At Dateline's request, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences publicist Rhoda McKnight kept a diary of her college's annual Faculty Tour in mid-September, a two-day bus trip through the Bay Area to Salinas and back. Here is her report: WEDNESDAY 6:50 a.m. We met at the Alumni Center -- an assortment of 33 people connected to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences -- people willing to trek into California's heartland to learn firsthand exactly what role our college plays in this state. Most people knew someone. No one in the group knew everyone. 7:45 a.m. As we rolled along the highway past Dixon, Erik Vink (B.S., '86) of the American Farmland Trust talked to us about farmland preservation along the I-80 corridor. He reminded us that California's Central Valley is the nation's most important agricultural resource, producing 250 different commodities worth more than $13 billion a year. "The valley's population is expected to triple between now and the year 2040," he said, "putting tremendous pressure on agricultural land and public services." 8:30 a.m. Bob McLandress (M.S., '79, Ph.D., '83,), president of the California Waterfowl Association and chair of the Dean's Advisory Council, led members from the bus into the Shelldrake Duck Club for a wildlife tour of the Suisun Marsh. He explained that "Suisun" means "land of the west wind" -- winds of up to 70 miles per hour often blow across the marsh. He talked about restoration efforts to create a safe and healthy habitat for wildlife and the environmental impact of those efforts. The Suisun Marsh once held nearly 30 percent of all waterfowl present in California during early fall, but numbers have dropped markedly since the 1970s. Scientists are examining the effects of agricultural and marsh management changes on habitat use and foraging behavior of waterfowl in the marsh. 10:10 a.m. Back on the bus and headed toward Half Moon Bay, a conversation was sparked by news of the sugar-beet crop destroyed on campus by a group opposed to genetically engineered plants. Several members of the faculty talked about the need for more research. William Lacy, member of the community studies and development faculty of the Department of Human and Community Development and the new vice provost for outreach and international programs, talked about the complexity of the issue. He suggested that we consider health risk, environmental, socio-economic, control system, transference and theological issues. "What are the potential catastrophes that can happen?" asked Neal Van Alfen, the college's new dean. "The college needs to participate in all sides and to keep a perspective on this issue." As we sped along I-80 toward the Bay Area, Ted Grosholz of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy stepped up to the microphone on the bus and talked about restoration efforts in the San Francisco Bay. He describes the San Francisco Bay as the most invaded estuary in the world. Many native species are quite rare, he explained; and the bay is filled with introduced species." 11:30 a.m. Jack Pearlstein, president of Nurserymen's Exchange in Half Moon Bay and a member of the Dean's Advisory Council, led us on a tour of his nursery, which focuses on growing short-term ornamental plants. It is the fifth largest operation of its kind in the United States. Advanced technological equipment enables the nursery to recycle all of its water, a critical issue on the central coast of California. Agronomist Paul Gepts mentioned, "Being on this tour further emphasizes in my mind the need to establish multidisciplinary teams in the college to address problems faced by agriculture." 2:20 p.m. In traveling to Castroville, I sat alongside microbiologist Glenn Young from the Department of Food Science and Technology. He had been on campus just seven days, arriving from St. Louis where he served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine. "Traditionally, with my background, I would be running a lab in a medical school," he said. "The department was progressive enough to look for a person to bridge the gap between what they do and what normally happens in a medical school. I work on food-borne bacterial pathogens that cause gastrointestinal diseases in people. It's an international concern." 3:30 p.m. At Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, company Vice President Steve Collins introduced a panel that addressed a variety of issues in the Salinas Valley, including irrigation, pest control, recycled water and labor. Members of the panel explained the issues of saltwater intrusion and nitrates and the powerful impact they are having on Central Coast agriculture. 5:30 p.m. We had dinner at a local ranch with Salinas Valley-area alumni and guests who made us feel very welcome. I sat with Stephen Russell of the Department of Human and Community Development, a new faculty member who just moved from Nebraska. At UC Davis, Stephen is working with youth-development advisers in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties on teen pregnancy prevention and education. He also conducts research on the long-term effects of sexuality education on adolescent sexual behavior; adolescent sexual orientation and emotional health; and racial and ethnic variation in parenting practices and their implications for adolescent outcomes. Stephen said, "I didn't realize how diverse the college is and how many opportunities there are for collaborative research." THURSDAY 6:50 a.m. Boarding the bus for the second day, I made it a point to talk with Steven Morgan of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. He relocated from New York about four months ago and is living on his sailboat in Bodega Bay and working at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. Steven grew up "around the country and around the world" and came to Davis from the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is a marine ecologist and coastal oceanographer studying marine invertebrates and fishes. "The ultimate objective of my research program is to gain insight into population dynamics in a changing global environment and into the evolution of complex life cycles in the sea," he said. 7 a.m. Our group had breakfast with the Monterey County Cooperative Extension staff at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. Speakers talked about working with 369 families through the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program and making a difference in diet behaviors for families in the county. According to Cooperative Extension program representative Jacqueline Thompson, the major goal of the program is to improve those skills related to selecting, purchasing and preparing low-cost nutritional foods. 8:30 a.m. We toured TransFRESH with President Jim Lugg (B.S., '56), a member of the Dean's Advisory Council. We walked among lettuce fields, a vast quiltwork of green rows that covered the hillsides all the way to the horizon. Jim told us that it's some of the most valuable agricultural land in the world valued at $35,000 per acre. We watched workers pick lettuce, conveyor belts move the lettuce along to huge bins and tractors haul the bins to the warehouse. 11:30 a.m. We ate a sack lunch on the bus while driving toward the San Luis Reservoir. Operated by the California Department of Water Resources, it is the largest state-built, multipurpose water project in the United States. At the visitor's center, we learned about California's water history and environmental impacts on the state's water development. We learned that the main purpose of the facility is to divert and store surplus water during wet periods and distribute it to areas of need. 2 p.m. New Assistant Professor Wolfgang Pittroff from the Department of Animal Science finally got to see some animals. We walked into the milking facility on a Hilmar dairy farm and watched as 1,100 Jerseys were lined up and connected to computerized equipment that monitored how much milk each cow produced. The cows were milked in about 6 1/2 hours. They are milked beginning at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. It's as simple -- and as complex -- as that. 7 p.m. "Hey, Rick," I called to my co-worker, Rick Swantz, director of development in the Dean's Office, when we climbed off the bus. "What do you think was the best part of the trip?" "I think the tour was a great way for Dean Van Alfen to rub elbows with new faculty and for everyone to meet agricultural and conservation leaders who hosted us at various stops along the way," he replied. Then he walked away from the bus with his baggage and a head of lettuce he brought home as a souvenir.