By: Alli Sweigard, VISTA F3 Communications Coordinator
03/06/24
On March 6th, the VINE Connect Meet-Up brought together over 50 growers, researchers, farm advisors, startups, and students for an essential discussion on advancing agriculture in Merced County- specifically measurement and incentives of groundwater recharge.
Organized in collaboration with the VINE, Merced Farm Bureau, and the F3 Initiative, the lineup of speakers contributed to the event’s success, offering insights into pressing issues facing the agricultural community.
Dr. Thomas Harmon, from UC Merced’s School of Engineering, provided expertise on groundwater recharge, measurement, and incentives, and strategies to ensure sustainable water management in Merced County.
“It’s a sensitive topic, no doubt. It’s a hard topic,” said Dr. Harmon. “Trying to get at the question of not only is the soil good for recharge, but is the underlying geology going to get it down to the aquifer in a reasonable amount of time?”
Dr. Amrith (Ami) Gunasekara, Director of Science & Research at the California Farm Bureau Federation, highlighted the importance of groundwater recharge to address the unique challenges facing California’s agricultural industry.
“If we had recharge projects along the Sacramento River and all the major rivers downstream from the headwaters, and we knew we were going to have a spring melt, we know we couldn’t hold that water behind dams and they should be pumping it out to those fields,” noted Dr. Gunasekara. “If the spring melt happens, there will be a tremendous burden on our levees, which will affect the communities.”
Dr. Leigh Bernacchi, PhD, VISTA F3 Executive Director at UC Merced, wrapped up the presentations by introducing the Farms Food Future Innovation Initiative (F3 Innovate) at UC Merced and encouraged local farmers and industry professionals to partner with students and faculty to solve the food system problems we are facing.
“We want to support innovation in the Valley,” said Dr. Bernacchi. “We also want to create a pathway for students to live and work in AgTech in the Valley, so that we’re not losing our most creative students; I always tell them that your future is not at Facebook, it’s in farming.”
The event concluded with lively discussions and networking opportunities for attendees to continue driving AgTech innovation and collaboration in the San Joaquin Valley.