UC Merced to host rural justice seminar

A wide-ranging seminar planned this week at UC Merced is set to cover advocacy for rural communities and bring researchers into the effort, according to organizers.

“Working for Justice in the Valley: People, Food, Land and Water,” scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the university, is organized by California Institute for Rural Studies at UC Merced in collaboration with the San Joaquin Valley Sustainable Agriculture Collaborative and the Berkeley Food Institute.

A big part of the day is connecting researchers with advocates for rural communities, said Sarah Cain, the outreach and events coordinator for California Institute for Rural Studies. The interaction is meant as an opportunity for UC Merced researchers to find a way into those communities.

9:45-10:45 a.m.: Opening remarks will be followed by a live production of the Cal Ag Roots podcast, which will tell the story of the Fresno-based organization National Land for People and its work to enforce water laws that would have limited the size of farms in the Valley and made prime farmland available to farmworkers and small farmers, a news release said.

11 a.m.-noon: A panel will describe some of the current “food justice” work underway in the San Joaquin Valley, which includes food collaboratives, pesticides and other topics.

1:10-2 p.m.: Political empowerment is the subject of this session, which will include local and state policy experts speaking on how solid research results and community needs can be translated into policy change and political empowerment, a news release said.

2-2:20 p.m.: This session is set to cover the University of California system’s mandate to serve the public good and its historic and ongoing role for community action.

2:20-4 p.m.: Researchers and organizers are set to have an open discussion. How can research support organizing around food systems change? What do organizers need from researchers? What can researchers learn from organizers?

The tickets to the event are sold out, but anyone can watch the event through live streaming at http://catcast.ucmerced.edu/Mediasite/Play/847ded3495d74aa39a9fe32aef41fc591d.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 4:44 PM with the headline "UC Merced to host rural justice seminar."