Emily Friend Thacher Vice president, Friend's Ranches Executive member of the Ojai Pixie Growers Association Current position: : I am a 5th generation farmer in Ojai California where my family and I currently grow citrus for wholesale and retail markets. My position on the farm involves everything from personnel management, bookkeeping, sales, pest management, long-term planning, and of course the ever-present field and maintenance work. On top of all that, the agricultural community in my area is close-knit, and I am often called by neighbors and friends to assist in pest identification and management on their farms. Throughout my academic career I had an interest in tying my studies to agriculture and the ecology of our farm. After obtaining my undergraduate degree I spent several years working in Central America, and upon returning to California I discovered the IPM program at UCD. The program sounded like a perfect fit for me to use my biology and agricultural backgrounds to learn more about the ecology of agriculture and how to manipulate agroecosystems to reduce pests and provide benefits for the crops. Luckily, I was right, the IPM program provided me with a solid base of information and skills that have helped tremendously in my day-to-day work on the farm and in California's agricultural community. How the IPM program helped me get where I am now: I categorize the knowledge I gained in the IPM program in 3 major groups. The most important is that I have learned to identify the major pests and diseases of plants in California as well as understand their biology. Secondly, the IPM program linked me to the world of researchers in California including private consultants, university employees, and state and federal groups, which I feel confident to contact for assistance when necessary. Thirdly, the program taught me how to use the information of pest identification and understanding of pest biology to think of new and innovative ways of dealing with pest problems. One aspect of the IPM program that I was initially wary of is that it encompasses multiple crops, not just those that I farm. The fact that the program is not specific to a geographical area or crop is a strong point, as it connected me to people across the state and exposed me to methods of farming with which I was unfamiliar, but from which I have gathered ideas and management techniques. I currently use the skills I gained in the program to plan new pest management strategies for the farm. One of my goals is to train our field workers in pest identification and management so that we can work together to develop new ways to reduce costs of pest control. I also hope to pass information along to some of the other farmers in the area so that they quit calling me every time they have a plant pest problem! Photos: (click to enlarge)

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