If you’ve driven past central California’s walnut groves, you’ve seen them: Thick, rough-looking tree-trunks rise from the ground for two or three feet. Then, atop each base, a thinner trunk with smoother bark continues up and branches into majestic, green canopies spreading toward the sky.
Graduate students took home first- and second-place honors for their poster presentations at the annual California Plant and Soil Conference, hosted by University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources in Fresno, Calif., recently.
Growers will continue to get support and information about the latest research on controlling pests and diseases in their crops through the Western Integrated Pest Management Center that received a $1 million grant for the 2023-24 year.
Justin Valliere has been hired to expand the Department of Plant Sciences’ reach in invasion and restoration ecology. Valliere started as an assistant professor of UC Cooperative Extension in July. Valliere seeks ways to restore California's native plant communities amid the onslaught of invasive plants and various environmental changes.
Jennifer Baumbach, a UC Davis GSR awardee, now coordinates the Master Gardener Program in Solano and Yolo counties. The GSR award supported her research and enhanced her understanding of connecting UC research to practical applications, benefiting communities and end-users.
Leslie Roche, an associate professor of Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, specializes in the management of rangelands and pasture. She is the director of the UC Rangelands Research and Information Center, focusing on irrigated pasture management, ecology of grazing lands, grazing systems, drought, and climate change adaptation.
Whitney Brim-DeForest is the UC Cooperative Extension director in Sutter and Yuba counties and the CE rice and wild rice advisor, focusing on weed management. As a recipient of the Graduate Student Research (GSR) award from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences during her doctoral studies, Brim-DeForest conducted research full-time while engaging with growers, pest control advisers (PCAs), and stakeholders in the rice industry.
Grace Woodmansee is the livestock and natural resources advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Siskiyou County. She works with ranchers to improve their production and address management challenges using science-based information. As a recipient of a Graduate Student Research award working with in the UC Rangelands lab, she honed her skills in applied research, outreach and science-communication, which prepared her for a career in extension
Grant Johnson is the advisor for urban agriculture technology, based at UC Cooperative Extension’s South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, Calif. His specialties include fertilization, irrigation and water recycling in nurseries. Nursery and floral production account for 7.5 percent of California’s farm sales -- $3.5 billion in 2020, according to state figures.
Shuxiao “Susan” Zhang wants to figure out how pistachio trees can do such a good job dealing with drought and saline soil. And, did you know? Pistachio nut shells naturally split when they ripen! She’s trying to figure that out, too.
