Center for Agroecology (CFA)
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Grants support DIY irrigation and smart, electric tractors for specialty crop growers
Two projects are receiving support from the USDA 2025 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
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Arts & Culture, Campus News, Climate & Sustainability, Health, Social Justice & Community, TechnologyNine major wins worth celebrating for 2025
From amazing research discoveries to high-impact new education and fundraising initiatives, UC Santa Cruz created significant positive change, despite headwinds
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UC Santa Cruz student Sheyna Burns awarded state grant to build pathways for equitable food systems
Burns and her nonprofit organization, Square One Foundation, Inc., have received a $240,000 Track 1 Panning Grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Farm to Fork Food Hub Program.
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CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program (I2P) funds three campus projects
The 2025-26 edition requested projects focused in three areas: Society, Media and Technology, AgTech, and EdTech.
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UC Santa Cruz helps feed America
For more than 50 years, UC Santa Cruz has been a national leader in supporting farmers and shaping food systems. Stand with us to defend this work.
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UC Santa Cruz alumni leading local nonprofits: Pie Ranch
Many local nonprofits have roots that trace back to UC Santa Cruz alumni, who played pivotal roles in launching and shaping their missions. Alumnus Jered Lawson (Kresge ’92, community studies) co-founded Pie Ranch in 2005 and played a key role in launching UC Santa Cruz’s and the Homeless Garden Project’s Community Support Agriculture (CSA) programs…
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UC Santa Cruz and The Conservation Fund create a transformative collaboration to conserve regional habitat and pursue sustainable organic-farm expansion
The collaboration will advance the campus’s leadership in conservation, education, sustainability, and agroecology while preserving critical coastal landscapes and habitats for future generations
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Innovative and artful rainwater harvesting nourishes gardens and hope
UC Santa Cruz cosmologist leads widely interdisciplinary project funded by the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience to turn urban runoff into low-cost irrigation
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Planting seeds of change: Sheyna Burns reimagines agriculture practices
UCSC undergraduate researcher Sheyna Burns (Oakes ’26) is pioneering inclusive agricultural research and entrepreneurship through her campus-based Sankofa Sky Farm, developing a statewide food hub aimed at supporting more equitable farming, and more.
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Associate Professor Joji Muramoto wins award for leadership in agricultural sustainability
Muramoto, who is based at UC Santa Cruz, was the first UC Agriculture and Natural Resources cooperative extension specialist fully dedicated to organic agriculture. The strong partnerships he has built across academia and industry have helped his research to significantly advance the field.
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Research on dry-farmed tomatoes will better equip organic growers to adapt to climate change
New research led by UC Santa Cruz will strengthen understanding of which traits set tomato plants up to be grown successfully without irrigation.