape surrounding farms are associated with increased bird species richness and the abundance of insectivorous birds. However, pest birds and bird damage declined with semi-natural habitat within in homogenous farms, while diversified farms maintained pest birds across the gradient of semi-natural habitat. Local diversification practices on farms, like hedgerows, flower strips or increased crop diversity, also independently increased bird richness and total abundance compared to farms lacking such practices. Finally, practices intended to reduce birds (such as sound cannons) had no impact on the total bird abundance, pest birds or bird damage, suggesting such practices are not effective. Importantly, our data suggest that growers wishing to reduce pest bird abundance and bird damage to strawberries should not remove bird habitat and would instead benefit from maintaining or restoring natural habitat in and around California agricultural areas. 3. Greenhouse gas emissions Agriculture is one of the key contributors to global climate change through land use change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A clear goal for future agricultural pract ices is to reduce GHG emissions, while maintaining agricultural productivity and improve food security. Here, we investigated how GHG (CO2, N2O, and CH4) emissions varied across our 27 farms, with respect to the diversity of on-farm practices, the diversity of the landscape, and other co-factors such as soil texture and topography. Using cavity ring-down spectroscopy we measured real-time, trace gas fluxes from five chambers, randomly placed along a 50 m transect within a strawberry plot. Our preliminary analyses suggest the following findings: Our general finding is that management practices and farm characteristics do not alone explain changes in GHG emissions in these strawberry farms. Instead, our findings suggest that a combination of management practices and farm characteristics, e.g. soil properties such as soil texture, organic matter, etc, influence soil biogeochemistry (N and C dynamics) explain GHG emissions. Since nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance, we investigated it further. Using regression analysis, we did not find significant effects of nitrate concentration, soil particle size distribution or soil respiration rates on nitrous oxide emissions. However, taking into account soil texture and its co-variate hill slope, we found that that farm management practices, i.e. irrigation and farm diversification, may influence NO2 emissions. Our results suggest that farm management practices, including diversification, may be used to reduce N2O emissions. For Aim 2: Last year, we were excited about a new collaboration and sub-contract that we developed with Professor Dan Sumner at University of California Davis, which was to accomplish the economic component of the work and was to generate a new product (not originally in our proposal) of a cost-study of a typical diversified farm from our region. However, unfortunately, Dr. Sumner and his team were not able to begin the work, and we were obliged to end the sub-contract. Instead, we are planning to develop the economic evaluations of ecosystem services on our own, and to glean as much economic information as possible from the socio-economic survey that we will be conducting. Further, fortuitously, we have formed an informal collaboration with a team of sociologists and economists from Cornell University, who are conducting a similar survey regarding farm management practices, but focused on cole crops at a nation-wide scale. We are collaborating with this team to develop our survey instrument, so that we may benefit from their expertise on developing socio-economic surveys. For Aim 3, Hypothesis 3: While we have not reached definitive conclusions to date concerning our hypothesis 3, we have learned more about grower perceptions and experiences. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with growers thus far (18/27 completed), we are learning that grower perceptions and experiences of DFS appear strongly influenced by grower entrepreneurial attitudes that are linked not only to economic outcomes but also to the quality of their work life, personal values and opinions concerning produce quality, and personal identity. To measure the realized benefits, costs, and tradeoffs, we would need to have better access to economic data, but this may not be possible due to grower unwillingness to share such information. We will attempt to get more general economic data through a socio-economic survey, which we will conduct in Year 3.

Publications

Progress 02/14/15 to 02/13/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Our efforts in this reporting periodhave reached these communities: 1) Farmers from our study region as well as those from other parts of CA and the US west coast, with an emphasis on inclusion of Latino farmers. 2) Commodity group members and leaders in berry and lettuce industries and other business leaders (e.g. Costco) 3) UCCE specialists 4) NGOs and government agencies,including specialists at Regional Conservation Districts Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, 5) General public including potential donorsand hobbyists/enthusiasts 6) Student groups including those from high school, undergraduate and graduate levels 6) University scientists (faculty and staff) from many different universities across the US (by means of nationalconference participation) Efforts included: 1) Farmer conference workshop and poster presentations. One conference was entirely directed to a Latino farmer audience: 2) Consultations to farmers and industry members/leaders for berry and lettuce industries 3) Outreach/ results dissemination to farmers, NGO's and UCCE specialists 4) Outreach/ oral presentations to general public audiences 5) Scientific conferences and internal/external university department seminars 6) Panel participation, formal classroom instructions, laboratory instruction, internships and experiential learning opportunities for multiple student groups Detailed list of events to demonstrate efforts to reach target audiences (listed in reverse chronological order): FARMER CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS January 2016. "Assessing benefits, costs and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems." Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar, CA January 2016. Poster presentation: "Factors controlling birds in diversified strawberry farms in the Central Coast of California. Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar, CA. January 2016. Poster presentation: Preliminary sentinel pest results at Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar CA. January 2016. Workshop members. "Biodiversity: stories from the farm," EcoFarm conference, Asilomar CA October 2015. "Factores agrícolas que afectan a los pájaros dañinos en la producción de fresas." 1st conference for Latino Growers. Poster (in Spanish). April 2015. UC Davis IPM workshop, Davis, CA "Pollinator diversity: Why it's important and how to conserve" PUBLIC LECTURES March 2016. "Pollinator diversity: Why we need it and how to support it." Garden Club of America Carmel Chapter meeting, Carmel, CA Oct 2015. Three lectures for Costco Company on Organic Agriculture. April 2015."A bee's eye view towards food system sustainability".E Paul Catts Memorial Lecture. Washington State University. Pullman, WA. March 2015."A bee's eye view towards food system sustainability"Strickland Memorial Lecture, Dept. of Entomology, University of Alberta, Canada. SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES November 2015. "Crop diversity effects on pollination and natural pest control services: Is ecological evidence enough to promote food security?" Entomological Society of America Conference, Minneapolis, MN November 2015. "Managing biodiversity in agriculture." UC President's Lake Arrowhead Retreat. UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center. October 2015. "Pollinators, diversified farming systems and research priorities." USDA NIFA Science Outcome Committee, Waterfront Center, Washington, DC. August 2015. "Managing for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes." Invited Speaker, Ecological Society of America Vice President's Center Centennial Session: Frontiers in Science, Education, Management, and Policy to Address Environmental Issues. Baltimore, MD. August 2015. "Managing ecosystem services in agriculture." Ecological Society of America annual meeting, Baltimore. June 2015. "Alternative futures: the case for agroecology", Keynote Speech, Food Systems Summit, University of Vermont, Rochester, VT March 2015. "Why Does the Middle Matter? Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." Harvard Just Food Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts. UNIVERSITY SEMINARS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL March 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." - Cornell University, Department of Horticulture. - UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. February 2016. "Managing biodiversity in agriculture." -UC Merced, Sustainability Symposium Series. - UC Santa Cruz, Department of Environmental Studies. January 2016. "Managing biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture." UC Riverside, Department of Entomology. January 2016. Pollinators as ambassadors for diversified farming systems. Mini-Symposium on "Diversifying Agriculture - Impacts on Crop Pollination and Ecoservuces," Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. December 2015. "Why Does the Middle Matter? Fostering a Diversified U.S. Agriculture." UC Santa Cruz, Department of Environmental Studies Seminar Series November 2015. "Cultivating conservation on a farmed planet." UC Berkeley, Conservation, Wildlife, & Fisheries Seminar. November 2015. "Applied phylogenetics: historical approaches as pest suppression tools in agriculture." UC Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Departmental Seminar Series. September 2015. "Agriculture, Society, and Food Sovereignty: Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." UC Berkeley Learning in Retirement Series. PANELS April 2016. The True Cost of American Food - Panel on Integrated Farming Systems -- Talk title "The advantages of diverse integrated farming systems" March 2016. ESPM 201A: Panel on interdisciplinary in agricultural research, UC Berkeley, (3 grant team members) December 2015. Berkeley Connect: Interdisciplinary Research Showcase Panel, UC Berkeley, CA November 2015. Feeding a Growing Planet: Challenges, Impacts, and Taboos. UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. May 2015. Sustainable Foods Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium (2 grant team members). April 2015. Pollinators and Sustainable Agriculture, Organic Valley, Berkeley CA Changes/Problems:We developed a new collaboration with Professor Dan Sumner from UC Davis Agricultural Issues Center. Dr Sumner is replacing Dr Max Aufhammer as our economist on the team. In addition to the grant deliverables that were already planned, we now also plan to conduct a cost study of a diversified farm as an additional project deliverable. We believe that this cost study will both provide a useful benchmark that may assist us in obtaining economic information from highly diversified growers in our sample, as well as providing a useful outreach product for existing growers wishing to diversify their farm operation, or for new farmers that want to adopt this farming style. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided many professional development opportunities forfaculty, postdocs and graduate students including: - Management and training of student interns (undergraduate research interns have learned many skills related to field collections,greenhouse experimentsand specimen processing as a result of this study) - Presentations at conferences, workshops, and public lecture series - Working collaboratively to develop new interdisciplinary components of our project, such as. lygus vs. pollinator damage greenhouse experiment, development of interview questions for farmers, and multifunctionality analyses from ecological, economic and social science perspectives. - Some team members had the opportunity to work with farmers and NGO and state agency employees, and all team members have become more versed in building interdisciplinary relationships across multiple stakeholder levels How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The following is the same list of events as presented in the Target Audience section: FARMER CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS January 2016. "Assessing benefits, costs and tradeoffs of biologically diversified farming systems." Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar, CA January 2016. Poster presentation: "Factors controlling birds in diversified strawberry farms in the Central Coast of California. Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar, CA. January 2016. Poster presentation: Preliminary sentinel pest results at Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Asilomar CA. January 2016. Workshop members. "Biodiversity: stories from the farm," EcoFarm conference, Asilomar CA October 2015. "Factores agrícolas que afectan a los pájaros dañinos en la producción de fresas." 1stconference for Latino Growers. Poster (in Spanish). April 2015. UC Davis IPM workshop, Davis, CA "Pollinator diversity: Why it's important and how to conserve" PUBLIC LECTURES March 2016. "Pollinator diversity: Why we need it and how to support it." Garden Club of America Carmel Chapter meeting, Carmel, CA Oct 2015. Three lectures for Costco Company on Organic Agriculture. April 2015."A bee's eye view towards food system sustainability".E Paul Catts Memorial Lecture. Washington State University. Pullman, WA. March 2015."A bee's eye view towards food system sustainability"Strickland Memorial Lecture, Dept. of Entomology, University of Alberta, Canada. SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES November 2015. "Crop diversity effects on pollination and natural pest control services: Is ecological evidence enough to promote food security?" Entomological Society of America Conference, Minneapolis, MN November 2015. "Managing biodiversity in agriculture." UC President's Lake Arrowhead Retreat. UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center. October 2015. "Pollinators, diversified farming systems and research priorities." USDA NIFA Science Outcome Committee, Waterfront Center, Washington, DC. August 2015. "Managing for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes." Invited Speaker, Ecological Society of America Vice President's Center Centennial Session: Frontiers in Science, Education, Management, and Policy to Address Environmental Issues. Baltimore, MD. August 2015. "Managing ecosystem services in agriculture." Ecological Society of America annual meeting, Baltimore. June 2015. "Alternative futures: the case for agroecology", Keynote Speech, Food Systems Summit, University of Vermont, Rochester, VT March 2015. "Why Does the Middle Matter? Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." Harvard Just Food Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts. UNIVERSITY SEMINARS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL March 2016. "Managing agricultural biodiversity for pest control services." - Cornell University, Department of Horticulture. - UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. February 2016. "Managing biodiversity in agriculture." -UC Merced, Sustainability Symposium Series. - UC Santa Cruz, Department of Environmental Studies. January 2016. "Managing biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture." UC Riverside, Department of Entomology. January 2016. Pollinators as ambassadors for diversified farming systems. Mini-Symposium on "Diversifying Agriculture - Impacts on Crop Pollination and Ecoservuces," Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. December 2015. "Why Does the Middle Matter? Fostering a Diversified U.S. Agriculture." UC Santa Cruz, Department of Environmental Studies Seminar Series November 2015. "Cultivating conservation on a farmed planet." UC Berkeley, Conservation, Wildlife, & Fisheries Seminar. November 2015. "Applied phylogenetics: historical approaches as pest suppression tools in agriculture." UC Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Departmental Seminar Series. September 2015. "Agriculture, Society, and Food Sovereignty: Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." UC Berkeley Learning in Retirement Series. PANELS April 2016. The True Cost of American Food - Panel on Integrated Farming Systems -- Talk title "The advantages of diverse integrated farming systems" March 2016. ESPM 201A: Panel on interdisciplinary in agricultural research, UC Berkeley, (3 grant team members) December 2015. Berkeley Connect: Interdisciplinary Research Showcase Panel, UC Berkeley, CA November 2015. Feeding a Growing Planet: Challenges, Impacts, and Taboos. UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. May 2015. Sustainable Foods Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium (2 grant team members). April 2015. Pollinators and Sustainable Agriculture, Organic Valley, Berkeley CA What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1) Continue field collections for a second year from May 15-August 15. - Sample processing should be completed before the upcoming field season 2) Continue to work on data entry and analysis during second field season. 3) Finish conducting social science interviews during second field season. 4) Continue building and expanding farmernetwork in the study region for site selection and outreach 5) Work with economics team to collect andanalyse production cost vs. gains data and complete diversified farming cost study. 6)Continue bi-weekly meetings with whole grant team after field season is completed.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For Aim 1: Given the large amounts of data collected and the need to identify insect specimens in the lab, the finalization of our databases is still in progress, and analyses have not yet begun on most of the biodiversity and ecosystem service data. For this reason, we focus on our progress in obtaining and processing data and report on results from only one experiment for which analyses are completed (see below). Birds as pests and pest control agents on diversified to specialized strawberry fields. On 6 farm sites, we set up exclosures to prevent birds from acting as either pests of strawberry or pest control agents. Certain bird species (red-winged blackbird, Brewer's blackbird, house finch and European starling) eat strawberries, damaging the fruit, while other birds (insectivorous species) may help to control insect pests on strawberries, such as Lygus hesperus, the Western tarnished plant bug. Exclosures prevented both pest and pest control actions by birds. On each farm we established three 0.9 m by 1.5 m exclosures (~12 strawberry plants) along one strawberry row, with an adjacent control plot of the same size. We monitored plots weekly for signs of bird or Lygus damage. Overall, we found that the amount of damage caused by birds, about 2% (range: <1%-7%) more in open than closed plots, was roughly equivalent to the amount of Lygus pest suppression due to birds. Confirming this result, we found significantly more Lygus in the exclosures then in the open controls. Drawing on our bird and berry survey results from across the 27 farms, we further found that diversified farms had significantly greater bird diversity than specialized farms, and that bird diversity also increased on both farm types as the surrounding landscape contained a higher proportion of natural habitat (more complex). Furthermore, we found that pest birds were more prevalent in simplified landscapes (low natural habitat), whereas insectivorous birds were more prevalent both on diversified farms, and in more complex landscapes. Thus, the balance between the pest and pest control functions of bird communities is likely to shift towards pest control on more diversified farms. Confirming this expectation, we found significantlymore bird damage marks on farms in more simplified landscapes. --------------- We developed a new collaboration and sub-contract with Professor Dan Sumner at University of California Davis and began planning the economic component of the work to address Aim 2 in collaboration with his team. A new product from this collaboration will be a cost-study of a typical diversified farm from our region. For Aim 3, we developed the interview questions and are currently conducting interviews with each growers, with12 of 27completed to date.

Publications