What is CAFÉ?
The California Agriculture and Food Enterprise (CAFÉ) fosters basic and translational research, facilitates interactions with external clientele and funding groups, and provides a conduit for dissemination of scientific information to the public. Through participation by Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) faculty and Cooperative Extension (CE) Specialists, CAFÉ creates a stronger linkage with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) as well as with other faculty, who work on issues relevant to agriculture (e.g., climate change, invasive species, economics of small farms, water use) and health and nutrition. CAFÉ highlights food crop plants for which UCR has a world-class germplasm collection and historical prominence and facilitates emerging interdisciplinary research on food and agriculture. CAFÉ creates new opportunities for extramural funding, corporate sponsorship, technology transfer, and development while partnering with other campuses through the UC Global Food Initiative.
CAFÉ’s partnership with the UCR Global Food Initiative is also integral to UCR’s outreach efforts, in the social sciences, humanities and the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). Outreach conducted by UCR researchers in the form of tours for local and international groups, field days for the citrus and other agricultural industries, seminar series, and community events currently already brings thousands of community partners to engage in educational activities related to science and technology; CAFÉ’s partnership with the UCR Global Food Initiative provides a critical conduit for supporting and expanding these activities.
