Graduate Student Research funding gave Mark Lundy the flexibility to pursue applied, industry-relevant agronomy. Now a UCCE associate professor, he leads efficient farming research and trains future agronomists at UC Davis.
Betsy Karle, now a UCCE dairy advisor and county director, used her UC Davis GSR award to conduct real-world research balancing grazing and water quality. The experience launched her career in improving dairy sustainability statewide.
Grace Woodmansee used her GSR award to strengthen her research and outreach skills, preparing her for a career as a UCCE advisor. Her drought-focused work with ranchers now helps support resilient rangeland management in California.
Grant Johnson’s GSR award helped launch his UC Cooperative Extension career in urban ag tech. It supported his research on nursery runoff and gave him skills he now uses to improve irrigation, fertilization, and water reuse.
Farmers in Panama are sharing sustainable cattle grazing techniques with peers through Yale’s ELTI program. UC Davis graduate Marina Vergara studied this participatory model, highlighting farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange, which could influence future extension programs.
The SCOPE project at UC Davis, led by students, is developing new crop varieties for organic farmers, including improved peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and flowers. Their work focuses on better taste, disease resistance, and yield.
The African Plant Breeding Academy, hosted by UC Davis, kicked off its spring session in Nairobi with 40 scientists from 22 African nations. The program, focusing on crop improvement, aims to combat malnutrition and boost food security.
Jennifer Funk, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, has received the inaugural Barbara D. Webster Scholar Award. The award provides a $20,000 grant to support the scholarship of a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who represents excellence in their field, exhibits the leadership abilities to impact their discipline, presents a unique and transformative perspective, and works to advance the representation of women in plant sciences.
The Department of Plant Sciences has released six new varieties of organic dry beans which are higher yielding, and are resistant to bean common mosaic virus (BCMV), a disease that prevents bean plants from maturing promptly and uniformly.
A new effort to provide California growers with seeds for tomato, bean, pepper and other crop varieties that are specially bred for organic farming has been launched at UC Davis. The organic plant-breeding project was developed in direct response to California organic growers, who have reported that the scarcity of seeds.
