Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/684435
30 WINES&VINES June 2016 I n the August 2013 issue of Wines & Vines I penned the column "The Future of Farm Extension" and reported that the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) had lost 22% of its farm advisors and specialists (86 people) between 2009 and 2012. I expressed concern that due to severe budget cuts during the previous 10 years, it had been challenging for UC ANR to fill these vacant positions. At the time I wrote the column, UC ANR had about 189 farm advisors and 115 specialists. To make up for this significant loss, the depart- ment was in the process of hiring more than 25 staffers to fill the vacancies. This spring, Wines & Vines asked me to follow up on these recruitment efforts and provide an update about the status of these critical positions. To learn more, I interviewed Dr. Bill Frost, associ- ate vice president of UC ANR. The UC ANR system currently has about 170 farm advisors and 110 specialists on staff, and they are presently recruiting nine advisors and nine specialists. Furthermore, the depart- ment is scheduled to release job advertise- ments for an additional 16 advisors and nine specialists during the remainder of this cal- endar year. Doing the math, as of 2013 there were a total of 329 advisors a n d s p e c i a l i s t s (assuming the 25 recruitments men- tioned above were made). According to the 2016 figures, there will be a total of 323 a d v i s o r s and spe- cialists if all of the planned recruitments are completed. So it appears there has been a loss of six additional positions since 2013, an ero- sion of not quite 2%. While this represents a decline in positions, the extreme decline in numbers noted between 2009 and 2012 has stopped—at least for now. I should also mention that at the time I wrote my 2013 column there were three va- cant farm advisor positions that traditionally serviced California's wine and table grape sectors. All three positions have been filled, bringing the total of viticulture farm advisors in California to 10, and every major grape- growing region has a farm advisor that de- votes some or all of their time to the wine and table grape sectors. Given that farm advisor and specialist posi- tions are not increasing, it is important to know how UC ANR fills vacated positions. When a farm advisor or specialist leaves a position— either due to retirement or taking a job some- where else—there is a deliberate and thorough process for replacing them. If the process pro- ceeds according to plan, the time elapsed until a vacancy is announced is 11 to 15 months. First, UC ANR sends out a call for positions to all UC Cooperative Extension staff, strategic initiatives, university program teams, campus- based departments and external agriculture stakeholder groups. They are asked to provide input about what they perceive as the greatest needs; there is also a public comment period at this point in the process. These groups pro- vide information to program teams, UC land grant-based colleges and schools and regional groups that then provide feedback and priori- tized lists and rankings to program council teams. These teams make collective recom- mendations for a second round of reviews, also conducted by the program council. Recom- mendations are then sent to the Office of the Vice President, where the final determination is made about the crop or crops to be covered by the position and what the salary grade will be. The job vacancy is then announced. Almost all recruitments are made at the assistant level, since UC ANR is redeploying existing resources and it makes sense to seek younger recruits at lower pay grades. Speaking of pay grades, one concern that I mentioned in my 2013 column was the dis- crepancy between a farm advisor's salary com- pared to equivalent positions with private companies. The annual salary for a farm advi- sor at the lowest pay grade is currently $49,100 (a 5% increase since 2013). The median salary is about $67,000. A Google search for the aver- age salary for current viticulturist job postings came to $104,000 per year. The starting salary for a specialist is $64,800, and the median salary is about $89,000, both significantly higher than those for farm advisor. The differ- ence between the two positions is in part be- cause the minimum qualification for a farm advisor is a master's degree, whereas a special- ist requires a Ph.D. Another is that while the primary responsibilities of both positions are applied research and extension and outreach in the form of farm calls, workshops and field days, a specialist is also required to show state- wide leadership in his or her crop sectors. If one is willing to commit to working in either job for a career, the pay level increases signifi- cantly over time, and the benefits at the Uni- versity of California are very good. I checked in with colleagues in Oregon, Washington, New York and Texas regarding the level of cooperative extension support for their respective wine grape industries, and all reported that things are stable. Granted, the cooperative extension systems are a bit differ- Vineyard View n CLIFF OHMART Revisiting the Future of Cooperative Extension