Project Activities 3
Diagnosing Coachella Valley Diseases 2010-2014
My collaborators are Dr. Mike Davis, Dr. Bob Gilbertson and Steve Koike. The Pest Control Advisors are generally the first to spot problems and they bring those to my attention. Pest control advisors, growers or myself go out to fields and collect diseased samples. Every year I work to identify the common and new diseases on vegetable crops in the Coachella Valley. I then work with Pest Control Advisors to avoid economic losses. For example knowing that race 4 of downy mildew is in the area allows growers to select tolerant spinach varieties. We have now also found race 13 in our local spinach fields.
Foreign Farmers Educational Programs 2010-2011
My Collaborator is Corky Lovin, UCD College of Environmental Science, International Visitors Agricultural Program. The people served are the visiting scientists, farmers and extension agents from Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Bulgaria and Egypt. The visitors are always amazed at the agricultural activities in the Coachella Valley.
Coachella Valley Farmers Educational Program
My collaborators are the Coachella Valley Resource Conservation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. This has been an ongoing project and serves as one of my direct links to all the growers in the Coachella Valley. Educational programs are under the heading of Coachella Valley Farmers Educational Program. Coachella Valley Growers use these meetings to ask specialists questions and solicit information they would not otherwise have access to.
Pest Control Education Program
My collaborators are members of California Hispanic Association of Professionals in Agriculture (CHAPA), Pesticide Association of Professionals in Agriculture (PAPA) and California Association of Pest Control Advisors (CAPCA). These groups get the benefit of the disease and insect scouting and identification.