Recent News
Congratulations Cal Poly Strawberry Center on being a 2022 IPM Achievement Award winner!
Mar 8, 2023
The Cal Poly Strawberry Center team is excited and proud to announce:
Department of Pesticide Regulation’s 2022 INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT
For promoting IPM and sustainability in strawberry production through prolific research and outreach programs
Each year the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) honors California organizations for their integrated pest management (IPM) achievements. The IPM Achievement Awards recognize organizations and individuals that are leaders in using reduced-risk pest management practices and sharing their successful strategies with others.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS CEREMONY
Thursday • February 23, 2023
Full Ceremony: https://youtu.be/0qhHmI4RMbQ (CP portion begins at 12:30 min.)
Cal Poly Strawberry Center Video: https://youtu.be/sV6zP_oTqtQ
Sen. John Laird Remarks: https://youtu.be/gz6kAf28chU
Asm. Dawn Addis Remarks: https://youtu.be/jzi3is9sYOg
Join us in congratulating all 2022 PM Achievement Award recipients for using IPM to advance safer, more sustainable pest management tools and practices in California!
How are strawberry plants fairing during this cold weather?
Mar 8, 2023
This winter has slowed the growth of our plants. Growers in the region are reporting that production is behind by about 3 weeks due to cooler weather, especially further inland. Strawberry plants need moderately warm days to flourish and frost will kill flowers. The amount of frost that inland ranches, like here at Cal Poly, have experienced this winter will lead to many misshapen early season fruit, or flowers that do not develop into fruit. While it normally takes 4-5 weeks for flower to develop to fruit, these cold days and even colder nights cause that time to almost double!
Center communications intern Colette Smith presents in Sacramento
Mar 7, 2023
In honor of International Women's Day (3/8/23), we would like to acknowledge and celebrate our amazing Center communications intern Colette Smith! As a part of her AG 452 course, she presented in Sacramento on the impacts that water infrastructure have on California wildlife. Colette is a fourth-year Agricultural Communications major at Cal Poly. Go Colette!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colette-smith-8b30381a4/
#learnbydoing #InternationalWomensDay #EmbraceEquity #IWD2023
Successful Meet The Students session held at biannual IAC Meeting
Mar 7, 2023
Meet-the-Students session
Industry Advisory Council Biannual Meeting
February 2023
At our biannual industry advisory council meeting on 25 Feb 2023, our council members had the opportunity to participate in short one-on-one discussions with some of our amazing Center students, learning a little about them, their studies and career interests. In turn, it also provided our students a chance to meet and network with key industry leaders and learn more about them and their careers. It was a fun and stimulating activity for all involved!
Watch the video! https://youtu.be/rwVijYLyBc0
Farm manager Drew Summerfield hosts high school students from Idaho
Feb 28, 2023
Farm manager Drew Summerfield hosted 85 high school students from South Fremont High School FFA (St. Anthony, Idaho) for a tour of our Center fields and labs, as well as the Plant Sciences complex and a deciduous orchard. The CAFES (College of Food, Environmental and Agricultural Sciences) Ag Ambassadors provided the group a tour of the campus Ag Building and BRAE (BioResource and Agricultural Engineering) department as well.
The group's trip consisted of touring the western US to learn about diverse agricultural operations. Other than Cal Poly, stops included green houses and Hoover Dam in Nevada, citrus growing operations in Southern California, leafy greens in Salinas and Alcatraz Island. The overarching mission of their journey was to learn about diverse types of agricultural systems, especially those that are not typically exposed to in NE Idaho as part of their FFA education.
Center graduate Yu-Chen Wang accepts UCCE position
Feb 21, 2023
Center graduate Yu-Chen Wang (Cal Poly, M.S. Agriculture, 2022) accepted last October a Plant Pathology Farm Advisor position with the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), serving a wide range of growers in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties.
Yu-Chen is excited about this new professional opportunity and feels that her experiences at the Strawberry Center with applied research and grower outreach have prepared her well. She is working on applying and extending her previous work in strawberries to other commodities. Yu-Chen was highlighted in a recent UCCE News online article: https://tinyurl.com/yu-chen-ucce
A huge Congratulations to Yu-Chen, from your colleagues and friends at the Strawberry Center!
Tune in! DPR’s 2022 IPM Achievement Awards virtual ceremony
Feb 16, 2023
DPR’s 2022 IPM Achievement Awards virtual ceremony is coming up soon! Thursday, February 23 @ 1:30pm
✭✭Tune in to find out this year’s winners!
View webcast during the ceremony @ https://video.calepa.ca.gov/#/player/1321
#whatisipm #everydayipm
Congratulations to Center communications assistant Colette Smith!
Feb 15, 2023
Colette Smith will be graduating this spring with a B.S. in Agricultural Communications and a minor in Equine Science. She has worked at the Strawberry Center for two and a half years as the Communications Student Assistant.
"The Strawberry Center has equipped me with so many different skills that are applicable to my future career, and I couldn't be more grateful for this experience."
After graduating, Colette plans to enroll in the Agricultural Education Masters Program for Fall 2023 with plans to eventually teach agriculture at the high school level or work as a marketing director in the beef industry.
Best wishes to Colette and many thanks for her contributions to the Center!
Latest research blog post: Spider mites in saturated strawberry fields
Feb 9, 2023
In our latest research blog post, Center entomologist Sarah Zukoff discusses how spider mites fair in saturated strawberry fields in California during periods of heavy rainfall, as we have experienced these past several weeks. Impacts on predatory mites as well as on presence of insect-eating fungi like Neozygites are also discussed.
#whatisipm
#everydayipm
https://strawberrycenterblog.com/2023/02/09/spider-mites-in-saturated-strawberry-fields/
CPC Marketing & Comm highlights Center in Annual Impact video series 2023
Feb 8, 2023
Cal Poly Corporation, Marketing & Communications: Annual Impact video series 2023
The Strawberry Center offers students opportunities to practice sustainable efforts in growing the berries. The center is one of many campus programs that the Corporation partners in Mustang Success. Watch this video and hear about the ways CPC impacts students.
Thank you to the Cal Poly Corporation Marketing & Communications team for including the Strawberry Center in this Mustang Success video series!
