Science-based solutions for healthy and resilient communities, food systems, and environments. | | A Message From the Director | |
Invest in Extension
Bringing UC research to the field, the community, and the next generation in Ventura County.
Education and Extension are at the heart of UCCE’s mission. For over a century, progress in agriculture, natural resource stewardship, and youth development has depended on bringing research out of the university and into fields, classrooms, and communities.
UCCE Ventura County drives innovation through hands‑on education that matters to our communities. Our advisors, staff, and volunteers deliver workshops for growers, experience-based learning for youth, and public outreach grounded in UC expertise. As needs evolve, so must the way we teach and connect.
Your support during Giving Day will help modernize our classroom, expand our outreach into the community, and support new tools used to deliver educational experiences across Ventura County. Your gift directly supports programs that make knowledge accessible, relevant, and impactful.
Thank you,
Shannon
UCCE Director in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo
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Your Gift Enhances Learning
Impact Levels
$100 Expands Hands‑On Learning
A $100 gift helps purchase updated educational materials like field tools, demonstration supplies, or hands‑on learning kits and educational reinforcement items.
Impact: More engaging and practical learning experiences along with tools to help people apply what they learned.
$ 500 Strengthens Community Outreach
A $500 gift supports outreach in harder to reach communities and can support translation of educational materials, mobile teaching supplies, or community‑based demonstrations that bring UC knowledge directly into neighborhoods, farms, and partner sites.
Impact: Education that reaches more people, in more places, across Ventura County.
$5000 Modernizes Our Learning Environment
A $5000 gift helps improve our classroom and training spaces with technology upgrades and presentation tools, advanced hybrid meeting capability, improved sound or audiovisual equipment, and accessibility improvements that allow more participants to learn effectively.
Impact: A more inclusive, modern learning space that supports both in‑person and remote education in Ventura County.
Support education that connects UC knowledge to Ventura County communities, today and for the future.
| | Agricultural Advice from UCCE Advisors | |
Rattlesnake Season
Author: Ben Faber
First, remember that the desire to avoid any kind of an interaction is mutual. Rattlesnakes are an important part of the ecosystem, feeding on rodents, birds, and other small animals. Snake season in Southern California runs from April through October, but the warmer the weather, the more the reptiles are likely to be out and about. Rattlesnakes are California's only native venomous snake, with some adults reaching up to 6 feet long. According to the California Poison Control Center notes, rattlesnakes account for more than 800 bites each year, with one to two deaths. About 25 percent of the bites are "dry," meaning no venom was injected, but the bites still require medical treatment. There are nine species that live in various areas of the state and their size can vary.
Read the full article and more on Topics in Subtropics.
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Impact of Grapevine Nursery Cultural Practices on Trunk Diseases
May 13, 2026
Dr. Philippe Rolshausen, Professor Cooperative Extension Specialist in Subtropical Horticulture with the Dept. of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside, will give a general overview of production methods and disease certification program for California grapevine nurseries. He will talk about the infection routes for fungal trunk diseases and bacterial crown gall in grapevine nurseries, describe the disease symptoms, and discuss the risks for vineyard production. Finally, he will present current practices implemented in nurseries to manage trunk diseases and crown gall. One DPR CE unit (other) and one CCA CE unit (IPM) were requested.
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Field Day Announcement: Strawberry Fertilization & Irrigation Strategies
Join us for a field day focused on improving water and nutrient management during strawberry establishment. This event will highlight practical, field-based insights from ongoing research in Ventura County.
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2026
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 AM
Location: Crisalida Berry Farms, 1980 South Rice Avenue, Oxnard, CA
Participants will learn about pre-plant fertilizer placement options (banded, broadcast, and no fertilizer), and explore third-season results comparing drip tape and micro-sprinklers for crop establishment. Discussions will cover how irrigation decisions affect early crop development and strategies to improve water and nutrient use efficiency. Attendees will also have the opportunity to observe treatment effects directly in the field.
2.0 CEUs have been applied for Certified Crop Advisers (CCA) and VCAILG. Spanish translation will be available upon request (subject to funding).
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May is Wildfire Awareness and Preparedness Month
Ventura County experienced nine wildfires throughout 2025. The largest was the Canyon Fire which started on August 7th and burned 5,370 acres according to CALFIRE.
In preparation for the 2026 Wildfire Season, Venturans are encouraged to make sure they are able to receive warnings and alerts; have an emergency evacuation or shelter-in-place plan with identified routes and alternatives; and have prepared a go-bag or emergency kit with supplies and important documents safeguarded. For guidance on these topics, visit ReadyVenturaCounty.
UCANR’s Fire Network also has tips on Home and Landscape Preparedness as well as Farm or Ranch Preparedness. In recent months, the team has also held and posted several post-fire recovery webinars with lists of resources for communities impacted by wildfire.
For more information about wildfire education in Ventura County, check out the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council Wildfire Programs Menu. The Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council also provides no-cost home wildfire assessments and community chipper events for residents.
| | UCCE Community Education Programs | | | | UC Master Gardener Program | | | | 4-H Youth Development Program | |
Small and Large Animal Field Day
Members have the opportunity to proactice their showmanship skills with their animals, have some fun activity add-ons like a photo contest, education poster contest, costume contest, egg decorating, and body parts knowledge test. This helps them to prepare for fair in the summer!
Date: Sunday, May 17, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Rancho Santa Rosa Clubhouse
11701 E. Las Posas Rd, Camarillo, CA 93012
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Agritourism Curriculum Pilot Program
UC SAREP is partnering with a national team to develop a National Agritourism Curriculum and Toolkit for professionals that serve agricultural producers. In September 2026, we're launching the pilot of the National Agritourism Trainer Curriculum, a train-the-trainer program built to grow the knowledge and skills of agritourism service providers across the country.
Starting September 2026 for a 10-week virtual training series (roughly 2 hours of live sessions plus 2 hours of independent work per week, about 40 hours total). Afterward, participants take part in a brief feedback period to help us refine the final curriculum. If you are interested in expanding your capacity to serve agritourism operators in your region and would like to participate in this pilot training, please complete this brief form.
More information about this project can be found on the project's webpage. Please contact Rachael Callahan (rmcallahan@ucanr.edu) with any questions.
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Webinar: Healthy Garden - Healthy Home: Grow Your Own Salsa
May 30, 2026 | 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
The Healthy Garden, Healthy Home program offers residents of San Diego County the opportunity to improve local water resources through a series of gardening workshops. These workshops are held throughout the county at various times and locations. In addition, their Zoom workshops make it possible for residents from across California to participate and learn from home.
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California Agritourism Summit
September 23 - 25, 2026
San Luis Obispo County, CA
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The California Agritourism Summit brings together leaders, experts, and practitioners to connect, learn, and engage. Through keynote speakers, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and farm tours, participants will gain practical tools and inspiration to strengthen agritourism in California.
Who Should Attend
Many stakeholders are critical to the success of agritourism. The 2026 California Agritourism Summit’s program has been tailored to the following audiences:
- Agricultural producers currently offering agritourism
- Public agency staff
- Tourism/travel industry professionals
- Economic development professionals
- Policy makers
- Agricultural support providers or groups (producer organizations, extension, non-profits, etc.)
| | 2026 Agricultural Producer Survey | | |
Ventura County, through its SALC grant initiative, is conducting an industry survey to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing our local agricultural community.
Your input will directly inform public policy and marketing strategies to support producers, strengthen distribution systems, and preserve agricultural land and the economies they support in Ventura County. The more we know about what is working, or not, for you; the better the county, industry and private partners can continue what works and address what is not.
This survey is hosted professionally through QuestionPro's survey platform and takes approximately 12 to 15 minutes to complete. While the survey collects names, all individual responses are confidential and reported in aggregate only — never by name.
Fully completed surveys are eligible for one of several gift cards to local eateries and coffee shops. To be eligible, you must provide your name and email address so we can contact each winner.
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UCCE in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties improves the lives of local residents by working with growers, families, volunteers, and partners to advance science-based solutions in agriculture, natural ecosystems, community health, and youth development.
Your support helps in many ways.
Thank you.
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