Appointed Official: Linda Garcia
Title: Department Head

The U.C. Cooperative Extension program provides Farm and Home Advisor services through an agreement between the County and the University of California. The University provides agricultural research and education through ten university professionals which are paid for directly by the State. The County provides support staff and operational costs.

This U.C. program, one of the largest in the State, provides for a mutual exchange of research and information to local agricultural industry and the dissemination of information to the community at large. These services are also exchanged with nearby counties for revenue or by tradeoff of U.C. staff expertise between counties. Services provided by the U.C. staff involve research assistance for the dairy, poultry, horticulture, viticulture, fishing, and livestock industries. In addition, U.C. and County support staff, along with trained volunteers, provide information to the community on integrated pest management, home economics and gardening.

Recent trends have resulted in significant changes in the types of services offered, especially to youth. Due to changes in local demographics to a more urban population, U.C. staff and volunteers are now providing programs in schools on agriculture and science literacy. The department is also involved with projects concerning public policy on land use, waste water utilization, use of pesticides, and providing nutritional and sanitation information for the homeless and disabled groups.

The 4-H program includes 42 clubs and 10 school/community groups serving 6,400 youth with the help of 980 volunteers. The Sonoma County Fair helps finance these efforts by funding assistance for setting up 4-H programs at the Fairgrounds.

The Master Gardener Volunteer Program provides 138 trained master gardeners to take calls or make presentations to meet an increasing demand of public service calls for gardening tips, alterative use of pesticides in the yard, how to compost, or information on irrigation systems.

Visit http://cesonoma.ucdavis.edu for more information.